The Toronto Maple Leafs have released their schedule for the 2024-25 season. The Leafs will begin their season against the Montreal Canadiens on October 9th at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The Leafs home opener will be Saturday, October 12th against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
One of the games that stands out on the schedule is January 16th against the New Jersey Devils. This marks the first game that recently fired Head Coach of the Leafs Sheldon Keefe will return to Toronto as the Coach of the Devils.
Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers will make the trip to Toronto on Saturday, November 16th, Stanley Cup Champions Florida Panthers will be in Toronto March 13th, the Leafs and Bruins will meet for the first time since their first round series on October 26th, and the Utah Hockey Club will make their first ever trip to Toronto November 24th. The Leafs will finish their season on April 17th against the Detroit Red Wings.
The full schedule is available on the Leafs website.
With the start of NHL free agency yesterday, the Leafs were able to make some big additions to their roster and re-sign a couple of key players from this past season.
Newly signed Leafs defenceman Chris Tanev (Credit: Tony Gutierrez/AP)
Chris Tanev signed a 6-year contract worth $27 million that has an annual value of $4.5 million. Tanev started last year on the Calgary Flames but was traded to the Dallas Stars at the trade deadline. He made an immediate impact with the Stars as they went into the playoffs and was widely considered one of the best defenceman during that stretch.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson also signed with the Leafs yesterday, agreeing to a 4-year deal worth $3.5 million per season. Ekman-Larsson is coming off a Stanley Cup championship with the Florida Panthers after a strong season scoring 9 goals and 23 assists from the blueline.
Newly signed Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz playing for the London Knights in 2014 (Credit: Liam Richards – Canadian Press)
Former London Knights goalie from the 2012-2014 seasons Anthony Stolarz signed a 2-year deal with the Leafs. This will create a promising goalie tandem between Joseph Woll and Stolarz as they look to split the net for most of the season. Stolarz is also coming off a Stanley Cup championship with the Florida Panthers as he was the backup goalie for Sergei Bobrovsky.
A few players decided to stick around in Toronto and sign new contracts with the team as Max Domi inked a 4-year deal worth $3.75 per year, defenceman Timothy Liljegren signed a 2-year contract worth $3 million per year, and goaltender Joseph Woll signed a 4-year extension worth $3.66 million per season.
Max Domi stretching before a game (Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA Today Sports)
“I had a great time and enjoyed every second of last year. It didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but I was hoping to put my feet on the ground and stick around for a while,” says Domi, son of Toronto Maple Leafs legend Tie Domi. “It’s my hometown and I wanted to be here and had a dream of winning a Stanley Cup from as long as I can remember, and whenever I had that dream, I was always wearing a Leafs jersey.”
Matt Murray also signed a 1-year deal to stay in Toronto worth $875,000, and the Leafs signed Finnish defenceman Jani Hakanpaa to a 1-year deal worth $1.5 million. Hakanpaa has been dealing with several knee injuries that he has sustained throughout his career, and some reports suggest that his time in the NHL may be coming to an end.
Leafs fans are still wondering about the future of Mitch Marner as rumours continue to swirl about the possibility of trading away the star forward.
