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NHL Free Agency: Grading the Maple Leafs’ signings

By David Rouben

TORONTO, ON - JULY 1: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs, poses with his jersey in the dressing room, after he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, at the Scotiabank Arena on July 1, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - JULY 1: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs, poses with his jersey in the dressing room, after he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, at the Scotiabank Arena on July 1, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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PITTSBURGH, PA – APRIL 06: Josh Jooris #16 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates against the Ottawa Senators at PPG Paints Arena on April 6, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
PITTSBURGH, PA – APRIL 06: Josh Jooris #16 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates against the Ottawa Senators at PPG Paints Arena on April 6, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /

The Best of the Rest

Adam Cracknell, Josh Jooris, Tyler Ennis and Jordan Subban make up the non-John Tavares free agents that the Leafs signed. Among the players re-signed were Martin Marincin and Justin Holl. They got every one of them on one-year deals, with Holl’s being the most expensive at $1.35 million. Not a bad bit of business in order to keep the Toronto Marlies machine running.

Cracknell and Jooris should offer a veteran presence in a young AHL locker room. Even though they’re 32 and 27, respectively, it feels like they’ve been in the league a lot longer than that. However, Cracknell was a prolific AHL scorer last season, so he should have no trouble filling Andreas Johnsson’s role on the team. Having Jooris gives them a solid top-six center.

Jordan Subban is more of a reclamation project than the others. Even though he’s never played at the NHL level, he possesses some strong tools in his arsenal — the strongest being his skating:

What’s more, he’s a right-handed defenseman, which is a position of need for the Leafs. He may start out playing third pairing minutes, but if Holl receives a call-up at any point, he’ll be his eventual replacement.

Dubas clearly values his farm team and wants to build a winning culture there. These signings should be good for what they’ll be asked to do, but none of them are here long-term, and it’s unlikely many of them will make an impact at the NHL level.

Grade: B

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