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Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers in dogfight for Brandon Saad: report

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
|
Jan 31 2025, 3:29 pm
Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers in dogfight for Brandon Saad: report
Jeff Curry/Imagn Images

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers appear to be in a dogfight for Brandon Saad, the latest player to hit the mid-season free agent market.

According to Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos, the Oilers and Leafs are among two teams in the mix for the veteran forward, whose contract was terminated by the St. Louis Blues earlier this week after being placed on waivers.

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli linked Toronto to Saad on Thursday evening, while also mentioning the New Jersey Devils, Vegas Golden Knights and Tampa Bay Lightning as teams to keep an eye on.

880 CHED’s Bob Stauffer alluded on Tuesday’s edition of OilersNow that Saad could be interested in joining Edmonton.

“Not everybody has wanted to come [to Edmonton],” Stauffer said. “Now a lot of them wanna come here, including the guy that was waived.”

Why is Saad on the free agent market anyway?

In the fourth season of a five-year, $22.5 million contract, the Blues decided they wanted to send Saad to the American Hockey League, with his seven goals and nine assists in 43 games this season apparently not up to their standards.

But Saad refused to report to the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds, likely believing he still has some gas left in the tank at the NHL level.

In short, all of the five teams linked to Saad by those media members have one thing in common: they’re all playoff contenders with at least some recent postseason success. Saad is likely looking for a shot at winning his third Stanley Cup, having come out victorious as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015.

With Saad eligible to sign with an NHL team as soon as today, we should be getting more updates soon about where he’ll end up signing to continue his career.

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