Toronto Maple Leafs sign Connor Dewar to one-year, $1.18 million contract

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Tuesday they have come to terms on a one-year contract with forward Connor Dewar. The deal carries a $1.18 million cap hit, as the two sides avoid an arbitration hearing.

Dewar, 25, appeared in 17 regular season games for the Maple Leafs last season, recording one goal and adding four assists. He averaged just under 13 minutes of ice-time per game and was a staple among Toronto’s bottom six. Dewar also played a role on the Leafs’ penalty kill, playing 2:23 per game shorthanded.

In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Dewar managed to appear in six of the seven games in the first round against the Boston Bruins. He’d record one assist and land 14 hits in the series. Dewar was acquired by the Maple Leafs in a deadline deal with the Minnesota Wild which included a 2026 fourth-round pick and forward Dmitry Ovchinnikov heading to Minnesota. Dewar was originally a 2018 third-round pick of the Wild, and played parts of six seasons with the franchise.

Heading into next season in Toronto, Craig Berube is now behind the bench and Dewar will look to impress his new bench boss at training camp and into the preseason. At this point, there’s going to be a ton of internal competition up front for the Maple Leafs, so Dewar will need to show off his strong two-way game and his push back, ensuring he’s a tough forward to play against. Berube has preached he wants his team to never be outworked and that should be music to the ears of Dewar.

With Dewar re-signed, Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving has Nick Robertson as the only player off the active roster left unsigned. There’s been rumblings about Robertson wanting out of Toronto, so this will certainly be a storyline to follow as the offseason continues. Toronto has $1.2 million left in cap space heading into the 2024-25 season.