How are former members of the Toronto Maple Leafs doing on their new teams?
It about that time to check in on how some former Maple Leafs are performing this season
With the month of October almost done, the Toronto Maple Leafs have produced a mixed bag of results so far in their 2024-25 NHL season. They were off to a strong start, with solid defense and goaltending leading the way to their impressive 4-2-0 record in their first six games.
However, it appeared as though the effective system that had been working for the Toronto Maple Leafs had fallen a little apart in the past week. As a result, they had dropped their last three games, including a heartbreaker in overtime to the Boston Bruins this past weekend. In doing so, it has brought their record down to a more modest 4-4-1 record.
Looking back to this past offseason, the Maple Leafs actually lost many players that played a significant part on the team last season to free agency.
So how are those former Leafs players doing with their respective new teams so far this season? Would any of them have looked good had they stayed with the current Maple Leafs team? Let’s take a look at their performances thus far in the 2024-25 NHL season.
How are members of the 2023-24 Toronto Maple Leafs doing on their new teams?
Tyler Bertuzzi
Tyler Bertuzzi ended up being with the Leafs for just one season last year. Following a slow first half of the season, Bertuzzi’s game really took off after he was put on a line with Auston Matthews and Max Domi. In the end, he put up 21 goals, 22 assists for 43 points, which was his greatest offensive output since his career year in 2021-22 when he registered 30 goals and 62 points with the Detroit Red Wings.
With Bertuzzi looking for a bigger deal with term this time around, the Chicago Blackhawks signed him to a four-year, $22 million contract during free agency this past offseason. Given the opportunity to play with the likes of Connor Bedard and Taylor Hall, Bertuzzi has been a disappointment so far with the Blackhawks, recording just 2 goals in nine games played to date despite averaging greater than 16 minutes of ice time per night. That actually put him outside the top ten in team scoring with Chicago. He will need to pick up his game soon before he gets pushed further down the lineup as a result.
Noah Gregor
Noah Gregor was a surprise contributor on the fourth line for the Leafs early on last season. Through his first 28 games, Gregor had 5 goals and 2 assists for 7 points while playing a key role on the Leafs penalty kill as well. However, he would only record one more goal in his next 35 games and eventually became a non-factor as his ice time decreased drastically towards the end of the season.
After signing with the Ottawa Senators to a one-year, $850,000 deal this past offseason, Gregor was given the opportunity to star in their top-six with Josh Norris and Drake Batherson to start the season. However, he failed to stick as he has been recently relegated back to the third line. For the season, Gregor has only recorded one goal so far and is already behind last year’s pace.
T.J. Brodie
T.J. Brodie spent the past four seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs after signing as a free agent during the 2020 offseason. Brodie had been a dependable, defensive stalwart for the Leafs for much of the first three years with the team, but took a step backwards during the past season when he struggled with his play.
Nevertheless, he gave the Leafs the opportunity to be competitive by anchoring the back end during the time when they needed defensive stability the most. In total, Brodie posted 8 goals and 74 assists for 82 points in his four seasons with Toronto.
Brodie moved on to the Blackhawks this past offseason on a two-year, $7.5 million deal to help stabilize a young, rebuilding club with his veteran presence. To date, he has played mainly in the bottom two pairings and has recorded just 2 assists in 9 games to date.
However, with a CF% of only 45% and an expected goals rate of just 46% in 5-on-5 situations, his play has been steadily declining for the second straight season.
Ilya Lyubushkin
Ilya Lyubushkin was acquired by the Maple Leafs near the trade deadline last season in a three-team trade with the Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes. In bringing back Lyubushkin for a second stint, the Leafs hoped he could add back some “boom” in their back end, but they did not and Lyubushkin was a liability.
He was never going to be a huge factor on offense, but he still managed 4 assists in 19 games during the regular season and another surprising 3 assists in just 7 games during the playoffs. More importantly, he hurt the team because his addition meant that a better puck mover wasn't playing, and this ultimately was the Leafs undoing.
Luckily, the Dallas Stars made a ridiculous three-year contract offer worth a whopping $9.75 million and the Leafs did not bring him back. Predictably, Lyubushkin has struggled to start the 2024-25 NHL season. In nine games to date, he has been held scoreless with just four shots on goal. More significantly, he is currently averaging just one hit per game, which is way below his career average of 2.4 hits per game. With his physicality being his main calling card, the Stars will need more out of the six-foot-two monster in the long run to get true value from his contract.
Joel Edmundson
The Leafs added Joel Edmundson from the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline last season, with delusinal hopes that his strong aggressive defensive play would come in handy come playoff time.
However, an undisclosed injury ended up keeping him on the sidelines in all but nine games during the regular season. He would be held scoreless during those nine games, while adding just one assist in seven games during the playoffs, and hurting the Leafs ability to move the puck and contributing to the inept offensive performance that eventually led to their elimination.
Edmundson landed a massive four-year, $15.2 million contract with the Los Angeles Kings this past offseason. Thus far, he has been impressive both offensively and defensively. Edmundson has scored 2 goals and recorded 2 assists for 4 points in just seven games while registering 15 blocks and 14 hits with only 4 giveaways while playing in their top-four. Even with his strong play to date, the Leafs were right to let him walk.
Ilya Samsonov
Ilya Samsonov had a tumultuous two seasons with the Maple Leafs. After posting career-best numbers in wins (27), GAA (2.33) and save percentage (.919) in his first year with the club, he somehow struggled mightily to start the 2023-24 season.
His struggles became so prominent that he was even placed on waivers at one point in time so that they could send him to the Marlies to work on his game. Samsonov did manage to come back later and salvaged his season by finishing strong.
However, his overall numbers were still somewhat disappointing despite posting 23 wins, as he compiled a 3.13 GAA and .890 save percentage in 40 games played. More significantly, he was overtaken by Joseph Woll during the playoffs when he struggled once again against the Bruins.
With that, the Leafs decided to move on from Samsonov and turned to Woll as their main man going forward while picking up Anthony Stolarz in free agency. Samsonov would eventually land in Las Vegas with the Golden Knights on a one-year, $1.8 million deal to be their backup. However, he has surprised so far in his four games to date, posting a solid 3-0-1 with a 2.21 GAA and .932 save percentage.
In doing so, he has outshone starter Adin Hill by a wide margin and looks to receive more starts going forward after starting three of the past four games. So it appears that all Samsonov needed was a change of scenery to rediscover his game. He sure would have looked good if still in a Leafs uniform, but at least Stolarz has made it more palatable. (All stats from hockey-reference.com and naturalstattrick,com and all salaries from Puckpedia.com)
The Others
As for veterans Martin Jones, John Klingberg and Mark Giordano, they have all yet to find new homes for the 2024-25 NHL season and are still currently hoping for a new deal.
Jones helped backstop the Leafs through the toughest part of their 2023-24 season to keep them afloat when Woll went down to an injury while Samsonov was ineffective at the same time. In the case for Giordano, his game began to slow down over the course of the season as Father Time was finally catching up to him. Added to some ill-timed injuries along the way, he never ended up seeing any action for the Leafs during the playoffs as he had eventually fallen out of favour.
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As for Klingberg, he was lost for almost the entire 2023-24 season when he underwent season-ending hip surgery in December of 2023. As a result, having played just 14 games for the Leafs, he never really had the chance to really show what he could provide to the team in the end as he became just a failed experiment.