The Toronto Maple Leafs did a bit of contract housekeeping as most of the hockey world is either at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas, NV or heading to Dallas for the NHL Draft on Friday.
The club announced on Wednesday the signings of restricted free agents Connor Carrick and Calvin Pickard to one-year, one-way deals.
Carrick (who was acquired in February 2016 from the Washington Capitals in the deal for Daniel Winnik) signed for $1.3 Million and will be arbitration eligible next season. The 24-year-old blueliner scored 12 points (4 goals, 8 assists), but played just 47 games last season, losing his spot to rookies Andreas Borgman, Travis Dermott and veteran Roman Polak.
The Leafs appear to value Carrick as a dependable and low-cost reserve and an option for the bottom pairing on the right side, and his being brought back may be a sign that GM Kyle Dubas does not play on re-signing Polak, who played better near the end of the season and in the playoffs.
Pickard was acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights after clearing waivers last October and played one game for the Leafs, but with the Calder Cup winning Marlies, the 26-year-old was nearly the equal of tandem partner Garret Sparks, going 21-9-1, with a 2.31 GAA and .918 save percentage in 33 games.
The Leafs have all four of their goaltenders on one-way deals and the signing of Pickard for $800,000 may be a bit of insurance that he will not get claimed off of waivers if Toronto sends him down after training camp in September.
That is not a luxury they will have with Sparks, who won the Baz Bastien Award for the AHL’s best goaltender and led the Marlies to playoff glory. With one year remaining at $675,000, the 24-year-old would undoubtedly be claimed if the Leafs tried to sneak him through waivers and it is unlikely that Sparks would unseat veteran Curtis McElhinney, who had 11-5-1 record, a .934 save percentage and most importantly the confidence of head coach Mike Babcock.
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After two years of opening the home schedule against other Original Six teams (Boston and New York), the Leafs are returning to the tradition of starting the schedule against the Montreal Canadiens.
The contest will be at the renamed Scotiabank Place (it will only take me about 20 years to stop calling it the ACC) on Wednesday, October 3rd.
The rest of the club’s schedule will be revealed on Thursday.
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Chris Tanev is a name that has long been connected to the Leafs search for defensive help and according to Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal, the Vancouver Canucks may be shopping the Toronto native.
Tanev checks off a number of boxes for the Leafs, he’s a right hand shot, he meshed well with Morgan Rielly as a defense partner at the 2016 World Championships in 2016 and the cost for him will be significantly less than other names on the trade market, like Noah Hanifin or Dougie Hamilton.
The 28-year-old missed 69 games due to injury the last two seasons, so that should mitigate the Canucks asking price, especially with a $4.45M AAV the next two seasons and after re-signing Erik Gudbranson.
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