Report: Leafs expected to sign Dominic Moore

This pre-free agency discussion window has made for a mess of activity before the bell rings at 12:00 noon to open the market officially. As such, we’ve been hearing about a lot of potential signings this morning that have already been worked out. Toronto hasn’t had the details of their moves revealed as much as other teams have, but we are getting a clearer picture of what they’ll do when things get rolling in an hour.

According to our friends over at MLHS, the Leafs are expected to sign  free agent center Dominic Moore:

Presumably Moore’s addition means the Leafs are entirely out on Brian Boyle, as he should fit into that defensive role on the fourth line nicely. Moore is 36-years-old, so I’m not expecting much in the way of term here – perhaps a one or two year deal. Matt Cane’s salary predictor model had Moore making 1.5-million AAV on the open market, so we’ll see how close they are to that number in reality.

(Numbers via DataRink.com)

Moore is a fine step-in for Boyle, and while he’s older, he’s still a solid upgrade on Ben Smith, who, before this morning, was looking to battle it out with Eric Fehr for the Leafs’ fourth line center spot. Moore can chip in a good amount of production as well, finishing this past season with 11 goals and 14 assists.

We’ll have more details on value and term as they become available (in an hour).