The Maple Leafs have already spent plenty of the offseason reshaping their roster, but there still looks to be room for one more camp invitation. If Toronto wants another forward in the mix on a professional tryout, Jonathan Drouin stands out as a name worth circling.
Drouin is sitting in free agency after the St. Louis Blues bought him out earlier this summer, and his 2025-26 numbers won’t jump off the page.
He played 64 games between the New York Islanders and St. Louis, finishing with four goals and 24 points.
That was a flat year for a skilled player who didn’t find much traction.
Even so, the case for a PTO is rooted in how recently Drouin has shown he can still drive offense. In 2024-25, he produced 37 points in 43 games with the Colorado Avalanche, a pace that sat just under a point per game.
The season before that, he posted 19 goals and 56 points in 79 games for Colorado. Those are the kinds of numbers that make him more than just another name on the market.
For Toronto, the fit is easy to see. The Maple Leafs have forward spots available to be won, and Drouin’s ability as a playmaker gives him a real chance to make a case at camp. He would be the sort of low-risk, high-reward swing that can pay off if the player looks like the version that showed up in Colorado, not the one from last season.
If he does earn a contract, the price tag should not be steep. With August winding down, he is unlikely to command much money, which could make a cheap one-year deal appealing for Toronto. He could give the Maple Leafs another option in the top nine and potentially help on the power play by setting up scorers like Auston Matthews and John Tavares.
Whether Toronto actually makes the move remains to be seen, but Drouin is exactly the kind of bounce-back candidate the Maple Leafs should be weighing for a PTO.
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