The Maple Leafs announced they’ve kept forward Steven Lorentz away from the open market on a three-year, $4.05MM contract. He’ll carry a $1.35MM cap hit through the 2027-28 campaign.
The move represents a nice raise for the 29-year-old who spent this past season on a one-year contract worth the league minimum of $775K. That came on the heels of an underwhelming year with Florida where Lorentz managed just one goal and two assists in 38 games during the regular season although he did see action in 16 playoff contests that year.
Things went better for Lorentz with his hometown team, however. He got into 80 games with Toronto and collected eight goals and 11 assists, enough to tie his career high in points with 19 while blowing past his previous benchmark in hits with 199. He also saw some secondary action on the penalty kill, resulting in his average ice time jumping up past the 10-minute mark per game. Lorentz was a regular in the lineup for the Maple Leafs in the playoffs, notching a pair of assists and a little over three hits per game.
Clearly earning the trust of head coach Craig Berube, Lorentz has established himself as a trustworthy fourth liner in Toronto’s lineup and has earned himself some desired stability which was enough to keep him away from testing the open market on Tuesday.
PHR’s Brian La Rose also contributed to this article.