from Michael Traikos of the National Post,

It sure looks like Dave Nonis has painted himself into a corner.

With less than US$5-million remaining under the salary cap, the Toronto Maple Leafs GM still has to re-sign Nazem Kadri and Cody Franson to new contracts. The problem is that based on the salaries that both players are asking for, there is not nearly enough money to go around for the two restricted free agents.

So the options are: trade Franson, who tied for sixth among NHL defencemen with 29 points last season, or buy out John-Michael Liles, with a portion of his contract counting against the cap for the next six years.

Either way, this was probably not the way that Nonis planned it out in his head when the free agency period began. The Leafs entered the July 5 summer spending frenzy with all the usual desires of years past. They were looking for a No. 1 centre, some size up front and depth on the blue line, as well as added insurance in net.

It was a substantial, if not familiar, wish list. But of all the troubles with the team, money was not believed to be one of them.

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