The Maple Leafs approach the trade deadline with Frederik Andersen and Zach Hyman top of mind

Sure, let’s all sit back and enjoy the NHL trade deadline.

Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas is likely to get in on something by 3 p.m. Monday (or at least try) since his team looks as good as it ever has to — dare we say — win a playoff round or two, or … well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The market is littered with cheap fourth-line wingers on expiring contracts, depth defencemen and third-string goalies. There will be endless debate about whether a second-round pick was too much, or whether that surrendered prospect is really going to be something some day. All against the backdrop of the Seattle Kraken expansion draft and protected lists.

It’ll either make for good drama or good self-deprecating humour from James Duthie.

But the real fun will be this summer. That’s when franchise-altering moves will be made:

In Toronto, the drama will be in net — again — with the Leafs’ salary-cap situation the real issue.

Two significant players are heading for unrestricted free agency: goalie Frederik Andersen and forward Zach Hyman. Andersen’s cap hit is $5 million (U.S.) a year, Hyman’s is $2.25 million. The cap is likely to stay at $81.5 million.

Both are due raises — in Hyman’s case quite a significant one, perhaps along the lines of the $6.5-million cap hit that kicks in next year for Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher — but the Leafs don’t have enough cap wiggle room for both.

Yes, there are other pending free agents, but the Leafs are likely to re-sign the likes of Joe Thornton ($700,000), Jason Spezza ($700,000), Wayne Simmonds ($1.5 million), Alex Galchenyuk ($1.05 million) and Zach Bogosian ($1 million) for similar dollars, or replace them just as cheaply.

To keep both Andersen and Hyman at the salary they’ll command would mean trading away someone else of significance, perhaps Alex Kerfoot and his hit of $3.5 million. Kerfoot is too valuable to trade now, though — no Stanley Cup contender wants to move a player off its roster mid-season.

But something else is afoot.

Netminder Jack Campbell — incredibly likeable and popular — is proving able to win regularly with a heavier workload than he’s used to, because of Andersen’s lingering health issues. Sure, Campbell has his own injury concerns, and maybe you shouldn’t have two goalies with durability questions, but he has a chance now to show he can be a No. 1 goalie — something he hasn’t been outside of junior and the minors.

If the Leafs think he can be, then future is clear: The Leafs can let Andersen walk as a free agent, re-sign Hyman and have enough left over to get a decent backup for Campbell.

The backstory here is just how much Dubas is working from the Lou Lamoriello playbook: Use time to your advantage.

Dubas can’t extend Andersen — who hasn’t played since a March 19 loss to the Flames — or Hyman now. To do so would send a strong signal to the other, or someone such as Kerfoot, that he won’t be back next year. That’s not a dynamic you want heading into the playoffs. All players need to feel wanted and vital.

Also, it would severely affect the Leafs’ protected list for the expansion draft, set for July 21. Unrestricted free agents are exempt. So are pending unrestricted free agents, such as forward Ilya Mikheyev, and youngsters such as defencemen Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin.

Right now, the Leafs’ best choice is likely to protect a goalie and eight skaters (Campbell, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares, Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, T.J. Brodie and Justin Holl). That would expose Kerfoot, Pierre Engvall, Travis Dermott and Michael Hutchinson.

If Dubas were to re-sign Andersen, then Campbell would be unprotected.

If he re-signs Hyman, the Leafs might switch to protecting seven forwards, three defencemen and a goalie. That could expose Holl.

But that Lamoriello-like use of time has its risks. Both Andersen and Hyman could bolt as unrestricted free agents.

Time has shown Hyman is a vital part of the Leafs’ forward mix — a Mr. Fix-It for every line, a difference maker on each shift.

Andersen, meanwhile, has been the Leafs’ best goalie since Ed Belfour.

He’s sixth in career games played for the Leafs (267), three shy of Curtis Joseph. And he’s fourth in wins (149), 11 behind Felix Potvin. He deserves something in return for playing injured — suffering some ignoble defeats, as well — long enough for Campbell to recover.

But all this time off has not been kind to Andersen, showing that he’s replaceable.

Net fishing

What does it say about a franchise when it has drafted and developed precisely two goalies for itself since 1990: Felix Potvin and James Reimer.

The Maple Leafs have drafted 21 goalies since taking Potvin in the second round in 1990. Seven, including Reimer, made it to the NHL.

Tuukka Rask was the best of them, but of course was traded before ever attending Leafs training camp. The others: Eric Fichaud, Mikael Tellqvist, Justin Pogge, Garret Sparks and Antoine Bibeau. I say good luck to the current stable of prospects: Joseph Woll, Ian Scott, Zachary Bouthillier and Artur Akhtyamov.

By way of comparison, the Montreal Canadiens have drafted 20 goalies over the same time frame, but the likes of Tomas Vokoun, José Théodore, Mathieu Garon, Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price have got a lot more NHL mileage on them.

Around hockey

One area where the Maple Leafs have developed well is at forward. The likes of Trevor Moore, Carl Grundstrom and Mason Marchment were moved at or near the trade deadline in recent years in packages for Jack Campbell and Jake Muzzin — and in the case of Marchment, one-for-one for Denis Malgin.

The Leafs were quite proud of developing Marchment, a late bloomer who recently signed an extension with the Florida Panthers while earning a regular role.

“I like the way he competes. I like his deception. He’s got a good stick, comes up with loose pucks. He knows where the front of the net is,” said Panthers coach Joel Quenneville. “We got a power forward. He added a nice element to our team.”

The Panthers are also benefiting from another player the Leafs drafted and at least partially developed: Carter Verhaeghe. The 25-year-old centre, a third-round pick in 2013, was shipped off far too early by the Leafs — part of a five-for-one trade with the New York Islanders in 2015 for Michael Grabner, which seems kind of pointless looking back.

Verhaeghe’s name is engraved on the Stanley Cup as a member of the Lightning last year, and he’s now one of the Panthers’ top producers with 35 points through 40 games — outscoring ex-Leafs James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri and Kasperi Kapanen.

There will be 100 votes in all (down from 155): 20 per division, plus 20 “at large” including European voters and journalists who follow the league more than a single team.

It’s fewer than normal, but if the same voters from last year voted this time, there would be 82 from the North Division, 36 from the East, 20 from the Central, 18 from the West, four from Europe and 15 U.S.-based broadcasters who do not fit neatly into any category.

“The executive board felt this more balanced approach would also offset the fact that many of our members are only regularly viewing the seven or eight teams in their own division for the first time in modern voting history,” the association told its members in an email. “We look forward to more participation again next year.”