The Toronto Maple Leafs Roster Longshots vol. 1 - Philippe Myers

Not a lot of ink was spilled when the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Philippe Myers, but he's going to be attenting Training Camp and there is a reasonable chance he will be in the lineup as some point this season, so I figure it will pay to learn a little bit about him.

The Toronto Maple Leafs blue-line - assuming everyone is healthy - will be made up of Morgan Rielly, Chris Tanev, Jake McCabe, Timothy Liljegren, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Simon Benoit and Jani Hakanpaa.

However, the seven guys you list the week before training camp almost never end up as the exact blue-line you assumed you would see. Players get injured, some have terrible camps and there are always suprises.

The Leafs blue-line is missing an elite player, and it's very old. Compared to other NHL blue-lines it isn't very good. The value of an elite player is such that every team in the NHL that has one has a better blue-line than the Leafs.

The Leafs blue-line is very average, it's old, and the players on it lack upside. Therefore it's worth knowing the players who might end up stealing jobs in one way or another.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Roster Longshots vol. 1 - Philippe Myers

Philippe Myers is a right-shot defensenman who is 27 years-old who the Leafs signed on the second day of free-agency for the league minimum. He makes $775K for one year.

Myers was never drafted and signed as a UFA with the Flyers, where he played a year in the AHL before playing parts of three seasons in Philedelphia. After his ELC expired he re-signed in Philly for three years but ended up in Nashville and Tampa.

The Lightning re-signed him for a year but he only ended up playing five games in the NHL last year. He is known to the Leafs due to him somehow ending up on the Marlies in 2021-22, even though the Leafs did not own his NHL rights.

In the AHL Myers has some offensive abilities but in the NHL he has basically none. Over six seasons he's only played 158 games and has eight goals and 36 points.

Though is sample size is small, Myers has posted an expected goals rating above 50% every season he's played except for his rookie year and his stop in Nashville. That means he is, at the very least, someone who can capably play at the bottom of an NHL lineup.

He's not likely to wow you with his skill, but he is a decent enough puck mover and he's absolutely massive. Myers is 6'6, 213lbs, which explains why he keeps getting NHL chances. In fact, from everything I can find, Myers is supposedly a pretty great skater for his size, which suggests that he might still have some upside even though he's 27.

Like Jani Hakanpaa and Cade Weber, Philipe Myers is a giant human who is a borderline NHL player that can play the right side. The Leafs have three of them for some reason, but personally I'd be a lot more interested in Weber as he's the youngest. Still, no risk in having Myers and he could potentially turn out to be an interesting and useful player.