New Leafs And Their Role – Brandon Duhaime

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Toronto Maple Leafs GM John Chayka made a major reshuffle of his roster, starting with the trade of Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit to Philadelphia last month. The club added defenseman Emil Andrae and began restocking the shelves with the signings of forwards Colton Sissons, Jack Roslovic, Teddy Blueger, Brandon Duhaime, and Zach MacEwen, and trading Dennis Hildeby to Tampa Bay for Nick Paul.

Over the next week, we will look at the players Chayka brought in and look at what role they are likely to be tasked at filling under new head coach Jim Hiller next season

Brandon Duhaime

The 29-year-old winger was a 2016 fourth-round pick of the Minnesota Wild out of the USHL. The 6’2”, 210 lb forward played three years at Providence College before turning pro in 2019 and played two abbreviated seasons in the AHL before making it to the NHL in 2021.

He posted a career-high 122 penalty minutes as a rookie in 2021-22, and played three seasons with the Wild before being traded at the 2024 deadline to Colorado. The Florida native signed a two-year deal with Washington and played every game over two seasons, finishing second on the club behind Tom Wilson in hits with 159, which is remarkable based on the fact that Wilson averaged over 19 minutes per game and Duhaime played just over 11 minutes a night.

Duhaime signed a three-year, $7.8 million deal with Toronto ($2.6 million AAV) to be a fourth-line energy forward who will not shy away from dropping the gloves. In the past, that would be an overpayment, but he is not a slow liability like Ryan Reaves, who was unable to contribute five-on-five, which will make him important, especially against physical teams like Florida and Tampa Bay in the tough Atlantic Division.