Interesting rumour links P.K. Subban to his hometown Maple Leafs

Things have been all quiet on the Toronto Maple Leafs front for several weeks following a busy free agency, but one rumour that is circulating right now seems to be causing a bit of a stir on Twitter.

The rumour in question relates to Toronto, Ontario native P.K. Subban and his hometown Maple Leafs, with Boston-based reporter/columnist Jimmy Murphy stating that the Leafs have "more than lukewarm interest" in bringing Subban to Toronto, with salary retained of course. There are a lot layers of this onion to peel back here.

First off, while Subban certainly addresses a need for both a physical presence and a right shot on the back end in Toronto, his $9M cap hit, even at 50% retained would not fit into the Leafs' current salary structure without another salary move.

While a double-retention is a possibility, we typically do not see deals of that nature occur until at or near the NHL's trade deadline.

Technically, with Subban's salary being just $8M for this season, with a $6M bonus already having been paid out, he is owed just $2M in actual salary, however for any teams who may be willing to come into the picture and assist the Leafs in brokering a deal, the cost of that amount of empty cap space changing hands will come at a premium - which I don't see the Leafs paying since the cost of acquisition would likely be much lower at the deadline.

Secondly, the Leafs' defense was actually quite good in 2020-21, which probably negates the need to go out and acquire another top-four defenseman - especially with the arrival of young Rasmus Sandin, who is expected to see a larger role with the team this season.

Finally, I find myself wondering if the Leafs' "more than lukewarm interest" in Subban relates more to next season than in the current one, as Subban can be had for cap dollars alone, without having to ship off assets to multiple teams. Also, Subban will be 33 years old when he enters free agency, so he may be amenable to taking a short-term, low dollars "prove it" deal with the Leafs next summer in order to parlay that into a larger multi-year deal with either the Leafs or another team the following summer.

I believe that P.K. Subban still does have some gas left in the tank and can be an asset to any team if cast in the proper role within the lineup, but I'm not sold on the Leafs having any real interest in Subban ahead of this season, given his current salary situation. That said, if they can accrue some cap space throughout the course of the season, perhaps a double-retention deadline deal does make sense for both sides.

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