According to a report from Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, the Toronto Maple Leafs are working on a contract extension for pending unrestricted free agent Wayne Simmonds.
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Simmonds put up seven goals and nine points in 38 games with the Leafs this past season on a one year deal worth $1.5 million. It'll be interesting to see what sort of deal he ends up this time around. Simmonds' value comes from much more than his offensive statistics, but I don't think the Leafs front office will be offering him any kind of pay hike after just nine points in half a season. Just for comparison, Simmonds was outscored by newcomer Alex Galchenyuk with nearly 10 fewer games played. Depth forward Travis Boyd, who was claimed by the Vancouver Canucks on waivers, nearly matched Simmonds' production in roughly half the amount of games played. In other words, Simmonds isn't the offensive force he once was and he's likely to be paid as a depth player similarly to players like Boyd and Galchenyuk.
It'll be interesting to see how the Leafs utilize Simmonds moving forward, especially if we're operating under the assumption that Jason Spezza, Joe Thornton, Pierre Engvall, Ilya Mikheyev and Galchenyuk all return in 2021-22. The big wild card is obviously Zach Hyman and his pending free agency. If the Leafs can't make cap room to retain a versatile forward like Hyman, they'll have to rely on depth guys like Simmonds, Mikheyev, Galchenyuk and Engvall more in 2021-22.
