The Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to improve their team as much as possible this offseason, and one item on their free agent shopping list may be a new forward to play with John Tavares and William Nylander on their second line.
Alex Kerfoot played the majority of the season in that position and had a career year with 13 goals and 51 points in 82 games, but an upgrade at that spot may be what the Toronto Maple Leafs need to push them over the top.
There have also been a lot of rumours about a potential Alex Kerfoot trade since he joined the Leafs in 2019. If Kerfoot is moved, a replacement will be needed unless someone like Pierre Engvall or Nick Robertson can step into the role.
Beyond their obvious need to solidify their goaltending, another scoring forward may be their top priority.
10 Free Agent Forwards for the Toronto Maple Leafs Second Line
This list isn’t just a list of the top available free agent forwards. In the past, the Leafs have seemed unwilling to spend more than $3.5 million to fill the spot beside Tavares and Nylander, so players were chosen for this list that are projected to sign around that price-point or less.
Many players selected for this list have been involved in rumours revolving around the Toronto Maple Leafs and players that would be interesting adds if they joined the team.
Restricted Free Agents were excluded from the list since they are rarely signed by unmatched offer sheets.
A couple players that were close to being additions to this list were Ryan Strome and Andre Burakovsky, but ultimately, I decided that both players would most likely sign at a price beyond the Leafs budget.
Let’s start with a player that has filled this role before with the Toronto Maple Leafs:
(Stats and some information from Capfriendly and DobberHockey)