Once again, the Toronto Maple Leafs have gone out and quietly made another smart acquisition in signing Shawn Matthias, formerly of the Vancouver Canucks. Matthias comes to Toronto as a 27-year-old forward. He finished last season with 27 points and 16 penalty minutes for the Canucks, and has collected 131 points in 408 career NHL games.

Matthias is not a top forward who puts the puck in the back of the net on a nightly basis, but he comes to Toronto as another veteran. He will provide some leadership lost from Phil Kessel, and the signing shows that the Leafs are ready to unload Tyler Bozak via a trade.

The Stanley Cup is not on the Leafs’ horizon. They are also not even considered to be playoff-bound next spring. The team is starting to strip things down and change the culture, and signing Matthias shows that rebuild is in full swing.

Forward Nick Spaling and other prospects came to Toronto in the Kessel trade, and while the young kids are nurtured, players like Matthias can give them some insight and perspective on the 82-game season. The team signed Nazem Kadri and appear to want him as the top centre if Bozak’s gone.

Chalk this up as another underrated, but solid move for the Maple Leafs’ front office.