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Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Tyler Bertuzzi

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed unrestricted free agent winger Tyler Bertuzzi to a one-year, $5.5MM AAV deal. The contract carries a full no-movement clause and a signing bonus of $4.725MM, the maximum he’s eligible for with this AAV.

This contract is a major win for the Maple Leafs, thanks to the deal’s one-year term. Toronto’s biggest barrier to adding significant talent this offseason has long been seen as the looming expiration of the team’s major contracts next summer.

Since Toronto needs to preserve long-term financial flexibility in order to be able to afford those deals, it was generally believed that they wouldn’t be able to shop for the caliber of players typically earmarked for long-term deals. This will be a tight squeeze for the Maple Leafs’ salary cap, but with Jake Muzzin’s $5.625MM on long-term injured reserve, the team should just about be able to fit this deal onto their books.

The 28-year-old winger has played for two of Toronto’s Original Six rivals, the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins, and excelled the last two years. Bertuzzi scored 30 goals and 62 points in just 68 games in 2021-22, and although he wasn’t great earlier this season for Detroit he managed 26 points in 28 combined regular season and playoff games after his trade to the Boston Bruins.

Bertuzzi’s combination of skill and sandpaper is coveted across the league, and his unique agitating style is similar to what Toronto lost when Michael Bunting signed with the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow.

Assuming he can stay healthy (a potentially dangerous assumption given his injury issues over the past few years) Bertuzzi will comfortably slot into one of Toronto’s top scoring lines and be in a position to play with one of two high-end centers in either John Tavares or Auston Matthews.

His playoff performance for Boston, leading them in points in their first-round loss to the Florida Panthers, should give Maple Leafs fans hope that he won’t suffer from the same playoff demons their other star forwards seem to fall victim to year after year.

Not only is this a winning move for Toronto, but it’s also a savvy move for Bertuzzi to make the most out of a difficult situation. It’s likely that given Bertuzzi’s injury troubles and the lack of cap space across the league, Bertuzzi may not have received the type of pricey, long-term offers he may have entered the market expecting. Now, he’ll be able to play on a team well-stocked with offensive talent and potentially have the best season of his career.

That’ll set him up to potentially re-enter the market next summer, where he could really score if he remains healthy and plays in Toronto the way he played in Boston. This move isn’t without risk, but there isn’t a better player on the market for Toronto to acquire that could fill the void left by Bunting.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Arizona Coyotes To Sign Alexander Kerfoot

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The Arizona Coyotes are locking in former Toronto Maple Leafs center Alexander Kerfoot for the next two seasons at a $3.5MM cap hit, PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports.

It’s another significant free-agent loss for Toronto today, who will undoubtedly be looking to add some reinforcements to their top nine in the coming days. For Kerfoot, though, he’ll continue to make the salary he’s made for the past four seasons with fewer taxes in the desert.

Kerfoot’s been a controversial player during his time in Toronto, with very few overtly impressed with his play. He provided immense defensive value this season, though, and he does have 45-50 point upside if given the opportunity to produce.

He could very well glean that opportunity in Arizona, potentially even slotting in as a center between Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz. Even if not, he’ll get the opportunity to play with some other up-and-coming talents like Matias Maccelli and Dylan Guenther, receiving plenty of ice time in the process.

Kerfoot will be a UFA again in 2025 at the age of 30.

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign John Klingberg

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have added another Swedish defenseman: former Dallas Stars blueliner John Klingberg. The team has signed Klingberg to an undisclosed contract, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, Klingberg has signed a one-year deal. The team confirmed the deal, which carries a $4.15MM cap hit.

This signing is a major opportunity for Klingberg, who’ll now get a chance to play in a top-four role under some of the brightest lights in hockey. Klingberg was originally a top free agent of last year’s class but ultimately had to settle on a one-year contract with the Anaheim Ducks.

He had a very difficult season split between Anaheim and the Minnesota Wild, and is now again signing a “prove-it” deal.

Only this time, he’s signed with a consistent regular-season juggernaut rather than a team anticipating another year outside the playoffs looking in.

Klingberg finished with 33 points in 67 games, a decent total but not quite up to the high standard for offensive production he set earlier in his career.

He’ll now have a chance to return to the stratosphere of offensive production he’s been more accustomed to throughout his career, as he’s likely going to end up partnered with either Mark Giordano or Jake McCabe. Those two are well-regarded defensive defensemen who will afford Klingberg the offensive freedom to play a more aggressive, pace-pushing offensive game.

If Klingberg can manage to find a role on Toronto’s power play, the odds of him having a productive season increase even further. Morgan Rielly is entrenched as Toronto’s top offensive blueliner, but Klingberg can settle in as their second option and rack up points alongside all of the offensive talent in head coach Sheldon Keefe’s lineup.

Some might criticize this deal as an inefficient use of scarce cap dollars by new Toronto general manager Brad Treliving, and those concerns definitely have merit.

With Rielly already on their roster and the team maybe in need of more well-rounded defensive help, was Klingberg truly their most optimal target? Was adding him for more than $4MM a wise choice when Erik Gustafsson took just $825k from the New York Rangers?

Those are fair questions to ask, and they likely will be by an always on top of things Toronto media. But the best way for both Klingberg and Treliving to silence those questions will be for the defenseman to go out and have a vintage season, a year reminiscent of 2017-18 when Klingberg scored 67 points, led NHL blueliners in assists, and made the All-Star game.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Four Players

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed four players: defensemen William Lagesson, Maxime Lajoie, and Marshall Rifai, as well as goaltender Artur Akhtyamov.

Akhtyamov has signed a three-year entry-level deal with an $851k cap hit, while Lagesson and Lajoie each signed one-year, two-way deals worth $775k at the NHL level. Rifai got a $775k AAV deal as well but with a two-year term.

Lagesson, 27, is a former Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens defenseman who spent last season with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. He scored 32 points in 65 games for Chicago and will likely be a top-four, if not top-pairing defenseman for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies while also serving as useful organizational depth for the left side of Toronto’s defense.

Lajoie, 25, also played for the Wolves last season and is less of an all-around defenseman compared to Lagesson. He’s got more of an offensive bent to his game, as reflected by the 45 points he scored for Chicago in 63 games, a number that ranked third among all Wolves skaters. He’ll likely be counted upon as a top offensive blueliner for the Marlies but might be less of a call-up possibility due to his game being less balanced compared to Lagesson.

Rifai, 25, is an undrafted six-foot-one left-shot blueliner who spent last season with the Marlies, his first as a pro hockey player. He signed with the Marlies after a four-year career at Harvard University, and led the Marlies in penalty minutes this past season with 118. This deal gives Rifai a nice bump in pay while also allowing him to continue his development in the Maple Leafs organization.

Akhtyamov is a 21-year-old 2020 fourth-round pick of the Maple Leafs who spent last season with Neftyanik Almetievsk in the VHL, Russia’s second-tier hockey league. He played extremely well there, posting a .943 save percentage and 1.74 goals-against-average in the regular season, and 1.53/.952 marks in six playoff games. Toronto already has Keith Petruzzelli, Dennis Hildeby, and Vyacheslav Peksa under contract for next season, so will likely end up in a tandem with one of them at either the AHL or ECHL level.

Alexander Kerfoot Will Hit Open Market

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As Garrioch notes, Andersen played under Senators head coach D.J. Smith when he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs, where Smith was an assistant for part of Andersen’s tenure. The team is looking for a veteran to supplement Anton Forsberg in the crease after deciding not to re-sign Cam Talbot, as well as providing insurance for young third-string netminder Mads Sogaard – another Dane to whom Andersen would provide invaluable mentorship.

  • After a four-season stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs, forward Alexander Kerfoot is set to hit the open market, per Postmedia’s Lance Hornby. While there is a possibility of a potential return to Toronto, it hinges on the financial demands that Kerfoot’s new contract may entail – they’re not willing to overpay on market value to retain him and would rather keep their salary cap flexibility open to get some new names on the UFA market. After being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in the 2019 Nazem Kadri trade, Kerfoot totaled 40 goals, 94 assists, and 134 points in 285 games for Toronto in a middle-six role.

Maple Leafs Expected To Sign Ryan Reaves

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It appears that the Maple Leafs will be adding some toughness to their roster once the UFA market opens up in less than three hours.  Last night, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported (Twitter link) that Toronto will be signing rugged winger Ryan Reaves to a multi-year contract.  Today, TSN’s Darren Dreger adds (Twitter link) that the AAV for that deal should be around $1.3MM and that it remains to be seen if it will be a two-year agreement or a three-year one.

The 36-year-old started the season with the Rangers but asked to be moved early on after having a very limited role in New York.  He got his wish and was moved to Minnesota in late November, becoming a regular in the lineup for the Wild for the rest of the way.  Reaves was relatively productive in his role, collecting five goals and ten assists in 61 contests with his new team; his 15 points matched the second-best point total of his career.

Of course, Toronto isn’t bringing in Reaves for his point-producing ability.  He has been one of the more physical wingers in the league for more than a decade and while he doesn’t drop the gloves often anymore, that ability remains part of his game.  New GM Brad Treliving evidently would like to see his club get a little more physical up front and bringing in Reaves will certainly help to make his fourth line that much tougher.

Ryan O’Reilly And Luke Schenn Expected To Test The Market

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The Maple Leafs were hoping to keep a pair of their pending unrestricted free agents in the fold but it may not play out that way.  Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that center Ryan O’Reilly will test the market today while Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets and TSN adds (Twitter link) that defenseman Luke Schenn will do the same.

O’Reilly was one of Toronto’s key trade deadline acquisitions, coming over in a trade from St. Louis.  The 32-year-old fit in well with his hometown team, picking up 11 points in 13 games down the stretch while winning 62% of his faceoffs.  O’Reilly then put up nine points in 11 playoff contests, cementing himself as one of the top middlemen on the open market; he ranks seventh on our Top 50 UFA list.

LeBrun notes that the Maple Leafs had interest right to the end so it’s possible that the veteran circles back depending on how his market plays out today.  That said, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Detroit, Montreal, Nashville, and Vancouver are all linked to O’Reilly as well so there could be enough interest to push his price tag out of Toronto’s price range.

As for Schenn, Johnston reports that again, there was mutual interest in getting something done but the level of interest in the 33-year-old has yielded an offer from another team that’s too strong for the Maple Leafs to match.  Schenn matched his career high in points with 22 last season and chipped in with a career-high 318 hits.  After playing for the last four seasons on contracts worth less than $1MM, that seems sure to change today for the 37th-ranked UFA on our list.

Justin Holl Return Not Ruled Out

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  • Toronto Maple Leafs fans may not be the biggest Justin Holl supporters, but the blueliner could still end up returning to the team after the market opens tomorrow, says ESPN’s Ryan S. Clark. Clark notes there’s significant market interest in Holl, as multiple teams have inquired ahead of tomorrow, while The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel called it less than a 50% chance Holl would end up back in Toronto. Overall, the 31-year-old is a fine fit in most teams’ top fours but is prone to some extremely visible mistakes.

Treliving: Maple Leafs Not Planning To Use A Buyout In This Window

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  • The Maple Leafs don’t plan to execute a buyout before the window closes on Friday, GM Brad Treliving told reporters including Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. Veteran goaltender Matt Murray has long been a speculative candidate to be bought out, a move that would free up $4MM in flexibility to work this summer but they won’t go that route.  At least, they won’t for now.  Treliving noted that there is a second window to be made available as long as they have an arbitration filing.  Toronto has three arbitration-eligible players in goalie Ilya Samsonov plus defensemen Victor Mete and Mac Hollowell with the former being the most likely to file.  If that happens, Treliving and the Maple Leafs could re-assess Murray’s situation later in the summer.

Latest On Auston Matthews

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Although numerous insiders have spoken about their confidence that the Toronto Maple Leafs will end up re-signing Hart Trophy winner Auston Matthews, it doesn’t appear a deal is imminent according to The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta. Pagnotta says “a deal is not yet close,” and adds “his next deal will be 3, 4, or 5-year” term.

  • Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports today that the Toronto Maple Leafs are “looking to beef up their bottom six,” and specifically connects two names to the team: Ryan Reaves and Austin Watson. Neither Reaves or Watson offer much on the ice outside of their physical play, but given the perception among many that Toronto didn’t put up enough of a fight in recent playoff series that might be exactly what the team needs.

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