Why Did the Toronto Maple Leafs Walk Away From Jeremy Bracco?
Jeremy Bracco was once a player that had potential to make an impact for the Toronto Maple Leafs at the NHL level. Yet, he never appeared in a single game for the Leafs and was ultimately granted free agency last week when he wasn’t given a qualifying offer.
Bracco was the Leafs second round pick, 61st overall, in the 2015 draft. Prior to getting drafted, he spent time with the United States National Development Team where in 2014-15, he put up 62 points in 41 games.
For the 2015-16 season, he played for the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL where he got 64 points (21 goals and 43 assists) in 49 games. In 2016-17, he spent time with the Rangers and Windsor Spitfires where he scored 25 goals with 58 assists for a whopping 83 points in 57 games. (hockeydb.com).
Toronto Maple Leafs and Jeremy Bracco
In his first AHL season which came in 2017-18, he scored only six goals in 50 games but did get 26 assists.
In his second season with the Toronto Marlies, he had a great season where he got 79 points, 22 goals and 57 assists in 75 games. During the season as well as at the conclusion, steam started to pickup in regards to Bracco potentially being on the NHL roster.
Bracco ultimately was never called up and started the 2019-20 season in the minors and stayed there for the course of the campaign where he posted 34 points, scoring only four goals in 44 games.
While Bracco never appeared in a single game for the Leafs, he potentially could have been a decent bottom six forward playing the wing on the third or fourth line. He could have also been a cheap option as well which would have helped the Leafs with their cap situation. While making more than the league minimum of $700,000, he was making less than $1 million.
When it came time to deciding who to extend a qualifying offer to, Kyle Dubas determined that Bracco wasn’t worth an offer which ultimately made him a free agent. The Leafs determined that with a 50 contract limit, they had better options.
Some fans have speculated that if the Leafs never planned on calling him up, they could have explored the trade market for him for defensive help or picks. Or if Dubas wasn’t going to give him a qualifying offer, they could have traded him for a late draft pick instead of having him walk for nothing, but obviously the Leafs attempted to do that. They aren’t just going to lose assets for nothing, so I think we can clearly determine that there just wasn’t a market for Bracco.
With Bracco now a free agent, my guess would be that a rebuilding team, say like the New Jersey Devils, would pick him up and take a flier on him. Those kind of teams have nothing to lose by giving a former prospect an opportunity in their organization.