Confirmed with Link: Leafs sign D Mark Giordano to extension (2 years, $800k AAV)

[Al14]

Geo does our Leafs a huge favor with this contract. It sure highlights how GREEDY Mitch Marner was by taking Dubas for everything he could get.

In a cap system, the players need to realize that they WILL NOT have great players to play with if they take too big a piece of the Cap pie.

Even at $8.0M per year, Marner would have been SET FOR LIFE. He would have left some money on the table for Dubas to acquire some better support players. But no, like Melander, he had to take way too much for himself.

 

[keonsbitterness]

What's truly embarrassing is people who actually believe re-signing an over the hill league minimum player with a rapidly diminishing skillset for 2 years is somehow a good plan for this team . There is a whole world of ELC eligible players out there who are as good as he is now and will only get better instead of getting older and slower , but hey you keep drinking the Dubass kool aid there pal and we'll see you typing the same dumb shyte next year after yet another first round exit . You are of course among the same group that swore the rest of us were stupid and wrong to want to stay the course of the 5 year internal rebuild instead of signing John Tavares because he was so special and was going to bring is the cup right away , How has that worked out Mr Einstein ? I suppose I will be stupid and ignorant if I don't want to re-sign him as well eh ? The idea is to get better every year not swap mediocre for mediocre then convince yourself it's an upgrade .

 

[Gary Nylund]

Great post. Plus even though Marner is overpaid right now, if he is a key part in a playoff run, his number means nothing. I thought he took some key steps in the first round to go towards that.

Marner's number should have been 9, not 11. But it's true that if we go on a run, nobody will care. And he was worth his salary last year, it's just that he played up to his contract instead of out playing by 2 million but whatever.

Excellent point! We should have offered him below league minimum. He might have countered that by offering to play for free.

Another most excellent post, you're on fire dude! It's always a bonus when you can use humor to make a point and at a time like this, humor is more appreciated than ever!

What's truly embarrassing is people who actually believe re-signing an over the hill league minimum player with a rapidly diminishing skillset for 2 years is somehow a good plan for this team . There is a whole world of ELC eligible players out there who are as good as he is now and will only get better instead of getting older and slower , but hey you keep drinking the Dubass kool aid there pal and we'll see you typing the same dumb shyte next year after yet another first round exit . You are of course among the same group that swore the rest of us were stupid and wrong to want to stay the course of the 5 year internal rebuild instead of signing John Tavares because he was so special and was going to bring is the cup right away , How has that worked out Mr Einstein ? I suppose I will be stupid and ignorant if I don't want to re-sign him as well eh ? The idea is to get better every year not swap mediocre for mediocre then convince yourself it's an upgrade .

 

[HellasLEAF]

I like it as long as he is still good enough come playoff time.

I know he took a haircut but when you sign league min it should still say something about expectations.

 

[BackPassChampions]

I like it as long as he is still good enough come playoff time.

I know he took a haircut but when you sign league min it should still say something about expectations.

Was it Matthews or Marners haircut he took?

 

[cookie]

Getting older players for cheap and actually load managing them is a great strategy that you'd expect the Leafs to fully leverage. Yet they do not... except when it's Spezza asking for a day off. Shouldn't Keefe have the wherewithal to ice the best line-up for each game? Or is it because our younger guys have been hurt throughout the course of the season? Why exactly were we seeing Brodie - Holl pairings with Timmy scratched?

 

[BackPassChampions]

Getting older players for cheap and actually load managing them is a great strategy that you'd expect the Leafs to fully leverage. Yet they do not... except when it's Spezza asking for a day off. Shouldn't Keefe have the wherewithal to ice the best line-up for each game? Or is it because our younger guys have been hurt throughout the course of the season? Why exactly were we seeing Brodie - Holl pairings with Timmy scratched?

Given the cap situation, is it possible they didn't want to play him seeing how good he was and knowing he is an RFA with a contract to negotiate?

Just a thought. Not trying to instill "conspiracies' here.

 

[Thornbury]

What's truly embarrassing is people who actually believe re-signing an over the hill league minimum player with a rapidly diminishing skillset for 2 years is somehow a good plan for this team . There is a whole world of ELC eligible players out there who are as good as he is now and will only get better instead of getting older and slower , but hey you keep drinking the Dubass kool aid there pal and we'll see you typing the same dumb shyte next year after yet another first round exit . You are of course among the same group that swore the rest of us were stupid and wrong to want to stay the course of the 5 year internal rebuild instead of signing John Tavares because he was so special and was going to bring is the cup right away , How has that worked out Mr Einstein ? I suppose I will be stupid and ignorant if I don't want to re-sign him as well eh ? The idea is to get better every year not swap mediocre for mediocre then convince yourself it's an upgrade .

Did you see the stats Giordano put up for the Leafs over the last 20 games of the season? Do some research.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Getting older players for cheap and actually load managing them is a great strategy that you'd expect the Leafs to fully leverage. Yet they do not... except when it's Spezza asking for a day off. Shouldn't Keefe have the wherewithal to ice the best line-up for each game? Or is it because our younger guys have been hurt throughout the course of the season? Why exactly were we seeing Brodie - Holl pairings with Timmy scratched?

Did that happen very often? Fairly sure Liljegren was always in the lineup when Brodie was at LD. Maybe one or two games to get Dermott some time.

I don't think Liljegren has to worry about rotating too much next year. He should be in full time. Sandin may have something to worry about, but even then, I think we will keep him in full time and rotate Giordano/Muzzin.

I don't think those guys are going to be insulted. The Leafs want to win the Cup, and they want to win the Cup. They both know it is a long trip to get there, and playing 100 games is probably not ideal for their bodies if they want to give it their all in the playoffs.

I'd say 60 regular season games a piece should be the aim for either when you factor in injuries, and then whoever we bring in to be the 3RD will likely rotate out a little bit too. We don't need to rotate Sandin and Liljegren out at all.

I'd even consider rotating them out occasionally in the playoffs too. I want them to have the energy every time they play on the ice, and if we get into the later rounds, they may start feeling it if we don't pace them a little bit.

 

[Nylanderthal]

What's truly embarrassing is people who actually believe re-signing an over the hill league minimum player with a rapidly diminishing skillset for 2 years is somehow a good plan for this team . There is a whole world of ELC eligible players out there who are as good as he is now and will only get better instead of getting older and slower , but hey you keep drinking the Dubass kool aid there pal and we'll see you typing the same dumb shyte next year after yet another first round exit . You are of course among the same group that swore the rest of us were stupid and wrong to want to stay the course of the 5 year internal rebuild instead of signing John Tavares because he was so special and was going to bring is the cup right away , How has that worked out Mr Einstein ? I suppose I will be stupid and ignorant if I don't want to re-sign him as well eh ? The idea is to get better every year not swap mediocre for mediocre then convince yourself it's an upgrade .

 

[Havoc]

What's truly embarrassing is people who actually believe re-signing an over the hill league minimum player with a rapidly diminishing skillset for 2 years is somehow a good plan for this team . There is a whole world of ELC eligible players out there who are as good as he is now and will only get better instead of getting older and slower , but hey you keep drinking the Dubass kool aid there pal and we'll see you typing the same dumb shyte next year after yet another first round exit . You are of course among the same group that swore the rest of us were stupid and wrong to want to stay the course of the 5 year internal rebuild instead of signing John Tavares because he was so special and was going to bring is the cup right away , How has that worked out Mr Einstein ? I suppose I will be stupid and ignorant if I don't want to re-sign him as well eh ? The idea is to get better every year not swap mediocre for mediocre then convince yourself it's an upgrade .

You're clueless.

Gio is still good enough to make the second pairing on some teams. We have him for our third pairing. For the next 2 years you can rest easy about the third pair.

Gio was almost mistake free from the day we signed (edit, trade) him. I really have to rack my brain to think of anything he did that pissed me off.

Every GM in the league makes this signing. So Dubas is irrelevant here. You should quit hockey if it angers you this much because there will be no GM on the market for you to support since you're on an island by yourself with this post.

 

[ITM]

What's truly embarrassing is people who actually believe re-signing an over the hill league minimum player with a rapidly diminishing skillset for 2 years is somehow a good plan for this team . There is a whole world of ELC eligible players out there who are as good as he is now and will only get better instead of getting older and slower , but hey you keep drinking the Dubass kool aid there pal and we'll see you typing the same dumb shyte next year after yet another first round exit . You are of course among the same group that swore the rest of us were stupid and wrong to want to stay the course of the 5 year internal rebuild instead of signing John Tavares because he was so special and was going to bring is the cup right away , How has that worked out Mr Einstein ? I suppose I will be stupid and ignorant if I don't want to re-sign him as well eh ? The idea is to get better every year not swap mediocre for mediocre then convince yourself it's an upgrade .

Noooo, Sport. Again. You either don't understand the context of the actual player in question or the context of his value relative to our overall goal, which includes outlier value to supplement the rest of a (hopefully) competitive roster. What you refer to as "a good plan for this team" isn't - and more importantly can't be - isolated to signing a fantastic deal for Mark Giordano.

As for signing Giordano to $800K after his playoffs being Kool-Aid...Can we just have a moment of honesty and clarity here and have you confess that you didn't actually watch the playoffs? Because your take is just so completely uninformed about Mark Giordano that we're left with two options: You watched the playoffs and didn't get what Giordano brought, or you simply didn't watch the playoffs and you're criticizing the signing on the basis of a hope that Giordano being older is the given your Dubas biad tirade needs...

...which by the way is another flavour of Kool-Aid.

This is my favourite baseless quote btw: "You are of course among the same group that the rest of us were stupid and wrong to want to stay the course of the 5 year internal rebuild of John Tavares..."

Oh...no...I...wasn't, Sport. In fact, if archives are still accessible, I might have been among the first to question the possibility of the signing, noting Don Cherry's observation that more than one alpha dog in the room might be trouble.

That's the first point. The second is, I know of no "group" who positioned with Tavares to guarantee an immediate Cup. I know of a majority who believed his signing was important for our depth. That he brought obvious cache and that (in a pre-Covid cap climate) we were electing to sign an in his prime top 20 C to help with Matthews' development.

The obvious third point is, your uninformed and baseless premise completely falls apart. You're asking questions you want to have integrity because you imagine them to be real. But that's not an indication of your mind at work, it's your imagination at play.

And if as you note the idea is to get better year over year, then at least for the regular season and the eye test in the playoffs, your imagination is going to have to work a heck of a lot harder to demonstrate that a record setting season, a new individual goal-scoring record, and a pretty convincing case that we held the defending Cup champs over the precipice was achieved in spite of the man you claim has done the opposite.

 

[cupcrazyman]

Ha

Glenn or Taylor?

I spelled Holl's name Hall.......Justin Holl.

 

[kb]

You are saying a mid 20s pick plus a 50pts mid 6 player who can’t really shoot, and an undersized can’t really skate high IQ Dman is worth a physical winger who can play C, who been getting 80plus points and led his team in scoring in the last few seasons.
You take away the physical part and the leading his team in scoring part, that’s Willie. If any other teams fans offer a mid 20s pick in the first round, Kerfoot and Sandin for Willie, would you not think that fan is trolling?
Pls also remember that Nucks already got an undersized Dman who can actually skate in Hughes.

People do not give up those packages for a rental winger. Ever.

 

[Stephen]

What's truly embarrassing is people who actually believe re-signing an over the hill league minimum player with a rapidly diminishing skillset for 2 years is somehow a good plan for this team . There is a whole world of ELC eligible players out there who are as good as he is now and will only get better instead of getting older and slower , but hey you keep drinking the Dubass kool aid there pal and we'll see you typing the same dumb shyte next year after yet another first round exit . You are of course among the same group that swore the rest of us were stupid and wrong to want to stay the course of the 5 year internal rebuild instead of signing John Tavares because he was so special and was going to bring is the cup right away , How has that worked out Mr Einstein ? I suppose I will be stupid and ignorant if I don't want to re-sign him as well eh ? The idea is to get better every year not swap mediocre for mediocre then convince yourself it's an upgrade .

Giordano will be making close to league minimum if not league minimum itself, so he's going to be cheaper than an ELC max. contract and about the same as any AHL call up you can find. There's literally no downside here.

 

[kb]

And this is even different than the Spezza situation - at least Spezza's first contract. Spezza came in blind as a free agent with no experience or knowledge of the Leafs players, coaches etc.

Gio otoh just had first hand experience with these players coach and front office and decided he wanted to stick with them for his final contract and final chance to win a cup.

Of course, Spezza also decided to re-up after his first year here too.

FWIW, so did Simmonds.

 

[Gabriel426]

People do not give up those packages for a rental winger. Ever.

Did you remembered what Leafs gave up for Foligno at the deadline.

 

[Drytoast]

There are few posts here about how he onky signed because hes from toronto, some because he made his money and some on Dubas didnt sign him or should get credit, that any gm could have signed him from toronto coukd have signed up to this deal



I criticize him more than anyone. Hence is more the reason to praise.
If you are going to criticize him for his mistakes, you should also praise when he does do something positive

I want you to realize this.

I firmly believe without a shadow of a doubt that if we were still ran by Lou and Babs that Matthews would absolutely not resign here on his next contract.

Absolutely.

Because it's Dubas and Keefe, I am fairly confident that he will.

 

[Pantokrator]

If he had signed with the Flyers, Chuck Fletcher would have paid him 5 million for 4 years, even if he only asked for 800K.

 

[banks]

How can anyone complain or criticize this deal. It's a 3rd of the price I was hoping for.

If Giordano, instead, signed the same deal with Tampa, those same posters would go ballistic and rant for days about how inept Dubas is and how Tampa does everything right.

 

[ACC1224]

How can anyone complain or criticize this deal. It's a 3rd of the price I was hoping for.

If Giordano, instead, signed the same deal with Tampa, those same posters would go ballistic and rant for days about how inept Dubas is and how Tampa does everything right.

People are criticizing this?

 

[hockeywiz542]

Why Mark Giordano and the Maple Leafs are a perfect fit

What’s most important to the Leafs is that Giordano can still make a difference on the ice, even as one of the oldest players in the NHL.

theathletic.com

Jason Spezza set the original standard of taking less to chase a Stanley Cup with his hometown team.

Mark Giordano took it to another level with the two-year, $1.6 million deal he signed on the weekend. His $800,000 cap hit will represent less than one percent of the Maple Leafs’ cap for next season. This, for a player who was still strong defensively — and offensively — playing nearly 21 minutes a game last season.

Bringing back Giordano at that price was a no-brainer for the Leafs. It’s a lot less than what other graybeards on the back end will be earning. Alex Goligoski, for instance, the soon-to-be 37-year-old got a two-year deal, with a $2 million cap hit, from the Wild earlier this spring.

It’s believed Giordano could have fetched two to three times as much on the open market (likely in the range of $1.7 to $2.2 million annually), meaning serious money was left on the table.

Sticking around, though, was an easy decision for Giordano. He grew up in North York at the corner of Weston and Sheppard, idolizing Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour. He returned every summer when he played elsewhere.

Crucially, he’ll have his tight-knit family close by.

“At the end of the day, I want to be here,” Giordano said. “I love the team. And I wanted to do what I could do to help this team move forward and win.”

 

[Brobust]

Why Mark Giordano and the Maple Leafs are a perfect fit

What’s most important to the Leafs is that Giordano can still make a difference on the ice, even as one of the oldest players in the NHL.

theathletic.com

Jason Spezza set the original standard of taking less to chase a Stanley Cup with his hometown team.

Mark Giordano took it to another level with the two-year, $1.6 million deal he signed on the weekend. His $800,000 cap hit will represent less than one percent of the Maple Leafs’ cap for next season. This, for a player who was still strong defensively — and offensively — playing nearly 21 minutes a game last season.

Bringing back Giordano at that price was a no-brainer for the Leafs. It’s a lot less than what other graybeards on the back end will be earning. Alex Goligoski, for instance, the soon-to-be 37-year-old got a two-year deal, with a $2 million cap hit, from the Wild earlier this spring.

It’s believed Giordano could have fetched two to three times as much on the open market (likely in the range of $1.7 to $2.2 million annually), meaning serious money was left on the table.

Sticking around, though, was an easy decision for Giordano. He grew up in North York at the corner of Weston and Sheppard, idolizing Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour. He returned every summer when he played elsewhere.

Crucially, he’ll have his tight-knit family close by.

“At the end of the day, I want to be here,” Giordano said. “I love the team. And I wanted to do what I could do to help this team move forward and win.”

Interesting tidbit in this is that he's got a similar dedication to fitness as Rod Brind'Amour.

 

[ACC1224]

I wonder why he never came here earlier?

 

[Brobust]

I wonder why he never came here earlier?

You mean, why did he sign an extension in 2015? I wonder what happened in leaf land the previous season.