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Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas indicated earlier in the week that he was looking to add some depth at forward and preferably on the right side of the blueline, and on Thursday the club announced that they had signed defensemen Jordie Benn and Victor Mete to one-year, one-way contracts for $750,000.
Benn has nearly 600 regular season games experience with Minnesota, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Montréal and Dallas and posted 135 points (25 goals, 110 assists) while adding four assists through 23 career playoff games. The 34-year-old had eight points (1 goal, 7 assists) in 39 games with the Wild last season, serving mostly as a seventh defenseman.
A depth role at the NHL level is the most likely for Benn, since the veteran blueliner can play both the left and right side, kill penalties, and has a league minimum salary. This could free up the Leafs to deal defenseman Justin Holl and his $2 million salary to give the club more cap space and room to sign RFA’s Pierre Engvall and Rasmus Sandin.
With the Leafs not extending qualifying offers to Marlies leading defensive scorer Joseph Duszak, big Latvian Kristans Rubins, and Chad Krys, the organization was likely looking for some organizational blueline depth with some NHL experience to play in the AHL.