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.
#3. Chris Tanev
The 6-foot-2 right-shot defenseman most recently played with the Vancouver Canucks and would be a perfect addition to the Toronto Maple Leafs blue-line.
In a similar theme as the Simmonds signing, Tanev is also a Toronto native, so you’d hope the desire to return home would be something appealing for him. Toronto has all of the skill in the world, but they need a defensive defenseman like Tanev.
The only right-shot defensemen on the Leafs right now are: Justin Holl and Timothy Liljegren. Brodie plays the right side, but he shoots left. Lehtonen has the ability to play the right-side and so does the unsigned Travis Dermott. .
Tanev is a top-four defenseman on any NHL team and would be a perfect addition to eat up minutes alongside Jake Muzzin or Morgan Rielly. He would help slot the rest of the defense in a better position and would provide much defensive help to the penalty kill, as well.
One of the biggest strengths of Tanev’s game is his ability to block shots, as he finishing fourth in the NHL last season in that department with 159 blocks.
#2. Corey Perry
John Tavares, Spezza and Simmonds all decided to return home, so why not also chase Corey Perry for a cheap-deal? The Leafs forward positions are pretty set right now, but bringing in Perry could really help make Andreas Johnsson and Pierre Engvall even more expendable, clearing cap-space.
Perry signed for a $1.5M contract last year and showed during the playoffs that he still has a lot left in the tank. A fourth-line consisting of Spezza, Perry and Simmonds could be one of the best in the NHL. In 57 games this year, Perry had 21 points, so although the production was less than a normal season for him, he showed his capabilities in the Dallas Stars run to the Stanley Cup Finals.
In 27 playoff games, Perry matched his season total of five goals and had nine total points. It wasn’t his point total that jumped out though. His compete-level was at an all-time high and his will to win was something that can’t be measured. He showed that he was a player that didn’t want to lose and would do everything in his power to win his second Stanley Cup.
On a cheap contract, the former Hart Memorial Trophy winner would be a great addition to the Leafs and the longer he waits to sign could mean that his number gets cheaper by the minute.
#1. Alex Pietrangelo
We’ve been talking about Pietrangelo now for a year, hoping and praying that he would come to Toronto but the signing of T.J Brodie most likely brought that to an end.
Pietrangelo, though he may not be coming to Toronto, remains on the market as of this writing. I suppose there is some magical world where the Leafs also sign him on top of Brodie, but the salary cap most likely cannot accommodate that.
Some combination of Andersen, Hyman, Johnsson and Kerfoot would have to go for picks and prospects to make it happen, so it seems unlikely, if not down right impossible.
Born in King City, ON (only a few minutes from downtown Toronto), Pietrangelo has family in the area and may want to return home, unfortunately, for whatever reason the Leafs felt more comfortable going after Brodie. Pietrangelo would have been nice, but considering the cost, you can understand going with the sure thing, as perhaps if the Leafs waited for Pietrangelo to decide they could have lost out on both players.
So although it most likely will not results in Pietrangelo coming to the Leafs, it will be interesting to see where he does go when he brings this saga to an end.