Leafs place Travis Boyd on waivers, will accrue cap space to make a big splash at the deadline

The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed depth forward Travis Boyd on waivers on Sunday in hopes that they'll be able to assign him to the taxi squad on Monday in order to continue to accrue some valuable cap space ahead of the April 12th trade deadline.

Boyd has been a pleasant surprise in Toronto this season, providing excellent depth scoring, having amassed 8 points in 20 games with the Buds this season in very limited ice time.

Boyd has cleared once already this season, on January 12th, just one day before the beginning of the 2020-21 season, when the other 30 NHL teams had also waived a large volume of veteran depth players, which is likely why Boyd cleared in the first place. Now, with teams having a better picture of where they stand and what their depth options look like, and with Boyd having passed the 10-game/30-day threshold, needing to clear waivers once again to be sent down, he could be looked at as a considerable upgrade for several teams, and could be claimed given the value he provides for his league-minumum cap hit.

Should Boyd clear, and should the Leafs assign him to the taxi squad, that would find the Leafs carrying a 20-man roster, with a greater ability to accrue cap space ahead of the trade deadline, which could aid the team in making one, possibly two significant acquisitions to help bolster the team for a deep playoff run. Names like Mattias Ekholm, Mikael Granlund, Eric Staal and Taylor Hall have come up in the past.

It is definitely worth noting that the team has had some trouble with losing players on waivers this year and having their excellent depth slightly diminish due to the losses of netminder Aaron Dell (claimed by NJ) and forward Jimmy Vesey (claimed by VAN). The Leafs are certainly hoping that the third time's a charm in this case and that Boyd clears.

According to CapFriendly, the Leafs are currently sitting on $817,577 in available deadline cap space, but that's prior to sending Liljegren down and attempting to get Boyd down. With those savings, along with their existing deadline cap space and the incoming player being on a prorated salary, the Leafs could be on the verge of making a very, very big splash in the coming weeks.

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