The Toronto Maple Leafs were one of the league’s busier teams on the opening day of free agency, trying to do their best to improve the roster, particularly on the back end. So far, they have signed four new players for 2024-25 but also lost six from last year’s team, including Tyler Bertuzzi, Noah Gregor, T.J. Brodie, Joel Edmundson, Ilya Lyubushkin, and goaltender Ilya Samsonov.
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The Maple Leafs added three defencemen in Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Jani Hakanpaa, and a goalie to make up for the loss of Samsonov in Anthony Stolarz. There have been mixed reactions, though many feel the Maple Leafs are a better team now than they were to end the 2023-24 season. Unfortunately, that might not be the case.
Tanev Has Injury Concerns
The most exciting addition is Chris Tanev. The 34-year-old has been one of the game’s best shutdown defenceman for nearly a decade and continued to be just that for the Dallas Stars in their 2024 Playoff run to the Western Conference Final.
Tanev is undoubtedly an upgrade on the Maple Leafs blue line, but the terms of his contract are concerning. He signed a six-year, $27 million deal with an average annual value (AAV) of $4.5 million. The cap hit is more than fair, as Tanev is undoubtedly a top-four defenceman on any team in the NHL.
However, he will be under contract until the age of 40, which is concerning given the style he plays. He is fearless, putting his body in front of pucks regularly, and he is very good at it. Unfortunately, this has led to many injuries throughout his career, and though he has been able to play through many of them, there are valid concerns about how much longer he will hold up.
Ekman-Larsson Is a Wild Card
For several years early in his career, Oliver Ekman-Larsson was considered one of the best and one of the most underrated defencemen in the NHL. He scored north of 20 goals in back-to-back seasons with the Arizona Coyotes in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and surpassed the 40-point mark five times.
During his final few seasons with the Coyotes, however, Ekman-Larsson’s play began to decline, and he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks. His play north of the border didn’t improve and resulted in the Canucks buying him out after just two seasons.
Ekman-Larsson then settled for a one-year deal with the Florida Panthers last offseason, and it paid off. The 32-year-old looked like his old self, playing strong minutes at even strength and even getting some opportunities on the power play. Should he play as he did last season, this signing could benefit the Maple Leafs. But should he revert back to his play from a few seasons ago, it could be trouble.
Hakanpaa Is a Third-Pairing Defenceman
The final of the three signings was Hakanpaa, who signed a two-year, $3 million deal, with a $1.5 million AAV. This signing doesn’t have the risk of turning into a disaster, given the short-term and low dollars, but it also won’t help the blue line see a drastic improvement.
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At his best, Hakanpaa is a bottom-pairing defenceman who provides plenty of size at 6-foot-7 and some physicality. Whether he will be at his best, however, is a question that remains to be answered. Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun recently reported that the 32-year-old is dealing with a knee injury that has many doubting whether or not he will be able to play in the NHL again. If the injury is that severe, he could get exposed early and often this upcoming season, if he suits up at all (from “Steve Simmons: Maple Leafs signings – The good, the bad and the ugly,” Toronto Sun, 07/01/24).
Stolarz Is Unproven
It was known that the Maple Leafs were looking for a goaltending upgrade this summer, with reports suggesting they were targeting both Juuse Saros and Jacob Markstrom. They landed neither and instead chose to sign Stolarz to a two-year, $5 million deal with a cap hit of $2.5 million.
Stolarz’s numbers from this past season were impressive, with a 2.03 goals-against average (GAA) and a .925 save percentage. Those numbers, however, came in only 27 appearances, as he was the clear-cut backup to Sergei Bobrovsky. In fact, the 30-year-old has never made more than 28 appearances in a season.
Stolarz has logged just 109 games to date in his NHL career. He has performed well, though the limited sample size makes it fair to wonder whether or not he is capable of maintaining that level of play in what will be a much bigger role. The market will be a big change, too, as most of his NHL appearances came with the Panthers and Anaheim Ducks.
Maple Leafs Have Same Forward Group
The one area the Maple Leafs haven’t addressed is upfront. They re-signed Max Domi, but other than that, it’s been quiet. It’s hard to blame general manager Brad Treliving, given the limited cap space he inherited, but if these are the only changes to the roster this summer, it’s hard to envision the team having much playoff success in 2024-25.
