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Breaking: Pageau signs 3 year extension; Peeking over the fence - TML |
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Breaking News - The Senators have signed RFA Jean-Gabriel Pageau to a 3 year, 9.3M contract extension, avoiding arbitration.
The $3.1M cap hit is pretty fair to both sides, keeping a popular and valuable role player in the fold for the next three seasons. He will make $2.6, $3.3 and $3.4M in the three years.
Just hours after I lamented that there was no news from Sensland.....
I know, this is the Senators page, but given the fact that the news out of Canadian Tire Centre has been frustratingly slow, I thought I would take the next few days to look around the division and see what the rivals have been up to and how it affects the Senators.
Up first we will look at good ol' Bluey.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were the fortunate recipients of a gift in the form of Auston Matthews, one that paid immediate dividends as the club's rebuild was accelerated with a playoff appearance.
Due to the fact that their top 3 forward assets were expansion draft protected (Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner) as was Nikita Zaitsev, they were able to keep a vast majority of their team intact. They did end up losing Brendan Leupsic to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Moving on from last year's season ending roster are Roman Polak (still unsigned UFA), Matt Hunwick (signed by PIT) and Brian Boyle (signed by NJD).
They replaced Boyle with Dominic Moore and Polak with Ron Hainsey. They also added UFA Patrick Marleau and drafted Timothy Liljegren with their first round pick in the 2017 draft.
The fact is that the Leafs should be a better team with the maturation of their big 3 rookies, and the addition of the experience Marleau brings.
The Leafs are in Salary Cap trouble, and will have some season-opening shell games to play to become cap-compliant before they can put Nathan Horton and Joffrey Lupul on LTIR and get the cap relief from that move.
Marleau's contract (3 years, cap hit of $6.25 per year) may come back to bite them in year 3 when Matthews/Marner extensions kick in, but for now the reliance on players on entry level contracts make it digestible for the moment.
The Leafs didn't do much to address the immediate need on the blue line, after top 3 of Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner and Nikia Zaitsev. There is the potential for Liljegren (who was ranked as high as 3rd in the preseason draft rankings, got mono and fell to the Leafs at 17) to make an immediate impact. There are questions about his hockey sense, but that is what Mike Babcock is there for, and Liljegren could see some time with the big club, either to start with an audition or a call up later on in the season. Because he is a European pick, he has the option to play in the AHL, unlike 18 year old CHL draftees, which could benefit his development.
The Leafs finished in the second Wild Card spot, 2 points behind the Senators. Then they pushed the Capitals to 7 games (EDIT: It was 6, not 7 games) before bowing out of the playoffs in the first round of the playoffs. They were 4th ranked offensively, and 4th from the bottom defensively in the Eastern conference.
Blue line questions are still there, but the Leafs are deeper and more experienced this time around. They will be a force in the division for years, and unless there are a lot of sophomore slumps in the lineup, they will certainly be in the mix for one of the top 3 playoff spots if not the division title, this year.
Potential Lineup:
Forwards
Marleau - Matthews - Nylander
Van Riemsdyk - Bozak - Marner
Komarov - Kadri - Brown
Hyman - Moore - Martin
Kapanen/Rychel/Gauthier
Defense
Rielly - Zaitsev
Gardiner - Carrick
Hainsey - Marincin
Marchenko/Liljegren
Goalie
Andersen
McElhinney
Sparks