Preseason is still more than a month away for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the team will undoubtedly be considering all possible avenues to strengthen the team ahead of the new campaign.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are well-known to be top-heavy, especially on offense, with star players Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander able to carry the majority of the load. However, depth scoring has been a particular struggle for the team both in the regular and post-season.
The Leafs don’t have much in the way of manoeuvrability, but they can still look at some promising options with the $1.275 million cap space they do have, with several players who scored double-digit goals last year still on the open market.
This is doubly the case when considering the possibility of a Professional Tryout (PTO), which allows the team the opportunity to take a closer look at players who are without a deal and weigh up whether or not they would be worth the financial gamble on a full-time contract for the upcoming season.
Many players would make sense for the Toronto Maple Leafs to consider offering a PTO. Still, there is one in particular who could potentially have the biggest upside if he were to show the team flashes of his earlier career promise.
Who is Kevin Labanc?
Kevin Labanc has thus far played his entire career with the San Jose Sharks, amassing 428 regular season appearances for the Western Conference team since his debut in the 2016-17 season.
Labanc has been a solid depth piece for the team for most of his career, with a particularly impressive showing in the 2018-19 season where he posted 17 goals and 56 total points in a full 82-game campaign.
He has 225 career points (82 goals, 143 assists) and has averaged 14:24 of ice time across his eight years in the NHL. But, why is he still unsigned?
Well, Labanc earned himself a decent-paying $4.725 million-a-year deal with the Sharks that recently expired; during this time, he has had a couple of injury-riddled seasons that have significantly hampered his production.
This past season saw him register just nine points in 46 games with the Sharks, numbers far from what is expected from someone earning as much as he was.
Looking at Labanc at face value, especially off two out of the past three seasons, it would not seem to make much sense for the Leafs to consider him even on a PTO, but when looking deeper at the situation, the 28-year-old could be an ideal addition.
Firstly, out of his eight top-tier seasons, Labanc has hit double-digit goals in five. The seasons he didn’t? His rookie campaign (55 games), last season (46 games, serious injury limiting his playing time) and the 2021-22 season (another injury-hit season where he only played 21 games).
What’s also interesting about Labanc’s production, is that in the seasons where he rarely featured, he has been deployed heavily in the defensive zone (54.7%) compared to the rest of his career where he was deployed in the offensive zone on average 59.13%.
Labanc’s best production season came when he was deployed in the offensive zone 69.4% of the time. Additionally, it was the season where the Sharks went all the way to the Conference Finals – the last time they were competitive before entering a significant slump and still-ongoing rebuild.
What has also helped Labanc be a consistent depth goalscorer in his career has been his positive Corsi rating – hitting over 50% in every season except last, with a career average of 57.3% showing that when he is on the ice, his team produce more shots than opponents.
Why the Toronto Maple Leafs should look at Labanc
Overall, this paints a picture of a solid depth player that could have flashes of top-six upside when fully healthy and put into the right environment and situation to thrive. So, why should the Leafs take a gamble?
Well, first of all, the team has a Nick Robertson-size hole they likely need to fill on the roster, with the 22-year-old looking for a move elsewhere after struggling to truly cement his place within the team.
While predominantly a left winger, Robertson has lined up on the right often enough as injuries and adjustments were made under previous head coach Sheldon Keefe. Losing a talented winger, should the Leafs budge and accept his trade request before the in-season deadline for him to sign a contract.
Outside of Robertson, the Leafs’ right side could do with better strength, with Calle Järnkrok and Ryan Reaves, who combined for 14 goals between them last season, some of the players to feature on that side behind stars Mitch Marner and William Nylander.
With Reaves, the team gets exactly zero offensive upside, and Järnkrok, who has his own offensive limitations, could be better suited to playing centre. So, adding Labanc, who could potentially add 15 or more goals to the team’s bottom end, would be an upgrade.
Additionally, this is all if he can impress enough to earn a contract with the team. A PTO would cost nothing for the Leafs, giving them a real opportunity to see if Labanc really can be the player he has shown throughout his career.
As it doesn’t count against the salary cap, and their losses could be cut immediately if it’s clear that Labanc can’t be what the team needs him to be, taking him on a PTO would essentially be risk-free for the team.
At the very least, he could be another experienced body at camp, play some preseason games and leave if things don’t fit. However, bringing him in on a risk-free deal and seeing him flourish could benefit the Leafs throughout the season or potentially even beyond.
He has good years left ahead of him, assuming he can stay healthy, so a PTO could turn into a one-year ‘show us’ deal that could, in turn, become a longer-term deal if Labanc fits in well.
There’s virtually no risk if things don’t work out, but there’s potentially all the reward for the Leafs if it goes well.
There is the question of Alex Nylander potentially being signed from his AHL deal with the Toronto Marlies, but Labanc has a larger sample size in the NHL to pull from and should be further ahead in the pecking order of any new player on the outside trying to get in.
With the Leafs desperate to improve their post-season results, considering all potential upgrades is an absolute must for Treliving and new head coach Craig Berube. Bringing in a player of Labanc’s quality and potential on a PTO is a sensible move that could help the team out at very little cost even if it does turn into a full-time contract.
