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.