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Toronto Maple Leafs: Adding Sam Gagner Isn’t the Worst Idea Ever

By Luke Ryan

TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 30: Sam Gagner #89 of the Detroit Red Wings skates against Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on October 30, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Maple Leafs defeated the Red Wings 5-4. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 30: Sam Gagner #89 of the Detroit Red Wings skates against Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on October 30, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Maple Leafs defeated the Red Wings 5-4. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /
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Sam Gagner is the latest name to find himself linked with the Toronto Maple Leafs and they could certainly do worse than pursuing the 32 year-old forward.

A journeyman with just one 50-point season in his career isn’t the usual Toronto Maple Leafs target, but Sam Gagner has more to offer than that.

Firstly, he’s good mates with Maple Leafs captain John Tavares, which you’d assume would make for a great locker-room fit.

More importantly though, he offers a lot more than limited point production on the ice; namely 31 points in 81 games. He could slot in on the fourth line while offering plenty more on special teams.

What Value Could Sam Gagner Bring To The Toronto Maple Leafs?

Last season, Sam Gagner was routinely out on the Detroit Red Wings’ penalty-kill. In fact only the Leafs’ own David Kampf, Pierre-Edouarde Bellemare of Tampa and the Nashville pair of Colton Sissons and Tanner Jeannot saw more penalty-kill time league-wide.

Adding Gagner to the Toronto Maple Leafs fourth line would be a perfect landing spot for his skillset. Much like Jason Spezza brought extra value on the powerplay, this is a fourth liner that can bring something on special teams.

The Toronto Maple Leafs would also be able to add Sam Gagner to their second powerplay unit; he saw 52 minutes on the Red Wings’ powerplay last year, so it’s certainly not out of the question.

The comments coming from Kyle Dubas at the locker-room clean out certainly suggest that we will see some promotion from within the organization but that doesn’t mean Gagner would be a bad fit.

Adding his skill and experience to the fourth line, especially the special teams element, are possibly factors that the likes of Nick Abrusezze, Alex Steeves and Joey Anderson don’t quite bring to the table yet.

Adding Gagner would be adding experience to the bottom-six at a time when we should expect a bit of a makeover. In fact, there’s no guarantees that any of the fourth line returns with Jason Spezza retiring and Wayne Simmonds looking somewhat done.

Thankfully for the Maple Leafs, the days of Sam Gagner earning $4.8 million per season with the Edmonton Oilers are long gone.

In fact, if we look at the last contract he signed; his one-year deal with the Red Wings was only paying $850,000 per season; just $100,000 more than the league minimum.

It’s very reasonable to think that Sam Gagner would sign for the Toronto Maple Leafs at a league minimum rate, especially with his friendship with the team captain. At $750,000 per season, he’s still a better bet than taking a risk on some of the team’s younger prospects.

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All in all, adding some experience both to the bottom line and penalty-kill would not be a bad move at all; now it’s up to the Toronto Maple Leafs captain to win over his former teammate. After all, he could likely pick up a pay rise by staying in Detroit.

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