Colton Sissons explains why he chose to join the Toronto Maple Leafs in free agency and the challenges the team may face amid all the change the organization has endured this off-season.
Colton Sissons is one of the newest members of the Toronto Maple Leafs going into this coming season. He was a part of GM John Chayka's haul on July 1, signing a two-year contract with the Maple Leafs for $4.250 million per season.
Sissons, a right-handed and veteran center, is the type of player that you'd imagine would have some interest from other teams when the NHL's free agency period opened. The 32-year-old has played 756 regular-season games across his 12-year NHL career.
With two Stanley Cup final appearances and a specialty in the faceoff dot and penalty kill, many teams would love his services. In the end, the Vancouver native decided to take his talents north of the border.
"I mean, obviously the opportunity to put the Maple Leafs sweater on is probably No. 1," Sissons said on Thursday's edition of TSN OverDrive. "That's a pretty special experience for any player, and it's tough to pass off an opportunity like that and speak with (Chayka) and just hearing what their plans were and the conditions that they were making and saw some of those come across in the morning there. And so that was really exciting too."
As mentioned, July 1 was an incredibly busy day for the Maple Leafs and Chayka. Sissons was one of multiple additions to the roster that day, including Sergei Bobrovsky, Jack Roslovic, Nick Paul, and others.
There will always be a challenge to joining a new team, especially for Sissons, who, before being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights for 2025-26, played 11 straight years with the Nashville Predators.
But with Toronto's unique off-season, the difficulty of getting accustomed to new surroundings and teammates naturally grows. And that's not just the case with the roster, when even the coaching staff and front office have seen overhaul changes.
“Yeah, obviously it's a challenge with all the newness coming in and a lot of new players in the locker room," Sissons said.
However, with his experience and the veteran that Sissons is, it won't be hard for him to find his role and ways to contribute to his new team on and off the ice during his Maple Leafs tenure.
"I think just coming in, I'm just going to be myself and try to bring guys together and kind of establish just a good vibe in the locker room and obviously put in the work and try to be a leader for us," he added. "Just keep it simple and just try to get everybody on the same page as fast as possible because camp's going to be pretty quick this year and it's going to be a lot to sort out and new systems and all that.
"I think we're going to be able to turn this thing around pretty quick and have a solid year.”
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