The Toronto Maple Leafs were able to get most of their house in order leading up to the beginning of free agency at Noon on Tuesday, getting center John Tavares and winger Matthew Knies re-signed, pulling off a pair of trades, and extending qualifying offers on June 30th.
The Leafs first deal was the acquisition of winger Matias Maccelli for a conditional 2027 third-round pick. The 24-year-old had a difficult 2024-25 season with the Coyotes shifting from Arizona to Salt Lake City after a career-high 57 points (17 goals, 40 assists) the previous year and an excellent rookie year that had him fourth in Calder Trophy voting and on the NHL All-Rookie team.
According to a report in the Salt Lake Tribune, before the deadline, Maccelli had been placed in different spots in the lineup throughout the year and has struggled to find consistency no matter who he is playing with, and began getting healthy scratched frequently.
The young winger is making $3.4 million in the final year of a three-year deal, and it is likely that Shane Doan, who is a special assistant to Leafs GM Brad Treliving, had some input on the deal. The trade for Maccelli, who is an excellent playmaker, is a good gamble with the departure of Mitch Marner.
The much-rumored sign-and-trade with Vegas for Marner, originally reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman for center Nicolas Roy, was completed on Monday afternoon. Marner signed the same eight-year, $96 million deal ($12 million) as Mikko Rantanen in Dallas before the deadline, while the Leafs get Roy, a 6’4”, 200 lb. right-shot center who scored 31 points last season for the Golden Knights.
The deal was a coup for Treliving, in that he took advantage of the fact that Vegas was the only place that Marner wanted to play, and knew that the Golden Knights would need to shed salary to find in his contract. Roy is a useful big-bodied center signed for two more years at a reasonable $3 million cap hit, who can take draws and kill penalties, and won a Cup with the Golden Knights.
The club also re-signed winger Steven Lorentz on a three-year deal at $1.35 million AAV and extended qualifying offers to goalie Dennis Hildeby, forwards Roni Hirvonen (playing in Finland this season), Nick Robertson, defensemen Topi Niemela (playing in Sweden this season), and William Villeneuve. Conspicuous by his absence from qualifying offers was forward Pontus Holmberg, who seemed to be a very useful and versatile forward for Craig Berube. It is possible that the Leafs are working out a deal for Holmberg, but he will be an unrestricted free agent today.
Treliving is expected to be busy in free agency, but it is a question of whether he will go big game hunting for someone like Brock Boeser, who played with Auston Matthews on Team USA at the 2016 World Juniors, or Nikolai Ehlers.
Names to look out for in connection with the Leafs are: wingers Brandon Tanev, Andrew Mangiapane, Tanner Jeannot, and Michael Pezzetta (according to a report from Pierre LeBrun).
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