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Toronto Maple Leafs: No Reason to Extend Michael Bunting

The Toronto Maple Leafs have never been afraid to let a player walk.

There is a misconception among NHL fans that letting players go in free-agency without getting compensation is mismanagement, but the Toronto Maple Leafs know better.

In the NHL, unless you have a star player, cap space is probably preferable to a commitment. The usage you get out of a player after the deadline , the roster flexibility, and the ability to free up cap space is almost always worth not getting any compensation for losing a player.

When the Leafs lost Hyman, he was great for them in the playoffs the summer before he left, and then they replaced him with Bunting for 5 x less than Hyman ended up signing for.