Former Leafs Forward Thriving with Divisional Rival After Slipping Away
The Maple Leafs may have missed out on keeping a diamond in the rough, as former forward Adam Gaudette has started to thrive in his new role with the Ottawa Senators.
Toronto often has a history of letting players go elsewhere and watching them become stars while being an outsider to their success. Names like Tuukka Rask and Zach Hyman weren't kept around one way or another and made their names elsewhere.
Another name who has come out of the woodwork with a flurry of offense is Adam Gaudette. The current Senators forward has 13 goals this season and has started to show the potential the Maple Leafs envisioned when they had him.
Who Is Adam Gaudette?
He never played with the Maple Leafs and instead was part of the trade that brought Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari to Toronto in 2022; the first time they made it past the first round since 2004.
In hindsight it was a needed trade, however neither man stuck around and Toronto was left empty-handed.
Since being drafted by Vancouver in 2015, Gaudette has had an up and down NHL career that saw him reach 33 points in 2019, to a complete drop off and not having hit the 20+ point mark since.
In his lifetime he has 39 goals and 45 assists in 245 games and is finally starting to find his footing in Ottawa; scoring a career-high 13 goals already only 25 games into the season. Known as more of a defensively focused center, Gaudette's explosion of offense is a sign that Toronto might have made a mistake.
Gaudette has been a pleasant surprise for the Senators this season, and with the team trying to figure out which way to go and sitting at 12-12-2; any boost Gaudette can give only helps the team in the tough Atlantic Division.
This is another case of the Maple Leafs letting a player go before giving them an honest shot, and while the case of trading Gaudette away in order to get pieces to help their playoff push should be a warning that Toronto has to be careful they don't repeat history this season.
| POLL | ||
Did Toronto make a mistake by trading away Adam Gaudette? | ||
| Yes | 365 | 36.7 % |
| No | 630 | 63.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
