Where does Rasmus Sandin's NHL future lie?

Maple Leafs training camp is days away and restricted free agent defenceman Rasmus Sandin remains without a contract.

Video Transcript

- Rasmus Sandin doesn't have a contract yet and we're getting really close to that huge milestone of training camp. And it's so weird, because it's like, you love him as a player and you want him on the team, but at some point, you just want something to happen. And I'm not going to go into the nitty gritty details because this has been talked about a lot. I mean, you know, you have a Leafs player who doesn't have a contract? Of course it's going to be a big story-- cough cough, Mitch Marner.

Now we've kind of got some more information about it. Apparently, when the Leafs offered Timothy Liljegren his two-year contract, they also offered Sandin the same contract at the same time. Well, not the same contract, but they also offered him a contract at the same time. And Sandin said no, and now we're here. And since that's happened, we've seen a lot of players that are not necessarily in the same skill gap as Sandin, but in the same age range and the same playing time and playing situation as Sandin that have signed deals.

So at this point, is he going to be there or is he not going to be there? Right? You don't-- you definitely don't want to miss games at camp. And I understand Sandin's frustration or curiosity, and maybe not knowing where he's going to play. But the Leafs are in a position right now-- actually, let me say that again. Kyle Dubas is in a position right now where he can't let what's happened in the past continue to happen.

The Leafs have all the leverage here. They can let him sit. They don't necessarily have to have Sandin play. Right? And if the only thing that's going to do is just hurt Sandin's chances of getting better and getting more experience. So as it stands, it's not ideal that Sandin isn't at camp, but I'm also not, like, crazily bothered by it. Right?

Because I think at some point, Sandin will look around and say, this isn't really helping me here. Maybe it ends up just being a one-year deal. One-year deal-- you play, you see what happens. Maybe there's an injury here or there and you get more playing time, and then we deal with it after the fact. But training camp is almost here and you don't have a deal. Maybe you should try to fix that.