Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Maple Leafs Rumors

Maple Leafs Sign Jon Gillies To PTO

at CDT | by 4 Comments

Free agent goaltender Jon Gillies will look to land a contract during Maple Leafs training camp on a professional tryout, the team announced Tuesday.

Gillies, 30, has 35 games of NHL experience in parts of four seasons with the Flames, Blues, Devils, and Blue Jackets. He hasn’t appeared in a game at the top level since 2022-23, when he posted a 1-1-0 record, .864 SV%, and a 4.57 GAA in two starts and one relief appearance for Columbus.

A Calgary third-round pick back in 2012, Gillies took last season off after evidently not receiving any NHL or AHL offers. He landed with the Coyotes on a two-way deal in the summer of 2022, posting a subpar .878 SV% in 15 games for their AHL affiliate in Tucson before being traded to the Blue Jackets around the trade deadline.

A fringe No. 3 netminder at best, Gillies owns an 8-16-3 record, 3.39 GAA, and .891 SV% in his NHL minutes. He’s fared significantly better in the AHL, where he has a 2.94 GAA, .904 SV%, nine shutouts, and a 78-71-32 record in 184 appearances across eight professional seasons.

If he lands a contract with Toronto, it’ll either be a two-way deal or an AHL contract with their affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. At highest, he would slot fifth on their goaltending depth chart behind Joseph Woll, veteran NHLers Anthony Stolarz and Matt Murray, and AHL All-Star Dennis Hildeby.

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Jani Hakanpää

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Sunday: Toronto has officially registered the contract, per PuckPedia.  The deal contains a signing bonus of $695K and a base salary of $775K, the league minimum.  Hakanpää also received an eight-team no-trade clause.

Wednesday: Defenseman Jani Hakanpää’s eventful trip through unrestricted free agency ended after an offseason full of speculation. The Toronto Maple Leafs made public that the team has signed Hakanpää to a one-year contract worth $1.47MM.

Back at the beginning of the offseason on July 1st TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that the Maple Leafs and Hakanpää agreed to a two-year contract with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman relaying a $1.5MM cap hit each season. Mum was the word after that as Toronto never registered the contract with the league offices as Hakanpää’s knee injury became a cause for concern. Hakanpää’s year during the 2023-24 season was cut short on March 16th as he underwent an arthroscopic procedure.

After debating whether or not Hakanpää would be healthy enough to play on Toronto’s blue line the team ultimately decided to mitigate their risk with a one-year deal. Despite the relatively low cap hit it complicates an already tight Maple Leafs’ cap structure. The team entered the afternoon with approximately $400K in salary cap room according to PuckPedia and Hakanpää’s salary will now put them in negative territory.

The risk may be solid as Hakanpää’s last three years with the Dallas Stars were more than quality. He scored a mild 12 goals and 40 points over 226 games but his 668 hits and 363 blocked shots over that span made him one of the more physically oppressive defensemen in the league. The Stars played a suffocating style on defenseman and Hakanpää was one of the reasons their structure became so restrictive for opponents.

There won’t be much expectation for high levels of ice time at 5on5 play for Hakanpää but he should see a healthy amount of minutes on the team’s penalty kill. He jumps from a penalty kill ranked 8th last season to one that was ranked 23rd. He also should help Toronto keep the puck out of their net. The team wasn’t horrible in that category last season by any stretch of the imagination but their 3.18 GA/G did rank 21st in the league which could be improved upon.

His benefit to Toronto’s blue line will only be important if he is available making his knee injury something to monitor. If he can play much of the regular season the Maple Leafs’ defense will certainly be nastier to play against this year, especially after factoring in the team’s free addition of Chris Tanev earlier in the summer.

Fraser Minten Leaves Game With Injury

at CDT | by 2 Comments

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs received a mild scare today with forward prospect Fraser Minten stepping away from the rest of today’s prospects game against the Montreal Canadiens. He was hit awkwardly into the boards in the second period before exiting from the game but Nick Barden of The Hockey News reports he’s only being held out for precautionary reasons. The former 38th overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft went scoreless in his first few games with the Maple Leafs last season and is expected to spend much of next year with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Ben Danford Out For Weekend, Will Be Re-Evaluated

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

TSN’s Mark Masters reports the Toronto Maple Leafs will be without recent first-round pick Ben Danford for the rest of the weekend due to an injury. Danford reportedly was on the receiving end of a big hit in yesterday’s rookie camp scrimmage and will be re-evaluated after the upcoming weekend.

The rookie camp would have been the first extended look at Danford working in the Maple Leafs’ system but at least he will be close by if the injury prohibits him from suiting up in any more games. Danford is expected to suit up for the Oshawa Generals located just northeast of Toronto and will look to expand upon his 33-point effort from last year.

[SOURCE LINK]

Maple Leafs Sign Max Pacioretty To PTO

at CDT | by 5 Comments

The Maple Leafs have signed unrestricted free agent winger Max Pacioretty to a professional tryout, the team announced Wednesday.

It’s far from unexpected. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported the Leafs were in discussions to sign Pacioretty late last month, and Darren Dreger of TSN said yesterday that coming to an agreement with Pacioretty was one of Toronto’s top priorities after resolving a stalemate with restricted free agent forward Nicholas Robertson.

Most expected Pacioretty’s eventual agreement with the Leafs to be a guaranteed contract instead of a PTO, but with Toronto tight to the salary cap, it’ll take some time to work out – likely into training camp. Pacioretty inking a PTO likely indicates he has a deal in place that will be signed once the Maple Leafs have the financial flexibility to do, a sentiment echoed by Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN. His agent, Octagon’s Allan Walsh, confirms this.

Pacioretty, 36 in November, will compete to land a job in the Leafs’ top nine as a depth scorer with loads of NHL experience – 902 games, to be exact. After recovering from a pair of Achilles tendon tears, Pacioretty struggled to reclaim his pre-injury form with just four goals in 47 games after working his way back to a regular NHL role with the Capitals last season.

But the 2007 first-round pick of the Canadiens is no stranger to bouncing back from serious injuries. Pacioretty won the Masterton Trophy in 2012 with Montreal, emerging as a top-line scoring threat that year after a C4 vertebrae fracture and Grade 2 concussion sustained on a hit from then-Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chára the year prior nearly ended his career.

Even as the dreaded aging curve declines his overall effectiveness, there’s a reasonable expectation for him to return to at least being a double-digit goal contributor in Toronto if he stays healthy. The Connecticut native shot just 4.2% last season, the second-worst in the league among forwards with at least 90 shots on goal. That’s an incredulous stat from a six-time 30-goal scorer with a career average shooting percentage north of 11%.

Given his age, Pacioretty is eligible to sign a bonus-laden 35+ contract. That will allow the Maple Leafs to keep his initial cap hit low, likely the league minimum $775K, while allowing him to earn more cash if he stays healthy and becomes a regular contributor. Any performance bonuses he earns that Toronto can’t fit under the cap will be applied to next season’s books as a bonus overage penalty.

Pacioretty is likely set to fill the role that Robertson did last season. After inking a one-year, $875K deal yesterday, Robertson is still on the trade block following his late June request. If the Leafs find a trade partner before opening night, Pacioretty and Bobby McMann will likely compete for left-wing duties on the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander, with the other dropping to third-line minutes.

Pacioretty has 330 goals and 668 points over his 16-year career, averaging 30 goals and 61 points per 82 games. Those are high benchmarks for an aging veteran who’s played just 91 games over the past three seasons, but a healthy season could at least result in ’Patches’ hovering around the 15-goal, 30-point territory.

Jordie Benn Announces Retirement

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Veteran defenseman Jordie Benn has retired after a 17-year run in the pros, he told Paul Haysom of CHEK News.

Benn, 37, last played in the NHL for the Maple Leafs in the 2022-23 season. The older brother of Stars captain Jamie Benn closes the book on a 12-year, 607-game NHL résumé – an incredibly unlikely run.

Not only was Benn undrafted, he never played high-level juniors or collegiate hockey. The physical, stay-at-home defender spent parts of four seasons in Junior ’A’ for his hometown Victoria Grizzlies in the British Columbia Hockey League before turning pro in 2008, staying in British Columbia but jumping to the ECHL with the Victoria Salmon Kings.

Benn worked his way up the professional ranks over the next couple of seasons, landing an AHL contract with the Texas Stars for 2010-11 before inking his first NHL contract, a one-year entry-level pact, with Dallas for the 2011-12 campaign. That kicked off a six-year run for both Jordie and Jamie playing together in the Lone Star State.

The elder Benn spent most of 2011-12 back on the farm with Texas, but he did make his NHL debut with two assists in three games with the big club. Two years later, he was a regular in a depth role on the Dallas blue line, saying goodbye to the AHL entirely after splitting the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign between leagues.

While Benn mostly used his 6’2″, 201-lb frame to be a physical force and box out opponents, resulting in some decent possession numbers in his heyday, he wasn’t a complete non-factor offensively. He put up decent production on the Stars’ blue line in a low-scoring era, totaling 11 goals, 60 assists and 71 points with a +7 rating in 302 games there before he was traded to the Canadiens shortly before the 2017 deadline.

Benn remained an effective fringe top-four option in Montreal, posting 39 points and a +12 rating in 171 appearances in parts of three seasons while averaging 18:26 per game, slightly more than he averaged during his time in Dallas. Upon reaching unrestricted free agency in 2019, he inked a two-year, $4MM deal with the Canucks, returning as close to home as possible.

Unfortunately, it was in Vancouver his game began to decline, with his point-per-game production halving and his ice time slipping to exclusively bottom-pairing usage. He was traded to the Jets as a rental at the 2021 deadline and then spent 2021-22 with the Wild before landing in Toronto for 2022-23.

North of the border, Benn struggled with injuries, limited to a goal and an assist in 12 NHL appearances with a -1 rating. He was sent to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies for his first minor-league assignment in a decade, posting six points in 23 games there.

Upon reaching unrestricted free agency again last summer, Benn decided to try his luck overseas by inking a one-year deal with Sweden’s Brynäs IF. He ended up being a major get for the club, which relied heavily on his strong performance (22 points, +24 rating in 39 games) to win the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan championship and gain promotion back to the Swedish Hockey League for 2024-25.

It’s a neat bookend for Benn, who opts to end his pro career on a high note. In his NHL minutes, he recorded a very respectable 26 goals, 111 assists, 137 points, and a +19 rating while averaging 17:28 per contest. He tended to have positive possession quality impacts at even strength over the course of his career, posting a 50.8 xG%, per Hockey Reference.

Benn is about to welcome his third child, he told Haysom, but hopes to work in a front-office role in some capacity when the time is right. All of us at PHR congratulate him on a lengthy run in the pros and wish him the best in his next chapter.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Maple Leafs Still Pursuing Jani Hakanpää, Max Pacioretty

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Expect the Maple Leafs to turn their attention to finalizing contracts for unrestricted free agents Jani Hakanpää and Max Pacioretty after getting a deal done with restricted free agent winger Nicholas Robertson this morning, says Darren Dreger of TSN. With limited cap room, getting a Robertson contract finalized further before training camp was a priority for Treliving to avoid the threat of a late-summer offer sheet, Dreger added.

Hakanpää reportedly agreed to a two-year, $3MM deal with the Leafs when free agency opened on July 1, but the contract was never finalized. That’s because the 32-year-old is still dealing with the effects of a knee injury that ended his 2023-24 campaign shortly after the trade deadline.

A dispute between Hakanpää and the Leafs’ medical staff about whether he can play through the injury, which has left his knee “basically bone on bone,” led Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic to say last month that Toronto was unlikely to end up registering the contract. It appears they’re still holding out hope, though, and are trying to get the stay-at-home defender in a Maple Leafs sweater before training camp opens next Wednesday.

After signing Robertson, though, they don’t have the capacity to stomach Hakanpää’s $1.5MM cap hit as reported. They could become cap-compliant by shedding Conor Timmins’ $1.1MM cap hit, either by trade, waivers or burying him in the minors. Doing so would leave the Leafs with just $333 in cap space with an open roster spot, per PuckPedia. They currently have $400,333 in projected space with Robertson and Timmins on the NHL roster.

Hakanpää has come into his own as a valuable shutdown presence in Dallas, posting 40 points and a +29 rating in 226 appearances for the Stars over the past three seasons while averaging 17:47 per game. If signed, the right-shot defenseman projects to slot into a bottom-four role, potentially bumping Jake McCabe back to his natural left side and Simon Benoit to the press box.

They’d still need to make another move in order to add Pacioretty. The Maple Leafs were linked to the 35-year-old winger late last month, and he remains on the market in search of a guaranteed contract rather than a professional tryout.

Treliving appears willing to make that guaranteed deal work. It’ll likely end up as a league-minimum $775K cap hit before performance bonuses – which he’s eligible for with a 35+ contract. Those bonuses could result in cap pain for the Leafs down the line, but it would require minimal work to make him fit on the roster now. They could waive, trade, or otherwise demote any roster player aside from Joseph Woll and have a pathway to cap compliance with both Hakanpää and Pacioretty, assuming Timmins is off the roster as stipulated earlier.

Coming off back-to-back Achilles injuries, Pacioretty posted four goals, 19 assists and 23 points in 47 games for the Capitals last season with a -14 rating. He’s due for significant positive regression in the goal-scoring department after shooting at an abysmal 4.2%, nearly seven points south of his 11.1% career average.

Maple Leafs Re-Sign Nicholas Robertson

at CDT | by 3 Comments

The Maple Leafs have re-signed restricted free agent winger Nicholas Robertson to a one-year deal worth $875K, per a team announcement.

Robertson, who turns 23 tomorrow, has been the subject of trade rumors ever since a report from Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic on the eve of free agency indicated he’d requested out of Toronto and had “no plans to re-sign with the Leafs this summer.” His name was also briefly mentioned in trade talks last season after a February report that indicated the Leafs were willing to listen to offers for the winger, but he wasn’t moved by the deadline.

As late as two weeks ago, Johnston said Robertson was still hoping to be moved. But last week, Luke Fox of Sportsnet said he wasn’t expecting Robertson to be traded before camp, putting a little bit of cold water on public trade speculation.

There’s still time for that suspicion to be wrong before training camps kick off around the league next week. It’s likely now easier than ever for Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving to get a Robertson trade across the finish line, with interested teams now having certainty of his cap hit for 2024-25.

But Robertson could also very well still be a Maple Leaf when opening night rosters are due. Treliving has maintained a positive relationship with Robertson by keeping in contact with him while exploring potential moves this summer, Darren Dreger of TSN reports, adding that new bench boss Craig Berube will help give the young winger a fresh start.

If he does end up sticking around, Robertson has a legitimate chance at a breakout season. While he was no longer technically a rookie, 2023-24 was his first true full NHL campaign. The 2019 second-round pick answered the bell with 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points in 56 games while averaging just 11:23 per game with minimal power play time.

At 5v5, those numbers made Robertson one of the league’s most efficient scorers last season. His 1.34 goals per 60 minutes ranked 17th in the league, putting him on par with stars like Boston’s David Pastrňák and Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor.

There will likely be some regression from last year’s 14.6 shooting percentage in 2024-25, but an increase in ice time and special teams usage under Berube should help negate a drop in point-per-game production. He was on pace for 40 points had he played all 82 games last season, a figure he could very well build upon if he begins to see spot duty in the top six. After Tyler Bertuzzi left for the Blackhawks in free agency and with Matthew Knies expected to get an early crack at first-line duties alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, there’s a second-line spot up for grabs with William Nylander and John Tavares that could be Robertson’s for the taking.

A one-year pact makes Robertson an RFA again next summer, still without arbitration rights. The Maple Leafs now have just over $400K in projected cap space with one open roster spot, per PuckPedia.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the Leafs were expected to announce a deal for Robertson today.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Maple Leafs, Mitch Marner Taking Extension Talks Slowly

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Entering a contract year, there still doesn’t appear to be a ton of urgency between the Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner to get an extension done. Darren Dreger of TSN said on TSN Toronto 1050’s “First Up” today that the relationship between Marner and the Leafs is “in a good place,” but no extension news is imminent with training camp beginning next week:

I don’t want to misconstrue that with the belief that an extension is looming, that it’s going to happen quickly. Obviously, it’s going to be a top-of-mind, big story from the beginning of training camp and probably until the day that an extension with committed and announced, but I don’t have the sense that that’s going to happen any time soon. And I think both sides are okay with that. Marner knows that this is yet another big year for that young leadership group, and he’s a big part of that. So, he’s focused on a good start for himself, for his team. I don’t get the sense that there’s contract pressure on Marner. He’s happy for it to be quiet. There’s good dialogue between Darren Ferris and Brad Treliving; they’ve got a good relationship, but they’re not in heavy negotiations. Again, both sides are okay with that. There doesn’t appear to be a rush, at this stage.

Trade rumors began dogging Marner this offseason almost immediately after Bruins winger David Pastrňák ended Toronto’s season in overtime of Game 7 of the First Round. The Predators were mentioned early on as a team that would be interested if Marner decided to waive his no-movement clause, a bit of news that foreshadowed their aggressiveness on the free-agent market.

But there hasn’t been much substantive reporting on Marner’s situation for weeks, even dating back to the beginning of free agency. Thus far, there’s still been no indication that he’s considering waiving his NMC to facilitate a trade, and at least initial extension talks have begun.

Marner, 27, is entering the final season of the bonus-laden six-year, $65.41MM deal he inked as an RFA late in the summer of 2019. Since inking the contract, Marner has averaged over 20 minutes per game in every season, finishing top-10 in Selke Trophy voting twice, and averaged 1.24 points per game – eighth in the NHL during that time. A top-five winger in the league, he’s a playmaking superstar on a team full of high-powered talent.

But whether Toronto, now with Treliving entering his second season as GM and Craig Berube entering his first as head coach, will be willing to give Marner enough of a raise on his current $10.9MM cap hit to make a long-term agreement remains to be seen. The team already has over $61.7MM in cap hit commitments for 2025-26 with nine open roster spots, and an eight-year extension for Marner at this stage would likely finish in the low $11MM range, Evolving Hockey projects.

Unfortunately for the Leafs, Leon Draisaitl’s recent eight-year, $14MM AAV extension likely bumped that number up. Marner’s 415 points over the past five years pale in comparison to Drasaitl’s 538, especially considering a similar amount of games played, but Marner is a far superior defensive talent with penalty-killing upside. He very likely won’t match that price tag, even if he does hit the open market next summer, but it could be enough to push his next deal into the $12MM range per season.

Four Teams Have Interest In Mark Giordano

at CDT | by 3 Comments

The Score’s Kyle Cushman wrote that the Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Toronto Maple Leafs have maintained interest in veteran defenseman Mark Giordano. The oldest player in the NHL last year has spurned any interest in retirement and is again looking for an NHL opportunity next year.

He is destined for bottom-pairing responsibilities next year after averaging his lowest average time-on-ice since the 2008-09 season. He’s spent the last two-and-a-half years with the Maple Leafs organization where he’s recorded nine goals and 45 points in 144 games while averaging 18:14 a game.

Calgary represents more of a ’feel good’ landing spot as the other three interested parties have internal expectations of contentions next season. He’s spent 15 years of his career in southern Alberta where he recorded 143 goals and 509 points in 949 games including a Norris Trophy in the 2018-19 season.

He’s seen his possession quality dip in the last several years after finishing the 2023-24 season with a 48.4 CorsiFor% compared to a 53.0% career average. He’s still a formidable bottom-pairing veteran presence and could provide a bonus to any team.

At the end of his career, the expectation is that Giordano will look to maximize his opportunity to win the Stanley Cup which would trim his potential teams down to Edmonton and Toronto. Without needing to shoulder top-level responsibility anymore at this stage in his career; he should have a ready opportunity in both organizations.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top