Confirmed with Link: Leafs sign D Oliver Ekman-Larsson (4 years, $3.5M AAV)

[Gabriel426]

Don’t think Zadorov ever considered the Leafs as there is no way Tre didn’t offer 5 mil for him

 

[Warden of the North]

Tanev is an upgrade over Brodie.

OEL is our Edmundson/Boosh replacement. I feel like this is going to increase our need for band-aids rather than reduce it.

I get the signing, but are we not concerned we just overcorrected into (mediocre) offense? Just me?

I could be crazy. I haven't gotten checked in awhile.

Brodie was a non-factor on this team last season (literally a healthy scratch). Tanev is the Boosh replacement as he's slotted as Rielly's partner.

As for OEL himself; I refuse to get worked up over any contract less then 4m.

 

[SprDaVE]

And we struggled all year with crease clearing. That's my point.

And yeah I don't really like that Edmundson contract either, but my point was more the style of defense.

No we didn't and if anything, it's just as good as last season. The only real X factor is OELs ability. Edmundson and Lyubushkin didn't make us a feared defensive team, and it cost us the ability to score goals quite a bit.

I would have prefered a few other options but it doesn't seem like they chose us.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Same shit different year. They just keep changing the pieces around the core hoping one year they will hit. Pathetic. Incoming huge Marner extension for 13 million. f*** this team.

 

[Phion Keneuf]

3.8 per for Edmunson? Wtf

5M for Lyubushkin coming up

 

[DraftSchmaft]

More sane way to look at it:

Quality bottom pair is 2 mil minimum in ufa.

Then he gets 1.5 extra to get us 10 PP points minimum as bonus features

 

[Rob Brown]

Same shit different year. They just keep changing the pieces around the core hoping one year they will hit. Pathetic. Incoming huge Marner extension for 13 million. f*** this team.

Go enjoy the holiday instead of whining on the internet if you don't like the team then.

 

[Clark4Ever]

Looking at the contracts that are being handed out around the league today, I think some people are being overly critical of Treliving.

 

[Oscar Peterson]

Leafs needed a stay at home guy for Rielly. Got it. Leafs needed another puck mover. Got it. It's still just Liljegren I don't get. Cause he's not worth it.

Liljegren has been so inconsistent for us so far but he's still young enough that I'm willing to see if Berube can get him to hit his potential. Liljegren has put up some of the best metrics of our D-corps over the last few years, so if it's not working under Berube I don't think it would be hard to move him off.

 

[SprDaVE]

 

[Commander Clueless]

No we didn't and if anything, it's just as good as last season. The only real X factor is OELs ability. Edmundson and Lyubushkin didn't make us a feared defensive team, and it cost us the ability to score goals quite a bit.

I would have prefered a few other options but it doesn't seem like they chose us.

We didn't struggle clearing the crease in the regular season?

...I'll be honest, I'm questioning which one of our memories isn't working It could be me.

 

[PROUD PAPA]

I don't mind this signing on it's own. My only concern is that both our D signings are aged vets that could drop off soon and we would be in trouble.

 

[SprDaVE]

5M for Lyubushkin coming up

I wouldn't be shocked if the Leafs try to get him on a 1-2 year deal under 2M if he can't find it somewhere.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Brodie was a non-factor on this team last season (literally a healthy scratch). Tanev is the Boosh replacement as he's slotted as Rielly's partner.

As for OEL himself; I refuse to get worked up over any contract less then 4m.

I mean sure, you can look at it that way.

I'm not worked up about the OEL contract. It's kind of meh. Price is okay...term is long.

I think OEL needs to be paired with a shutdown kind of guy. I don't think we have that guy after signing Liljegren, so I don't know how well this is going to go.


I'm also concerned that this defense, while an upgrade, is going to struggle physically.

I'm also not sure it's enough of an upgrade to get excited about.

 

[SprDaVE]

We didn't struggle clearing the crease in the regular season?

...I'll be honest, I'm questioning which one of our memories isn't working It could be me.

"Clearing the crease" is such an empty cliché hockey term. It means very little to me and can't ever be defined properly. They didn't make us better defensively by "clearing the crease". They were physical and stable defenders that blocked shots but had a very hard time to move the puck and make plays to get the puck out of the zone and in the offensive zone. We had one of the worst PKs down the stretch and in the playoffs... Yeah, they made us so much better defensively. Tougher does not equal better. Tanev isn't gonna murder people on the ice but he can do what you're probably craving for at a high rate against top competition.

With that said, Lyubushkin was pretty solid and a much needed RHD. He played well for his skillset. I hope he can be brought back in some capacity. But Edmundson was pretty forgettable.

 

[Oscar Peterson]

Brodie was a non-factor on this team last season (literally a healthy scratch). Tanev is the Boosh replacement as he's slotted as Rielly's partner.

As for OEL himself; I refuse to get worked up over any contract less then 4m.

When you put it like that, it really sounds like an amazing upgrade - Boosh is a very unskilled player who absolutely gave it his all but still had severe limitations, Tanev is probably the best pure defensive-D in the league with question marks on his ability to stay healthy and his aging curve, but if healthy is probably the best partner for Rielly.

It's like Brodie's D-zone passing game and stick work from 2 years ago with Boosh shot blocking and net-front presence.

But if he can't stay healthy or his game starts to rapidly decline, that contract could age very poorly

 

[Shooter2x]

100% a playoff signing.

Someone needs to let it rip from the point and it's not gonna be Lil or Rielly

 

[Blanche Blanche]

Lyubushkin and Edmundson were fine. But Tanev is beyond better than both of those players combined. It's not even close.

OEL is a different kind of player. This team couldn't score and needed more mobility on the back end.

What we're doing here is trying to build a team that is better rounded and also in hopes we don't have to keep bleeding picks for band-aids.

AGREED.
and also... for those complaining on here...

Tanev was on a solid Dallas run
and OEL was on a cup winning team that fought tooth and nail and had the world of pressure self inflicted by Oilers storming back.

These 2 guys have more character and toughness and knows what it takes than 34, 88, 91, 44
COMBINED

Dont even get me started on Marner.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

100% a playoff signing.

Someone needs to let it rip from the point and it's not gonna be Lil or Rielly

He's not good enough to carry a PP. The PP will falter again because of the core.

 

[Commander Clueless]

"Clearing the crease" is such an empty cliché hockey term. It means very little to me and can't ever be defined properly. They didn't make us better defensively by "clearing the crease". They were physical and stable defenders that blocked shots but had a very hard time to move the puck and make plays to get the puck out of the zone and in the offensive zone. We had one of the worst PKs down the stretch and in the playoffs... Yeah, they made us so much better defensively. Tougher does not equal better.

With that said, Lyubushkin was pretty solid and a much needed RHD. He played well for his skillset. I hope he can be brought back in some capacity. But Edmundson was pretty forgettable.

Fair enough. I am specifically referring to the team's ability to defend against physical forwards particularly in front of the net. I recall it being a major weakness, and Liljegren in particular struggled in that department.

Tanev is a good addition on that front. OEL, less so.

If we had gone OEL-Lyubushkin instead of OEL-Liljegren, I'd understand the balance a little more. I'd still be concerned about OEL (He's 33 and has already seen a decline once in his career), but I would understand it.

 

[WilliamInLondon]

haha, I actually think this is a sneaky good signing. OEL wasn't terrible when he played within his element, not as a #1D.

Given some of the other contracts thrown out today, this one isn't nuts.

 

[kevsh]

The Tanev & OEL signings indicate to me that Brad is taking the (disputed it even happened) "just win" philosophy to heart.

The window is short as both these guys aren't going to get any better and by all likelihood by year 3 they will both be bad-to-terrible cap hits.

The problem is that regardless of all the buzz (distraction?) Treliving is creating by these signings from the reactions I'm seeing most of us Leafs fans aren't fooled because this team still won't win anything as long as the core still intact.

 

[ITM]

I like the signing.

 

[rumman]

Dubas totally ruins Leafs during his tenure and it cannot possibly get any worse, Pizza Boy "hold my beer.........."

 

[Bust]

Were rebuilding the D boys.

Tanev, OEL, Danford - all big adds to the talent pool.