Well, aren’t the Maple Leafs busy.

We already knew they had deals pending with Kenny Agostino, Nick Shore, Garrett Wilson and Kevin Gravel, and we’ve covered those players for you, although the contract amounts and terms are new in some cases. But now we have even more players filling up the potential rosters of the Maple Leafs and the Marlies.

Pontus Aberg

He’s a fascinating player, and has had a really odd run through a host of NHL teams lately. He turns 26 this fall and is a winger who can play both sides. He’s a small, right-shooter, and a Swede, so basically it was inevitable he join the team.

He was a second round draft pick of the Nashville Predators and spent some serious time on their AHL team with fellow small, zippy wingers Kevin Fiala and Viktor Arvidsson. Aberg lost out in the competition that seems to have been for one spot. In 2017-2018, after a not very successful part season in the NHL, he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers.

Last fall, the Oilers, who have almost no wingers to speak of, lost him on waivers to the Ducks.

He suddenly played really well in Anaheim, one of very few players who can make that claim last season. They then traded him to the Wild where his offence dried up like a puddle on a hot day.

And now he’s a Maple Leaf! Will he be good Pontus or bad Pontus? Who knows, but the Leafs now have as many players in the system named Pontus as they do Semyon.

Tyler Gaudet

Gaudet is a 26-year-old centre/winger who is not small or zippy. He is, however, a former player of both the Soo Greyhounds and the Pembroke Lumber Kings. If you want to know who his coach was on both of those teams, I’ll give you a hint: It starts with Sheldon and ends with Keefe. Gaudet was captain of the Lumber Kings in his final year there.

He is  full-time AHLer, who also last played in the Predators system, so he and Aberg can trade stories about Milwaukee.

Kalle Kossila

Kossila is a 26-year-old centre/winger with a fascinating history. He is a Finn, but was actually born in France. He did play hockey as a teenager in Finland, however. He also went the NCAA route, playing four years at St. Cloud State.

He was signed as a free agent by the Ducks, and played a very few games in the NHL, and a lot more in the AHL, where he was one of the best players on the hot San Diego Gulls teams of recent years.

He is going to fit right in on the Marlies, with his stats of 5’10” and 185 lbs.

Report: Maple Leafs to sign UFA Garrett Wilson
Leafs Sign Defenceman Kevin Gravel For One Year, $700,000
Maple Leafs are expected to sign Nick Shore
Maple Leafs will sign Kenny Agostino for two years - report

Of all of these players, Shore and Aberg look like NHLers, but the rest should head right to the AHL.

Oh, and Aberg’s name is actually Åberg in Swedish, and the Å sounds a bit like an O. But he long ago decided to let people say it like it’s an A. How he says Pontus and how anyone not Swedish would is another question.

Anyone got any complaints about the state of the Leafs and Marlies depth now? Mike? Nope? Okay, then.

Free Agents and ContractsToronto Marlies