You don't have to take the word of Pierre McGuire to know that Toronto's signing of Teddy Blueger did more than just add a defensively sound centre to the mix.
There was a lot of movement from the Toronto Maple Leafs on the first day of free agency, and their focus besides shoring up their goaltending was to make sure their bottom-six was a lot more balanced, defensively sound, faster, and tougher to play against.
Adding Colton Sissons was a great way to help out the PK, and Brandon Duhaime is going to be a lightning bolt on the ice who is going to be uber-physical and a key reason why the team may find themselves a bit more unified come 2026-27.
But one of their sneakier additions was Teddy Blueger, who came over on a two-year, $5-million deal on July 1. Not much was made of the signing although I did have him ranked as someone Toronto should target due to his versatility, defensive acumen and ability to play a much better well-rounded transition game that will play into Toronto's new mobile blueline.
And it feels a bit validating when a former GM agrees with you.
Pierre McGuire's Blueger take lands even if you ignore he's the one who said it
Though some may not tend to agree with him all the time, Pierre McGuire was one of the people who praised Blueger's signing as something that could be a lot better than what we get at face value.
His opinion can rub people the wrong way, but there's little denying that he's on the mark when it comes to Blueger:
One of the most versatile players in the entire National Hockey League. Teddy was a really good player in the NCAA. He was a tremendous player in Pittsburgh, he won a Stanley Cup in Vegas, he was important for Vancouver.
He's a tremendous person, he stabilizes the locker room...he understands what he has to do to survive in the league and Teddy's got some get left too, and he won't blow you away with points but impress you with his checking, forechecking, and ability to force turnovers.
You can't argue with McGuire because even without him stating as such, it's clear to see Blueger's versatility. He can play the wings and be an above average centre, he plays the PK, he can give you a bit of offence, he likes to play physical, and for the first time since Vegas will have a competitive team in front of him.
For his career, Blueger has 169 points in 413 games (58 goals, 111 assists) while winning nearly 50% of his face-offs (nearly 5,000 taken) and adding 603 hits. You're not getting more than 30 points a season from him, but you're getting top level defence and a much more aggressive player.
Paul, Sissons, and Blueger give the bottom-six the bend that it needed
Blueger, along with Sissons and Nick Paul are going to create a bottom-six we've never seen in the Matthews era. They are extremely aggressive defensively and have a lot more speed than other names we've seen come in; all are centres too.
They can swap up and down the lineup and go wherever Jim Hiller needs them to be and they can form a very strong PK group along with Steven Lorentz to actually give the team a quartet of highly physical and defensive forwards who can make life horrible for opposing teams.
There was also a lot of chemistry alongside Dakota Joshua in Vancouver and while Connor Garland added a ton to that line as well, the familiarity can only mean good things for Toronto going forward.
Compare this group to guys who were in before like Calle Jarnkrok, Max Domi, David Kampf, Ryan Reaves; none of them added the versatility and flexibility that Paul, Sissons, and especially Blueger bring to the table.
It's why adding Blueger is going to make a huge difference, because it's not just the stars who need to do their job but the bottom-six too and no one knows their role better than Blueger himself.
Was Teddy Blueger a good signing for Toronto?
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