How Ex Toronto Maple Leafs Did on Different Teams in 2019-20
Some Players did better on a Different Team than the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Every season and offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs see players come and go off their roster. For example, this offseason they brought in Wayne Simmonds, T.J. Brodie, Joe Thornton among others. While those are the new arrivals, they had to say bye to guys like Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci, Kasperi Kapanen, Andreas Johnsson and others.
From 2018-2019, the roster situation in bringing in new guys and letting others go was no different. While it was tough to let go of some players, it was done for the better of the franchise as they seek to win a Stanley Cup for the first time since 1967.
This article will look at players who played on the Leafs during the 2018-19 season but were not apart of the team for this past year. Specifically, it will compare how they did on their last season with the Leafs to their first season with their new team.
Nazem Kadri
Nazem Kadri was traded to the Colorado Avalanche as part of the trade that brought back Barrie. Prior to being traded, Kadri played in 73 games where he scored 16 goals with 28 assists along with spending 43 minutes in the penalty box. He took 184 shots on net, averaged 16:11 a night and recorded 85 hits.
In his first season in the Mile High City, he appeared in 51 games with 19 goals, 17 assists and spent a whopping 97 minutes in the box. He took 133 shots, averaged 17:26 on the ice and totaled 61 hits.
He had more points in the blue and white but took on more of a goal scoring role in Colorado.
Patrick Marleau
Patrick Marleau was originally signed to a three year, $18.75 million contract back in July 2017 but was traded away to clear cap space for guys like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and others for the Leafs to stay within the limit.
He was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes along with a first round pick (13th overall/Seth Jarvis) in the past draft along with a seventh rounder (Alexander Pashin) for a sixth round selection (Axel Rindell).
He ended up being bought out by the Hurricanes and returned to his longtime team in the San Jose Sharks on a one year deal.
In 2018-19 with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Marleau appeared in every single game scoring 16 goals with 21 assists while averaging 16:21 a game. He got 10 points on the powerplay and took 161 shots on net (all stats hockeyreference.com).
This past season with the Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins which he was traded to at the deadline, he appeared in 66 games with 11 goals and assists apiece but only one point came on the man advantage. In total, he took 117 shots and averaged 15:35 a night.
He did better in Toronto than he did with the Sharks and Penguins but what Marleau is really going for is the record for the most games played. He is 45 games short of surpassing a legend in Gordie Howe which he will hope to do in the upcoming season with the Sharks as he signed a one year deal with them this offseason.
Jake Gardiner
While a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Jake Gardiner was perhaps the biggest example of the worst tendencies of Toronto media and fans to choose an undeserving whipping boy to represent all of their problems with the team.
In 2018-19, he played in 62 games scoring three goals and helping on 27 for a total of 30 points. He registered five points on the powerplay and averaged 21:13 minutes on ice. He also got 61 hits and 64 blocks.
Last offseason, he signed with the Carolina Hurricanes for four years and $16.2 million but it took him a while to get a contract as he didn’t sign till September, a month before the season started.
In his first year in Raleigh, he played in 68 games scoring four goals with 20 assists with 11 of those points coming on the powerplay. He averaged 16:40 minutes of ice time a game and totaled 43 hits along with 42 blocks.
He had a better season in 2018-19 with the Maple Leafs than he did in 2019-20 with Carolina. In his last season with the Leafs, he got more assists, points, hits, blocks and was on the ice more often by close to five minutes than he did in his first season with the Hurricanes.
There have been rumors circulating that the Hurricanes are looking to move on from Gardiner after one year into his deal as they’re apparently making him available in trade talks.
Connor Brown
Connor Brown was seen as a young, quality player that the Toronto Maple Leafs could have employed for cheap with guys like Matthews, Marner and John Tavares taking up a good chunk of the cap.
That statement is true as in 2017, he signed a three year, $6.3 million deal as a restricted free agent. While the Leafs would have loved to keep him, they had to package to sweeten the pot as part of the deal to get rid of Nikita Zaitsev’s contract.
In his last season as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brown played in every single game scoring eight goals with 21 assists. He took 85 shots on net and averaged 13:48 a night playing on a bottom six role.
While the Etobicoke native may have been bummed out that he was traded away from his hometown team, it helped his career as he put up great numbers with the Ottawa Senators.
In 71 games played, he scored 16 goals with a career-high 27 assists for the most points in a single season for him with 43. He had a larger role with the Senators as he averaged 20:07 a contest and took 173 shots on net, 34 more shots than his previous career-high.
There’s no doubt that Brown had a better first year in Ottawa than he did in his last year in Toronto.
With his solid play in his first season on the other side of Ontario, the Senators just recently gave him a three year, $10.8 million deal.
Ron Hainsey
Unlike Brown who was traded to the Senators, Ron Hainsey signed with Ottawa as a free agent. He was brought in as a veteran presence on a young rebuilding Senators team.
In 2018-19 with the Leafs, Hainsey appeared in all games except one scoring five goals with 18 assists and averaged 20:18 a contest. He also averaged a shot a game while Mike Babcock inexplicably used him as a top pairing defender.
In his first season with the Senators, he played in 64 games scoring only one goal with 11 assists while averaging 20:41 a night. Throughout the whole season, he only took 43 shots on net but blocked 102 from opposing teams with 51 hits.
Hainsey had a better season in Toronto as he took on a bigger role while on the ice. At the age of 39, he is currently a free agent looking for a team to play for in the upcoming season.
Tyler Ennis
If you asked people if they knew that Tyler Ennis played on the Leafs, most people would have forgotten the fact as he was buried in the bottom of the depth chart.
2018-19 with the Leafs saw Ennis play in 51 games scoring 12 goals along with six assists while averaging just 9:56 a night. He took 81 shots on net and recorded 41 hits.
The 2019-20 season saw him spend time with the Senators and Edmonton Oilers where he had a breakout season. He played in 70 games scoring 16 goals, 21 assists while averaging 14:43 minutes of ice time. He took 159 shots on net with 96 hits.
He had a much better season with the Senators and Oilers than he did with the Leafs as he surpassed totals in all categories mentioned above.
His strong play lead him to signing an extension with the Oilers for $1 million for the upcoming season.
Nikita Zaitsev
After recording 36 points (four goals and 32 assists) in his rookie year back in 2016-17, former general manager Lou Lamoriello gave Nikita Zaitsev a seven year, $31.5 million contract.
That contract ended up being absolutely horrible as he never came close to replicating that kind of production and was ultimately shipped to Ottawa as a salary dump.
In his last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2018-19, Zaitsev appeared in 81 games scoring three goals and only helping on 11 while spending an average of 20:28 a night on the ice. He took 71 shots on goal but did get 139 hits and blocked 151 shots.
In his first season with Ottawa, he played in 58 games scoring a goal with 11 assists while averaging 22:09 a night on the ice. He took 64 shots on net while recording 108 hits and 121 blocks.
Despite averaging more ice time a night with the Senators, he had a better season with the Leafs. Leafs fans should be happy they were able to get rid of his contract as the Senators are stuck with paying him for another four years.
Par Lindholm
In 2018-19 with the Leafs, Lindholm scored only one goal along with 11 assists while averaging 11:27 of ice time. He got also got 60 shots on net.
While he spent majority of the 2018-19 season in Toronto, he played in four games in a Winnipeg Jets jersey where recorded an assist.
This past season, he played on the Boston Bruins where he appeared in 40 games with three goals and assists apiece while taking 35 shots on net and averaging 11:15 a night.
Next. Three Reasons the Leafs are a Better Team Next Season. dark
He played better in the blue and white (as well as the Jets) than he did with the Bruins as he had a bigger role offensively in 2018-19.
All in all, with the exception of Nazem Kadri, the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t really miss any of these players.