Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 UFA’s Still Available After Day One

The Toronto Maple Leafs still have a ton of moves to make after Day One of Free Agency

The Toronto Maple Leafs needed to upgrade their team in free agency and seem to have accomplished that by adding T.J Brodie to the roster on Friday evening.

The team made one other move during the first day of free agency. They signed Wayne Simmonds to a one-year $1.5M contract, which in my opinion, was a great signing.

Simmonds is someone who adds toughness, grit and a will to win. He’s from Scarborough, ON and has always wanted to play in his hometown, so by coming to the Leafs, he’s going to do everything to help this team win. Similar to what Jason Spezza brought last year, don’t be shocked if it’s Simmonds this time dropping the gloves during a tight playoff series.

Adding toughness and depth at the forward position was always something the Leafs wanted to do. However, defense is the number-one concern for this team and there’s still a number of different options at how to upgrade that.

The addition of Brodie helps, but if the Leafs want to get harder to play against, as they have repeatedly said they do, they may need to add another defenseman who brings some sandpaper to the lineup.

As much as you’d like for those players to be important pieces to Toronto’s success next year, we can’t guarantee it’s going to happen. In order to win a Stanley Cup, you need eight defenseman you can rely on. Throughout the playoffs, people get injured and someone you didn’t think would play big minutes, all of a sudden is needed.

If you look at the Tampa Bay Lightning this year, Luke Schenn was someone who went from 7th or 8th defenseman to playing 11 playoff games and someone Jon Cooper relied on and trusted. The Leafs may look to add someone similar.

Speaking of which, here are three players still available in Free Agency that the Leafs should target.