Leafs Still Open To Making Moves

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Toronto Maple Leafs GM John Chayka hit the ground running on July 1, making a half-dozen free-agent signings and a pair of trades, but there are indications that the Leafs are still open to making more additions. The additions of forwards Jack Roslovic, Teddy Blueger, Colton Sissons, Brandon Duhaime, and Zach MacEwen, and the trade for Nick Paul was aimed at bolstering the club’s nearly empty bottom-six and providing some energy and physicality, but Chayka may be looking to bring in more help.

Ottawa reporter Bruce Garrioch indicated in a Saturday column that the Leafs are “keenly interested” in free agent forward Claude Giroux. The 38-year-old is still a solid offensive contributor and can play both center and wing, like most of the players signed by Toronto over the last five days. Giroux had 49 points (14 goals, 35 assists) in 82 games and was a ridiculous 63.1% on face-offs last season.

Giroux is similar to another free agent, Patrick Kane, who are not the same players they were five years ago, but still could be a contributor in a secondary offensive role, but if Chayka intends to make another addition, there will have to be a subtraction in addition to placing Max Domi on LTIR. It could mean trading off Dakota Joshua, or that the club has a home for Morgan Rielly.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts podcast that the Leafs are hopeful to add another difference-maker, but that might not be this summer. He also indicated that the Leafs may now keep defenseman Morgan Rielly, and they are not interested in paying a big price (either retaining salary or adding a sweetener) to move him. The trade of Darnell Nurse to San Jose may not have been good news for Chayka’s hopes to trade the veteran blueliner, as Friedman intimated that the Sharks may have chosen the Oilers blueliner over Rielly.

Anaheim may have been a potential destination for the 32-year-old, but the offer sheet to Keo Carlsson, the signing of Pavel Mintyukov, and the need to sign 40-goal scoring winger Cutter Gauthier could put them in cap jail. Once again, the need to trade Rielly for the sake of training Rielly is just plain stupid.

It is quite plausible that he could return to being a contributor under Jim Hiller in a non-top-pairing role, but there just seems to be a common thread on social media and among a large chunk of the fan base to get rid of the longest-serving Leaf no matter what.