The TJ Brodie signing legitimized the Toronto Maple Leafs defense.
After signing a four-year $5M per season contract, TJ Brodie has helped give the Toronto Maple Leafs a legit two-year window at the Stanley Cup. With that addition, the Leafs top-four defenseman all make less than $5.7M.
If you look at the Leafs roster, they have seven of their top eight forwards and their top-five defenseman locked up for the next two years. The team will only have to worry about filling a few spots next off-season and they should be able to continue to attract veterans at a league minimum or sub in Entry Level Contracts towards the bottom-six.
There are only two players the Leafs need to worry about resigning next off-season that the team would hate to see leave: Zach Hyman and Freddie Andersen.
Based on the current economic circumstances, the Leafs may be able to get a bargain for both players, but most likely, one of those players would have to leave. Hopefully the team would be able to resign both, but my assumption is that the Leafs would rather keep Andersen than Hyman if they had to choose one.
The UFA goalie market in 2021 is very light, unlike this off-season, so it would be much harder to sign a starter. As much as the blue-collar, lunch-pail type of player is beloved in Toronto, Hyman is much more replaceable. He’s a great talent and I love watching him every night, but you can find another winger who can go retrieve pucks for Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander easier than you can find a starting goaltender.
Toronto Maple Leafs Are Set Up For a Two-Year Run
The biggest thing the Toronto Maple Leafs needed to address this off-season was defense and that’s exactly what they did with Brodie. Toronto hasn’t had a solid top-four defense in forever and knowing the team has that for two years is special. We can’t assume Morgan Rielly will resign in two years, so the window is only open as long as he stays in Toronto.
Even the defense after the top four (Jake Muzzin, Morgan Rielly, Justin Holl, TJ Brodie) is solid. Zach Bogosian, Rasmus Sandin, Travis Dermott and Mikko Lehtonen all have potential of being top-four defenseman themselves, so the ability to have so much depth gives the Leafs a huge advantage.
Not only is the defense intact, but like I mentioned before, the forwards are set. The big boys (besides Hyman) are all signed for the next two years, so the team only has to worry about playing “Musical Chairs” for the fourth-line. However, as long as the core-four stays in place and the Leafs keep making the playoffs every year, veteran players will want to come to Toronto.
The Toronto Maple Leafs organization is one of the best to play for, even when their record is terrible, so the team will never have an issue with recruiting.
It’s awesome not to worry about contracts and instead know that the Leafs are set for the next few years. I can’t wait to see what this team looks like on the ice and hope hockey starts sooner than later.