Who Should the Toronto Maple Leafs Pursue in Free Agency: Roundtable

Jordan Maresky

One free-agent Kyle Dubas should instantly target whenever the 2020 offseason begins is TJ Brodie.

Watching him play, his puck-moving skills are fantastic. He has a tremendous first pass and the proficient skating skills to jump up in the rush on a breakout.

With the high-powered offence Toronto has, it is important to have skilled players on the backend that complement the big-name forwards – something Brodie does strongly.

He ranks in the 97th percentile and the 91st percentile in secondary assist and estimated shot assists rates respectively (stats from mapleleafshotstove). Although Brodie has above-average offensive skills, his best work is in the defensive end.

Back in January of 2019, Sportsnet released an article trying to identify the league’s best defensive defensemen. TJ Brodie was named in the top 10, with the authors citing his monstrous ability to “remove the puck from his opponents”.

Furthermore, Brodie’s play driving is excellent. Specifically, his expected goals against suppression, ranking in 89th percentile league-wide (stats from mapleleafshotstove). TJ Brodie is exactly what the Toronto Maple Leafs need – a skilled top four defensemen, who can play against the opposing teams’ best players.

Brodie ranks in the 85th percentile in heavy ice time facing elite forwards (stat from mapleleafshotstove), and logs a ton of minutes in the defensive end – for his career, Brodie has started 52% of his faceoffs in the defensive end (stat from hockey-reference).

For what it is worth, Toronto’s best defensive defensemen, Jake Muzzin, has started 52% of his faceoffs in the defensive end in his career with Toronto (stat from hockey-reference).

Shaun Filippelli

This Toronto Maple Leafs team has focused on building blocks of youth. It’s working and will continue to. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t benefit from adding some talented veteran experience into the mix.

Signing Jason Spezza the last offseason proved to be a successful experiment and he deserves to be re-signed, if under the same stipulations of a minimum salary and commitment. Spezza can keep playing to prove himself, with little risk to the team.

And now there’s another UFA that could be available, who Toronto should certainly consider. Coincidentally, he’s also 37 years old and was selected in the same 2001 draft when Spezza was picked 2nd overall.

There’s only one ranking better than that.

Ilya Kovalchuk was the 1st overall pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. He could be a welcomed addition alongside Jason Spezza in a bottom-six role, as their experience demands respect and yet they continue to prove they have more left in them to give.

Both players are notably hard workers and bring a type of passion towards their hunger for winning that could prove to be the advantage this young Maple Leafs team needs.

It would require a very specific set of stipulations, which would need to be heavily in favour of the Toronto Maple Leafs, for this to make any sense. But I definitely think it’s a possibility.

For a short term contract and the right price, Toronto would benefit from allowing another proven veteran an opportunity to keep producing while helping this team win.

Read more on why I think the Toronto Maple Leafs should look at Ilya Kovalchuk as a viable option, in my expanded breakdown for Editor In Leaf.

Dylan Murphy

In terms of the UFA’s the Toronto Maple Leafs have, Jason Spezza is the one I’d like to retain.

I like what Clifford brings to the table, but I don’t like the idea of losing a 2nd round pick for the sake of re-signing a 4th liner.

Spezza, on the other hand, is a great veteran presence and still a fairly versatile player at his age, so he gets my vote, as long as the cap hit stays low.

As for UFAs outside of the organization, the Leafs will not be able to sign any. Cap space is a premium this team does not have, they already have to sell low on a player or 2 (Johnsson for a draft pick for instance) just to reach cap compliance for the 2020-21 season.

Although, like many, I would love it if they found a way to bring Joe Thornton on board for what will likely be his final season. Another strong veteran presence who could bolster PP2, he could also fill in as a 3rd line centre on occasion if Keefe wanted to continue the “Kerfoot as a winger” experiment.

Philip Van Riesen

As every hockey fan is aware of, the Toronto Maple Leafs Leafs biggest weakness is found on right defense. It almost feels as if the media has been talking about the right defense problem for the entirety of my life.

This unconventional season seems to come with one of the best UFA/free agency classes of underrated defensemen that can play the right side.

The most notable and likely the most expensive at the same time is TJ Brodie from the Flames whom the Leafs have shown interest in the past for and who is a solid top-4 guy any way you look at things.

Kevin Shattenkirk makes it at number two on the list as a potential target who is not talked about enough, especially considering he had a stellar season in Tampa Bay.

Based on some projections it would seem he would get a large pay raise after only signing for the near league minimum with Tampa, but his name seems under the radar and a bargain deal could be possible and while worthwhile.

Tim Heed comes again as a UFA option similar to a year ago today as a cheap option to sign, he probably isn’t the solidified top-4 defensemen that many may want but he seems to bring a good amount of value for what his contract will probably project to be.

Dylan DeMelo, my personal favourite option is coming off another strong season of playing on the top pairing with Ottawa and being one of the few bright spots on that team. He is severely underrated.

A player who has that gap control and has done extremely well playing against top competition is very intriguing.

Especially considering his name isn’t known to be a big one and he doesn’t put up a lot of points, his contract likely won’t be anything massive compared to the other players who are talked about more often.

I think the possibility of grabbing DeMelo in UFA is amazing, the Leafs could have their top right defensemen for 3 million dollars without giving away anyone would be a steal.

James Tanner

The Toronto Maple Leafs already signed the two best UFAs available for next season earlier this spring.

During the hiatus, the Leafs were busy.  They signed Alexander Barabanov, who they hope will be able to replace Ilya Mikheyev if they can’t sign him.

If they can sign Mikheyev, then Barabanov makes it easier to trade Johnsson and Kapanen.

On defense, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed the KHL defenseman of the year Mikko Lehtanen.

He is considered the best player in the world (except maybe Alexis Lafreniere) who is not currently in the NHL.

So with that in mind, the Leafs don’t need to sign a single UFA whenever free agency opens.  Their roster is set and they can sit this one out.

My Take

To me, this is an easy question to answer; Tyson Barrie.

Barrie has been on an audition with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the past season, while the start wasn’t promising, the last months before the league was postponed he played to his true potential.

Resigning Barrie would directly fill two needs the Toronto Maple Leafs have and have had for a long time – a top-pairing right-handed defenseman and a partner for Morgan Rielly.

Under Keefe Barrie proved to be a good fit for Rielly, why take the risk to experiment even further while so many bared no fruits at all.

Due to all the circumstances, I believe the projected annual value of $8,- million per year is not available for Barrie, GM’s will be careful given the circumstances, making it possible for Dubas to explore a short-term or long-term contract with Barrie.

Sadly, keeping Barrie would likely mean the Toronto Maple Leafs would have to trade Travis Dermott, but if that’s the price for keeping Barrie, I’ll gladly pay it.