On Saturday, amidst a flurry of bigger moves, the Toronto Maple Leafs made a low key signing.
While the Toronto Maple Leafs weren’t turning any heads when they inked Travis Boyd to a one year deal for the league minimum, they did add a solid depth player to their roster.
Travis Boyd is a right-shooting forward who has just signed a one year, $700,000 contract with the Leafs. While Boyd may be a new face in the Leafs lineup, he certainly isn’t a stranger. He played three seasons of collegiate hockey with Justin Holl in Minnesota and one season with former Leaf Connor Carrick on the U.S. National Development Team.
He should provide some solid depth to the lineup.
Toronto Maple Leafs Travis Boyd
Boyd was the youngest player available at the 2011 NHL Draft when he was selected 117th overall by the Washington Capitals. He chose to go the collegiate route and played four seasons with Justin Holl in Minnesota, blossoming in his final two seasons. After struggling with consistency as a freshman and sophomore, Boyd won a Big Ten Championship in the 2014–15 season and was named to the Big Ten second All-Star team.
Travis Boyd, signed league min by TOR, is the bane of my existence because he has hilariously juiced WAR because on on-ice shooting luck. He's a depth centre. #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/NpCT4djZ14
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) October 10, 2020
Upon concluding his collegiate career, Boyd joined the AHL’s Hershey Bears, recording one goal and one assist in two games. He would remain in Hershey for three more seasons before finally making his NHL debut on December 4, 2017, due to injuries to the Capitals regular line up. This would become a regular occurrence for Boyd, who often only made the lineup in injuries wreaked havoc. Although he consistently put up high numbers in the AHL, Boyd has struggled to stay in the lineup in the NHL, playing in parts of three seasons for Washington.
Boyd is a depth player at the NHL level, but he is the kind of solid AHL player that typically does well on the fourth line of an NHL team. Much like Adam Brooks, Nick Shore, Garrett Wilson, Nic Petan, or Kenny Agostino, Boyd can step into an NHL lineup and put up decent numbers even if he doesn’t score. He’s probably never going to blow you away, but as Kyle Dubas has made very clear in his tenure as the Leafs GM, you can never have enough of these players.
Obviously we shouldn’t expect big things from Boyd, but the Leafs clearly believe he is superior to Freddie Guatheir, whom they let walk on Friday.
I think Leaf fans have a lot to look forward to with Boyd and think he’s a great addition to the team.