The Toronto Maple Leafs went to town today and came back with 7 players signed.
Most notably, the long courting process of Francois Beauchemin finished off with Frankie signing a 3 year deal worth 3.8 million dollars per season. This signing was expected for a while now as Beauchemin became an unrestricted free agent.
My immediate reaction was to say good job to the Leafs for signing one of the best defensemen available in free agency, might not be saying much but Beauchemin is a solid top four defenseman that stepped up bigtime in the absence of Scott Neidermayer two years ago. A good puck mover and contributor on the power play, Beauchemin also brings something very few Leafs have; a Stanley Cup.
The expected BUT, would be that the terms of the deal are only for three years. Now, the assumption would be that three years from now, the 32 year old Beauchemin may not fit the team model. However, I think the signing is kind of a step sideways as the Leafs realistically don't have a team to compete over the next couple seasons. This would be the only real downfall from this signing as it does create cap space in 3 years to sign another free agent that may put them closer to the top.
And in the meantime, Beauchemin will be a great leader in the dressing room and a strong influence over the growth of the young Leafs. It is easy to assume that he will be a solid fit alongside Luke Schenn on the Leafs second pairing.
The team also signed their first round pick, Nazem Kadri to his entry level contract. Good call but Leaf fans shouldn't see this as a sign that he will be playing for the team anytime soon. Also signing today was Marlies captain Ben Ondrus, Ryan Hamilton, Jay Rosehill, Tim Brent and Richard Greenop. These signings are pretty irrelevant since they will spend 90% of the time with the AHL's Marlies.
In other news, Alex Kovalev has signed in Ottawa. This may be a move to fill the inevitable void that Dany Heatley will leave on Spezza's wing or it could be a move to tell Heater to get his act together and fire on all cylinders with this new sniper. As far as Alex's role in Ottawa, it will be difficult to see him fit in with a team that has a very weak dressing room and few Russians. Maybe he just wants to spurn the Habs by visiting the Bell Center 3 times a year...
2 comments:
How exactly do you know that Ottawa has a weak dressing room? That is one line that the media loves to toss around, a weak dressing room...why? because Heately wants to leave? Because Emery and Redden had "off" ice problems?
That dressing room is just fine, that whole " bug in teh dressing room " is complete garbage. Kovalev will fit in just fine and be that much needed secondary scoring Ottawa has missed since the departure of Martin Havlat.
Jan, you're such a die-hard Sens fan. It's like when the blue-and-white loyally line up the Yonge St. waiting for the parade to happen.
Firstly, that's three players in two years that publicly (through actions or words) wanted out of Ottawa. The rumours that keep getting generated are that Emery had a white powder monster and that Redden may not have been a heterosexual as hockey fans want their players to be.
Secondly, Kovalev has just recently turned his attitude around and became the leader that people wanted him to be. The Habs put up a poor showing over the last two months of the season and made a piss poor effort in the playoffs so either (a) His attitude change was a facade or (b) his attitude change didn't make one iota of difference.
Thirdly, you can't honestly believe that Kovalev's been brought in for secondary scoring. Despite all the talk, you've gotta think that Heater is a goner and Kovalev needs to replace his primary scoring.
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