This offseason has been considerably different for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Mostly because they have more cap space than in off-seasons prior. Partly due to the fact that a new General Manager operates the Leafs front office. This is also a front office that doesn’t include Kyle Dubas for the first time since July 2014.
Brad Treliving was hired at the end of May, after the awkward departure of Dubas, and he appears to have a different school of thought. At least so far.
Beyond the Leafs first-round draft pick, which I’m convinced Treliving had little to nothing to do with, the Leafs front office seems to be operating under a different mindset than Dubas had for the last five years.
Ever since the departure of Zach Hyman, there has been more and more conversation that the organization does not see value in overpaying support talent in free agency. While the online reaction (Twitter) has mostly seemed to favor not buying high-priced free agents, Leafs Nation is happy to welcome unknowns brought in by the previous regime. i.e., Ilya Lyubushkin, Michael Bunting.
Treliving seems to have a different mindset.
Ryan Reaves only got $1.3M per year, but he has three years on his contract. Probably a tad too much and a year too long. But that’s what it takes in free agency, overpayment.
That’s only the beginning, though, with Treliving inking three more deals with UFAs throughout this summer. Albeit all of them only one-year deals, the players he has brought in have been notable and somewhat household names.
John Klingberg at $4.15M,
Tyler Bertuzzi at $5.5M
Max Domi at $3M.
I don’t think the players are bad, and I’m excited to have the new guys, but it’s common knowledge that players usually make more on the open market, and teams have to overpay to land their guy, minus the Domi connection. (I like that deal, actually) This case with the Leaf’s new faces seems no different, and it conveys a shift in thinking from the Leaf’s brass.
It makes me ask, could the Leafs have afforded their own $4-5 M UFAs all along and chose not to?
Also, why not pay your own guys? The ones you know and that know the systems your team plays.
I’m no capologist, and I’ll be open and honest in saying I’m not sure how they would have made it all work, but with Matt Murray on the books and the insertion of two new support players making over $4M, it certainly makes me think they could have, had they wanted to.
Could Dubas have found a way to keep Hyman, and why didn’t the Leafs re-sign their own guy in Michael Bunting this off-season?
Bunting had produced well above his pay grade since his arrival in Toronto, and Hyman has had career seasons since joining the Oilers, but is Tyler Bertuzzi REALLY that much of an upgrade?
What does Treliving know that we don’t? A lot, I’m sure, but the change in direction leaves questions for us as fans.
Maybe it’s shiny new toy syndrome or the new guy wanting his mark on the team. We probably will never know.
Let’s start by looking at some basic scoring stats of Bertuzzi, Bunting, and Hyman, who were both previously slotted in the position Bertuzzi appears to be locked in for to start the season and signed similar contracts on other teams.
20/21 – 22/23 (last 3 seasons)
GP: 182
G: 56
A:69
TOI: 1873:43
P/60: 3.99
Avg XGF: 60.4%
Avg HDCF% 57.09
GP:199
G:78
A:92
TOI: 3903:53
P/60: 2.61
Avg XGF%: 59%
Avg HDCF%: 60.49%
GP: 127
G:43
A:56
TOI: 2352:18
P/60: 2.52
Avg XGF%: 56.37%
HDCF%: 52.98%
Why haven’t the guys who have been here and been quite successful while they were here gotten the money in the past that was paid to Klingberg/Bertuzzi this off-season? I won’t accept they had no cap space as an answer or that the “Big 3” or “Core 4” make too much. What kind of decision was acquiring Matt Murray at $4,687,500 last season?
That’s a whole other story.
Times, they are a-changin’, but why not keep Bunting? It must have been contract length.
As I understand it, Bertuzzi brings a “grittier” game than both players, and Max is a Domi, after all. I’m all for the addition of the hard-nosed players in the lineup. Still, Bertuzzi got $1M more than Bunting did, and they are pretty comparable players, with the stats above pointing to Bunting being superior at a 1M dollar less cap hit.
We have yet to see how Bunting does in Carolina after signing a 3-year $4.5M per year contract, but Zach Hyman will always be the one who got away.
With Matthews and Nylander needing new contracts, it got me thinking, and I hope we see a larger part of this team stick together, as the turnover every year can’t be helping the team chemistry, and losing a big gun for nothing would be detrimental to the franchise.
The Leafs FO has had a clear change in thinking, and we may see sexier names come to the Leafs instead of guys who play great that we have never heard of, which was Kyle’s special y. Nevertheless, they are still in it to win it, but will they continue on the “own rental” trend, or are we about to see that change as well?
No one, including myself, has any idea how this season will go, with all the new faces, jobs up for grabs, and a new GM calling the shots, but it’s sure going to be fun to watch unfold, as we can be sure Treliving isn’t done yet.
Did I mention the Leafs are 8.3M over the cap right now?
