Minnesota Wild right wing Ryan Reaves plays against the Nashville Predators during an NHL hockey game Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Mark Humphrey
TORONTO – Brad Treliving has spent the last month getting to know the Maple Leafs.
Toronto’s new general manager felt there was something missing in the locker room.
“You need character in your team, and sometimes you need some characters,” Treliving said after signing enforcer Ryan Reaves and his big personality Saturday as free agency opened across the NHL. “There’s a presence to Ryan. It’s not about fighting and all the rest of it, but I just felt both on the ice and in our room and around our team, we need a little bit more noise.
“Ryan brings that.”
Reaves signed a three-year contract worth US$4.05 million before Toronto also added puck-moving defenceman John Klingberg, who’s coming off a down 2022-23 campaign with the Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild, for next season at $4.15 million.
“John would be probably the first one to tell you it didn’t go exactly the way he wanted it to go last year,” Treliving said. “But he’s a really good player in this league. He can move a puck, he jumps up in the play.
“An elite offensive player in-zone.”
Toronto also said goodbye to six players on Day 1 of free agency as forwards Ryan O’Reilly, Michael Bunting and Noel Acciari, along with defencemen Luke Schenn, Justin Holl and Erik Gustafsson skipped town.
“For the most part, we tried,” said Treliving, who replaced the fired Kyle Dubas as GM in late May. “The price has got to fit. I wish those players all the very best. It’s a puzzle to put together.
“There were certain levels that we could go to.”
The six-foot-two, 225-pound Reaves had five goals and 15 points in 73 games split between the New York Rangers and Wild last season.
“There’s a physical presence, he can still get into forecheck,” Treliving said. “He makes things difficult for the opposition. It gives us a little bit of a different look on our lower lines.
“We’re excited to have him.”
In 828 career games, the colourful 36-year-old forward has 59 goals, 129 points and 1,023 penalty minutes.
“Every team needs personality,” said Treliving, who confirmed this week head coach Sheldon Keefe will return next season. “In talking with the staff and looking at this group, it’s a quiet group.
“Bringing some personality to it – not to say that we don’t have personality in our team – but I think having a presence like Ryan will be a real positive influence.”
Treliving said the Leafs needed a third year on the deal to secure Reaves.
“They wanted him to stay in Minnesota,” said Treliving, who was GM with the Calgary Flames for nine seasons before leaving in April. “He was given the opportunity to speak to teams (before Saturday).
“We felt we had to go where we had to get Ryan on board.”
Klingberg, meanwhile, isn’t the same player who produced a career-high 67 points in 2017-18 with the Dallas Stars, but should add some offensive punch to the blue line.
The 30-year-old Swede had 10 goals and 33 points in 67 games last season with Anaheim, where he was minus-28 in just 50 contests, and Minnesota.
“An elite offensive player in-zone,” Treliving said. “He’s going to bring us some more puck movement and hopefully some more production.”
O’Reilly signed a four-year, US$18-million contract with the Nashville Predators after being acquired by Toronto from the St. Louis Blues in February. O’Reilly played 24 combined regular-season and playoff games with Toronto, registering seven goals and 20 points.
Acciari, who was also part of that deal with St. Louis, signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins – where Dubas landed as president of hockey operations – on a three-year, $6-million pact.
Bunting, meanwhile, bolted to the Carolina Hurricanes on a three-year, $13.5-million contract following consecutive 23-goal seasons with his hometown team.
Acquired from the Vancouver Canucks in February, Schenn will join O’Reilly in Nashville, while Holl is now a member of the Detroit Red Wings.
Schenn got a three-year deal worth $10.5 million. Holl inked a three-year, $10.2-million pact.
Toronto sent a third-round draft pick to Vancouver for Schenn, who returned to the team that drafted him fifth overall in 2008 for a brief 26 games.
Schenn played an important shutdown role as the Leafs advanced past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in 19 years. Holl had played his entire NHL career in Toronto.
Gustafsson, acquired ahead of the trade deadline from the Washington Capitals, signed a one-year contract with the Rangers.
“I wouldn’t say it’s really unexpected,” Treliving said of the departures. “We’ve got some business to take care of throughout the summer that we wanted to make sure that we’re being prudent in terms of leaving ourselves some room moving forward. Term was an important thing for us.
“I don’t know if there was anything that was overly surprising.”
Saturday also marked the first day star forwards Auston Matthews and William Nylander – both entering the final year of their contracts – were eligible to sign extensions.
“We have conversations all the time,” Treliving said. “Nothing new to report there other than continued dialogue.
“We continue to work to a resolution.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 1, 2023.
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