2012 NHL Free Agents: 5 Reasons Toronto Maple Leafs Must Sign Travis Moen

With all the talk this offseason surrounding superstar free agents Ryan Suter and Zach Parise (with some attention also being paid to the young, soon-to-be unrestricted free agent Justin Schultz), many people are forgetting about the valuable third-line-type players who will be available at a much lower cost.

In Toronto's case, there is one player who fits the team's needs absolutely perfectly.

Travis Moen.

The savvy veteran, drafted in the fifth round in 2000, has managed to build himself a nice resume over the course of his eight NHL seasons.

While the name may not be at the top of most Maple Leafs fans' wish lists, he helps fill a number of voids, and signing Moen may indirectly help bring in one of the bigger-name free agents.

Toughness

Probably the most noticeable void on this Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club is the presence of an actual tough guy (with the exception of Mike Brown).

Fortunately for Toronto, Travis Moen would provide that necessary toughness, and he also knows exactly what situations call for a face-wash or a fight.

Take, for instance, the video here.

In this case, Moen saw the rough-and-tumble Boston Bruins rush his team's net and knock one of the Canadiens players to the ice, so he knows it's up to him to send a message to Boston.

He skates over and instantly throws down with Shawn Thornton, much to the delight of the home crowd.

In instances like these, it's not about winning or losing the fight, it's about standing up for your team, getting the home crowd pumped up and creating momentum.

Throw in the fact that, other than the necessary penalties, Moen is also a disciplined player (consistently sitting around the one-penalty-minute-per-game mark).

Finally, Moen would be another player on the roster that wouldn't be afraid to throw his body around.

Though he may never approach Dustin Brown-type numbers when it comes to hits, he was second among all Montreal players in hits in both 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 (this year, he only played in 48 games, so he finished 10th on the team).

Affordability

This will be a big one for Toronto.

Heading into the 2012-2013 campaign, the Leafs (according to CapGeek.com) are projected to have about $13.6 million in cap space and still need to fill eight roster spots.

Bringing in Travis Moen shouldn't cost anything more than $1.5 million or $2 million.

This would not only fill one of the Leafs' empty roster spots, but it would add some toughness to the lineup and preserve the Leafs' scarce salary cap space.

Signing a player or two like Moen (Paul Gaustad could be another option) would give the Leafs the opportunity to save some big money for a Justin Schultz, Zach Parise or Ryan Suter-type player (or, dare I say, Roberto Luongo).

While the likelihood of the Leafs signing Parise or Suter is extremely low, keeping the money available cannot hurt, especially if they're still filling in some of the needs of the team.

Experience

If the Leafs were to sign Travis Moen this offseason, he would instantly become one of the older players on the team (only Tim Connolly and John-Michael Liles would have been born in earlier years).

At 30 years old, Travis Moen oozes experience, including big-game situations.

Not only has Moen played in 570 career regular-season games, but he's also been a part of 68 career playoff games and has won a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 (a team managed by Brian Burke, who we know likes to bring in players from his former teams).

That would make him the most experienced playoff player on the Leafs roster, by a wide margin.

This would bring another player into the Leafs dressing room who knows what it takes to win and who has the right mentality.

Leadership

This reason goes hand-in-hand with the last.

While there would be some players that are a few months older than Travis Moen in the dressing room, his NHL experience would instantly make him one of Toronto's leaders.

As someone who would go out on a nightly basis and stand up for his team, being a veteran player and having won the biggest prize of them all, Moen would surely be an incredible influence in the locker room for the younger players.

If he were to be signed this offseason, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the Maple Leafs instantly put an "A" on his jersey and made him one of the team's assistant captains.

Two-Way Presence

Travis Moen would also be of great help to the Leafs when it comes to team defense.

While he isn't a standout or renowned defensive forward, Moen certainly plays hard and is accountable on defense.

Heck, when you're not an offensive juggernaut and can still log an average of 15.5 minutes per game of ice time, you must be doing something right on defense and in the neutral zone.

A tough, back-checking forward would do the Leafs wonders this season, and Moen can be that person.

With all of the other positive traits he'd bring to this team, he could end up being the most important move Brian Burke makes this offseason.

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