Grading All the Toronto Maple Leafs Off-Season Moves: July Edition

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a frenzy of deals to open the offseason. We will evaluate all the moves the team executed in the busy month of July.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Kyle Dubas had their work cut out for them once the season ended and free agency began. The management team was very active in their attempts to make the squad a Stanley Cup competitor.

As the Stanley Cup was won, attention turned to the 2019-2020 season. In order to scrutinize the offseason effectively, we will break down each of the team’s transactions in the month of July and assign a corresponding grade.

Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson

We will begin with a pair of wingers that re-signed. Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson. The Leafs agreed to a deal in principle and then took a few days to make the contracts official. Though this happened before the start of July, we will assess the move due to its importance.

Kapanen is now on the books for the next three season for an annual average salary of $3.2 million. Johnsson negotiated an extra year of term to earn a slightly higher AAV. He will be paid an average of $3.4 each year.

Getting those deals done were an excellent way to kick off the offseason. They are two young and important members of the rosters thanks to their speed and hands. This is a great deal for the club. The Leafs not only get two solid contributors, but they keep them at a reasonable price.

With the Leafs sure to be up against the cap for the foreseeable future, keeping players AAV low is as much a priority as it is to retain quality players. In the case of Kapanen and Johnsson, they did both.

Grade: A+

Cody Ceci Trade

The Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion and Dubas connected in order to make a six-player trade that may work in favour of both organizations.

This swap may have been predicated on Nikita Zaitsev’s request to be relocated ahead of next season. Dubas made it happen, while also clearing some cap space, an important theme in most of the team’s offseason transactions.

The biggest acquisition for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the trade was Cody Ceci. He was a restricted free agent and the Senators weren’t able to extend him. Upon the move to Toronto, he inked a one-year deal worth $4.5 million, the same AAV as Zaitsev.

Ceci is believed by some to be a  valuable defenceman, while others have expressed their belief that he isn’t guaranteed to make the team. With the available personnel, I would find it shocking if Ceci doesn’t find himself on the club.

That is especially true because Mike Babcock will love that their new defenceman is a right-handed shot. Unfortunately, the coach may also get frustrated by some of Ceci’s defensive instincts.

Ceci’s metrics suggest that he struggled on the ice last season. That could be as a result of playing for a poor team. Alternatively, it could be that his skill-set isn’t much greater than Zaitsev’s if it is at all.

The other players joining the Leafs will have less of an impact. At 24-years-old, Ben Harpur will join Ceci, Schmaltz, Marincin, Holl, Liljegren, Sandin and Gravel for three spots in the Leafs opening night lineup.

Harpur will need to prove himself at training camp. Aaron Luchuk will act as a farmhand, likely to be a depth piece with the Toronto Marlies.

Babcock may miss having Connor Brown to deploy in situations that require a two-way forward, especially on the penalty kill. He is certain to be given a greater opportunity to grow his game, especially offensively by playing in Ottawa.

Grade: B-

Allowing Players to Become Unrestricted Free Agents

As soon as the free agency period began, a number of Maple Leafs were instantly able to negotiate with other teams. They were Tyler Ennis, Jake Gardiner, Ron Hainsey, Michael Hutchinson, Josh Jooris, Vincent LoVerde, Martin Marincin, Chris Mueller, and Steve Oleksy. Collin Greening also decided to call it a career and retired at age 33.

There were even a number of players that the leafs allowed to become unrestricted free agents when they weren’t tendered qualifying offers. They are Nicholas Baptiste, Gabriel Gagne, Eamon McAdam, Igor Ozhiganov, and Jordan Subban.

It is a long list that covers both the players on the big club along with minor leaguers. That is to say that some of the players’ absences will be far more impactful than others. This is true mostly of Gardiner, Hainsey, and Ozhiganov.

Jake Gardiner

Gardiner currently remains unsigned and there is a possibility that he still returns to the Leafs. It appears as though the team is still interested in his services, but are waiting to resolve negotiations with Mitch Marner. That would assess how much cap space is available for Gardiner.

Igor Ozhiganov

Ozhiganov came over to the Leafs from the KHL to play on Toronto’s blue line. He was in North America just the single-season and played 53 games for the team. That seemed to be enough for the Russian player who will be returning home to the KHL next year.

Ron Hainsey

Hainsey will mostly be missed by Babcock, who loved to maximize the NHL stalwart’s minutes. His departure should open up space for younger players to get increased opportunities, especially on the penalty kill. He joined the Senators on a one-year deal worth $3.5 million.

Tyler Ennis

It appeared as though the Leafs no longer saw 29-year-old Ennis as a part of their plans. Like Hainsey, he too signed with the Senators, agreeing to a one-year, $800,000 contract. Ennis scored 20 plus goals three times in his career, but is far removed from that level of production. He hasn’t been that player since 2015. With the Leafs last season, he had 18 points, 12 of them were goals.

Michael Hutchinson and Martin Marincin

Hutchinson and Marincin both agreed to return to the Leafs on one-year $700,000 contracts. Hutchinson, 29, has been a career backup in the league. Marincin, who often drew the ire of Leafs fans, will slot in the team’s bottom defence pairing. Both these players are attractive due to their low cap hit.

Chris Mueller

Mueller was an excellent player for the Marlies. He racked up 33 goals and 32 assists for the team last season. His biggest downfalls were that the Leafs already had great depth and his age. He is 33-years-old. While he’s had opportunities to play in the NHL, he’s struggled to establish himself at that level. Mueller signed a one year, two-way contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Vincent LoVerde, Josh Jooris, and Steve Oleksy

LoVerde will play for the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL next season. Jooris will be moving to Switzerland to play for Lausanne HC. Oleksy, who won the Stanley Cup as a member of the 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins, is still without a team for next season.

Grade: Incomplete without a determination on Gardiner’s future. The rest of the moves were worthy of high grades.

Minor League Signings

Not every decision that the organization made will directly affect the Maple Leafs. Some moves were made by Laurence Gilman, the Governor and General Manager of the Marlies along with the team’s Director of Hockey Operations and Alternate Governor, Mike Dixon.

Together, the Marlies’ front office handed out a myriad of contracts. Most of those to add depth for the Marlies. Coach Sheldon Keefe may want to keep an oversized roster, which is allowed in the AHL. There is also a real possibility that some of the signings find themselves playing for the Newfoundland Growlers.

The Growlers became the ECHL affiliate team for the Maple Leafs and Marlies last season. They could be loaned players to help their team compete. This could be a landing spot considering that the Newfoundland roster remains far from complete.

Gilman inked nine players in July. He grabbed right winger Darren Archibald, center Matthew Bradley, center Brady Ferguson, right winger Zach O’Brien, defenceman Michael Kapla right winger Scott Pooley, center Marcus Power, defenceman Kristians Rubins, and goaltender Maxim Zhukov.

Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, none of those players are first-rate prospects. Seeing any of them get an opportunity in the NHL would probably mean that the Leafs roster was devastated by injuries. It’s a long-shot that one of these players explodes in their development, allowing them to usurp others who are already closer to getting the call-up to the big club.

Six of these players, Bradley, Ferguson, O’Brien, Pooley, Power, and Rubins all previously played for the Growlers. Four of them, Ferguson, O’Brien, Pooley, and Rubins, also played for the Marlies.

Archibald has played 55 games in the NHL, split between the Senators and Vancouver Canucks. He totaled 6 goals and eight assists. Kapla played five games for the New Jersey Devils in 2016-17. He was unable to register any points, playing on limited minutes. None of the rest of the group has played in the NHL.

Grade: C-

The Return of David Clarkson

The Leafs executed an exchange with the Vegas Golden Knights that on the surface didn’t make sense. Many fans were scratching their heads when this trade was first announced. It saw Garret Sparks shipped out and David Clarkson returned to his hometown.

In the swap, the Leafs also received a fourth-round draft pick in the 2020 NHL draft. The real return though is far more complicated than that. CapFriendly tried to break things down as simply as possible.

This deal makes sense because the team and Marner have yet to come to terms. Since Marner is a restricted free agent, it means that if he doesn’t work out a new deal before the start of next season, his cap hit gets prorated. It was something that Dubas was quite familiar with having had that exact scenario play out with William Nylander last season.

Should Marner have found himself without paperwork when the season started and the Leafs didn’t execute this trade, the franchise would have been in a tough position. Without the cap flexibility, each day of the season that negotiations carried on would have made getting the deal done even more difficult and eventually, impossible.

Clarkson hurt his back at the end of the 2015-16 season. That injury has kept him from returning to NHL. It also means that he will not be playing for the Leafs this season. He will be placed on long term injury reserve (LTIR), which will give Toronto the cap relief that they need.

The Leafs also have Nathan Horton on LTIR. Both his and Clarkson’s contracts expire at the conclusion of the coming season. Interestingly, these two men were traded for one another in 2015. That deal was done so that Clarkson’s cap hit could come off the books.

Ideally, Marner signs prior to the start of the season, but if he doesn’t, then this will be an important transaction. If the team had already determined that Sparks was not in their future plans then this works out to be a good trade. Of course, if Sparks bounces back to have a monster season, it will be a trade that fans forever criticize.

Grade: B

Signing Michal Neuvirth

When the Leafs traded away their backup goaltender, Sparks, it created a hole in their roster. Dubas acted swiftly to try and address that need. Still hamstrung by cap issues, the Leafs were unable to make a splash at the position.

The action taken by the team was to sign Michal Neuvirth to a professional tryout contract (PTO). That will make training camp more interesting. He and Hutchinson will each be considered for the backup job.

Neuvirth is 31-years-old. He has bounced around the NHL and had AHL stops in between. He even played 24 games in Czechoslovakia, his home country, during the lockout season of 2012-13. Should he make the Leafs, it will be his fifth NHL club.

Neuvirth owns a winning record in the league. He also has a career 0.910 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.71. Hutchinson is a couple of years younger, but owns similar career numbers along with a winning record in the NHL. His save percentage is 0.908 and goals against average is 2.70.

Should the training camp competition have Neuvirth emerge as Frederik Andersen’s backup, it puts the Leafs at risk. He has struggled to stay healthy in his career. If he is plagued by injury, it could mean that one of the young prospects gets called up earlier than anticipated.

The fear would be that if Neuvirth makes the club, the Leafs may expose Hutchinson to waivers. That was how Toronto lost Curtis McElhinney ahead of last season. This probably gives Hutchinson a slight advantage going into camp.

Grade: C

Trading for Jordan Schmaltz

The Leafs traded Andreas Borgman to the St. Louis Blues for Jordan Schmaltz. It is a relatively minor deal with both teams hoping that the player they received can outperform what they have done in the past.

Schmaltz exits a Blues team with a clear picture of their blueline. The Leafs, on the other hand, have a lot of decisions to make. In St. Louis, Schmaltz was stuck playing behind Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, Colton Parayko, Robert Bortuzzo, Mitch Reinke and former Maple Leaf, Carl Gunnarsson who just re-signed with the Blues.

The path to holding a meaningful role is met with less resistance in Toronto. The Leafs have young defencemen like Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren who will try and make the jump from the AHL. They will be competing along with Schmaltz and few others to pick up an available spot on the Leafs defense.

Andreas Borgman, D

By trading away Borgman, the Leafs lost a physically strong defenceman with a high ceiling. He is a strong checker who is never afraid to get into the corners and work hard to come away with the puck.

Unfortunately, Borgman’s bout with staying healthy may have cost him opportunities in the NHL and may even have played a role in this trade. His future looked bright. He joined the Leafs after being named Rookie of the Year in the SHL, but concussions kept him from gaining the momentum he needed to get his career going. He will now get the chance to earn his spot with the Blues.

Grade: B-

Adding Depth to the Roster

It is apparent with all the acquisitions and re-signings that the Leafs have been trying to do two things most of all this offseason. They have loaded up on players and looked for cheap options. This has led to a series of signings.

Kalle Kossila, C

Dubas didn’t even waste much time. He hammered out many of the new contracts on the first day of free agency,  July 1. One of those players is a center, Kalle Kossila. Kossila is a prospect who in baseball is often called a “Four-A Player”. This is a term for players who are too good for the minors, but can’t figure things out in the major leagues.

Kossila comes to Toronto from the Anaheim Ducks franchise. He has picked up points in 83-percent of his games in the AHL, but only 16-percent of his NHL appearances. It’s not a fair comparison since his average time-on-ice is far greater in the American League. The 26-year-old will start the season with the Marlies and try and work his way up to the Leafs.

Tyler Gaudet, C

Kossila will be competing with Tyler Gaudet for a spot in the middle of one of the Marlies top lines. Gaudet is just ten days older than Kossila and in a very similar situation. He too has played a handful of games in the NHL, but lacked in production once there.

Gaudet played with the Milwaukee Admirals, the affiliate of the Nashville Predators, last season. In 50 games he had eight goals and 17 assists. He also spent 34 minutes in the penalty box.

Kevin Gravel, D

The Leafs got a player in Kevin Gravel who could potentially be at the end of their bench. He will go to camp pushing to make the defence’s bottom pairing. There will be several available spots on the Maple Leafs, which makes it possible that the 27-year-old can make the team. His one-way contract helps make that more likely.

Gravel is a defensive defenceman. He appeared in 106 games in the NHL, including the 36 he played last season with the Edmonton Oilers. He played an additional five games for the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL last year.

Pontus Aberg, RW

Pontus Aberg is a Swedish born player with a right-winger. He can fly down the ice and use his hockey sense to help set up his teammates. Drafted in the second round by the Nashville Predators at 37th overall, Aberg will be joining his fifth NHL franchise.

Aberg would benefit from a prolonged negotiation with Marner. Should it drag on into the season, it could allow Aberg the opportunity to pick up some of those available minutes. He will likely find himself with the Marlies for the season.

Garrett Wilson, RW

Another new right-winger to the organization is Garrett Wilson. This is depth signing of a player who can intimidate opponents with his physical play. He has also been a player willing to drop his gloves in the AHL, though not so much in the National League. He has been involved in just four fights in 84 NHL games.

Wilson was a talented scorer when he played Major Junior for the Owen Sound Attack in the OHL. His ability to light the lamp, unfortunately, didn’t translate when he made the jump to the NHL. In 50 games with the Penguins last season, he had two goals and six helpers.

Overall grade: C-

Nick Shore, Kenny Agostino, and Jason Spezza

Dubas did something very clever this offseason. He picked up a variety of players who can play in the bottom six and won’t hurt the cap.

Nick Shore, C

Nick Shore will be earning slightly more than the league minimum. He signed a one-year $750,000 contract this season.

Shore is a two-way player who spent last season overseas, playing for Magnitogorsk Metallurg in the KHL. He is a right-handed center, which always makes Babcock drool. At this point, he can be expected to slot in with the Toronto Maple Leafs fourth line.

Shore may not be the sort of player who puts the puck in the net, but he does have the talents to be a useful addition. His grit, energy, and physical play make him an ideal candidate to help complete a grind-line.

Kenny Agostino, LW

A player who may play on Shore’s wing to start the season is Kenny Agostino. He is not a lock to make the Leafs at this point, but could easily end up on the team’s fourth line.

Agostino signed for two years and will be paid an annual average salary of $737,500. A graduate of Yale University, he has the ability to score, but that has yet to translate to the majors. Agostino, if nothing else, will be a speedy winger who has shown a willingness to be the first forward back in his own end.

Jason Spezza, C

One of the biggest signings for the Leafs this offseason was a man who at one point was a premier player in the league, Jason Spezza. Unfortunately, that time was the distant past. Spezza is nowhere near the 90 point player he once was.

Last season, Spezza collected 27 points in 76 games for the Dallas Stars. It came on eight goals and 19 assists. At age 36, Spezza should get a chance to play in the bottom six for the Leafs.

Spezza will earn $700,000 on a one year deal. It’s a bargain for a player who has been in the league for 16 seasons. He should fill the veteran void left when the club sent Patrick Marleau to the Carolina Hurricanes in late June.

Overall grade: B