Report: Leafs, Muzzin have not discussed contract extension

When it comes to the Toronto Maple Leafs, there is a non-stop discussion about contracts and that continued with Pierre LeBrun reporting that the team and Jake Muzzin have not discussed a potential contract extension.

Muzzin has a goal and two assists and is averaging over 23 minutes of ice-time through the Leafs’ first seven games of their season.

According to LeBrun, the team was busy this summer — obviously — and are currently seeing how this season goes when it comes to their pending unrestricted free agents on the blue line.

Three of their four top defenceman — Cody Ceci, Tyson Barrie, and Muzzin — have just this season remaining on their current contracts and could possibly hit the open market this summer.

With that much flexibility, it makes sense for the team to see which of the three really fit the team for the present and future, and will hopefully try to extend the chosen defenceman long-term.

The Leafs are currently right up against the cap ceiling for this season, but with almost $30-million in cap space coming off the books — most of that on LTIR right now — the team has the chance to extend one of the three defencemen.

Especially with the core of the team locked up for multiple years now, the Leafs have the chance to add a supplementary piece and not worry about changing the outlook dramatically.

Whether it’s Muzzin, Barrie or Ceci, the Leafs have some room to hold onto one of their current top-four defenceman for years to come.