The dog days of the NHL offseason may be in full swing at the moment, but the Toronto Maple Leafs are managing to keep themselves busy.
You know what they say: You can never have too much depth.
Kyle Dubas has seemingly taken this mantra to heart over the summer, first signing a trio of bottom-six forwards to fill out the fringes of his roster when the free-agent market opened on July 1st and now, in recent days, reportedly expanding that group to four.
According to a report over the weekend by Taylor Haase of DK Pittsburgh Sports, the Maple Leafs have agreed to terms with former Pittsburgh Penguin, Garrett Wilson, on a one-year NHL deal.
Wilson’s acquisition does come with an asterisk, however. As has been the case with the earlier signings of both Nick Shore and Kenny Agostino as well, the Maple Leafs have not officially confirmed Wilson’s addition to the organization – something that is likely due to their unstable cap structure in light of Mitch Marner‘s ongoing contract saga.
In fact, the only bit of information that has seeped out to the public following Haase’s initial scoop comes courtesy of Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun, who provides some insight on the financial details of Wilson’s contract.
Nothing official from #Leafs on Garrett Wilson or Michal Neuvirth, but can confirm @TaylorHaasePGH report that Wilson has signed with Toronto. Told it's a one-year, one-way deal believed to be a bit north of the NHL minimum of $700,000 US. Source: "It's been done for a while."
— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) July 22, 2019
Assuming that the Maple Leafs eventually make the Wilson signing official ahead of training camp, the next piece of business is to determine where he ultimately ends up.
Given Wilson’s limited offensive upside and experience at the NHL level, it’s highly unlikely for him to spend the majority of the 2019-20 season with the Maple Leafs, as training camp will feature a heated battle for their remaining bottom-six roles. The 84 total games Wilson has played at hockey’s highest level – 50 of them coming this past season – saw him produce just two goals and six assists for eight points, which doesn’t exactly make him a top candidate.
That being said, however, Wilson’s AHL experience paints an entirely different story.
Since the 2014-15 season, Wilson has rattled off a total of 149 points in 254 games of American League play – a rate of 0.76 points-per-game – including a dazzling 18 points in the 18 games he spent with the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins just last year. That is a terrific degree of production for any player at the AHL level – the kind which the Toronto Marlies desperately need after losing a number of important veteran contributors over the summer.
Wilson will likely provide them with that.
The Marlies’ forward corps remains in relative flux at the moment – with gaping holes left by the recently-departed Chris Mueller and Michael Carcone, along with the absence of Trevor Moore, who is expected to graduate to the Maple Leafs full-time. Lines three and four, specifically, have little-to-no structure at all and, until recently, were likely to be filled with a collection of hopefuls from the Newfoundland Growlers.
Wilson’s arrival changes the Marlies’ entire outlook completely. Adding a winger with size, offensive flair, and veteran experience to a roster that is set to be the Marlies’ youngest in years is a terrific luxury an organization like the Maple Leafs has at their disposal and, not to mention, is well worthy of Wilson’s NHL-calibre cost.
If Wilson can continue to score at his current rate or, even, come close to matching it, the Marlies will find themselves in a drastically better position than they thought they’d be earlier this month.
All that’s left to wait for is an official announcement.