Where Maple Leafs stand with tricky RFAs Ondrej Kase, Pierre Engvall

MONTREAL – Monday marks the deadline to submit qualifying offers to restricted free agents, and the Toronto Maple Leafs have a tricky call to make with Ondrej Kase.

“We’re still sorting through that decision,” GM Kyle Dubas said Friday, following the draft.

“I think it's very similar decision what Boston faced last year with him, right? You know, we've had good conversations with (Kase’s representatives) JP Barry and James Nice at CAA. And now with the cap-space flexibility (due to Thursday’s Petr Mrazek trade), it opens that back up again as potential. So, that's where we'll go.”

While talented, eager and versatile, the injury-prone Kase suffered another concussion during his debut season with the Maple Leafs and was limited to 50 games of action.

The right wing scored 14 goals and 27 points in the regular season, his most productive since 2017-18. He then put up three assists in Toronto’s seven-game playoff series loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Because Kase is arbitration eligible, qualifying him could leave the Leafs open to giving him a significant raise from his $1.25-million bargain salary.

The Bruins walked away from Kase at the same point last summer, and Dubas signed him as an unrestricted free agent for less than his projected qualifying offer.

Kase could end up back on the open market.

Qualifying Kase is a risk the bargain-hunting Leafs are doubtful to take, given they need cap space to spend on a No. 1 goaltender and must also increase the salaries of RFAs Rasmus Sandin and Pierre Engvall.

Like Kase, the homegrown Engvall ($925,000) also holds arbitration rights. The 26-year-old forward is coming off a career season in which he scored 15 goals and 35 points.

“I think with Pierre, we will be qualifying him. At least, that's the plan right now,” Dubas said.

“He played a key role for us last year, and we've had good conversations, Brandon [Pridham, assistant GM] has, with Claude Lemieux, who represents him.”