The #Leafs have extended qualifying offers to 4 players: G Garret Sparks, D Justin Holl and forwards Connor Brown and Zach Hyman. #TMLtalk
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) June 26, 2017
Absent from the list: Sergey Kalinin, Antoine Bibeau, and Seth Griffith.
The only minor surprise here, if there is one, is goaltender Antoine Bibeau being let go. With the emergence of college signing Kasimir Kaskisuo down the stretch and into the playoffs for the Marlies, Joseph Woll in NCAA and the addition of Ian Scott of the Prince Albert Raiders in the WHL on Saturday — on top of the qualified Garret Sparks (who will likely enter the 2017-18 season as the Leafs‘ third netminder on the depth chart, once they add an NHL backup) — the Leafs have decided to go another direction with a goaltender who showed signs of promise at times but could never put it together consistently over his three AHL seasons.