The Toronto Maple Leafs Can Still Sign 3x Cheap Potential Stars

Toronto Maple Leafs UFA Cheap Star Options: Patrick Kane

Kane is only a year removed from a 90 point season, and he has multiple Stanley Cups and is still one of the most fun players in the NHL when he’s on.

Most Toronto Maple Leafs fans still probably remember the game he had back in March where he torched the Leafs for a goal and three assists.

Kane is likely going to be even better next year than he was last year (where he finished under a point per game for just the second time ever) because immediately after the off-season he had hip surgery.

Since he played for the Rangers right up until they were eliminated by the Devils in the playoffs, it’s basically a guarantee that he was playing hurt.  The drop off in points was pretty significant, so likely he was hurt for a while and this impacted his performance.

He is only 34, which for regular players is pretty old, but if you look at the elite-superstar hall of famers section of the NHL, there are a lot of them who were still stars while they were pushing 40.

Kane isn’t going to sign a deal until the season starts and he’s ready to play, as the recovery for his surgery is going to see him miss training camp.

This creates the perfect opportunity for the Toronto Maple Leafs who are in cap trouble and desperate for a bargain.

Kane presumably would love to play with Auston Matthews, and adding him to the lineup for a cool $1 million post-surgery show-me deal would work in everyone’s favour.

Under Kyle Dubas I don’t think the Leafs would have been interested in Kane (or Domi, or Bertuzzi for that matter) but under Treliving I think it’s going to happen.

Getting Patrick Kane at half the price of Cale Jarnkrok would go a long way to compensating for the fact that Tyler Bertuzzi makes $4 million more than Michael Bunting was getting for what promises to be extremely similar production.