For those of you who don’t remember who Eemeli Rasanen is, he was the Toronto Maple Leafs second-round draft pick back in 2017. The Finnish born defensemen was selected 59th overall in the same NHL draft that saw Toronto chose Timothy Liljegren with the 17th overall pick in the opening round.
Since being drafted by the Maple Leafs, Rasanen has been pushed down the depth chart behind Rasmus Sandin, Liljegren, Teemu Kivihalme and others. The worst part is that Toronto is letting a defensemen who is six-foot-seven, 209lbs and likes to play with a physical edge walk away.
The 22-year-old is now eligible to re-enter this year’s NHL Entry Draft. It will be interesting to see how highly he is valued as a 22-year-old and whether or not he will go higher in this draft than the first time around.
Toronto Maple Leafs Will Need to Find Bargains Again For Bottom Six Players
The team has already re-signed veteran forward Jason Spezza to a one-year deal worth the league minimum of $750,000. Toronto will need to try and find more players to fill out their bottom six who are also willing to be paid the league minimum.
Last offseason, Toronto loaded up on cheap veteran players such as Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds, Spezza, and Zach Bogosian. That plan didn’t work out the way the team had been hoping for. Once again, the Leafs were eliminated in the first round and now are left searching for answers.
It’s great to see the team bringing Spezza back, but out of the names listed above, I can only see the team bringing back Bogosian. Thornton was too slow and did not make as big of an impact as management would have liked. Simmonds played his role well, but he was not worth $1.5 million. I don’t see the team bringing him back for anything more than the league minimum.
So, this means the organization will have to find other veterans to fill out their roster at bargain prices. There are a large number of skilled veteran players available as free agents this offseason. Hopefully, the Maple Leafs and GM Kyle Dubas can get one or two to come play in Toronto for the league minimum.
Valtteri Filppula
Filppula is a 16-year NHL veteran who has skated in 1, 056 games played. Fippula, 36-years-old, played in 38 games last season for the Detroit Red Wings. In doing so, he put up six goals and nine assists for 15 points. Toronto has had interest in Filppula before, but it was suggested that he didn’t want to play for Babcock. With Babcock no longer in the picture, maybe they can lure him to the Maple Leafs this time around.
Corey Perry
After what Perry did to John Tavares in the first round of the playoffs, there would be many fans upset with Dubas if he signed the veteran winger. However, it has to be remembered that the incident between the two was an accident. There was no intent on Perry’s part in any way to injure Tavares. It was a freak accident that you hope to never see, but it did.
Perry would give the Toronto Maple Leafs a player who is feisty, pesky and a pain to play against. I think he offers more than what both Simmonds and Thornton brought to the team last season. This season with the Montreal Canadiens, he amassed 30 points on 12 goals and 18 assists.
Trevor Lewis
Lewis is another player that Toronto has been rumoured to have had past interest in. It sounds like the Maple Leafs did talk with Lewis last offseason, however, they decided to go with Simmonds and Thornton instead.
Although his production has declined in recent years, Lewis still averaged almost 10 minutes a game this season. He was also able to remain healthy and played in all 56 games, which is an encouraging sign.
Final Thought
Will the Toronto Maple Leafs be able to sign one or two of these players to a league minimum salary to fill out their roster? We will find out that answer in exactly one month from now.