Former Maple Leafs agitator joins Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh
With Ryan O'Reilly and Luke Schenn signing with the Nashville Predators and Justin Holl heading over to Detroit, another pending UFA from the Toronto Maple Leafs has committed to moving on from Toronto, as Noel Acciari has signed a multi-year deal with another Eastern Conference team.
Acciari, one of the Leafs' better trade deadline acquisition, is heading to Pittsburgh as he reunites with Kyle Dubas on a 3-year deal worth $6 million dollars.
Acciari was part of the blockbuster trade ahead of the trade deadline that included Ryan O'Reilly from the St.Louis Blues. The 31-year-old quickly acclimated to the Maple Leafs as he brought over a physical brand of hockey that seeped well into the playoffs.
On the year he scored 14 goals and 23 points in 77 games with 4 goals and 5 points in 23 games for Toronto. In the playoffs he scored 2 goals in 11 games but had an incredible 78 hits and 16 blocks in 14:57 ATOI.
His sandpaper element was one of the reasons why Dubas was enamoured with the forward and made the acquisition in the first place and correlates as to why he probably scooped him up in free agency.
As for the Maple Leafs they're still perusing the free agent market, lost out on a lot of their pending UFAs that they would've liked to have kept, and have brought in Ryan Reaves as the sole free agent pickup of the day so far.
