Sonny Milano: Ideal fit for Leafs? I believe so
For me it's the first and with intention of getting some more concrete answers, I did a research into his game and analytical background and see if my gut feeling about the fit is justified or not.
Some highly interesting unrestricted free agents are still available to be had and potentially for cheap, due to teams waiting for big players like Nazem Kadri or John Klingberg to sign their deals. Notably the three I’m looking at with respect to Toronto Maple Leafs are Danton Heinen, Sonny Milano and Evan Rodrigues.
All three options are very intriguing, but Milano caught my eyes last season plenty of times as a player I wish was on my favourite team, often being the supporting part of Trevor Zegras’ magic we’ve seen all year long. Just like this absolute beauty!
Why is that the case? I haven’t looked at the stats before making this little piece. So just from eye-test perspective I loved his small puck plays on offense where he read the situation well-read by the time he executed on the pass or shot. He is pretty fast skater in transition and also has very good movement in each of the three zones.
Milano’s analytical impacts, as seen in the one-year profile below, are very good in all the areas of the game. Defensively sound, mostly in clogging up the passing lanes while defending the rush from my viewings. I see a player that needs to shoot more and he would score more, finishing needs to be better.
Milano has a very good shot, reads the zone well and has a great hand-eye coordination and with that, I just saw a ton of potential for matching well with two pretty different players in Tavares and Nylander.
What I often notice with these two is that they don’t have someone that can connect the two from speed perspective and also from a perspective of just having another player to develop plays with in an offensive part of the ice. And that’s a huge issue. You would often see Nylander doing one thing, Tavares doing the other and the third player, that’s supposed to connect it, make it work just doesn’t, the said player is not capable of that.
Milano would be able to do that with his style, IMO.
Big thing for me with players is if they make other people around them better. I have made this graphic before in regards to Alexander Kerfoot and Jesse Puljujärvi few months ago. Sonny Milano has a very positive impact on his linemates, some more than others, of course. The consistency of adding value to almost each player is huge thing, especially on a team like Toronto.
That combined with his quick reads, small intelligent plays, compete level, speed, shot, two-way qualities make him an ideal option to insert on a line with John Tavares and William Nylander and would make for a very effective and fun second line. He also brings elite levels of swagger/60, which would make that line even more fun! Would it happen? I have no insight. We will see, but I really do believe in the fit.