Maple Leafs have found their Bobby McMann replacement

The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed an undrafted NCAA free agent this week that is eeriely similar to a player they just sold at the trade deadline.

If the Maple Leafs were going to actually compete for anything worthwhile in the coming years, Bobby McMann would most likely still be on the team. Instead, as Toronto sinks down to the bottom of the standings and the power winger was sent off to the Seattle Kraken, traded for a pair of draft picks in a deadline deal.

But instead of being comfortable without having a player of his skillset on the team or possibly on the team in the near future, the Leafs signed what could be an easy fit directly out of college.

Leafs sign Bobby McMann replacement out of NCAA

Announced by the team on Wednesday, the Maple Leafs have signed winger Brandon Buhr out of Union College to his one-year, entry-level contract that will start next season. For the rest of this current campaign, he will report to the AHL's Toronto Marlies.

The Burnaby, BC native was still playing in the BCHL during his draft year and even when he left junior hockey and went to go play for Clarkson University to start his next step, he went back to the BCHL after 10 games. After a transfer to Union in 2023 and a stellar three years there, Buhr has now decided to take the biggest step of his career by going pro. And there's a massive opportunity for him.

Buhr was Elite Prospects' No. 4 undrafted NCAA free agent on their big board, as they praise him for some extremely projectable tools as a driver in the NHL.

"At the professional level, Buhr’s always-in-motion off-puck game and physicality will become even more valuable," they wrote. "He’s a battler with great timing around the net, in particular. He will have to develop his defensive game more to battle for an NHL role, but that seems well within the realm of possibility. Athletes with these tools are always in demand, and often become impactful bottom-six forwards."

That sure sounds a lot like someone the Leafs just decided to trade at the deadline.

Of course, Buhr won't just step in and immediately be exactly what McMann has been to Toronto the last two seasons and score 20 goals, but there is certainly a path to being that kind of player, by all accounts. McMann himself, who the Leafs also signed as an undrafted NCAA free agent, had a less productive college career -- 0.63 points per game compared to Buhr's 0.83 points per game at Union -- and then spent almost two full seasons with the Marlies before becoming a mainstay on the Leafs' roster.

It's no guarantee, but Buhr certainly has a lot of tools to possibly be that goal-scoring middle-six winger that McMann is right now. And maybe in five or so years, he will eventually be part of a trade deadline deal, too.