National Post (National Edition)
Leafs roster starting to take shape after frenzy
Six new players added to team in free agency
The Toronto Maple Leafs have spent Thanksgiving weekend so far loading up their table with side dishes, though they couldn't bite on the main course of NHL free agency.
While the acqui sition of defenceman Alex Pietrangelo was always beyond their budget, they've come away with six new players so far, designed to make them a bit more pugnacious with and without the puck.
Sunday night's late acquisition of left winger Jimmy Vesey was on top of forwards Wayne Simmonds, Travis Boyd and Joey Anderson (the latter in a trade), their most prominent UFA, T.J. Brodie, as well as fellow defence veteran Zach Bogosian.
The moves so far have cost them just one player off the main roster, winger Andreas Johnsson for Anderson in a deal with New Jersey, while they netted a top four blueliner in Brodie and a proven veteran in 2020 Stanley Cup winner Bogosian.
Improving the defence was thought to be a difficult task without moving a bigger contract, such as William Nylander's $6.9 million US AAV. Their razor thin flexibility with the flat salary cap of $81.5 million still needs to be tested with restricted free agent winger Ilya Mikheyev filing for salary arbitration and defenceman Travis Dermott also a RFA.
But with this weekend's low-cost moves — all in the one-year $1 million range except for Brodie — and the expected challenge from inhouse defencemen Rasmus Sandin, Mikko Lehtonen and Timothy Liljegren, the Leafs' cap strategy might hold. They can also go over the limit by 10 per cent in the off-season.
Pietrangelo is pondering a move to the Vegas Golden Knights in a long-term pact, while the Buffalo Sabres shocking one-year $8 million deal for Taylor Hall on Sunday meant UFAs such as Vesey were available.
The son of former Leaf scout Jim Vesey Sr., the Harvard University star had not signed with his draft team, the Nashville Predators. But at 6-foot-3, 202-pounds and coming off a Hobey Baker Award season with 24 goals and 46 points in 33 games, he was chased by many teams in the summer of 2016. The Leafs were one of the seven finalists, but Vesey chose the New York Rangers.