The Toronto Maple Leafs will be a team to watch in free agency and this offseason.
The Maple Leafs have Mitch Marner and John Tavares as pending free agents. However, NHL analyst Shane Seney of LeafsNation believes Toronto will add in free agency by signing Stanley Cup champion Sam Bennett in free agency from rival Florida Panthers.
“Let’s jump ahead to the summer of 2025. The Maple Leafs will have some money to spend in the free-agent market, and will make a splash up front. Bold prediction – Sam Bennett signs long-term deal with his hometown Maple Leafs,” Seney wrote. “Bennett would fit in like a glove on a Craig Berube-run hockey team. And, would give the Maple Leafs an element of toughness up front, that some feel they severely lack. He’s battled tested. He knows what it takes to win a Stanley Cup. And, he’s someone who will push the Maple Leafs’ compete level through the roof.”
Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving also drafted Bennett when he was in Calgary, so there is familiarity there. Treliving also admitted that trading Bennett was one of the mistakes he regrets in his career.
“This prediction could come down to the rapport Bennett has with Brad Treliving, and if their relationship is still in good standing, considering Treliving drafted Bennett in Calgary with his first pick as GM in 2014, but then traded Bennett to the Florida Panthers in 2021,” Seney added.
Bennett is in the final year of his four-year $17.7 million deal with the Panthers. This season, Bennett has skated in 38 games recording 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points.
Bennett Has Talked About Playing for Maple Leafs
The gritty forward has been linked to Toronto in the past due to him growing up there.
Bennett would be an impactful forward who plays with an edge and can add some offense. This past summer after helping the Panthers win the Stanley Cup, he says he spends his offseason in Toronto and Maple Leafs fans always tell him to join his hometown team.
“It is funny though because I’m actually here all summer, I walk by and fans see me all the time,” Bennett said on TSN 1050’s First Up. “They actually always have something to say, they hate me, but they always end with ‘I want you to be a Leaf one day.’”
Bennett was selected fourth overall by Calgary in the 2014 NHL draft. He’s skated in 653 career games recording 150 goals and 162 assists for 312 points.
Toronto Looking to Add a Forward
The Maple Leafs are in their Stanley Cup window and the team is expected to be aggressive ahead of the deadline.
Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman was on The FAN 590’s The Fan Hockey Show and said Toronto is looking to acquire a center.
“Well, you know, I think that’s the number one thing he’s (Treliving) been looking at all season,” Friedman stated when asked about Treliving’s interest in adding a center… “Now, I think their preference is term. That’s one thing I’ve heard out there, is that their preference is term. I mean, if there’s a rental they really like, I’m sure they’ll pivot to that too. But, one of the things I’ve heard, is that if they’re going to spend assets on a center. They would prefer it to be someone with term.”
The Maple Leafs are 26-13-2 and atop the Atlantic Division.
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