The Toronto Maple Leafs continued to strengthen their depth at the trade deadline by acquiring matchup forward Connor Dewar from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a 4th round pick in 2026.
The Leafs also traded Dmitry Ovchinnikov to the Wild, but he’ll remain with the AHL Toronto Marlies under loan.
#mnwild traded Connor Dewar to #Leafs for a mid-round pick.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 8, 2024
Dewar, 24, is a strong skater with limited offensive potential (10G, 14P in 57GP) who will likely assume a bottom-six, penalty-killing role with Toronto.
The Manitoban center averaged a career-high 11:17 of average ice time and was fifth on the Wild in hits (94) at the time of the trade.
Dewar, who attended Toronto’s development camp in 2017 as a free agent invite during his WHL days with the Everett Silvertips, returns to Ontario as the Leafs gear up for a postseason run.
Connor Dewar, reportedly to the Maple Leafs, attended the team's development camp as a free-agent invite back in 2017. Cool story for him to come back now.
— Kyle Cushman (@Kyle_Cush) March 8, 2024
The trade continued Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving’s recent strategy of adding responsible depth players like defensemen Joel Edmunson and Ilya Lyubushkin rather than significantly shaking up his already-talented roster.
The success of Treliving’s depth acquisitions will hinge on the team’s performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where the pressure is on Auston Matthews, Morgan Reilly, and Co. to improve on last year’s second-round finish, which followed Toronto’s first series win in nearly 20 years.
Dewar and Edmunson will be candidates to debut on Saturday night when the Maple Leafs visit the Montreal Canadiens. The club will hope its new additions can help them shake off a 4-1 defeat to the Boston Bruins in their last time out.