TORONTO

When Daniel Winnik departed the junior Wexford Raiders and moved away from Toronto, life was good with his hometown NHL team.

The Maple Leafs had made the playoffs all but two years between 1993-2003, during which he’d idolized Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour, two integral parts of back-to-back conference finalists.

But as Winnik made his name in hockey, first at the University of New Hampshire and then seven years playing in the Western Conference, the Leafs logo has been kicked around a lot. Only once in the past nine years has Toronto made a post-season appearance.

So, perhaps Winnik’s arrival with the revamped club is some kind of kismet. Many GTA natives speak highly of the chance to play at home and some turn out disillusioned, but the unrestricted free agent was absolutely thrilled when his one-year, $1.3-million deal was announced on Monday.

“Eleven years away,” Winnik said. “No disrespect to where I’ve played (Phoenix, Colorado, San Jose and most recently Anaheim) but nothing compares to this market. This is every kid’s dream.”

Winnik, raised in Mississauga, warmed to the Leafs’ overtures on the first day of free agency on July 1.

Exciting day for me and my family. Couldnt be happier to be playing for my hometown team @MapleLeafs. Thanks for all the support #leafnation — daniel winnik (@Danwinnik34) July 29, 2014

“His agent (Pat Morris) made mention of how appealing it was for Daniel to come home,” said Leafs general manager Dave Nonis. “We kept in close contact since, until we came up with some numbers that made sense to us.”

Winnik, with a career-high 24 assists and 30 points last year, was considered one of the better UFAs still on the market, but the question is where he fits in.

In an effort to create a survival-of-the-fittest mentality at camp among his bottom-six forwards, Nonis has now added Winnik, Leo Komarov, Matt Frattin, Mike Santorelli, David Booth and Petri Kontiola to battle incumbents such as Peter Holland, Colton Orr, Frazer McLaren, Trevor Smith and any number of young Marlies.

Almost all will have some kind of underdog story; either injury, contractual or lack of playing time elsewhere, that should inspire them at camp.

“Well, everyone can’t make the team,” Nonis said. “People will be pushed out. But we want people to fight for jobs and then fight to hold on to those jobs.”

The 6-foot-2 Winnik can play centre or left wing and although he had a prolonged offensive slump despite his good numbers last season, one of his key strengths is penalty killing.

“Two years ago, we had one of the best units in the league and we want to get back there,” Nonis said of last year’s letdown. “(Coach Randy Carlyle) saw him a lot in the West (coaching Anaheim) and can move him around. He gives us size and proved to be very versatile with a number of players on Anaheim such as Andrew Cogliano and Saku Koivu.”

This signing is also the first personnel move involving new assistant GM Kyle Dubas. The 28-year-old with a passion for analytics apparently liked Winnik’s numbers as they pertained to advanced stats.

“Of course we asked Kyle as part of talking to everyone, though we’d asked about Daniel long before this,” Nonis said.

Winnik joked that analytics were a mystery to him and most NHLers, but he had spoken to Carlyle about the rudiments of what to expect in camp.

“I know it’s going to be different in Toronto with a different style in the East and all the attention,” Winnik said. “But I have all summer to prepare for that. Right now, I’m really looking forward to it. I played with Trevor for one year at New Hampshire, I know (UNH grad) James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, Phil Kessel, and I played in the lockout with James Reimer.”

A win-Winnik situation for the Leafs? Time will tell.

TOO EARLY TO TELL

Dave Nonis can’t power down his calculator for the summer just yet.

The general manager of the Maple Leafs still has a tad more than $3 million US to use under Toronto’s current salary cap, the bulk of which will go to re-signing restricted free agent defenceman Jake Gardiner.

Asked if that will be a quick resolution now that salary arbitration was avoided with goalie James Reimer and defenceman Cody Franson, Nonis was non-commital.

“It’s too early to tell,” he said. “We haven’t spent a lot of time on (Gardiner) because we’ve had to tidy up everything else.”

Gardiner, coming off his entry level contract, had 31 points in 80 games. Nonis isn’t ruling out one more cheap UFA signing after Gardiner’s anticipated return, but said it’s unlikely, with Marlies and draft picks now getting priority to fill out the rosters for the rookie tournament and main camp in September.