Elliotte Friedman makes a bold statement about Rasmus Sandin

Jake Muzzin is still out with back issues and Timothy Liliegren will be out for at least another month as he recovers from hernia surgery, which means there are two spots available for Rasmus Sandin to take. Unfortunately for him, his agent Lewis Gross and Kyle Dubas have been unable to come to terms on a new deal. It has been reported that the Leafs offered Sandin the same deal that Liljegren signed earlier this summer, which was a 2-year, $2.8M deal.

According to Chris Johnston, Sandin's camp believes he is worth more than the $1.4M per season that Liljegren is getting, but the Leafs aren't biting. If you look at the stats, you would see that they are similar in games played and points last season - 61 games and 23 points for Liljegren and 51 games and 16 points for Sandin. Points don't tell the whole story, but is Sandin really worth more?

On today's 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman stated that he believes that the Leafs and Sandin will agree to a 2-year deal worth just slightly more than Liliegren's $1.4M AAV. Friedge believes that Sandin could come in at $1.5M per season. He also said that it should be done in the near future.

With that being said, the Leafs may not have to move anyone out for cap purposes just yet, depending on the severity of Pierre Engvall's injury. If both he and Liliegren are injured to begin the season and Sandin is signed to the expected deal, that would leave the Leafs with approximately $2.125M in cap space. Of course, they would have to become cap compliant, which means that a move would still be necessary.