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, but on a free agent frenzy light on talent, the Leafs mostly kept their powder dry and restocked the Toronto Marlies roster.
The biggest move was the signing of Toronto native Michael Pezzetta to a two-year deal at $812,500. Pezzetta is a big crash-and-bang energy forward who might be on the fourth line, but could be a player who is able to clear waivers and get called up when needed. The remaining signings were restocking the AHL shelves after the departures of Marlies leading scorer Alex Steeves (Boston), Nick Abruzzese (Tampa Bay), Topi Niemela (Sweden), and Roni Hirvonen (Finland) amongst others, with the signings of former Leaf Travis Boyd, forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx, and Vinni Letteri, and re-signed defenseman Dakota Mermis.
GM Brad Treliving reflected on the departure of Mitch Marner, indicating that it was clear going back into the season that he was prepared to move on from Toronto based on his lack of engagement in contract talks. Treliving was pleased with the addition of Nicolas Roy, indicating that he slots in at center, and will help as a right-handed faceoff specialist and penalty killer.
Treliving did not bite on some players the Leafs were thought to be interested in, as winger Tanner Jeannot signed an absurd five-year deal with the Boston Bruins at an AAV of $3.4 million. Brandon Tanev went to Utah on a three-year, $7.5 million deal, and late Monday night, Andrew Mangiapane signed a two-year deal with the Edmonton Oilers at an AAV of $3.6 million. He did say that he was open to re-signing forward Max Pacioretty and has been in contact with his agent.
It is understandable that Treliving chose to be patient on Tuesday after Brock Boeser re-signed with Vancouver and Nikolai Ehlers likely not interested in playing for another Canadian team, but at this point the best UFA forwards remaining are Jack Roslovic and Jeff Skinner, which means the Leafs are going into training camp willing to give rookie Easton Cowan a shot or that a trade is in the offing later this summer.
