The Toronto Maple Leafs had a historic season last year, finishing the season with a 54-21-7 record, finishing second place in the Atlantic Division. This season also saw Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews score a league leading 60 goals and gave the Maple Leafs the first 60 goal scorer they've ever had in history.
Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs though, the season ended just like it always does, with a first round exit. The Leafs had a chance to knockout the defending stanley cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in 6 games, but lost games 6 & 7 to be eliminated from the playoffs.
One of the biggest surprises for the Maple Leafs last season was the acquisition of Michael Bunting. The ''rookie'' was let go by the Arizona Coyotes of all teams, and signed a 2 year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs for a $950,000 AAV.
While this may have turned out to be the best value contract in the NHL last season, the Leafs fortunately have one more year of Bunting at this contract, then after this season they could come into some issues. After this season the Leafs will have quite a few players in need of contracts and due to the large contracts of their ''big 5'' they will not have the cap space to give Bunting the large contract he deserves. Unless they continue to thin out the bottom 6, we can expect that Bunting will be leaving the Maple Leafs after this upcoming season, if not during at the risk of losing him for nothing.
