#1. 2020 Off-Season Signings
The Toronto Maple Leafs were extremely busy this off-season and addressed a number of needs:
Signed/Re-Signed:
- Zach Bogosian
- Joe Thornton
- Wayne Simmonds
- T.J. Brodie
- Ilya Mikheyev
- Travis Dermott
- Jimmy Vesey
- Travis Boyd
- Alexander Barabanov
- Mikko Lehtonen
- Michael Hutchinson
The team struggled in their own zone, so the addition of Bogosian, Lehtonen and Brodie should make a huge difference. Not only did they upgrade the blue-line, but Simmonds and Thornton are two local-boys who will be huge depth/veteran additions to a young team.
The rest of the signings may seem small, but Barabanov, Vesey and Mikheyev could all be future 20-goal scorers in the NHL, while Boyd and Huchinson are two depth additions in case of emergency.
Overall, the team seems to be in a much better spot than they were in previous seasons. The Toronto Maple Leafs will still need to rely on the “core-four” but that’s a given. Your best players need to score in the biggest moments and if that doesn’t happen to any team, they’re not going to win.
The 2020-21 season will be the first true season in my opinion for Kyle Dubas. From now on, we can really start to criticize and evaluate the moves he’s made because he finally has the team he wanted to construct with the man he wanted to coach it. Overall, he’s definitely made a few tough moves, but these were five important decisions that he’s currently made as G.M.