The Toronto Maple Leafs are scooping up as many depth forwards as they can.
Putting together a decidedly busy day on Wednesday with the free agent market now in full swing, the Maple Leafs locked in another bottom-six forward to play on their fourth line, agreeing to terms with Adam Gaudette on a one-year contract worth $750,000.
Gaudette is an interesting player who, despite his constant movement, is actually younger than most may think after bouncing around the league in recent years. The 25-year-old debuted in 2017 with the Canucks and yet played for the Senators and Blackhawks in addition in the past two years alone, setting a career-high of 12 goals and 33 points in 59 points back in 2019-20.
There are some tools there with Gaudette, clearly. But the constant upheaval he’s experienced over the past 48 months has likely prevented him from earning a consistent spot on any NHL roster, and now leads to him signing a league-minimum deal with the Maple Leafs.
After the signing of Nicolas Aube-Kubel mere minutes before, the Maple Leafs are clearly revamping their fourth-line with a few young assets that bring speed and skill in stark contrast to their veteran-laden unit from last season.
Gaudette at the league-minimum rate is a bet with pretty much zero risk. At best, he provides value at a bargain-bin price. At worst, he can be buried in the AHL with no impact on Toronto’s cap.
That’s a win-win in anyone’s books. And now, with just over $2 million left in cap space, GM Kyle Dubas will likely need to shuffle a few assets in order to re-sign RFAs Rasmus Sandin and Pierre Engvall.
