A former Leaf could be on the move this year; could a reunion make some sense?

At the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, the Leafs selected Brown from The Erie Otters with the 156th selection. Brown, a former teammate of Connor McDavid, was a key depth player for the Leafs from 2016-2019, seeing time on the penalty kill and also some spot duty with an up-and-coming Auston Matthews in the top 6. However, Brown was used as a sweetener for the Sens to take on the contract of Nikita Zaitsev.

During the 2019 off-season, Brown was traded to The Ottawa Senators, along with Zaitsev and prospect Michael Carcone in exchange for Cody Ceci, Ben Harpur, Aaron Luchuk and a third round pick (CBJ) in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

Brown has one year left on his current deal with the Ottawa Senators at $3.6M. He posted a career-best 43 points in his first season in Ottawa, but has since shown regression. Still playing a depth role, Brown hasn't posted any jaw dropping numbers, but he has played with tenacity and intelligence and could be an enticing add for a number of teams - especially if the Sens agree to retain some salary.

I'm not necessarily advocating for a Leafs-Connor Brown reunion, but if he came back to Toronto at 50% retention at the trade deadline, I certainly wouldn't hate it. How tough is Connor Brown? Well, just this past season, on January 13th, he suffered a broken jaw after being struck by a puck that was shot by teammate Thomas Chabot. He played an entire game with the injury and notched a goal and an assist in the contest to help the Sens beat the Flames 4-1 in Calgary. That's absolutely a guy you want on your team.