Maple Leafs may look at former San Jose Sharks free agent to replace Nick Robertson

His article explains that the Maple Leafs are currently looking for more scoring depth particularly on their bottom 6 lines as it has struggled throughout the season and the postseason.

He feels that the team may go through the professional tryout route which many teams have done over the past couple of years to test out free agents to see if they can make the cut and potentially help fill out the roster.

The Maple Leafs have used this way for numerous years and has worked out from time to time. A player like Kevin Labanc who has played with the San Jose Sharks for several years could be an option that would make sense.

The 29-year-old right winger was drafted by the Sharks in 2014, 6th Round, 171st overall. He had spent his entire career with the Sharks and gave several seasons of great depth scoring particularly in 2018-2019 where he scored 17 goals, a career high 56 points and 36 penalty minutes.

As the team had dwindled down in terms of talent and as he spent time in the AHL, his offensive production dropped. During the 2022-2023 season he played 72 games, scoring 15 goals with 18 assists for 33 points and had 36 penalty minutes.

With only $1.275 million in cap space, the Maple Leafs do not have much room in order to sign another player, but if Labanc is signed to a PTO and has proven himself as a potential depth player a possible one year deal could be completed.

This also leaves Nick Robertson the biggest question mark in the Maple Leafs roster now on whether he will remain with the team this year or be traded before the season begins as the restricted free agent still does not have a contract.

Just after the season had completed, he had requested for a trade which never came to pass as both general manager Brad Treliving and head coach Craig Berube feel that they have a place for him in the lineup.

There are expectations the Maple Leafs are still not done with their lineup and only time will tell whether Treliving can make a deal happen.

Source: Theleafsnation.com

Source: NHL.com