Leafs Defence core
With McCabe signed on it seems very unlikely that the pronger door will open, but thats not to say that the leafs defence core wont get a free agent boost.Currently the leafs defence core looks like this.
McCabe- No 1 guy!!!!
Kaberle- No 2 guy!!!!!
Belak- most likely be a healthy scratch, is useful because he can play wing or defence
Wozniewski- will likely alternate between The Leafs and Marlies
Kronwall- will likely alternate between The Leafs and Marlies
Then there are many free agents the leafs could resign
UFA’s
Khavanov
Richardson
RFA’s
Bell
Colaiacovo
Harrison
Pilar
White
But with the exception of kaberle and mcCabe, the other defencemen are suited for a 5-6 role, so the leafs need some cheap 3-4 d-men… if they want to upgrade their offence. On the bright side they have a platoon of young defencemen ready to earn a spot in the nhl.
Other free agents the leafs may look into on July 1st are:
Pavel Kubina, Willie Mitchell, Brendan Witt, Jay McKee, Hal Gill, Danny Markov, Kim Johnsson, Teppo Numminen, Francis Bouillon, Jaroslav Spacek, Niclas Wallin, Aaron Ward, Ruslan Salei, Brian Leetch, Brett Clark, Karlis Skrastins, Jason Woolley, Dick Tarnstrom, Joe Corvo, Filip Kuba, Daniel Tjarnqvist, Andrei Zyuzin, Ken Klee, Kenny Jonsson, Tom Poti, Jason Strudwick, Brian Pothier, Mark Eaton, Nolan Baumgartner, Sean Brown, Keith Carney, and Eric Weinrich.