#offensive-production

#offensive-production

Bichette will hit free agency at a relatively young age and coming off a strong season at the plate. Apart from an injury-marred 2024, his offense has been consistently above average. Through the end of 2023, he had a .299/.340/.487 line and 126 wRC+. He has never drawn tons of walks but is also tough to strike out. He had a 143 wRC+ in his brief 2019 debut but then was in the 120-129 range in four straight seasons after that.

One of the bright spots for the Toronto Maple Leafs has been Oliver Ekman-Larsson. In four games this season, he has racked up a goal and two assists for three points. All of these points came in the Leafs ' 7-4 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, October 14th. This performance earned him the second star. It's the type of performance we were used to seeing from vintage Ekman-Larsson. Going into this season, not much was expected of Ekman-Larsson.

During the eventual 5-2 win, there were signs of offensive cohesiveness and it largely seemed to be coming from the blue line. Morgan Rielly was everywhere and ended up leading the Leafs in shots on goal with five, shot attempts with nine, and was even tied for the team-lead in high-danger attempts with two. The veteran defenseman was omnipresent in Scotiabank Arena, but if anyone is the main hub for the team's offense, it should be Matthews.

"With all respect to Realmuto, however, even his best years haven't seen him offer the kind of offensive firepower that someone like Nelson Cruz could offer within that very same free agent class."