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A former 24th overall pick of the Maple Leafs in 2000, Brad Boyes — traded by Pat Quinn in the Owen Nolan trade at the 2003 trade deadline — will join the army of depth wingers battling it out at 2015 Leafs training camp.

News from Andy Strickland:

Andy Strickland
@andystrickland
Brad Boyes to attend Toronto #mapleleafs camp on #PTO #NHL

He’s far removed from his pair of 30-40 goal seasons with the Blues (he shot 20% in his 43-goal 2007-08 season, playing with Paul Kariya), but, like Glencross, Boyes has been a reasonably productive early-30s middle-six forward in recent seasons. He’s hovered in the 35-40 point range for the Islanders (2012-13, in only 48 games), and most recently the Panthers (2013-15). Boyes finished seventh among Panthers forwards in Time On Ice per game last season (15:39) and fourth on the team in points scoring (38pts in 78gp). He was playing second-line powerplay minutes at a shade over two minutes a game, scoring nine of his 38 points with the man advantage.

Despite all that for the price of just $2.6 million on the cap, the Panthers opted to buy out Boyes during the buyout window this offseason. Boyes has also been a darling if we look at the scoring chance data; Travis Yost wrote a post in July baffled as to why he wasn’t signed yet, a post which included this nice chart:

courtesy of Travis Yost, TSN
courtesy of Travis Yost, TSN

There are 45 forwards who have had a positive scoring chance impact on their teams in five consecutive years. The names that populate that list run the gauntlet of elite talent. Alex Ovechkin, Anze Kopitar, Claude Giroux, Corey Perry, the Sedin twins, John Tavares, Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Mikko Koivu, Taylor Hall – I think you get my point. In total, 44 of our 45 names have contracts signed for next year, and only one of those 44-players is set to make less than $3-million AAV next season. (The average cap hit of this group is $5.8-million).

The 45th forward on this list, as you might have guessed, is Brad Boyes.

PTOs, of course, are a no-lose situation for the team, and the Leafs are – for obvious reasons – a popular destination for players looking for a showcase when entering training camp without a contract. The spending discipline the league’s GMs have shown this summer has seen some reasonably productive depth wingers fall by the wayside.

The Leafs are going to have their pick of three PTO players (Setoguchi, Boyes, Glencross), and will need to decide through training camp and preseason whether they’re worth using up a roster spot on — i.e., decide if Babcock has a use for any of them this season. If the Leafs hand out any one-year contracts, provided the individual(s) in question enjoy more success than David Booth did last year, the Leafs should theoretically be able to flip them for a draft pick later on towards the trade deadline. In a rebuilding year, it’s worthwhile having stop-gap veterans on the roster if they’re playing regularly and performing well enough to be draft-pick buying currency; if not, they’re essentially in the way. The nice thing about a PTO is that they can be cut loose after camp.

There’s more room on the right side for the Leafs than there is on the left—especially if Joffrey Lupul plays on his offside, as is his preference. Babcock is known to have his wingers play their correct side, so it will be interesting to see how the heavy competition plays out.

Potential RWers:

  • Lupul
  • Parenteau
  • Panik
  • Frattin
  • Brown
  • Hyman

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Brad Boyes Statistics

SeasonTeamLgeGPGAPtsPIM+/-|GPGAPtsPIM
1998-99Erie OttersOHL5924366030-6|512310
1999-00Erie OttersOHL68364682388|13681410
2000-01Erie OttersOHL594545904227|151013238
2001-02Erie OttersOHL473641774229|2122194127
2002-03St. John's Maple LeafsAHL65232851451|----------
2002-03Cleveland BaronsAHL15761321-6|----------
2003-04San Jose SharksNHL10002-2|----------
2003-04Providence BruinsAHL176612134|21010
2003-04Cleveland BaronsAHL61253560389|----------
2004-05Providence BruinsAHL8033427558-6|16871523
2005-06Boston BruinsNHL822643693011|----------
2006-07Boston BruinsNHL6213213425-17|----------
2006-07St. Louis BluesNHL19481240|----------
2007-08St. Louis BluesNHL82432265201|----------
2008-09St. Louis BluesNHL8233397226-20|42130
2009-10St. Louis BluesNHL82142842261|----------
2010-11St. Louis BluesNHL621229413011|----------
2010-11Buffalo SabresNHL21591462|71010
2011-12Buffalo SabresNHL658152362|----------
2012-13New York IslandersNHL4810253516-6|60332
2013-14Florida PanthersNHL7821153628-6|----------
2014-15Florida PanthersNHL781424382011|----------
NHL Totals762203278481239173472
Brad Boyes Statistics

Brad Boyes Possession Statistics

Corsi (EV)Corsi (EV)Fenwick (EV)Fenwick (EV)PDO (EV)Zone Starts (EV)Zone Starts (EV)
SeasonAgeTeamLgGPTOICF%CF% relFF%FF% relPDOoZS%dZS%
2007-0825St. Louis BluesNHL821124.049.32.549.31.0102.151.648.4
2008-0926St. Louis BluesNHL821168.551.23.551.92.796.750.349.7
2009-1027St. Louis BluesNHL821088.651.1-0.450.5-0.9100.551.948.1
2010-11282 TeamsNHL8353.03.052.41.3101.153.646.4
2010-1128St. Louis BluesNHL62878.155.25.254.64.2100.853.246.8
2010-1128Buffalo SabresNHL21298.546.8-3.046.7-6.6102.054.645.4
2011-1229Buffalo SabresNHL65710.150.4-1.249.8-1.4101.354.046.0
2012-1330New York IslandersNHL48704.551.91.252.51.396.260.739.3
2013-1431Florida PanthersNHL781095.550.9-0.451.5-0.198.450.849.2
2014-1532Florida PanthersNHL781040.351.70.752.31.9101.150.449.6
2 yrsNHL211008.649.3-2.048.8-2.9101.654.245.8
2 yrsNHL782135.851.20.151.91.199.650.649.4
4 yrsNHL824259.151.62.551.41.599.951.748.3
CareerNHL788108.051.41.251.40.899.952.647.4

Brad-Boyes

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