Luke Haymes Breaks Silence on Decision to Sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs

Brad Treliving made a fantastic signing for the Maple Leafs by adding Dartmouth University center Luke Haymes to the fold and shore up the middle of their depth chart and essentially replace Fraser Minten after trading him for Brandon Carlo at the deadline.

It was a very savvy move from the Leafs GM, and while he had a lot of teams interested, Toronto was the final destination.

After his first practice with the Toronto Marlies, Haymes opened up on his decision to join the Maple Leafs and explained why it gave him the best opportunity for his career:

At 6'2, 200 pounds, he fits the Brad Treliving/Craig Berube mould of players, and is able to pack on some additional weight to make himself even more dangerous.

He has a quick release and has been mentioned to already have an NHL-caliber shot, not to mention fantastic awareness and positioning for a 21-year old. Also not afraid to crash the net, he could be the anchor for Toronto at both ends of the ice, and provide a great crease presence to annoy the opposition.

What's also impressive is how successful he's been compared to his contemporaries. In only 83 games with Dartmouth Haymes had 70 points (41G, 29A) compared to names like Karsen Dorwart, and T.J. Hughes who each have over 100+ games to their name; so he has an even high ceiling it feels like.

Since Toronto got rid of Fraser Minten there was a glaring hole in the middle of their depth chart. Luke Haymes is going to fill that without a shadow of a doubt, and for Brad Treliving to snatch up arguably the NCAA's top free agent is nothing short of a coup.

Kudos to the Maple Leafs for adding Luke Haymes, and there's a very high potential that the player they signed is just steps away from superstardom and could be a huge factor as part of Toronto's next core forwards.