#1. Barclay Goodrow
By the way people were talking about Goodrow during the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Stanley Cup run, you’d think that he was Wayne Gretzky.
After controversially trading a first-round pick to acquire Goodrow, it clearly worked out because the Lightning won the Stanley Cup. In a way, the Toronto Maple Leafs are eerily similar to the Tampa Bay Lightning and a player like Goodrow could be a great addition for them.
Goodrow doesn’t provide much offensively (his career high is eight goals), but it’s everything else that makes him so desirable. He’s a great penalty-killer, hits a lot and is always defensively responsible. He may not score a ton, even paired beside Matthews and Marner, but he’s going to make that line better defensively.
The other thing that makes Goodrow such a good potential signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs, is because he’s from Toronto. After winning a Stanley Cup in Tampa, he may be comfortable there, but the desire to win a Stanley Cup in his hometown could be worth leaving.
Currently making $925K per season, I still can’t see anyone paying more than $2.5M for his services, which is right in the wheelhouse for the Toronto Maple Leafs. In Free Agency, people pay for goals and Goodrow isn’t that type of player, so Toronto could get a steal if they wanted to acquire him.
Although Goodrow is typically a third-line winger, he could make the Toronto Maple Leafs top-line much better defensively and may be able to chip in 15 goals per season if everything went right.