Four former Maple Leafs have found new homes early in the free agency
With the free agent frenzy finally upon us, we have already seen former Toronto Maple Leafs in Luke Schenn and Ryan O'Reilly sign with the Nashville Predators, the Ottawa Senators signed Joonas Korpisalo, and buyout candidates in Blake Wheeler and Oliver-Ekman Larsson each found new homes relatively quickly.
The trend of former Leafs signing contracts early in the day continued with Connor Brown, James van Riemsdyk, Frederik Andersen, and James Reimer. Brown signed with the Edmonton Oilers on a 1-year deal worth 4 million, van Riemsdyk packed his bags to Boston for a 1-year deal worth 1 million, Andersen went back to Carolina on a 2-year deal worth 3.4 million per season, and Reimer signed with the Detroit Red Wings for a 1 year-deal worth 1.5 million.
Connor Brown only managed to suit up in 4 games this season with Washington but is expected to have a chance to play with either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl in a very important top-6 role for the Oilers.
van Riemsdyk struggled in his final season with the Philadelphia Flyers with only 12 goals and 29 points in 61 games, including 4 goals and 8 points in his final 32 games. He lost a lot of value as he was not traded at the trade deadline with almost zero interest around the league but that was in large part due to Chuck Fletcher bungling the whole process.
Andersen posted a 21-11-1 record with a .903 SV% and a 2.48 G.A.A in the regular season but was much better in the playoffs with a .927 SV% and a 1.83 G.A.A in 9 games. The oft-injured goaltender has spent the last 2 seasons in Carolina after spending 5 in Toronto and is looking to improve on his regular season stats and finally get the Hurricanes over the hump.
Reimer had spent the last 2 seasons in San Jose and posted decent numbers all things considered. In his first year he went 19-17-10 with a .911 SV% but dropped to 12-21-8 with a .890 SV% this past season. He still has a career .911 SV% and a 204-169-61 record, including a 6-year run in Toronto that spring-boarded his career.
