I kinda disagree about the term "depth" position. If Borgman and Ozhiganov are teamed to be NHLers, the Leafs should be looking to extend them long term at more money. Especially Oz who is is eligible to be a UFA in 2019. For cap reasons, I gotta think Gardiner is not signed.

I put Gardiner in there to use that cap space for either him or someone else. But the D definitively needs another top 4 body. Sometimes I am on the fence about Gardiner, I like him a lot and see his value, but we all know the random gaffs. One thing I will say is if you watch all the goals on youtube from Marner/Nylander/Matthews you can really see how much offense Gardiner creates because it seems like he touches the puck on half the plays of more

I think your construction makes the point advanced by palhal in his comment -- if Ozhiganov and Borgman make the team and acquit themselves well this year, then there's no need to re-up Gardiner. Sign them to multi-year contracts for about $1 or $1.5M per year more than you have here and you still have $2M or $3M to sign another defenseman or other depth player.

That's about it I think. First step is getting these guys signed to these deals which I think is a lot more possible than many but we will see