Bļugers joins Toronto Maple Leafs with career-high salary increase

Teodors Bļugers, a Latvian ice hockey forward, has agreed to a two-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). Under the new deal, Bļugers will earn $2.5 million per season, the highest annual salary of his career.

Bļugers spent the previous three seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, where his two-year contract averaged $1.8 million per year. After his contract expired, he became an unrestricted free agent and could consider offers from other teams.

The Toronto Maple Leafs is one of the oldest NHL franchises, founded in 1917, second only to the Montreal Canadiens (1909). The Leafs have won the Stanley Cup 13 times, most recently in 1967.

Bļugers already has a Stanley Cup championship to his name – in 2023, he was traded mid-season from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Vegas Golden Knights and won the title with them. In the NHL regular season, the 31-year-old forward has played 453 games, scoring 58 goals and adding 111 assists. In the playoffs, he has 37 games and six points.

The Maple Leafs have been busy recently: in last week's draft, they selected Canadian forward Gavin McKenna first overall and Latvian goaltender Patrick Plūmiņš with the 114th pick. Toronto also added Russian goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who helped the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup in 2024 and 2025. Bobrovsky signed a three-year, $21 million contract ($7 million per season).