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Recapping The Leafs Transactions In July

The Toronto Maple Leafs had a pretty big month as Tim Leiweke continues to search for personnel that will help him achieve a new identity for the team.

Earlier in the off-season, the Leafs fired their assistant coaching staff, they finally found two quality replacements to fill the empty roles. Steve Spott and Peter Horachek will be accompanying Randy Carlyle on the bench this season. Spott coached the Toronto Maple Leafs farm team, the Toronto Marlies, last year and brought the team to a seventh game in the Western Conference Finals. They lost that series to the Texas Stars, who eventually went on to win the Calder Cup against the St. John’s Ice Caps. Spott does have some experience coaching a few players on the Leafs roster, including David Clarkson when he played for him on the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL.

Horachek spent his first year as an NHL head coach last year with the Florida Panthers. He was let go of his duties after the season ended and will now be an assistant coach for the Leafs. Horachek spent nine years as an assistant coach to Barry Trotz of the Nashville Predators. His experience with Trotz will hopefully bring a more defensive system into the Leafs forward lines.

Tim Leiweke gave newly appointed President, Brendan Shanahan, all the power in hiring and firing coaches and GMs. Shanahan made his first moves as he fired assistant GMs Claude Loiselle and Dave Pouilin, who each had 3 years left on their contracts. Shanahan brought in a young, bright mind in Kyle Dubas. Dubas is 28 years old and has been the GM of the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds since he was 25. Advanced Stats have been becoming more popular in the NHL over the past few years, Shanahan hopes that Dubas will be able to jump onboard to help Dave Nonis make smarter moves in terms of acquiring players with better advanced stats.

The Leafs also signed a few players to short contracts this month. They signed David Booth to a one-year, 1.1 million dollar contract. He will be playing for a role in the bottom six in an already jammed position. The Leafs will have around 10 players trying to crack a spot on the third or fourth line when training camp comes. This means that either more trades are on the way, or some players may be sent down to play with the Marlies to start the season.

The Leafs re-signed Cody Franson and James Reimer before they entered their arbitration hearings. Franson signed a one-year, 3.3 million dollar contract. With that amount of money, it’s hard not to think that he will be in the starting lineup on October 8th. Jake Gardiner still has to sign a deal, but when he does, the Leafs will have a better defensive core than they did last year, which will hopefully be enough to bring them back into the playoffs.

Reimer signed a two-year, 4.6 million dollar contract. Although Reimer wanted out of Toronto, this moves makes the most sense for both parties. The goalie market is pretty dry right now, so the Leafs still need a solid backup to help win games alongside Jonathan Bernier. Most teams have a starting goalie right now, so trading Reimer wouldn’t make sense as the return would not be strong enough to match the value of Reimer. Hopefully Carlyle will give Reimer a better look this year and they can put the drama from last year behind them.

There is still more to be done before this team can be called a cup contender, but I have hope that these moves, especially with the coaching and GM staff, will steer the Leafs in the right direction.

Author: Colin Hegarty

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