Toronto Maple Leafs Should Chase Evgenii Dadonov In Free Agency

The Toronto Maple Leafs are set to make significant changes to their roster and Evgenii Dadonov could be someone worth considering this off-season.

Free agency kicks off on October 9th and the Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to be very active, with trades still likely on the horizon – with players such as Andreas Johnsson and Alex Kerfoot regularly mentioned as pieces available.

The Leafs need to make serious improvements to their defensive corps, but if they trade away the aforementioned players, then some new additions will also be needed to their forwards group and one impending UFA could be the perfect addition.

Evgenii Dadonov has spent the past three seasons playing with the Florida Panthers and, at the age of 31, he could be searching for a team where he has a higher chance of winning the Stanley Cup before the end of his career.

Dadonov and Leafs an Ideal Match

Andreas Johnsson has at times played a top-six role for the Leafs since making the jump up to the NHL, but he has struggled with injuries this past year with injuries and was overtaken by Ilya Mikheyev on the depth chart.

If Johnsson goes, the Leafs need to find a guy that can fill the void and Dadonov could potentially do that, and then some, even potentially finding a role on the second line thanks to his penchant for scoring goals.

Since making his return to the NHL three seasons ago, the Russian wing has scored no less than 25 goals in each of those seasons, with a high of 28 in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 campaigns – Dadonov was also on pace to score between 29 and 30 goals this season had a full 82 games been played. (Stats via Hockey Reference)

His consistent play will undoubtedly bring the Russian plenty of interest in free agency, but the flat cap that the league will have for the next couple of seasons could mean that he won’t be able to land a big pay day that he could in any ordinary year.

Already 31, Dadonov is coming off a three-year deal that paid him an AAV of $4 million and this could be around the price he signs for if he opts to leave the Panthers and seek playoff success, but this is where the Leafs could become an interesting option for him.

Johnsson’s current deal holds an AAV of $3.4 million, while Kerfoot’s is $3.5 million – a combined $6.9 million if the Leafs do decide to move on from the pair to facilitate their desired roster alterations.

Fitting Dadonov into the roster on a front-loaded deal holding a value around $4 million a year could be feasible for the Toronto Maple Leafs, giving the player guaranteed money up front, putting him into a roster that is far closer to competing than he has been in with Florida, while also keeping costs low.

Adding a player such as Dadonov could see the Leafs  high-end offense perform even higher than it already does, adding 25-30 goals instantly and potentially forcing Mikheyev into accepting a cheaper deal due to his expected reduced role – something that would add depth further down the line-up and support the team with depth scoring.

Dadonov would be a direct replacement for Johnsson, but is of a higher quality at this moment in time and would be more of a ‘we need to win now’ kind of statement signing.

Defense is understandably the focus of improvements this off-season, but that can be done without breaking the bank and would allow the Leafs to add another quality forward that could be the difference when it comes down to it in the playoffs.