This is largely late news at this point, appearing on most people’s desks and phones nearly 24 hours ago, but the Maple Leafs made a collection of transactions yesterday, notably extending defenceman Troy Stecher for two more years, extending qualifying offers to a bunch of their restricted free agents, and leaving several others behind. Here are some quick thoughts on those, and some other notes:
Leafs Make Qualifying Offer Decisions
The deadline for NHL teams to make qualifying offers to their restricted free agents came and went on Monday evening. For those out of the loop, teams must make a qualifying offer to retain the rights to RFAs, typically coming in at one year at somewhere between 100 and 120% of their previous year’s salary. The player doesn’t have to (and usually doesn’t) accept it, and if the team doesn’t tender one at all, the player becomes unrestricted and can hit the open market without the need for an offer sheet.
The Maple Leafs chose to qualify roster forward Nick Robertson, recent acquisition Emil Andrae, and Marlies/Leafs tweeners Jacob Quillan, Ryan Tverberg, and William Villeneuve. Players currently playing in Europe, like Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, Roni Hirvonen, and Topi Niemela didn’t not require qualifying offers to maintain their status.
The Leafs also chose to walk away from five players. Three of them were of little surprise in Braden Kressler, John Prokop, and Vyacheslav Peksa. All were depth players even within the Marlies umbrella, with none of them seeing any playoff time. While Marlies depth is useful, you generally don’t want to use NHL contracts on players who are neither big AHL contributors or potential NHLers.
More surprising on this end of the depth chart was Henry Thrun, who was a roster regular and effective player throughout the run. Thrun played in all 24 playoff games and made 55 appearances in the regular season. Thrun, 25, had also not hit the threshold to be counted as a “veteran” player for AHL single-game roster limits. This says to me that Toronto simply wants to look at some different bets here.
The most noise has come from the Leafs not qualifying Mattias Maccelli, who they acquired from Utah last summer and put up 39 points in 71 games with the team. Maccelli also finshed third among regular Leafs forwards in on-ice shot attempt share and first in on-ice expected goal share.
From a pure hockey standpoint I’m more disappointed in losing Maccelli than most – I think it’s good to have quality playmakers up and down the lineup and Maccelli was one of Toronto’s better set-up men. Conensus around town seems to be that the team needs their secondary forwards to be meaner, grittier, more defensive, and all the things that have sent them down bad paths year after year as the team then struggles to create scoring waves in the spring. I’m less convinced there, and wouldn’t be surprised if Maccelli has success elsewhere moving forward.
Where I do see Toronto’s logic here is that Maccelli is arbitration eligible. If they qualified him and he triggered that, there is a possibility that given his paces of 45-60 points in three of the last four years, he might get a substantial award in the hockey courtroom. I don’t mind him at all at his $4.1 million QO in a rising cap environment, but if his agent is able to sell an arbitrator on a deal into the 5’s and beyond, I can see why Toronto would hesitate. Just as importantly, these arbitration dates don’t usually take place for several weeks after the start of free agency, so if Maccelli does get a number that the Leafs don’t like, odds are that any potential replacements they could’ve signed or traded for would already be gone.
In this sense, it’s more palatable to me. I imagine that I would be more intrigued by most by the possibility of still working out a deal with him before another team does, but being reminded of the arbitration factor changed my snap reaction of disappointment in the moment.
Scrolling through the non-qualifiers around the league is interesting.
- I kept going back and forth on whether Domenick Fensore was any good in the Calder Cup Final, though I can’t imagine teams are clamouring to spend much more time on finding out for a 24-year-old 5’9 defenceman with 3 NHL games to his name.
- Bobby Brink in Minnesota had a similar arbitration situation to Maccelli, so we’ll see if he actually hits the market, but he could be a useful option for the Leafs.
- Montreal didn’t qualify Joe Veleno, and while he’s probably never going to make it as a legitimate NHLer, he could be a really fun AHL guy if he’s willing.
- Ottawa didn’t qualify Samuel Ersson days after acquiring him from Toronto, thought his also appears to be an arbitration situation.
- Phil Tomasino in Philadelphia could be a tweener target, having previously strung together some decent NHL seasons. A near full year in the AHL meant he definiely wasn’t getting a QO on a $1.75 million cap hit, but he could be a team’s bet at a more buriable price. Also in Philadelphia, I’d love to see Tucker Robertson get an AHL deal, if only because he’s a guy I’ve followed from his junior days.
- Philip Kurashev is hitting the market after putting up 20 points in 43 games in San Jose, only a few years removed from putting up 54 points in Chicago. The microstats aren’t super flattering on him these days, though, with little transition game to speak of.
- Nils Aman out of Vancouver would make a solid AAAA signing, though I wonder if he considers just heading home to Sweden after four years of spending less and less of his seasons in the NHL.
Leafs Extend Stecher
Also on Monday, Toronto secured one of it’s unrestricted free agents, signing him to a two-year deal with a $1.35 million cap hit.
Firstly, I’d love to know the deal with the Maple Leafs and that $1.35 million multi-year AAV. It’s been used for Bobby McMann, Simon Benoit, Steven Lorentz, and now Stecher. It’s moved onto a new GM, shifting from being a Treliving Special to a Chayka Combo, and Brandon Pridham isn’t there to theoretically be the one to recommend it anymore. It doesn’t have a tight tie to the salary cap, as the buriable threshold is still $1.225 million going into next season. Those four are the only players in the league sitting at that exact number. It might just be a coincidence that all of of these guys signed it, but it’s still pretty neat.
It’s also a perfectly fine price for the 32-year-old veteran, who the Leafs claimed off waivers in November. Following his insertion into the lineup, Stecher put up three goals and 11 assists in 58 games, and was a perfectly fine two-way depth defenceman. Toronto fared a little better in the shot department in the minutes that he played against the ones that he didn’t, generally steering pucks away from the inner slot and giving them a bottom-lineup layer who had plays with the puck beyond glass-and-out.
Some may be a little cagey about having two undersized d-men in Stecher and Emil Andrae on the back end, but I wonder if the plan is even for both to play every night, nor do I think the size thing is a problem as long as they do a better job than the previous group at moving play North. Stecher wasn’t groundbreaking in that regard, but he was enough for a bottom-lineup guy, and that’s what Toronto gets here. If nothing else, he gives them options, and this extension is manageable if he isn’t an every day fit along the way.
Other Notes and Thoughts
- The Leafs put out their development camp roster yesterday as well, inviting 53 players to take part this weekend. This includes all ten of their 2026 draft picks, thirteen other prior picks, three non-picks on NHL deals, and one non-pick on an AHL deal. It also includes 26 invites from various leagues and levels.
- Gavin McKenna will obviously be the player most will have their eyes on of this group, but of the in-the-system guys, I’m also very curious how Tinus Luc Koblar will look after a full pro season in the SHL and fantastic World Championships with Norway.
- Looking at the invites, I wonder a little bit about what might happen with Zackary Sandhu, who has been a long-time defensive partner of Ben Danford’s and aged out of the OHL this year. Sandhu is committed to Clarkson University this season, but I could see Toronto keeping tabs for a minor-league deal down the line.
- London Knights goaltender Sebastian Gatto is on the invite list, which interests me since I remember him from the Leamington Flyers two years prior. A lot of goaltenders who either started their junior careers or are currently playing in Junior A are getting invites across the league – it’s fascinating to see how different the options are for netminders. It’s not non-existent for skaters who take similar paths to get these opportunities, but it’s definitely rarer.
- I’m a little bit worried about that Florida/New Jersey trade that sent Jacob Markstrom to Sunrise this afternoon. Between that deal and acquiring Akira Schmid, it seems pretty clear that the Panthers are moving on from Sergei Bobrovsky. Reporting suggests its due to his insistence on maintaining his ask, which was reported by Nik Kypreos earlier in the month to be about $42 million over 6 or 7 years. A friendly reminder here that Bobrovsky will be 38 years old by opening night. There has been a lot of smoke connecting him to Toronto, and if the structure looks anything like that, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. But perhaps we cross that bridge when we get to it.
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