It isn’t a season of the current Toronto Maple Leafs unless a veteran with loads of experience comes to Toronto and plays hockey for near league-minimum dollars. And last year’s cheap veteran should return.
Jason Spezza broke the mold and came to play for the Leafs on extremely cheap, one-year contracts before eventually making his way into the front office led by Kyle Dubas, and now finds himself as an assistant general manager with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After Spezza hung up the skates, the Leafs moved on to sign Max Pacioretty to a professional try-out for last year’s training camp and he was then promptly signed to a one-year contract after proving that he isn’t as broken as the typical mid-30s NHLer.
In 37 games for Pacioretty, the 36-year-old scored five goals and 13 points – not remarkable in any sense but was certainly not a mistake to be in the lineup. It was especially during the playoffs that Pacioretty was able to put the team on his back. There were games, especially during the first series, that the end result was primarily because of Pacioretty’s contributions. For some reason, the postseason lived up the winger’s game.
And while he is a year older and maybe has taken his foot off the proverbial gas even further, the Maple Leafs should find a way to bring Pacioretty back in the fold.
This team, with the substantial turnover after Mitch Marner left to go hang out in Nevada with the Vegas Golden Knights, could use a steady hand like Pacioretty. Sure, John Tavares is here to do the same thing, but bringing in another older forward that can potentially guide this newly formed team into more success, couldn’t hurt.
The Maple Leafs do have a slight logjam of forwards right now, but Pacioretty doesn’t necessarily need to sign immediately. With potential injuries or underperformances leading to demotion or resulting trades, the 36-year-old winger could return to training camp on a PTO, and maybe just stay in shape until the Leafs inevitably sign him to a contract before next year’s trade deadline. That would keep him eligible for the playoffs, and would be a wonderful mid-season acquisition.
There are ways to do this and the Leafs do just need another steady, experienced hand on this roster.