The Maple Leafs are not leaving too much to chance, as their invite to camp list is growing rather steadily. On Thursday, they added pool worthy free agent forward Brad Boyes to their camp, as he still sits and waits for a brand new deal.
Boyes had 14 goals and 38 points in 78 games for Florida last season, which has him in the bottom rung of the pool worthy forwards, but still a guy possibly worth taking. He has been a contributor to the score sheet on a good number of occasions, but I think the knock on him is that he isn't quite the guy that leads the team through the tough times.
There'll be nothing but tough times in Toronto, as they go through their growing pains this year, so Boyes will get a chance to prove some people wrong. With a decent list of projected forwards already thought to be starting the year in blue and white, then you add invites like Curtis Glencross, Devin Setoguchi and Rich Clune into the mix, you're going to get a very competitive situation.
Another team looking to improve their forward lines with a tryout invite is the Florida Panthers, who earlier in the week invited former Panther, David Booth to the mix, now they add another player familiar to the team management in Martin Havlat.
Havlat played with the lacklustre New Jersey Devils in the 2015 season, playing in only 40 games, scoring 5 goals and 14 points in that time, far from being pool worthy. Still, if the Panthers could revitalize a career like Jaromir Jagr's, who's really to say it couldn't happen for Havlat either?
Since the Panthers are still waiting on the resolution for Jonathan Huberdeau's new contract, this team is preparing to fill some gaps, no matter how positive they report that the negotiations are going. Those gaps do bode well for guys like Booth and Havlat, who will also have very little leverage in contract talks and will likely come in on the cheaper side of the ledger.
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