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3 Free Agent Left-Wingers Toronto Maple Leafs Should Sign

By Stephen Nixon

DENVER, COLORADO - JUNE 02: Brandon Saad #20 of the Colorado Avalanche celebrates with his teammates after scoring against the Vegas Golden Knights during the first period in Game Two of the Second Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Ball Arena on June 2, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
DENVER, COLORADO - JUNE 02: Brandon Saad #20 of the Colorado Avalanche celebrates with his teammates after scoring against the Vegas Golden Knights during the first period in Game Two of the Second Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Ball Arena on June 2, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – MARCH 9: The Toronto Maple Leafs trio of Zach Hyman #11, Mitchell Marner #16 (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – MARCH 9: The Toronto Maple Leafs trio of Zach Hyman #11, Mitchell Marner #16 (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

The Toronto Maple Leafs left-wing position is bleak now that Zach Hyman is leaving, so they need to upgrade it in free agency.

In a dream world, the Toronto Maple Leafs would sign Alexander Ovechkin and that would fix all of their problems, but they don’t have $10M-plus to sign him and he’s not leaving the Washington Capitals. So instead, the team needs to sign a cheap-ish top-six winger to play with the team’s core-four.

The reason Zach Hyman was such a perfect fit in Toronto was because of his work-ethic. He had the desire to fetch the puck and play a role that not many NHLers want to do.

Since Hyman was so good at that role, it essentially made him unaffordable for the Leafs. His work-ethic is very desirable and he’s going to be a great fit beside Connor McDavid in Edmonton. It’ll be hard to replace him, but there are a few good options in free agency who may be able to do it.

If you’re a free agent this offseason and you have a chance to play beside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner for the foreseeable future, you’d have to jump on it right? Even if you’re taking a pay-cut, the future benefits have to outweigh the extra money you could make in a different market.

Hyman turned into a 30-goal scorer playing beside those guys and any hard-working player with a little bit of skill should be able to do the same. Those two are so dynamic that it will open up so much space for that incoming left-winger to score a ton of unattested goals.

Every RFA/UFA left-winger should be chomping at the bit to play in Toronto, because it’ll make them a very wealthy man down the road, similar to what happened with Hyman.

As such, here are three free agent left-wingers who the Toronto Maple Leafs should target this offseason.

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