The Leafs jumped into the free agent pool looking for defenders yesterday and they didn’t come up empty handed.
Chris Tanev
Everybody knows exactly what the Leafs are getting in Tanev. He’s a character player, a great locker room presence, a warrior on the ice that will block shots with reckless abandon and he just may be the best and most ideal defense partner that Morgan Rielly has ever had. There’s little more to say about him at this time, except for his contract is too long. The caphit is fine, but he’s signed into his mid-50’s and that’s not great. The Leafs need to win now, before these contracts start looking terrible.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
For 3.5M per season over 4 years, you can’t say that Ekman-Larsson isn’t worth the paycheque today. Whether that holds true in years 3 and 4 is anybody’s guess, as the left shot defender is about to turn 33 in a couple of short weeks. This deal will take him to age 37 and that’s…. ungood. As of today though? I don’t hate it. He’s not completely lost in his own end, but his skill in the offensive zone is where the Leafs are hoping he’ll rekindle some old magic. He has a great shot from the point, which is something the blueline has sorely missed for years now and he can run your 1st or 2nd PP unit. His 6’2″ 200lb frame doesn’t slot him in with the typical small, skilled defender, which is great for playoff hockey, of which he is obviously familiar as he just won the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers. The Leafs received very little production from their blueline in the playoffs this year, which is where he can help as well. Much like Tanev, this is a good signing, but they may be looking to get out from under this deal a couple of years from now.
Jani Hakanpaa
He may be 6’5″, 6’6″ or 6’7″, you’ll have to ask him because he’s listed at all of those heights from different sources. Either way, he big…. real big!! Whichever height is correct, combined with being 220lbs makes Hakanpaa the ideal 3rd pair defender that will help with the penalty kill, lay big hits, block shots and make life miserable on the opposition. I like that these are the type of players that Treliving wants to have around. Come playoff time they’re a pain in the ass and their true value shines brighter.
Anthony Stolarz
Call me skeptical, but willing to be happily surprised. Stolarz is actually the heaviest addition of the day, as he’s listed at 6’6″ 240lbs. He covers a massive amount of net and has had great success as a backup. The question now is if that can translate to success over what is expected to be a heavier workload. With a career high 28 regular season games, he has never had the weight of carrying a team through a large part of a season. However, he’s 30 years old and often times with age comes a mental fortitude that he’ll need in Toronto, so I have confidence he can ignore the noise if things don’t start perfectly for him. He also just won the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers. You have to assume that the real dream is to do that while you’re in between the pipes during the final buzzer, instead of sitting on the bench with the rest of your teammates, so the hope here is that he’s hungrier than ever to push Joseph Woll for starts and prove himself as more than just a backup in the NHL.
Whats Next?
For starters, there were more signings yesterday that we’re still not aware of, as Brad Treliving had this to say:
There’s also a snippet circulating where he says that they still have lots of work to do. I’m not sure what he has up his sleeve, but capspace is in short supply, so we’ll see where it goes.
As for who is left on the market, I like Max Comtois as a winger with size that can play a rough style of game, Calen Addison as a possible mobile defender and reclamation project, Liam Foudy as a call-up that still has a smidge of potential and Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who plays the game with drive, but hasn’t been able to have that translate to the NHL yet. All 4 of those players would bolster the AHL ranks and while they don’t project to be top 6 or top 4 players, there’s the potential to be a steady veteran that plays at the bottom of your lineup in years to come. They all have a dose of NHL experience as well, so they’d fill a need in terms of injury call-ups in a pinch.