The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed forward Philippe Dupuis to a one-year, two-way contract worth $650,000.
Dupuis, 26, registered six goals and 13 assists in 74 games with the Colorado Avalanche in 2010-11.
A native of Laval, Quebec, Dupuis was the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 4th round draft pick, 104th overall, in 2003.
The Maple Leafs signed two of their restricted free agents on Tuesday, prior to the arbitration filing deadline.
Clarke MacArthur signed a two-year deal for $6.5 million. The Lloydminster, Alberta native had career highs with 21 goals and 62 points in 2010-11 while playing on Toronto’s top line with Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin.
Tyler Bozak, coming off a 15-goal 32-point season, also signed for two years. Through Twitter (@bozie42), Bozak broke news of his own signing: “Thanks for the congrats everyone. Glad to be back with the leafs to play in front of the best fans in the world!”
Defencemen Luke Schenn and Matt Lashoff are still unsigned restricted free agents as of Tuesday evening.
Leafs president and general manager Brian Burke announced Sunday that the club has acquired forward Matthew Lombardi and defenceman Cody Franson from the Nashville Predators in exchange for defenceman Brett Lebda and forward Robert Slaney.
The deal also includes a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2013 Entry Draft.
Lombardi, 29, missed all but two games of the 2010-11 season due to a concussion suffered on October 13 with Nashville against Chicago. The native of Montreal, Quebec has appeared in 446 career NHL games with Calgary, Phoenix and Nashville, collecting 89 goals and 236 points.
Franson, 23, played 80 games last season with the Predators, registering career highs in goals (8), assists (21), points (29) and penalty minutes (30). In 141 career NHL games with Nashville, the 6-5, 213-pound defenceman has accumulated 50 points (14 goals, 36 assists) with 46 penalty minutes.
Connolly is Leafs biggest free-agent signing.
The Leafs stayed quiet on the first day of the NHL free agency period as their counterparts in the Eastern Conference – Florida, Philadelphia and Washington opened their vaults.
Toronto made its biggest splash on Saturday, signing centre Tim Connolly to a two year deal worth $4.75 million annually.
A 30-year-old native of Syracuse, New York, Connolly has played in 627 games over 10 NHL seasons, collecting 395 career points.
The deal was announced hours after Brad Richards – the most sought-after free-agent centre this year – signed a 9-year, $60 million pact with the New York Rangers.
In terms of annual salary, Connolly’s average figure is topped only by Richards ($6.67 million) and James Wisniewski ($5.5 million), of all the transactions made in the past 48 hours. This fact raises a few eyebrows, given Connolly’s injury history that includes concussion symptoms, broken knees, and pulled groin muscles.
However, the inflationary figure is largely driven by the scarcity of quality centres in this year’s free agent crop. Richards and Connolly were in a position to name their price; ditto for Brooks Laich, who re-signed with Washington before even testing the market.
What makes most sense for Toronto is the term – only two years. By not over-committing to a long-term contract, the Leafs in a worst-case scenario would cut their losses earlier, should Connolly’s Colaiacovo-esque fragility become evident during his time in a Toronto uniform.
The desire for a centre to complement Phil Kessel has been so overstated that it has become a cliche. Also, Connolly’s penalty-killing efficiency (3:49 shorthanded time-on-ice/game T-15th in NHL) fills the void left by Tim Brent signing in Carolina.
Yes, the dollar amount per year is high. But the overall dollars make sense for the Leafs, compared to the exorbitant sums doled out this Canada Day weekend (see Wisniewski at $33 million, or Ville Leino at $27 million).
However, by as much as his games played per year since the lockout has decreased, so has his production increased. Connolly has missed 190 games since the start of the 2005-06 season, including all but two games of the following year.
But he has registered 250 points in the 302 games that he has played.
A pairing with Kessel has the potential to turn both men into point-per-game players.
For just a two-year signing, it’s worth finding out.
(Video: Connolly shows his speed against the Leafs)
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Burns’ time will come – but when?.
It’s easy to envision that Pat Burns will one day be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Predicting how long it will take is another matter entirely.
Tuesday’s announcement of the class of 2011 inductees came with a Toronto-centric tinge; Doug Gilmour, Ed Belfour and Joe Nieuwendyk all shone while wearing the Maple Leafs uniform while Mark Howe played one terrific season with the Toronto Marlboros of the OHA.
Burns, who fought cancer for several years before finally succumbing to the disease last November, has been a sentimental favourite for induction into the hall’s Builders category, but was once again denied.
The omission is a head-scratcher, given that this is the first year since 1981 that no builder is being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Would it not have been fitting for Burns, who won one of his three Jack Adams trophies coaching the Leafs during “The Passion Returns” years of the early 90’s to have been admitted along with Gilmour, the centrepiece of those teams?
Not because he is gone, and a posthumous tribute would be a nice gesture.
Not because he coached Gilmour, and also Nieuwendyk – with whom he won his only Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2003.
But simply because, as stated in this column in 2010, he deserves it.
Unless you are one of the 18 members of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Selection Committee, chances are that you have minimal – if any – information on how close Burns came to induction. That’s because the committee guards the secrecy of its balloting with the same fervor exhibited by the United States Secret Service.
However, if there is any solace that encourages the premise that deserving candidates indeed eventually get their due, look no further than Howe.
A four-time All-Star who was three times a finalist for the Norris Trophy, Howe had been overlooked for induction for an astounding 13 years before being recognized today. Howe joins his dad Gordie as only the third father-son duo to be admitted into the Hall of Fame as players, behind Lester and Lynn Patrick, and Bobby and Brett Hull.
Let’s hope that the wait for Burns’ day to come isn’t quite as long.
(Video: Gilmour and Burns in a musical mood – if you watched the Leafs in the 90′s you know the words!)
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The Leafs were busy on 2011 NHL Draft Day, as the proceedings unfolded at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Prior to the start of the draft, Toronto acquired defenceman John-Michael Liles from Colorado in exchange for the second-round draft pick in 2012 that the Leafs originally obtained from Boston in the Tomas Kaberle trade.
Also, former Atlanta Thrashers GM Rick Dudley has been named to the Leafs’ front office.
Maple Leafs 2011 draft picks (round-selection):
1-22. Tyler Biggs, RW, 6′ 2″, 205, USHL, USA U-18
1-25, Stuart Percy, D, 6′ 1″, 187, OHL, Mississauga St. Michael’s
3-86, Josh Leivo, LW, 6′ 1″, 173, OHL, Sudbury
4-100, Tom Nilsson, D, 6′ 0″, 176, SWE-JR., Mora Jr.
5-130, Tony Cameranesi, C, 5′ 9″, 162, HIGH-MN, Wayzata
6-152, David Broll, LW, 6′ 2″, 216, OHL, Sault Ste. Marie
6-173, Dennis Robertson, D, 6′ 0″, 195, ECAC, Brown U.
7-190, Garret Sparks, G, 6′ 2″, 200, OHL, Guelph
7-203, Max Everson, D, 6′ 1″, 184, HIGH-MN, Edina High
2011 Entry Draft first-round picks:
1. EDM – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (C), WHL, Red Deer
2. COL – Gabriel Landeskog (LW), OHL, Kitchener
3. FLA – Jonathan Huberdeau (C), QMJHL, Saint John
4. NJD – Adam Larsson (D), Sweden, Skelleftea
5. NYI – Ryan Strome (C), OHL, Niagara
6. OTT – Mike Zibanejad (C), Sweden, Djugarden
7. WPG – Mark Scheifele (C), OHL, Barrie
8. PHI – Sean Couturier (C), QMJHL, Drummondville
9. BOS – Dougie Hamilton (D), OHL, Niagara
10. MIN – Jonas Brodin (D), Sweden, Farjestad
11. COL – Duncan Siemens (D), WHL, Saskatoon
12. CAR – Ryan Murphy (D), OHL, Kitchener
13. CGY – Sven Baertschi (LW), WHL, Portland
14. DAL – Jamieson Oleksiak (D), H-EAST, Northeastern
15. NYR – Jonathan Miller (C), USHL, USA U-18
16. BUF – Joel Armia (RW), Finland, Assat
17. MTL – Nathan Beaulieu (D), QMJHL, Saint John
18. CHI – Mark McNeill (C), WHL, Prince Albert
19. EDM – Oscar Klefbom (D), Sweden, Farjestad
20. PHX – Connor Murphy (D), USHL, USA U-18
21. OTT – Stefan Noesen (RW), OHL, Plymouth
22. TOR – Tyler Biggs (RW), USHL, USA U-18
23. PIT – Joseph Morrow (D), WHL, Portland
24. OTT – Matt Puempel (LW), OHL, Peterborough
25. TOR – Stuart Percy (D), OHL, Mississauga St. Michael’s
26. CHI – Phillip Danault (LW), QMJHL, Victoriaville
27. TBL – Vladislav Namestnikov (C), OHL ,London
28. SJS – Zack Phillips (C) QMJHL, Saint John
29. VAN – Nicklas Jensen (LW/RW), OHL, Oshawa
30. ANA – Rickard Rakell (RW), OHL, Plymouth
