Toronto Maple Leafs: What Does Signing Lehtonen Mean for Tyson Barrie?

The Toronto Maple Leafs just got an upgrade to their defense

Earlier today the Toronto Maple Leafs announced via Twitter that they signed the highly sought out defensive prospect Mikko Lehtonen to a one-year entry level contract.

Lehtonen, 26, recorded 49 points through 60 games this season with the KHL team Jokerit before mutually agreeing to terminate his contract in order to pursue a career in the NHL. (Hockeydb.com).

Mikko Lehtonen is yet another high-end KHL talent that the Maple Leafs have been able to sign as of late, in a list that including Alexander Barabanov and Ilya Mikheyev.

Tons of teams, including the Montreal Canadiens and the New Jersey Devils, were reportedly interested in Lehtonen, but Kyle Dubas and company swept in seemingly out of nowhere and made made a significant upgrade to their defense core with this deal.

What Mikko Lehtonen Brings to the Toronto Maple Leafs

While facing a lot of criticism for past contracts, Kyle Dubas has gone out and made the first big move of the 2020 offseason, and has already made the Toronto Maple Leafs way better. Lehtonen was the highest scoring defensemen in the KHL last season, and will fit in perfectly with the teams philosophy of puck-moving defensemen that can perform on the offensive end.

While he has experience playing on the left side for most of his career, he has played as a right defensemen and will likely be asked to do so due to the amount of talented left defensemen the Maple Leafs have on their NHL roster.

At 5’11 Lehtonen doesn’t bring a massive physical presence that Leafs fans have been asking for for years, but he was still regarded as the best defensemen outside of the NHL, and at 26 years old, it probably won’t take him a long time to transfer and adjust his skills to an NHL level.

While it’s not a guarantee that he will be a consistent piece of this roster for the entirety of this next season, with the price that the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed him for, he will definitely get a chance to compete against someone like Timothy Liljegren.

What does this mean for Tyson Barrie?

Tyson Barrie has had a pretty polarizing first season with the Toronto Maple Leafs after being acquired this past offseason in exchange for fan favourite Nazem Kadri. Up until this year, Barrie had been a consistently solid, point-producing offensive-defensemen with the Colorado Avalanche, but recorded just 5 goals and 39 points through 70 games with the Maple Leafs.

Though it should be noted that Barrie was the fourth highest scoring defenseman in the NHL at 5v5 from the day Sheldon Keefe was hired.

As Barrie approaches free agency, many questions have been raised in regards to his value to the Toronto Maple Leafs. While there is no question that Barrie was great on the power play as a facilitator in the absence of Morgan Rielly, Toronto has a number of young defensemen that will be competing for jobs next season, who can provide the same, if not more value to their core at both ends of the ice.

This signing, in addition to his unexpected asking price, adds to the long list of reasons why the Toronto Maple Leafs should not re-sign Tyson Barrie.

More than anything, this signing should make fans excited because the Toronto Maple Leafs have now established themselves as a top destination for free agents, which could make for a very exciting offseason ahead.