The Toronto Maple Leafs still haven’t managed to get restricted free agent defenseman Rasmus Sandin signed to a contract extension, with any hold-out only really hurting the player.
After all, the Toronto Maple Leafs already have a full quota of defensemen on the left side, so Rasmus Sandin is the extra man and could very well start the year (pending a contract) as the seventh defenseman.
This is fundamentally at the heart of why Rasmus Sandin may be holding out, but isn’t something that will be fixed by such a hold out.
In fact, with Jordie Benn and Victor Mete added as depth signings, it’s possible that even if one of the Leafs regular left-side defensemen get injured and Sandin then inks a deal, he might very well be on the outside looking in as he likely would have some level of rustiness to his game.