Dave Bolland wants to be a Leaf for life, and a fellow Mimico boy might help make it happen.

“I’d like to get him signed,” Brendan Shanahan told the Toronto Sun a few weeks ago. “He’s the type of player I like, the type of player we need."

There's a lot to like about Bolland. He comes with a winning pedigree, grit, leadership, and the type of blue collar work ethic that plays well with the Toronto crowd. He's the type of player that does the little things that help a team win. But that doesn't mean the Leafs should break the bank to keep him.

According to Steve Simmons, the Leafs don't want to pay Bolland any more than the $4.2 million a season they are paying Tyler Bozak. That means there's a disconnect between the two camps, because Darren Dreger reported at the end of February that Bolland could be looking for as much as $5 million a year, and maybe more.

With close to $49 million already committed to only 12 players next season, giving Bolland anything more than $4 million a year means the Leafs view him as a core piece, rather than a complementary one, like he was in Chicago.

That would be a major mistake.