Maple Leafs, Connor Dewar Avoid Arbitration

The Maple Leafs have avoided arbitration with RFA forward Connor Dewar. He’s inked a one-year deal worth $1.18MM, the team announced today.

Arbitration hearings began yesterday with Predators defenseman Spencer Stastney and will run as late as Aug. 4. The NHLPA will not release a schedule of hearing dates this year. Stastney’s case is the only one that’s needed a hearing thus far, with most others settling their cases in advance. Dewar is the second one to do so today, joining Sabres winger Beck Malenstyn.

Dewar, 25, was arbitration-eligible for the first time this year after completing a two-year, $1.6MM deal signed with the Wild in 2022. He earns a modest raise over his previous $800K cap hit, but it’s cheaper than the two-year, $1.44MM cap hit deal that Evolving-Hockey projected him to land this summer. He’ll be eligible for arbitration again as an RFA in 2025 before becoming a UFA.

He’s coming off a career-best season offensively, finishing with 11 goals and 19 points in 74 games split between Minnesota and Toronto. A third-round pick of the Wild in 2018, he was traded to the Leafs for a 2026 fourth-round pick and prospect Dmitry Ovchinnikov, who has since become a UFA. He also averaged a career-high 11:39 per game, including 12:54 in 17 games after the move to Toronto. His 14.3% shooting rate suggests some regression next year, though. Still, the 5’10” Manitoba native is an effective physical presence in a fourth-line role and was used heavily on the penalty kill after arriving with the Leafs, averaging 2:24 per game shorthanded.

Dewar is expected to be ready for camp after undergoing shoulder surgery in May. He projects to start the season in a fourth-line role on the wing at even strength alongside David Kämpf at center, who routinely made up their top penalty-killing unit down the stretch last season.