The Toronto Maple Leafs have made some changes to their offence this off-season, but bringing in free agent left winger Sonny Milano could give them a new-look top six.
Sonny Milano Could Give Maple Leafs a Needed Shake-Up
Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas is in serious need of success in the 2022/23 season. He built a team that broke the franchise’s regular-season total points record last season, with 115. However, the team was still unable to overcome their post-season first-round blues – falling to eventual Stanley Cup finalists the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Something needs to change for the Leafs, whose roster has looked fairly similar for the past couple of seasons, and some moves have already been made to address this – mostly among bottom six forwards, with the signings of Calle Jarnkrok and Nicolas Aube-Kubel.
The addition of Michael Bunting last season worked exceptionally well, giving Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner a new linemate that helped bring out the best of them. Matthews earned his second Rocket Richard Trophy, as well as his first-ever Hart Memorial Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award, while Marner continued to be a dynamic playmaker who also contributed a career-high 35 goals.
For the Leafs’ second line, however, it may be time for a new player to help the team have a somewhat different look – which is where Sonny Milano comes in.
Why Sonny Milano?
Sonny Milano is an interesting player currently available as an unrestricted free agent after the Anaheim Ducks opted not to extend him a qualifying offer, seeing him join the likes of Dylan Strome and recent Leafs signing Ilya Samsonov in this situation.
He is a former first-round (16th overall) selection of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2014, but he has not quite reached the level of performance expected of him and he has amassed just 197 regular season appearances in the NHL – though this past season was arguably his best.
In 66 games with the Ducks, Milano scored 14 goals and had 34 total points while averaging just 15:17 on the ice – posted a shooting percentage of 14.9%, which is a notch over his career average of 14.1%.
Milano appears to be a player capable of putting up higher offensive numbers if given a larger role and the right cast around him, which is something the Toronto Maple Leafs could certainly do. The most logical partners for an offensive-focused player such as Milano would be team captain John Tavares and elite winger William Nylander, both of whom are capable of scoring plenty of goals and providing support for whoever is their linemate.
With this kind of support and an increase in ice time, there’s reason to believe that Milano could easily become a 20+ goalscorer in the NHL, giving the Leafs another weapon that helps their chances of progressing beyond the first round of the playoffs next year.
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How Could the Leafs Get Him?
The biggest issue facing the Toronto Maple Leafs is their tight cap situation. Already, the Leafs sit around $1.5 million over the cap with a roster of 22 players. With Rasmus Sandin‘s contract situation also still a question mark, two prime candidates could be moved to give Dubas the cap space he needs to be compliant, while also opening up further opportunities.
Justin Holl earns $2 million this season and is a solid defensive defenseman, who would provide solid depth to most teams across the league. Holl may find himself a bottom pairing player next season, so giving him the chance at a larger role elsewhere would be a logical move for the Leafs to make.
Alongside him, one player that is regularly spoken about on social media as a potential cap casualty is Alex Kerfoot, the current linemate for Tavares and Nylander. Kerfoot has a cap hit of $3.5 million and had a good year last season, with 13 goals and 38 assists. His actual base salary is just $750,000, which makes him the perfect player for a team willing to take on cap while maintaining their internal budget carefully – with Kerfoot showing he is more than capable of being a second-line player in the NHL.
Offloading both contracts would give the Leafs around $4.1 million to re-sign Sandin and bring in Milano, whose career-high single-season cap hit is just $1.7 million. Having this flexibility, along with being able to land a player who could be a difference maker, is something that Dubas should seriously consider this summer.
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