As training camp draws near, the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have much breaking news. There were rumours that the Maple Leafs have extended a professional tryout (PTO) offer to 28-year-old Steven Lorentz. However, only this morning was there confirmation that Lorentz has accepted the offer.
Lorentz stands 6-foot-4 and weighs between 206 and 216 pounds (depending on the site you look at). He’s listed as a center/left winger and shoots left. The Carolina Hurricanes picked him 186th overall in the 7th round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
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Lorentz has played 230 regular-season and 32 playoff games, primarily on the fourth line for the Hurricanes, San Jose Sharks, and Florida Panthers. He averaged a high of 11:50 ice time per game for a woeful Sharks team in 2022-23 and most recently saw an average of 8:47 per game in 32 regular-season games and 7:07 per game in 16 playoff games for the Stanley Cup-winning Panthers last season.
Lorentz Is Not Noted for His Offensive Power, But He Can Score
While not noted for his offence, Lorentz did score ten goals in 80 games for the Sharks in 2022-23. He scored just one goal in the regular season for the Panthers and added two more in the playoffs last season. When Lorentz was a junior, he scored 52 goals over two seasons for the Peterborough Petes in the regular season and added 11 goals in 19 postseason games. That would indicate Lorentz does have some offensive skills. [He missed playing with Nick Robertson for the Petes by a year. He left the season before Robertson joined the team.]
Of course, for a player his size, it’s natural to wonder how he uses that size and how physical a game he plays. Lorentz has 317 hits in 230 regular-season games and 72 in 32 playoff games. That works out to 1.4 hits per game in the regular season and 2.3 hits per game in the postseason. If we were to use Ryan Reaves as a measuring stick, Reaves has averaged 3.4 hits per game in the regular season and 4.1 hits per game in the playoffs. If we were to look for a comparison on the Maple Leafs for hits from a forward, the closest would be John Tavares. While he has been with Toronto, Tavares has averaged 1.1 hits per game in the regular season and 2.3 hits per game in the postseason.
Lorentz Is Big, But He’s Not Much for Fighting
While fighting is becoming less relevant, it is still part of the game. Lorentz has had but one fight in the NHL. It was while he played with the Hurricane in the 2021-22 season. Lorentz came to the defence of his then-teammate Max Domi when it appeared Jacob Trouba delivered a high hit to Domi into the boards. The fight was not much. Lorentz got in one swing before falling to the ice and held on as Trouba kept swinging.
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As it was, replays showed that Domi lost an edge and was in the process of falling as Trouba was lining him up for the hit. Trouba did not receive a penalty. The key here for Lorentz was that he did not hesitate to jump in and stand up for his teammate.
According to Hockey Fights, Lorentz had seven fights in the minor leagues over three seasons. The only one with a video of the battle again showed Lorentz jumping in after a teammate took a nasty hit from an opponent. The result of the fight was similar to the one in Trouba. Lorentz got in a few swings but then held on as his adversary, David Sklenicka, got in some shots. In the fighting department, it seems Lorentz receives an “A” for effort but a “D” for execution.
It’s Tough to Find Much Information About Lorentz
A search for Lorentz’s highlights on YouTube doesn’t show much. We found three videos of goals he scored that we would call “workmanlike” goals. There was not a lot of flash involved. In looking over Lorentz’s underlying stats on Natural Stat Trick, nothing jumped at us at 5-on-5. When he played for an excellent Panthers team last season, he was close to 50% across the board in the regular season but did not fare well in his playoff minutes, hovering around 40%.
One thing of note is that in the one season when he played for the Sharks, Lorentz averaged over a minute a game on the penalty kill. That was the only season he was used much on the PK.
There’s a Good Chance Lorentz Won’t Be a Difference-Maker for Toronto
We don’t see anything in Lorentz’s past that tips the scales in any way. Unless he does something unexpected in camp, or unless the Maple Leafs suffer injuries or decide to move some of their bottom six players, it would seem that Lorentz will be hard-pressed to make the roster come the start of the season.
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[Note: I want to thank long-time Maple Leafs fan Stan Smith for collaborating with me on this post. Stan’s Facebook profile can be found here.]
