MLHS has learned that the Toronto Maple Leafs are set to sign veteran defenceman Ron Hainsey and veteran centerman Dominic Moore when free agency opens at Noon EST.
Moore, 36, spent last season with the Boston Bruins organization, averaging 12:56 a game (including 1:58 game on the penalty kill) and posting 11 goals and 28 points in a full 82 game season. Moore also won 54.6% of his faceoffs this past season, which ranked 22nd in the league among players with a minimum of 500 draws taken.
Moore’s 11 goals in Boston this year were the most he’s scored since 2010-11 in Tampa Bay. His role expanded in the playoffs, playing over 16 minutes a night in the Bruins’ first round series against Ottawa.
If confirmed, Moore will slide into the fourth-line center role for the Leafs, which was left vacant with Brian Boyle now a UFA.
Moore enjoyed his best ever NHL season offensively while he was a Leaf in 2008-09, tallying 12 goals and 41 points in 63 games before he was dealt at the deadline by Brian Burke to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a second-round draft pick.
Among the most well-traveled players in the league, Moore has played for 10 different NHL teams as well as second tours of duty with the Rangers and now the Leafs. He’s remained very healthy late into his career, having played three consecutive 80+ game seasons from age 33-36.
Hainsey, also 36, is a veteran of 907 NHL games and would instantly become the team’s oldest, most experienced player. Last season, he was traded from Carolina to Pittsburgh, where he made the playoffs for the first time in his career. He was second on the Penguins’ defense in time on ice per game in the playoffs and won the Stanley Cup.
Hainsey was drafted 13th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2000 and was touted as a puck-moving, power-play quarterback, transition type of defenseman. After being claimed by Columbus off of waivers, he got his first opportunity to prove himself and put up back-to-back seasons of over 30 points, which led to a big UFA contract with the Atlanta Thrashers.
The Connecticut native posted a career high of 39 points in his first season in Atlanta in 2008-09. After that season, he started to transform his game into more of a defensive player. He had a quick stop in Winnipeg before going to Carolina for the past 3.5 seasons and serving as a second-pairing defensive defenseman.
Hainsey can play both sides of the ice and would take on a substantial penalty killing role for the team with defenceman Matt Hunwick expected to sign elsewhere today.
