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

[seanlinden]

I would have done 6.25 for Roy or 4.5 for Dillon over 3.5 for OEL.

I would feel much more comfortable with either of those guys logging big minutes, shutting down Barkov, Tkachuck, etc in the playoffs.

The idea of OEL trying to shutdown top 6 players in the playoffs is frightening. We needed a #4 shutdown D not another OFD. Even if OEL is better then Klingberg I don't expect him to be able to shutdown the other teams top players.

Yeah I don't think this team looks at OEL as a Shutdown D.... I think they look at him as a guy that is capable at both ends of the ice, and ensures that the Leafs can play an uptempo game.

They got their "shutdown D" in Chris Tanev... if you're going for a second one, you need somebody that can move the puck.

Brendon Dillon screams "older version of Simon Benoit"... who we're paying $1.35m.

As for Matt Roy, lets say it would have cost Toronto $6.5m.. I just don't think he's good enough to justify that kind of commitmnet. The way the Leafs D structures right now, you can go out and get a $7m guy, especially after JT is off the books. If you sign Roy instead of OEL, you probably can't do that.

 

[ponder]

I'll reserve judgement until he plays a decent number of games with us. He had a rough go in Vancouver, and clearly could not live up to his $8.25 mil AAV. But he played well for Florida, was a solid #5 for them. If he can be a solid #5 for us, who plays well on PP2, then this deal is decent.

I think our D pairings probably look something like:

Rielly - Tanev
Benoit - McCabe
OEL - Lilly

With Hakanpaa and Timmins as the 7/8 dmen, Rielly on PP1, OEL on PP2.

I do think 4x$3.5 mil is quite a bit for a guy who'll be 33 years old to start the season, who was a 5D for his last team (albeit a cup winning team). If everything goes great he's worth his salary, but not much more, while if things go poorly, it's a legit bad contract. But there's a chance it works out, so I'll wait and see for now.

 

[yubbers]

No coincidence all the Dubas homers hate this deal.

We've established your opinion is irrelevant.

 

[Puckstuff]

Yeah I don't think this team looks at OEL as a Shutdown D.... I think they look at him as a guy that is capable at both ends of the ice, and ensures that the Leafs can play an uptempo game.

They got their "shutdown D" in Chris Tanev... if you're going for a second one, you need somebody that can move the puck.

Brendon Dillon screams "older version of Simon Benoit"... who we're paying $1.35m.

As for Matt Roy, lets say it would have cost Toronto $6.5m.. I just don't think he's good enough to justify that kind of commitmnet. The way the Leafs D structures right now, you can go out and get a $7m guy, especially after JT is off the books. If you sign Roy instead of OEL, you probably can't do that.

Roy can both move the puck and play a good defensive game. Tanev as the primary shutdown guy with McCabe-Roy as a second shutdown pair would have been elite to watch. So who know's if he would sign here, but I would have done 6.5 just to solidify things more. That's a top 4 I can be pretty comfortable with for a deep playoff run.

Adding OEL to the mix brings a different dynamic. Personally, I lean towards prioritizing defence over offense, so I would have favored both Roy and Dillon over OEL. However, OEL's ability to move the puck up the ice and involve his teammates more effectively then Dillon is one positive.

While I'm not a fan of the move today, to add a touch of positivity to avoid sounding overly doom and gloom, is that he did have a bounce back season and he is good at pushing the play.

 

[Folignos Helmet]

Will be interesting to see who he pairs with.
McCabe, Lily and Hakanpaa are all possible.

 

[Puckstuff]

Will be interesting to see who he pairs with.
McCabe, Lily and Hakanpaa are all possible.

It will be interesting to see who they view as the #4 D out of Liljegren and OEL.

Although instead of having a traditional 2nd pair getting high end minutes and a 3rd pair with lower minutes, they may have a 2nd and 3rd pair that receive close to an an equivalent amount of ice time so they do it by committee.

Something like:

Rielly--Tanev - 21.5 mins per night
Benoit-McCabe- 19.25 mins per night
OEL--Liljegren - 19.25 mins per night

Size wise, they have a decent combination of size and length.

Hakanpaa 6'7 222
Benoit 6'4 205
Tanev 6'2 193
OEL - 6'2 - 191
Rielly 6'1 - 225
McCabe 6'1 211
Liljegren 6'1 190

average - 6'2.5 - 205.

Not bad.

 

[The Iceman]

Funny watching all the Chicken Little comments 10 minutes after the opening of free agency.
Including fire Treliving LOL.

Leafs had a limited amount of cap space and plugged their holes.
Next year is the BIG year for having some cap space to improve the roster.

Seeing TJ Brodie sign for $3.75
Lyubushkin $3.25
Edmundson $3.85
It makes me feel ok with OEL for $3.5

OEL finished the playoffs as PP1 and was high in the Panther lineup when they had 3 starting D out to start the season.

 

[seanlinden]

Roy can both move the puck and play a good defensive game. Tanev as the primary shutdown guy with McCabe-Roy as a second shutdown pair would have been elite to watch. So who know's if he would sign here, but I would have done 6.5 just to solidify things more. That's a top 4 I can be pretty comfortable with for a deep playoff run.

Adding OEL to the mix brings a different dynamic. Personally, I lean towards prioritizing defence over offense, so I would have favored both Roy and Dillon over OEL. However, OEL's ability to move the puck up the ice and involve his teammates more effectively then Dillon is one positive.

While I'm not a fan of the move today, to add a touch of positivity to avoid sounding overly doom and gloom, is that he did have a bounce back season and he is good at pushing the play.

Yeah the way I look at it... am I happy with the D today? Not overly.

Would I be happy with with Matt Roy instead of OEL? I'd be "happier", but still not happy. I'd still want somebody "better" than Matt Roy to be the anchor of the 2nd pair.

Then of course comes the $ part.

First and foremost, the difference between Matt Roy and OEL is basically Max Domi... the Leafs are already in a challenge with the "haves and have nots" of the forward group... Max Domi is the one player they have that's somewhat in the middle ground.

Second, comes the practicalities of getting somebody better than Matt Roy. Let's say, sometime over the next year and a bit, big, right shot, #2-calibre defenceman becomes available. Under the current cap structure, Liljegren likely goes as part of the deal, and the rest of the money to acquire that guy comes in the form of retention, maybe he's an impending RFA so on a bargain contract already, LTIR, and/or Tavares coming off the books.

You're then left with a D that looks something like:
Rielly-Tanev
McCabe-______
OEL-Hakanapa
Benoit

If they went and signed Matt Roy for $6.5m.... you're now into a situation where there isn't a clear spot to make an upgrade, and you've become very defence-heavy in terms of cap allocation.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

There was a time when many HFBoardsters would have traded the farm to acquire OEL.

Now that he's a Leaf he sucks.

Oh my god.

Just chill out people.

 

[Joe n]

No he didn't. While we can't know the details of negotiations with players we didn't get, at a glance they could have afford Brendon Dillon or Matt Roy if they trade for Logan Thompson instead of Stolarz or don't overpay for Liljegren.

I like the Tanev signing but I'm very nervous about OEL logging big minutes in the playoffs. We needed a real top 4 minutes eating top 4 D rather then spending 3.5 million on a #5 in OEL, who was a #5 Florida. And I'm not convinced this deal will age well either.

Both of these scenario's would have been better

1. Roy + Tanev

Rielly--Tanev
McCabe-Roy
Benoit-Liljegren

2. Dillon + Tanev

Rielly--Tanev
Dillon-Liljegren
Benoit-McCabe

Roy was never coming to Toronto. You can't just magically have him in your lineup.

 

[Machinae]

Transition from the backend was just as important as getting tougher.

 

[Puckstuff]

Yeah the way I look at it... am I happy with the D today? Not overly.

Would I be happy with with Matt Roy instead of OEL? I'd be "happier", but still not happy. I'd still want somebody "better" than Matt Roy to be the anchor of the 2nd pair.

Then of course comes the $ part.

First and foremost, the difference between Matt Roy and OEL is basically Max Domi... the Leafs are already in a challenge with the "haves and have nots" of the forward group... Max Domi is the one player they have that's somewhat in the middle ground.

Second, comes the practicalities of getting somebody better than Matt Roy. Let's say, sometime over the next year and a bit, big, right shot, #2-calibre defenceman becomes available. Under the current cap structure, Liljegren likely goes as part of the deal, and the rest of the money to acquire that guy comes in the form of retention, maybe he's an impending RFA so on a bargain contract already, LTIR, and/or Tavares coming off the books.

You're then left with a D that looks something like:
Rielly-Tanev
McCabe-______
OEL-Hakanapa
Benoit

If they went and signed Matt Roy for $6.5m.... you're now into a situation where there isn't a clear spot to make an upgrade, and you've become very defence-heavy in terms of cap allocation.

That's an interesting way to think about it but if they were interested in signing someone a tier up on Liljegren (or even Roy) wouldn't that have been Montour, who it doesn't look like they were going after. I have no intel on that though, I'm just guessing.

 

[Jozay]

Deal aged well after seeing the Lyubushkin and Edmundson deals lol

 

[4thline]

Solid fit for our group, much much better signing than Klingberg was. I like the idea of him with McCabe, and stylistically/nationality wise I don't think we could pick a better mentor to help see if Lilly has anything more to give.

 

[lowski]

Our PP in the playoffs was an absolute disgrace...1-21!!! Is it really that difficult to understand why we would sign a player like OEL given the limited options we had in free agency. Toughness doesn't win games. Goals win games.

 

[seanlinden]

That's an interesting way to think about it but if they were interested in signing someone a tier up on Liljegren (or even Roy) wouldn't that have been Montour, who it doesn't look like they were going after. I have no intel on that though, I'm just guessing.

Yeah, somebody of "montour calibre", but a different style.

Montour's a big name, but a somewhat poor fit for the Leafs, who need a guy that's a little more defensive-first. There's also the problem of the cap -- signing Montour would have likely come at the cost of both Domi. OEL, and Liljegren.. so now your D is something like:

Rielly-Tanev
McCabe-Montour
Benoit-Hakanapa

Not exactly something to be all that excited about.

Montour's going to be a very good fit in Seattle alongside a Jamie Oleksiak or Brian Dumolin. That group 1-6 is an incredible mix of puckmoving (with Dunn & Montour), along with size & defensive ability (Oleksiak, Dumolin, Borgen, Larrsson).

The Leafs need / needed a guy like Larsson or Borgen if you beleive there's still some updiate on that #2 pair. There's also the possibility that Treliving & Co genuinely believe that Liljegren has upside remaining and a new coach is what's required to reach that, in which case both McCabe and OEL are theoretical high quality partners for him.

 

[Puckstuff]

More of these dumb ass posts.... How do you know he was even an option and wanted to come here?

He's simply engaging in a hypothetical discussion about player preferences, not making definitive statements. It should be redundant to point out we don't have insider details on player decisions.

 

[red devil]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808157328283140171

 

[The Management]

I don't necessarily hate it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. I'd sooner have picked up Roy or Pesce, but it's entirely possible they weren't interested, or would have demanded more money.

Had my expectations a bit too high, clearly. But it does give us another option on the powerplay and some puck movement from the back-end, which I think was the purpose of the (failed) John Klingberg signing last year.

Glad we didn't shell out on Edmundson or some of these other guys.

 

[Stephen]

I would have done 6.25 for Roy or 4.5 for Dillon over 3.5 for OEL.

I would feel much more comfortable with either of those guys logging big minutes, shutting down Barkov, Tkachuck, etc in the playoffs.

The idea of OEL trying to shutdown top 6 players in the playoffs is frightening. We needed a #4 shutdown D not another OFD. Even if OEL is better then Klingberg I don't expect him to be able to shutdown the other teams top players.

I don’t want get too carried away with OEL here but as part of the Florida six man unit he did just win a Stanley Cup 8 days ago having successfully help shut down or survive a murderers row of McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, Zibanejad. Panarin, Pastrnak, Kucherov, Point, Stamkos, etc.

The key here is not really OEL himself but what someone like Auston “Selke candidate” Matthews can do in the playoffs. Is he capable of having a Barkov breakthrough or are we just going to keep talking about his two way game on academic terms.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Rielly - Tanev
McCabe - Liljegren
OEL - Hakanpaa

OEL with Hakanpaa is a solid 3rd pairing.

 

[BamBamCam]

Little expensive for a 3rd pairing Defenseman but he will help. Also note he played 3rd pairing minutes on a Cup winner.

 

[Menzinger]

Transition from the backend was just as important as getting tougher.

Yep, one of the teams biggest problems during the playoffs has been scoring, having part of the defense be able to be involved with offensive plays will help fix that problem

 

[notbias]

I think the reactions to the signing are a bit unnecessarily negative, the AAV is low enough that this actually has the potential to be good value for the team if he's able to play close to a top 4 level of play. The team also desperately needed more guys who can move the puck.

The term on the deal is too long, but that's the price you pay dealing with free agency period

I think in the best case, the signing is fair value.

He played well with Florida in a sheltered role.

If he needs that sheltering here then 3.5x4 is too much for a 32 year old (soon to be 33).

The signing has me optimistic, but it also has a high potential to be a bad signing.

I agree with the idea we need more puck moving D though, so no issues there.

 

[notbias]

No coincidence all the Dubas homers hate this deal.

We've established your opinion is irrelevant.

I haven't seen much hate for this deal...

We need more puck movers, this gives us another one.

Might be a bad signing still because he performed well for one year in a very sheltered role, but there is an upside at least.

You may end up being upset that it may push Benoit to the pressbox though.

Funny watching all the Chicken Little comments 10 minutes after the opening of free agency.
Including fire Treliving LOL.

Leafs had a limited amount of cap space and plugged their holes.
Next year is the BIG year for having some cap space to improve the roster.

Seeing TJ Brodie sign for $3.75
Lyubushkin $3.25
Edmundson $3.85
It makes me feel ok with OEL for $3.5

OEL finished the playoffs as PP1 and was high in the Panther lineup when they had 3 starting D out to start the season.

They had $20 million in cap, that's a fair amount of space.

Just because other teams overpaid D doesn't mean this is a steal.

This deal is fine and for sure not the worst of the day from us.

I think the deal may end up being an overpayment, but it won't be huge.