You don’t want to overestimate the obvious, but when you sign big-name free agents, it’s usually to improve your club.
New Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving delivered one of the biggest criticisms of any manager early in free agency, signing forwards Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Dumy to contracts on Sunday. He was a top 10 free agent starting the summer, and now he’s plying his trade with a team that needs to be all-in sooner rather than later.
After three days of free agency, Treliving is off to a good start.
“We’re better today than we were yesterday, and that’s the point here,” Treliving told the media during the first day of Team Development Camp. “Everyone is excited, the bell is ringing on July 1st. We still have a lot of summer left to build our squad. I feel so good about our squad.”
The Leafs signed defenseman John Klingberg on Opening Day of free agency, bringing in the veteran after the departures of Erik Gustafsson, Luke Schenn, and Justin Holl, among others. The team also added toughness in Ryan Reaves, a fourth-line enforcer who isn’t afraid to take on anyone.
The only thing missing? scoring. On Sunday, that changed.
Among the many strikers who have come forward, Michael Bunting, Noel Acciare, Alex Kerfoot, Ryan O’Reilly and Zach Aston-Reese stand out in their own way. The Leafs could use some young dropouts, like Bobby McCann and Alex Steeves, to fill some deep roles. But with two potential top-six threats added to the lineup, the Leafs love where they sit.
“One of the things we were aware of was trying to replace some of the remaining insults,” Treleving said. “But there are also some specific skills that we’re trying to address here.. There are goals with Tyler. They’re mid-ice goals. He hits mid-ice, he hits the blue point and I think he’s a good compliment to a lot of our players here.
Treliving continued “With Max, I really believe we are going to see the best version of Max”. “He’s been playing in Toronto for a long time. To have players that mean a lot to wear this jersey, I think that’s important. And that’s Max. He brings attacking ability.”
It helps that Bertuzzi and Domi are players willing to throw it in once in a while. While Reaves is only there to be a leader and enforcer, the other two can contribute significantly near the top of the lineup.
“Both of them, I think there’s part of their DNA…we need more snot in our game and I think they bring a lot of that,” Triliving said.
The signings put the Leafs $8.831 million over the salary cap, potentially landing Jake Muzen and his $5.625 million salary on long-term injured reserve. There’s also future Matt Murray, his $4.687 million deal, and whether he ends up being an LTIR (if he gets injured) or leaves via buyout. The team still needs to sign RFA Ilya Samsonov, so there is still some additional contention to come. Austin Matthews, William Nylander, Sam Lafferty, Dylan Gambrell, TJ Brody, Klingberg and Mark Giordano are all waiting for UFA next summer, which would give them an extra berth.
At the moment, there is still work to be done.
“We’ve been jammed,” Treleving said. “As a league, we’ve been playing it a lot. So it’s an interesting market for players. If you ask any players, having a term is an important part. Our goal was to keep things short, but you never know. When Tyler and Max got into the process, we talked to them in Very early on and the term was something they both wanted. We told them early on in the process if they come up with a short-term deal we’d love to talk. I think it talks about what’s in that dressing room, the kind of players they’re going to play with and the kind of team they think this is “.
Some believe the Leafs could pull off more excitement this summer, adding a few extra chops to a team many expect to remain a top contender. But we’ve seen it all before: Can they finally, in fact, actually go the distance this time? Treliving seems to think so, and he’s made some big swings early in his tenure.
You certainly cannot say that the team is not stronger now.