Rumor: Andersen's days with the Leafs may be over

Frederik Andersen's offseason has officially begun and he couldn't be more miserable about it.

The Toronto Maple Leafs' netminder, of course, came up short in his team's best of five Qualifying Series against the Columbus Blue Jackets and, as a result, his season is over and now his future is open in the air. Andersen has one year remaining on deal that pays him $5 million annually but many fans and analysts have wondered aloud whether he'll be back with the Leafs for 2020-21.

In his most recent column for Sportsnet, analyst Rory Boylen caught up with Andersen and Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas to get their thoughts on how things will play out and, somewhat surprisingly, neither seemed to commit to a future with both Andersen and the Leafs in it.

“Every one of these decisions takes on a more pronounced importance,” Dubas said when asked what his plans are for Andersen and the goaltending position. “We have space, but we don’t have it in overabundance, and especially if things are going to be locked in for a couple years with the cap, we’ll probably not be able to act as quickly as we’d like to with some of these guys coming up.”

As for Andersen, he was more blunt in his assessment of the situation simply saying, “Whatever’s gonna happen, happen."

 Oof... that doesn't sound like a goalie who is fired up to get back on the ice and help push this Leafs team forward. He did go on to say however that he has improved his mental game and will continue to do so this offseason. “The more I can focus like a normal game and not having thoughts about how big of a game it is, that’s when I played the best in the playoffs,” Andersen explained.

“For players, it’s easy to get wrapped up in a playoff game that you got to hit a little harder and stuff like that. But as a goalie you can’t save the puck harder. You can’t over-push in your movements. Going forward, I think that’s the biggest lesson.”

Hopefully it's a lesson that Andersen can take and move forward with in 2020-21, but will he afforded the chance to give it one more go with the Leafs? Or will he be stopping pucks elsewhere in the NHL