4 Players the Toronto Maple Leafs Should NOT Re-Sign
The Toronto Maple Leafs had another disappointing season and as a result, there are a few pending free agents they should move on from.
Within the entire Toronto Maple Leafs organization, there are 24 pending free agents (unrestricted and restricted combined). As we previously spoke about, there are a few players the team should 100 percent re-sign, but there are number they should immediately walk away from.
During Kyle Dubas’ era, the team hasn’t had any issues with walking away from pending free agents, without getting in return for them. The organization has gone with the “in-house rental” approach, with full intentions that they would be in a better position letting “x player” walk away at the end of his contract, instead of trading an asset for them.
That approach is good and bad. When it’s a depth forward who performs poorly and walks away from the organization for nothing, it stings. However, when that player is someone like Jason Spezza, who helps you in the playoffs, it’s worth keeping them.
The Leafs signed a number of players to one-year deals last off-season, and for the most part, they underperformed.
As a result, there’s going to be a ton of turnover next year, as the Leafs continue to look for that perfect recipe. Unfortunately, due to salary-cap concerns, the organization will have to to find diamonds in the rough, but at least they can wash their hands with some of the players they signed last year and hope for a better result.
Building a veteran lineup is important, but what’s most important, is that they show up in the playoffs. Unfortunately, the players we’re about to speak about didn’t do much in the playoffs, and although they’re not the sole reason as to why the Leafs failed this year, they didn’t do much to help.
Here are four players the Toronto Maple Leafs should not re-sign this offseason.
No. 1: Wayne Simmonds
I loved the acquisition of Simmonds and the idea of bringing in a player who can score, fight and be a leader in the room. In 38 games, he scored seven goals and added 45 penalty minutes, which was exactly what we all hoped for.
For a fourth-line winger, you really can’t ask for much more than that during the regular season.
However, during the Leafs seven games in the playoffs, I was disappointed in his play. I thought Simmonds would play a huge role in disturbing Montreal’s best players and would have a real impact on the series.
However, in the seven game series, he only had two penalty minutes, and those minutes came with 20 seconds left in Game 2. I know the NHL has changed but I thought he would have got in at least one fight to spark the team while they were down, or get in a few more scrums that would result in a coincidental penalty.
Simmonds needed to be an energy guy to get the team motivated and should have been someone that we all noticed during Game 6 and Game 7 of the series. Instead, he was invisible and didn’t play like the player we expected.
If Simmonds returns, it would only make sense at a number below $1M, but the team cannot afford to give him $1.5M again.
No. 2: Nick Foligno
If the Boston Bruins make the Stanley Cup Finals, there will be a ton of debate as to why the Toronto Maple Leafs gave up a first-round pick for Foligno, while they could have gotten Taylor Hall for a second-round pick, instead.
When the trade was made, Foligno made sense. He was a veteran who could play wing and centre and was someone who everyone thought would chip in with a few goals. Unfortunately, he played through an injury and in the 11 games he played with the Leafs, he went goal-less, while contributing five assists.
Foligno is coming off a six-year, $33M contract and although he probably won’t fetch that type of money in free agency, he’s going to be looking for a contract that is out of Toronto’s price-range.
The idea of having someone like Foligno on the team makes sense, but the execution never happened. He was a leader in Game 1 when John Tavares went down, but his injury stuck him on the fourth-line by Game 7.
Giving up a first-round pick for a fourth-line player is a difficult pill to swallow but that’s unfortunately something the Leafs will have to live with.
Based on the amount of money that Foligno will be asking for, and the fact that he didn’t do much during his short-stint in Toronto, it wouldn’t make sense to explore a contract with him and the team should let him walk in free agency.
No. 3: Freddie Andersen
The rise and fall of Freddie Andersen was pretty quick in Toronto. His five-year, $5M AAV contract was a steal when he was acquired by Anaheim, but he was eventually replaced by a goalie who had never been a starter before.
When you’re constructing a hockey team in the salary-cap world, it’s incredibly important to get as much value out of your players, especially when you have four forwards making $40M combined. Now that the team trusts Jack Campbell as their starting goalie, it makes zero sense to re-sign Andersen, as his number will be way too high.
Campbell makes $1.65M, which is a steal for a number-one goalie, so they can now use the $5M that they were paying Andersen, on a cheap 1B netminder and spread the money throughout the lineup.
At 31-years-old, Andersen still has a lot of hockey left in him, and personally, I think he’s going to perform well wherever he goes. His workload and injuries have been a huge concern with Toronto and it’s really hurt his play on the ice.
If he uses the offseason to rehab and finds himself in a tandem situation where he only has to play 40 games per year, I think he would be very useful. However, the Game 7 baggage and his high price-tag is too much for Toronto to consider re-signing him, when they value Jack Campbell so highly.
No. 4: Joe Thornton
The Joe Thornton experiment went the exact same way as the Patrick Marleau situation did and as a result, the team should move on from him.
Thornton is one of the most beloved players in NHL history. His jovial demeanor and big beard makes him a fan-favorite and it’s impossible not to root for him. However, he’s not the player he once was. He’s going to be 42-years-old in July and played like someone his age during the regular season and most of the playoffs.
Kudos to Jumbo, as he did turn on his game during the last two weeks of the season and scored more goals than Mitch Marner in the playoffs, but he should retire. He showed flashes of his old-self, but more times than not, he wasn’t any good.
If he’s so important in the room, then they should sign him as an assistant coach to replace Manny Malhotra. Put him on the bench every night beside Sheldon Keefe and let Thornton run the powerplay. He’ll still be able to get the boys fired up in the room and will have an impact on the result.
Toronto has Nick Robertson, Adam Brooks, Joey Anderson and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev in-house who can replace Thornton at the same price as him, as well as many other players in free agency who could fill his role.
Next. 3 Big Changes Leafs Need to Make. dark
As much fun as it was to see him in a Leafs jersey, unless they convert him to coach, they need to let him walk away from the organization immediately.