The Maple Leafs have already done plenty of business since the market opened, but there’s still room to keep shopping.
After a busy July 1, the free-agent pool has thinned out, yet a handful of useful players remain available. Toronto has already added Jack Roslovic, Colton Sissons, Darren Raddysh, and Sergei Bobrovsky, moves that point toward another push for the playoffs.
With Gavin McKenna joining the team, the Leafs are in a strong spot heading into the new season. Even so, there are still a few unsigned names worth considering if Toronto wants to add more depth.
Eeli Tolvanen is one of the more intriguing forward options still on the board. The Finnish winger had a rough go of it early with the Nashville Predators, but he settled in after landing in Seattle and began to look like a legitimate NHL scorer.
Last season with the Kraken, he played 78 games and finished with 12 goals and 36 points. That’s not a line that jumps off the page, but the fit matters here, and Seattle simply didn’t give him the kind of star support he needs to do more damage.
What makes Tolvanen appealing is the shot. He owns a heavy slapshot that could give Toronto another weapon behind Matthews.
His career best in goals is 23, and the idea here is that he could top that in a Leafs sweater. He also has enough offensive touch to slot into the top six, which would push Easton Cowan or Jack Roslovic down to the third line.
His last contract was a two-year deal worth just under four million, so the price tag would be manageable.
Michael Bunting is another forward who makes some sense on paper, even if the fit feels less likely. The former Leaf had the best stretch of his career in Toronto, first breaking out with 23 goals and 60 points in 2021-22, then following it up with another 23-goal season and 49 points in 2022-23. That made him a dependable middle-six scorer, and the Leafs know exactly what he can bring.
Still, Toronto already has a crowded group in that part of the lineup. Roslovic, Sissons, and Nick Paul are all in the mix for middle-six roles, which makes Bunting a tougher fit. He should be able to find a cheap deal somewhere, especially since he remains unsigned, but a reunion with the Leafs does not feel especially likely.
On the back end, Nick Blankenburg stands out as the lone defenseman on the list. The undrafted blueliner has already been through three NHL teams and is still a UFA.
He looks like the kind of affordable depth piece Toronto could use, especially with so little cap space to work with. His most recent two-year contract paid him just 775K per season, which puts him squarely in the range the Leafs can handle.
Blankenburg would give Toronto another right-handed option and some insurance as a third-line defenseman. That matters when you look at the age of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Chris Tanev, and especially the possibility of injuries affecting Tanev.
Stecher, in the source’s view, is not the strongest answer, and Emil Andrae is still something of an unknown. Those questions are the kind John Chayka has to weigh before the season starts.
In Other News...
Leafs Just Made Quiet Changes Fans Have Been Waiting On
With the NHL arbitration calendar now wrapped up without a single hearing, the leagues attention has started to shift from contract drama to the quieter business of building for the season ahead. Around the league, notable deals have landed for players such as Jet Greaves, Jason Robertson, Jamie Drysdale, Connor McMichael, Trevor Zegras and Cole Perfetti, while Chicago and Utah also got key business done on the contract front.
For the Maple Leafs, the more relevant movement came on the organizational side, where the Marlies hockey operations and coaching staff received a fresh round of official changes. Chris Bourque was named assistant GM alongside Ryan Hardy, Jeremiah Crowe was brought in as Director of Player Personnel, and Denver Manderson and Greg Moore were added as assistant coaches for Steve Sullivan and Mark Giordano, a set of moves that signals the Leafs are continuing to shape the development pipeline behind the NHL roster. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Defensive Logjam Could Force Another Painful Roster Decision
Torontos offseason work on the blue line has created more competition than certainty, with Emil Andrae and Darren Raddysh coming in and Troy Stecher back in the fold after Simon Benoit was moved out. It is the kind of reshuffling that can help a roster in the long run, but it also leaves the Maple Leafs with a crowded defense group and a few uncomfortable decisions still to come as training camp gets closer.
Philippe Myers sits at the center of that squeeze after a difficult season in which he never really established himself as a steady option. Toronto would like to keep opening space for younger defensemen such as William Villeneuve and Ben Danford, but the path to do that may require another move on the back end, whether on the trade market or through a more procedural route if no deal materializes. [Read more 🡒]