The Toronto Maple Leafs welcome their newest member of their team after they acquired Connor Dewar in a trade with the Minnesota Wild. They acquired Dewar in exchange for forward Dmitry Ovchinnikov and a 2026 fourth-round draft pick.
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The 24-year-old is considered a penalty kill (PK) specialist who can get in on the forecheck and disturb the opposition. He also brings speed, versatility, and some snarl to the Maple Leafs lineup, on top of what general manager Brad Treliving already added. Toronto needed help with their PK, which has been struggling, and sits 22nd in the league with a 77.5 PK%. Many members of Leafs Nation anticipated a depth forward would be brought in to help with the PK; we just didn’t know who it would be. Now that we know let’s meet the newest member of the Maple Leafs!
Dewar’s Journey
Dewar hails from The Pas, Manitoba, Canada, and will be the second player of Métis descent to play for the Maple Leafs since Darcy Tucker. He started his junior career in the Western Hockey League (WHL) with the Everett Silvertips, where he spent four seasons. During his time in the WHL, he was a pretty productive player. In the first two seasons, he had 18 points and 30 points before taking off in his third. He had 68 points in 68 games and kept that momentum going into his fourth and final year, where he scored 81 points in 59 games and was drafted by the Wild in the third round of the 2018 NHL Draft.
He started his pro-hockey career in the American Hockey League with the Iowa Wild, where he would spend parts of two seasons with them. He scored 19 points in 52 games in his rookie season in the AHL and topped that up with 23 points in 32 games in his second year. With point production not being the main staple of his game, he excelled defensively. He worked hard to become a reliable defensive forward who could play in the bottom six in the NHL, and because of that, he was given the opportunity.
In 2021–22, he got the chance to play in the NHL with the Wild, although it didn’t last long, and he was sent back down to the AHL after just 35 games. In those 35 games, he had two goals, four assists for six points, and also tallied 22 blocks and 45 hits. When he was sent down, he scored 17 points in 19 games to end the season. After that last stint in the AHL, he would stay with the NHL Wild and be a mainstay in the lineup. In 2022–23, he played in 81 games and scored six goals and 12 assists for 18 points, along with 50 blocks and 124 hits. At 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, he hits a ton, which adds to why he is an everyday NHL player.
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This season, he has been better in the goal department; he has 10 of them, which is a career-high, and he also has four assists for 14 points. Now that he is a member of the Maple Leafs, depending on how they use him, he could be a 20-25-point player, which would be a career-high.
Dewar’s Role with the Maple Leafs
Dewar is coming into an interesting situation with the Maple Leafs. He is a bottom-six forward on every NHL team, but right now in Toronto, their fourth line is rocking. The mix of Noah Gregor/Pontus Holmberg, David Kampf, and Ryan Reaves has been very good, which makes it hard for him to get into the lineup. Hypothetically, he could fit on the left side of that line, especially with Gregor just finding himself back in the lineup and Holmberg being scratched.
If that’s the case, the Maple Leafs’ last line would be more physical and much harder on the forecheck. This line could be similar to the New York Islanders fourth line, which wears you down physically and mentally, especially over the seven-game series. Treliving made a very smart decision to trade for Dewar because of the potential of how strong the fourth line could be down the stretch and into the playoffs.
Overall, it may not seem like the biggest pickup because Dewar isn’t a household name. But Treliving found his own version of Kampf when former GM Kyle Dubas signed him. Kampf was a player that most fans questioned because they didn’t know him, but when they learned he was a player, they realized why he was brought in. I believe that is going to be the same thing that happens with Dewar.