Photo credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs certainly made a smart move to not sign Trent Frederic considering his start to the 2025 season could be considered very underwhelming.Besides Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the team has been fairly underwhelming but there’s no one who has seemingly disappeared more than Trent Frederic.
Why Trent Frederic’s current results suggest the Maple Leafs were right to pass
But his season has not been anywhere near what Edmonton expected of him, and the stats really tell an ugly tale:
Through 23 games, Frederic has two goals. That’s it. He scored on Oct. 14 against the New York Rangers, but since then has been completely invisible and putting in a minus-7 rating.
He did manage to pot the puck on Thursday night in a losing effort to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It’s unsightly to say the least, however it seems that Stan Bowman may have bitten off a bit more than he can chew.
Frederic was stellar from the 2022-23 season through the 2023-24 season with 35 goals, 71 points, 307 hits and a plus-37. SSince then he’s totaled just 30 points in his last 139 games, including only two points in 24 games with the Oilers.
For the Maple Leafs, they certainly dodged a bullet, especially at the price tag he’s commanding however the team isn’t exactly out of the weeds when it comes to players in a position like Frederic.
«But Toronto has Dakota Joshua – a power forward who hits and has shown flashes but can be inconsistent, and there’s a lot of similarities although Frederic has a much longer commitment.
But they can thank their lucky stars they didn’t commit long-term to Frederic, because the team can’t afford to have anymore bad contracts to figure out, they already have enough as it is.
The team really no longer has to deal with Frederic, who seemed to have their number in his short time vs. Toronto. He had two points in four games, nine hits, a game-winner, and torched the Maple Leafs in the 2023-24 playoffs.
So Edmonton has to deal with a long-term commitment to a player that may not exactly fit into the timeline of their win-now window given Connor McDavid’s shorter timeline.
But Toronto lucked out and steered clear of Frederic, who seems to look like a signing from a team scrambling to add a name instead of adding the right pieces.
Previously on Hockey Patrol
POLL
47 MINUTES AGOÂ Â Â |Â Â Â 21 ANSWERS
Maple Leafs clearly dodged a bullet with Trent Frederic
Was Trent Frederic a bad signing by the Edmonton Oilers?