I think Dubas won't he has Acciari now. But If I had to choose, I think I go with some grit and speed, Kulikov rings the bells for me. He did well when EDM acquired him at the Deadline in 2020. Also depth guy and won't cost much for Toronto to acquire WITH retention. Something like a 5th.

Think someone cheap in terms cap hit with term like Seeler or McCabe at 50%. Or they can go for a low cost of acquisition. I think Seeler fits the bill for both. I think though the Leafs could use someone who could chip in from the backend, has speed, and is physical.

You can get him for a fifth, maybe, if there are no other takers, but retention will cost at least a third.

We also have Stolarz if you need goaltending depth.

You can have Lauzon for like a 6th round pick

Yeah I personally really like seeler for the leafs, he's much better then his aav would suggest and he's locked in for next year too. If they swing big again, gavrikov would be easier to fit cap wise and cheaper then chychrun, although probably not as good.

Seeler should be able to be had for a 4th or so, and with the Leafs depleted draft capital that makes him the easy add. Gavrikov is definitely going to cost a 1st+, they don't have any hope of signing him either, that makes a guy like McCabe a better option. With retention, he would cost something similar to Gavrikov (maybe slightly more) but has term and could perhaps be had for 2-2.5m. Chychrun will cost a lot more but he's a 2.5 year rental like McCabe at worst (much younger though so maybe they can keep him in the fold). Arizona is willing to retain some to boost the return, I reckon up to 1m, but I imagine Knies+Sandin and the 2024 1st will be the minimum cost.

Could fit the two+a 1.25m player in the adjusted cap of 3.6m. If Chychrun could stay healthy his impact could be enough to cover what both Knies and Sandin and a 1.25m player could do over the next 2.5 years. They do lose that PWF-type that they don't have though, so idk if they will want to do that. If ARZ wants more than Knies+Sandin+ the 2024 1st, it's definitely not worth it for the Leafs.

So, I don't think Dubas is going to be worrying too much about the cap space next year, but he will take that into account, because he will want to have some players for multiple runs if it's going to cost a ton.