Last year, the Toronto Maple Leafs ultimately reaped the benefits of giving veteran Max Pacioretty a chance by offering him to a professional tryout prior to the 2024-25 NHL season. After a strong showing during the preseason, Pacioretty eventually was signed to a one-year contract. Despite a somewhat underwhelming regular season, the signing paid huge dividends in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 36-year-old veteran recorded three goals and five assists in 11 postseason games for the Leafs, helping them get past the Ottawa Senators in the gruelling first round series.
With that in mind, who could become this year’s version of Pacioretty with the Maple Leafs? Here, we will take a look at three candidates who the Leafs could sign to a professional tryout that could end up helping the team in a big way down the road.
Andreas Anthanasiou
It wasn’t too long ago when Andreas Athanasiou appeared to be on his way to become a legitimate star in the NHL following his 30-goal, 54-point campaign with the Detroit Red Wings back during the 2018-19 season. However, the COVID pandemic, along with a string of undisclosed injuries ultimately derailed his once-promising career.
Nevertheless, Athanasiou still only three years removed from his 2022-23 season with the Chicago Blackhawks in which he managed to post 20 goals and 20 assists for 40 points. As a result, he is still more than capable at providing valuable secondary scoring to any contender. Having spent the bulk of his 2024-25 campaign buried in the minors by the Blackhawks, Athanasiou should welcome the opportunity to get his career back on track after just turning the still young age of 31. The Leafs could provide him with that exact chance to show what he can do again on a PTO.
Craig Smith
For veteran forward Craig Smith, he had been both a consistent goal scorer and point producer for the most part throughout his NHL career. Smith has recorded five 20+ goal and nine 30+ point seasons while having plenty of playoff experience (83 total postseason games) over his extensive 14 years in the league.
However, Smith has been moving about during the past few seasons, including stops in Washington, Dallas, Chicago and Detroit in a desperate attempt to rediscover his niche and prior form. Last season, the 35-year-old veteran still registered nine goals and nine assists for 18 points in limited playing time with the Blackhawks and the Red Wings. As a result, with the ability to still score some key goals and deliver on the forecheck, the Leafs could take a flyer on Smith to see if he can revitalize his career with the Blue and White.
Matt Grzelcyk
Finally, the Maple Leafs for the most past struggled with production from their blue liners last season other than Morgan Rielly. As a result, it often made it easy for the opposition in terms of coverage in the defensive zone as they could focus on neutralizing the Toronto forwards without any serious threat from the point. Therefore, adding a potential puck-moving defenseman to enhance the Leafs’ offensive potential from the back end could do wonders for the club going forward.
With that in mind, giving free agent defenseman Matt Grzelcyk a PTO should be a no-brainer after the season he had with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2024-25. After spending his entire NHL career previously with the Boston Bruins, Grzelcyk put together a career year with the Penguins last season by recording one goal and 39 assists for 40 points in 82 games played. In doing so, he shattered his previous high of 26 points that he registered with the Bruins in 2022–23.
More importantly, 15 of the 40 points came with the man advantage, showing that Grzelcyk could potentially be an elite quarterback on the power play for the Leafs. With numerous teams still balking at offering the young 31-year-old a contract to date, it is time for Toronto to jump in and take advantage of the stagnant market and give the defenseman a shot at glory.