The Maple Leafs were active on the third day of free agency, signing a trio of forwards before things slow to a crawl for most NHL clubs for the US July 4th holiday weekend.
Leafs GM Dave Nonis opted to not spend a sizeable chunk of the club’s remaining cap space on former Nashville center David Legwand, who is rumored to be looking for as much as $3 Million per season on a multi-year deal and instead added Finnish import Petri Kontiola, forward Mike Santorelli and re-signed big winger Troy Bodie on one year deals that total nearly the same amount.
The 29-year-old Kontiola agreed to a $1.1 Million contract, the 28-year-old Santorelli for $1.5 Million, while Bodie’s salary has not been revealed but likely is around $650,000. Both Kontiola and Santorelli can play both center and wing, can contribute on special teams and play in a checking or energy role, which replaces the versatility veteran forwards Jay McClement and Mason Raymond, who signed with Carolina and Calgary earlier in the week.
This appears to set up a spirited competition for bottom six spots at training camp in September, with Leo Komarov, Santorelli, Kontiola, Matt Frattin, Peter Holland, Bodie, Colton Orr, Frazer McLaren and Carter Ashton.
The additions this week show that the Leafs are preparing to play more of a skilled, minute-contributing fourth line rather than an energy-enforcer line that has been a trademark of Randy Carlyle coached teams in the past. Traditionally, a skilled center like Holland would be wasted on the fourth line if paired with wingers like Orr, McLaren or Ashton, who have not shown any ability to score at the NHL level, but might be able to contribute secondary offense with the speedy Frattin and the energetic Bodie as linemates.
Kontiola was a teammate of Komarov on Team Finland in Sochi and at the World Championships in May, both led their KHL teams in scoring and wanted to return to North America to continue their careers. The former Chicago Blackhawks draft pick bought out the final year of his contract with Chelyabinsk Traktor for $600,000, which means that he will net less than the NHL league minimum $550,000 salary for the 2014-15 season
“All of those guys really want to play in the NHL,” said a well-placed source in Finnish hockey circles to Sportsnet’s
Chris Johnston . “They all made big money already in KHL. So it’s not about the money anymore.”
Toronto has almost $14 Million in available cap space according to CapGeek with five restricted free agents(James Reimer, Cody Franson, Jake Gardiner, Holland and Ashton) unsigned and Reimer, Gardiner and Franson have all filed for salary arbitration.
The expectation is that Gardiner will get a bridge deal in the neighborhood of $3 Million, Franson about the same, Holland and Ashton less than $1 Million and Reimer over $2 Million, which leaves the Leafs around $5 Million in available room to add another player this summer or make additions during the season.
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