Maple Leafs have 7 key contract decisions to make today

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Maple Leafs have 7 key contract decisions to make today originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Toronto Maple Leafs still have plenty more to do this offseason.

Monday brings with it one key deadline: Qualifying offers for restricted free agents.

Luke Fox of Sportsnet points out that the Maple Leafs have seven key names that fall into the same boat here.

Essentially, they can either be extended a qualifying offer on Monday, or not.

If they get a qualifying offer, they're a restricted free agent, which gives Toronto a lot of power in bringing them back in free agency.

If they don't get a qualifying offer, they're an unrestricted free agent, able to freely sign with any team that offers them a contract.

The seven players Fox pointed out:

• Nick Robertson
• Matias Maccelli
• Jacob Quillan
• Emil Andrae
• Henry Thrun
• Ryan Tverberg
• William Villineuve

MORE: What the Gavin McKenna pick means for the Maple Leafs

A couple of those will probably be no-brainers, but it seems likely the Maple Leafs move on from at least a couple guys.

Andrae is a name that should stand out, given he just arrived in the Joseph Woll trade from the Flyers. The young defenseman will definitely get a qualifying offer.

Beyond that, it'll be intriguing how the Maple Leafs decide to handle this. They could give a lot of indication of their outside free agency plans by how many of these guys they intend to keep around or not.

It's a busy time of year in the NHL.

More NHL news:​

• Jack Eichel turned into Ben Simmons
• Frederik Andersen heading toward an unceremonious exit
• Cale Makar is about to become a lot more expensive
• Sidney Crosby trade plans did a 180 for the Penguins
• It's time to ask a serious Matthew Knies question

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