3 Big-Name Free Agents That the Toronto Maple Leafs Should Pursue, 2 to Avoid

With the Toronto Maple Leafs offseason practically in full swing, they have already begun to make crucial changes to the team with hopes to drastically improve the club for the upcoming NHL season.

Some moves have already been made at the managerial level, with the recent hiring of Cup-winning head coach Craig Berube to replace Sheldon Keefe behind the bench of the Toronto Maple Leafs, as well as the recruitment of Lane Lambert to be one of the team’s new associate coaches.

But no doubt there will be some more expected moves at the player level in the coming weeks, especially with free agency set to hit in less than a month’s time.

To ensure that the potential impact of such moves be significant, the Leafs should aim big when hunting for prime free agents to sign.

With that in mind, who should the Maple Leafs target in the open market come July and who should they try to avoid at all costs?

 3 Big-Name Free Agents the Toronto Maple Leafs Should Pursue, 2 to Avoid

Here, we will take a closer look at three big-name free agents that the Leafs should pursue this offseason, and two players that they should stay away from as far as possible if they want to build some long-term success.

3 Big-Name Free Agents to Pursue

Sam Reinhart 

For Sam Reinhart, he has always had the utmost potential to become a top-end player in the league when he was selected second overall by the Buffalo Sabres back in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

After a strong and promising career in juniors, Reinhart clearly established himself as a true winner when he played a major part on Canada’s 2013 World Under-18 Championship winning team, their 2015 World Juniors Hockey Championship winning team and their 2016 World Hockey Championship winning team.

However, Reinhart never seemed to be able to find his footing to become a consistent dominant force with the Sabres despite spending over seven seasons with the club.

His best year with the Sabres came in 2018-19 when he registered 22 goals and 43 assists for 65 points while playing all 82 games that season. Unfortunately, Reinhart failed to lead Buffalo to the playoffs throughout his disappointing tenure with the team.

But when the Sabres finally traded Reinhart to the Florida Panthers, that was when he finally broke out and evolved into the player that many had expected him to be.

Not only did he lead the Panthers in scoring in 2023-24 with 57 goals and 94 points, he has played a tremendous role in helping the team to the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, including runs to the Stanley Cup finals in the last two.

With his explosion in offense and potential in recent years, Reinhart will indeed be a hot commodity come free agency season and could end up being quite pricey. But if Mitch Marner does end up getting unloaded by the Leafs, they could be given the resources to be right there with the competition to pursue the ideal replacement for Marner.

Brandon Montour

The name Brandon Montour had once been a favourable target for the Leafs way back in his days with the Anaheim Ducks.

Together with the bruising Josh Manson at the time, they were two prime targets that Toronto failed to land during their rise to prominence back at the beginning of the Auston Matthews era.

Nevertheless, Montour ended up going to the Sabres instead in a trade near the deadline in 2018-19. It was there where his career appeared to have fallen off a cliff as a result.

Struggling to provide any type of impact with Buffalo for two seasons, Montour finally got his chance to revitalize his career in 2021 when he was dealt to the Panthers for a third-round pick.

Boy, did he take full advantage of his new opportunity with his new club as he has flourished under the Panthers’ system ever since. Not only did it resurrect his career, he has gotten even better as he put together a surprising offensive outburst in 2022-23 when he posted 16 goals and 73 points.

In addition, he had become a main staple in the Panthers’ top-four in their back end in helping the team on their recent successful playoff runs.

With the Leafs having a massive exodus of players from their defensive corps this offseason, getting Montour now in his prime and fully-matured form would be even more invaluable to the team right now.

Added to the fact that he is a right-handed shot, which the Leafs desperately lack, he could be the solid complementary partner for Morgan Rielly for years to come.

Brett Pesce

Another big name that Leafs nation are very familiar with and where most had been wanting on their wish list since the end of time is defenseman Brett Pesce.

With his big six-foot-three frame and over 200 pounds of brute strength, along with his smart hockey IQ and great positioning, Pesce is the ideal defensive defenseman that the Leafs have been looking for all these years.

Pesce had been a mainstay of the Carolina Hurricanes defense for the past nine seasons ever since they drafted him in the third round back in the 2013 Draft.

He was always among the team leaders in blocked shots, and was usually given the rigorous assignment to shut down opposing teams’ top lines.

Despite being classified mainly as a defensive defenseman, Pesce could actually contribute offensively as well from time to time. Despite not given much power play time, he has topped 20 points in five of his nine NHL seasons to date, including a career-high 30 points just a year ago in 2022-23.

Many have pleaded for the Leafs to obtain his services via trade in the past. But with Pesce potentially entering the free agent market this summer, it provides the perfect time for Toronto to pounce on him without given up any assets in return.

And if we hinted above that Montour could be a solid partner for Rielly, Pesce on the other hand could actually be the perfect partner for Rielly based on the complementary skills that they each possess.

Steven Stamkos

Finally, after bringing home superstar John Tavares six years ago during the Leafs big free agency splash in 2018, they will have another opportunity to do the same with another hometown star in Steven Stamkos this time around.

After all, the Leafs did actually consider that option the last time Stamkos was eligible to hit free agency in 2016. That was until the Tampa Bay Lightning successfully re-signed him to a multi-year contract just a couple of days before hitting the market.

Who wouldn’t want Stamkos, who is probably considered one of the most prolific goal scorers currently active in the NHL.

The former two-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner has topped 40 goals seven times in his career, including twice in the past three seasons. He has also helped Tampa Bay in three successful runs to the Stanley Cup finals, while winning it all in 2021 (the Lightning did also win in 2020, but Stamkos was out with a lower-body injury for the bulk of the playoffs and appeared in only one game as a result).

With 50 goals in his career during the playoffs, Stamkos could definitely help the Leafs, who often became snake-bitten when it came to scoring in the postseason in recent years. (All stats from hockeydb.com and hockey-reference,com)

However, with the amount of mileage put into his body in his 16-year NHL career, having played through an entire season six times, along with another 128 games in the playoffs, Stamkos could be headed towards a steady decline in the upcoming years.

Especially the fact that he will likely be looking for a multi-year deal to finish off his career, it could potentially become an albatross of a contract towards the end of the deal as a result. In addition, when the Leafs got Tavares, he was still 27 at the time, whereas Stamkos is currently at 34 already.

It may be a feel-good story if the Leafs do end up signing him to finish off his career, but for the sake of the team’s success now and in the near future, it may be wise for Toronto to pass on it this time around.