The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed a former draft pick of their own, inking Jeremy Bracco to an entry-level contract. Because the Maple Leafs are currently at the 50 contract maximum, we can assume it doesn’t kick in until the 2017-18 season. The former 67th-overall pick is playing for the Windsor Spitfires, who are hosting the Memorial Cup this spring.
2016-17 has been an outstanding year for Bracco, registering 83 points in 57 games split between Kitchener and Windsor. Though the Rangers are headed to the OHL playoffs as well, the Spitfires have a guaranteed entry into the Memorial Cup, something that won’t intimidate Bracco in the least. He was a big part of the Team USA team at the World Juniors that captured gold, scoring five points in seven games in the tournament.
Bracco has had an interesting path so far in his hockey career, leaving Boston College after just five games in his freshman season to head to Kitchener and compete in the OHL. He told Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News at the time, that he just “wanted to really zero in on hockey” and thought the OHL schedule was more conducive to that. It has worked so far, as he scored 64 points in his rookie season last year, only to easily eclipse that this year. While he’s always been slightly undersized, he possesses excellent skill with the puck and playmaking ability.
The Maple Leafs will continue to stockpile their offensively gifted wingers, with Bracco joining Kasperi Kapanen, Dmytro Timashov and Andreas Johnson as the next wave of prospects coming through the system. While Bracco doesn’t represent a lock for the NHL, he does have huge upside and an accelerated timeline after his big step this year. He’ll likely join the Toronto Marlies next season to test those offensive skills against professionals.
CapFriendly.com tweeted out details of the contract, confirming that it won’t start until the 2017-18 season. Bracco is set to make a bit more than $842K annually during the three-year contract, and there’s another $82.5K worth of incentives each season.