The Toronto Maple Leafs have the advantage of playing hockey in Canada’s biggest city in Canada’s most populated province. More kids grow up wanting to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs than any other team in the NHL.
This fact has helped them attract “Toronto boy” and “Ontario boy” free agents such as John Tavares, T.J. Brodie, Michael Bunting, Wayne Simmonds, Jason Spezza and Mark Giordano. Some players are even willing to accept a “hometown discount” to join the Toronto Maple Leafs.
For example, Michael Bunting became the NHL’s best point-per-dollar player (not on an entry level contract) this season after signing a two year deal worth an average of $950,000 per season. During the previous season, Jason Spezza was the NHL’s second best in that category while on a league minimum salary.
As I was writing this, the Toronto Maple Leafs extended Mark Giordano to a very team-friendly two year, $800k AAV deal. Could the Toronto Maple Leafs once again dip into the pool of Ontario-born free agents and take home a winner?
Top 10 UFA Ontario Boys for the Toronto Maple Leafs
Here are some of the top eligible unrestricted free agents for the 2022 offseason that were born in Ontario. These players could be re-signed by their current clubs at any time but would be available to sign with any team on July 13th if they don’t.
I’ll discuss where each player would fit on the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the likelihood of each player signing in Toronto. Some honourable mentions not on this list include Ben Chiarot, Colin Miller and Marc Staal.
Let’s start with a player who was kind of already a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs: