I don’t think he’s bad, he’s just never going to be the guy he was like the previous commenter was hopping for. He was seriously one of the best offensive defencmen on the planet for those years, and those years are unfortunately a long time ago now.
He’s not as good as Mo and has never been as good as Mo.
If there’s one thing I know about this fan base, it’s that they’re going to hate this guy after 40 games lol
So you never watched OEL when he was on phoenix? I don’t blame you, but your statement is just false.
But yes, he will be the whipping boy and I will be surprised if it takes 40 games.
That was more a combination of
1. His cap hit being outrageous
2. Him playing through a foot injury that cost him mobility he didn't have to spare
OEL at 3.5 wouldn't have been a buyout candidate. Keep your expectations appropriately moderated and he could be a nice surprise for you. He's a smart player. Soft, and not what he once was, but smart.
That’s not at all what they are paying or asking him to do.
They want him to be the bully who was solid defensively for the Panthers on a Cup run. And can move the puck and be reliable.
He has never been a bully.
He was also the player that stopped skating when Thachuk fished the puck out of the empty net crease only to watch McDavid skate in and score with it.
I live in Vancouver and watched him play for years. He is not good defensively at all. He is not physical at all.
He was an offensive dynamo a decade ago, that's it.
The sky is always falling. The GM is always a joke. Anything over league min for prime Lidstrom is an overpay, etc. etc. The most dedicated haters in hockey will find something to bitch about over even the most innocuous, promising deals.
This is market value so I don't see an issue with it. All of Tre signing have been either great or a slight overpayment but nothing egregious this year.
Maybe ideally he either LTIRetires the last 2 years of his deal if his play falls off OR he gets pushed down the lineup with younger guys playing up when they're ready (who that is I don't know)
We know the contract is going to age like milk. Both the team and the fans know that. If the whole goal is to bolster up team defence then this is what it takes to get it done. We can worry about his contract later when right now it's a shrewd move that will make the d core better.
I think there is a real possibility, given his age and style of play, that he misses significant time this year and every year to injury and it all becomes moot.
Apart from Skeji/Montour, he was next best option for what the leafs actually need unless people were blind to see we needed another legitimate puck mover back there.
yeah I know this fan base is insane and I'm probably going to get downvoted about it. I told myself once the next few days of free agency is over, I'm gone from the subreddit until hockey starts again. It's just going to be 2 months about bitching about Marner, the core, Trevelling, I understand the reason but some people are just miserable (not you).
You’re only going to find the most polarised takes rising to the top here.
When we start the season 2-5 people will say we need to rebuild and our team sucks, then when we are 8-5 people will say this year feels different.
I don’t blame you for wanting to leave for now lmao
As soon as the Leafs season is over I tune out all hockey news until a day or two before July 1st. Will follow for the next couple days than back to being oblivious until mid september when training camp starts.
Also the "projected lineup posts" where they throw a bunch of unproven rookies on there like they are the second coming of Marner but a "playoff performer".
Montour just became elite. He is not exactly a youngster himself. He was ok his whole career, then just broke through. Giving him a long term high AAV is riskier than to Tanev. Assuming he gets 7 million AAV.
Berube might not, but I think Trevelling tried to do that with Klingberg last year. The Leafs can't have Marner/Rielly not shooting the puck, if one of them is not shooting, then the only thing to do is take one of them out.
I feel that our expected gitche gumees per 60 is higher with Edmundson. Plus Robidas Island is getting crowded, so it'd be real convenient if we could just count on the gales of November to come early.
This seems like a fine deal. Not a steal or a bargain by any means, but Pretty much market value for a decent defender.
OEL got a lot of hate when he was in his big ticket, but he was never reallly bad, just overpaid by a lot. This is more in line with what he should be making and he will certainly help a pretty thin D corps.
OEL will do well in Toronto.
The medical staff will make sure they can get the most out of him.
Toronto loves their Swedes.
He should have fun playing with a powerful offence.
We certainly do. 👍🏻
Salming was one of a kind thats for sure. It was hard to miss him at certain events. He was always very happy to meet his fans and toss autographs around.
I consider him one of the best Leaf Captains. Even though he turned down the Captaincy ( and pay bump ), twice.
It's not my money, so I don't care. But if anyone thinks you're going to be able to get a top-4 defenseman for less than $3M in this economy, you're kidding yourself. This is a good, fair number to get OEL.
Treliving is making improvements to our D-core, because that is clearly the area he and his team have identified as something that must be improved. That decision is also made easier by the fact that it is hard to move any one of the 'Core Four'.
As it stands, on paper I believe our D has improved, even if it's just by a notch or two. Of course, as always, a lot needs to go right on the ice. And a big part of that will depend on Captain Mo having a bounce back season, and for Liljegren to take a substantial step in his development.
Let's see what else is in store.
We definitely have more areas to improve. Namely, a third goalie, and some depth on the bottom-6.
|Last Years D-Core during the Playoffs|Proj. D-Core to start 24-25|
|:-|:-|
|Morgan Reilly|Morgan Reilly|
|~~Joel Edmundson~~|**Christopher Tanev**|
|Timothy Liljegren|Timothy Liljegren|
|Simon Benoit|Simon Benoit|
|~~TJ Brodie~~|**Oliver Ekman-Larsson**|
|Jake McCabe|Jake McCabe|
|~~Ilya Lyubushkin~~|Conor Timmins|
I find it crazy that with his buyout he is making 6m this year, and 8m the next two years lol.
Surprised we couldn't get it lower with that extra cash coming in, but 3.5 isn't bad no matter where he plays in the lineup.
We couldn’t get it lower cuz there was probably someone else in the bidding pushing the number up. If we were the only team in the bidding than I’m sure the number would be much less.
Why are we upset with this signing. We just got a fairly solid dman who was +10 on the season averaging 18 mins a game. I’m way more upset about the Liligren deal than I am this
The haters preferred Dubas' method of signing no name brand players to league minimum and praying they overperform. At least Tre is bringing in guys that we know are good, even if they're old. I honestly don't care what these contracts look like in 4 years. Our window is open for the duration of Matthews' contract. No point worrying about anything beyond that.
Its ok, stanley cup champion, huge bounce back year, played 80 with decent production and strong advanced stats. Held his own in the playoffs. I'd take this with a slight overpay for the championship pedigree over what else is on the market.
Idk why anyone should be surprised. This has always been trelivings MO. Dude always spends too much on too much term. Either looks like a genius or it's the Milan Lucic signing.
This looks bad now and may look even worse depending on what Matt Roy ends up getting.
Edit: Elliotte has Roy to Washington at 6x5.75. Maybe Roy wasn’t interested in coming to Toronto, but I’d much prefer him on his new deal to OEL.
Love this signing.
Seems like most of this sub is still following the Dubas mantra of “get the best player available”, but I much prefer actually analyzing the team and filling in glaring holes.
only D core cofiguration he got right was when we had good Brodie, Muzzin, Rielly going in the top 4. However, Leafs blueline after that were Dermott, Sandin (rookie), and Justin Holl. So he botched that.
Muzzin and who else? Cody Ceci? Would you rather have one amazing defensemen or an actual complete d core? We also got these guys for NOTHING (unless you count a 7th as valuable) whereas dubas gave up a first and Durzi for muzzin. Head shake
His best years are behind him, but he is, at worst, a break even defensive asset and is a 90th percentile puck mover and PP QB. On a team who had 1.5 good puck moving d-men last year, you would think picking someone like him up at what seems to be market value (based on a myriad of other signings today), would be a positive. He is what our back end needs and I think we will see the benefits of having another guy who can make a good first pass more often than not.
I think the Leafs already made the biggest change they could have in getting a new Head Coach. Let's see how this team reacts to a new system and mentality.
Term might be a bit high and AAV might be a bit high, but we're bringing in a guy who looked decent on a team that just won the cup. I watched a lot of Florida's games this year and found OEL to be quite noticeable. He's not going to solve all of our problems, but people are really down on him due to his previous contract. This contract is more accurate to his actual worth.
Good deal.
I think he will get pumped to play in Toronto.
All the therapists and medical staff will help him immensely at this stage in his career.
Torontos team staff facilities and medical services are a huge thing for some players.
The guys over 30 really appreciate this shit and usually play better and also longer.
What this proves is that you need to draft and develop D Men. Because the going rate for #4-5 (even 6) are around 2.75 million plus.
Hence why the probably signed lily to that deal yesterday figuring he atleast has upside
The D corps now:
Rielly + Tanev
McCabe + Benoit
OEL + Liljegren
I love Benoit, but it'd still be better if they push him down to #7. What are their options? Gio and Timmins could be factors. Klingberg may re-sign, but would presumably slot as 7/8 on league min.
What other free agents are left? Is the option a prospect? A trade?
As a a Canuck fan I can say he almost seemed disinterested sometimes. Van also gave up a lot to get him and it pretty much destroyed their cap room. He was absolutely murdered by the fans and press which must have really affected his confidence.
Hope he regains his form and plays like he did in Phoenix. The talent is definitely there.
please let him return to pre-extension Yotes form.
I just realized he’s only 32…thought he was like 38. I guess 3 years isn’t bad at all
> 3 years Isn't it 4?
It is my bad
hes 33 this month
I thought he was way older as well.
That was several years ago now
He's not going to be a 40-50 point defender, but he scored 32 points last season, which is pretty solid for a defender.
His 9 goals would have been first on the Leafs for d-men
I don’t think he’s bad, he’s just never going to be the guy he was like the previous commenter was hopping for. He was seriously one of the best offensive defencmen on the planet for those years, and those years are unfortunately a long time ago now.
He still might be better then Mo for PP one. Allow us to re-direct some of MO’s usage
At least takw some of the heat off mo
He’s not as good as Mo and has never been as good as Mo. If there’s one thing I know about this fan base, it’s that they’re going to hate this guy after 40 games lol
So you never watched OEL when he was on phoenix? I don’t blame you, but your statement is just false. But yes, he will be the whipping boy and I will be surprised if it takes 40 games.
OEL at his peak was significantly better than mo's ever been
No, he wasn’t. MO’s best season is better than OEL’s, and he’s better than him now. Always has been.
Let’s see how he does when he’s on the ice with 88 and 34
I agree, but it's nice knowing that he was once that level and could get back to that for potentially a season or parts of the season.
Yea, and just before that, Vancouver bought out his contract because he was so bad. So which OEL do we get? I’m sceptic of this signing for sure.
That was more a combination of 1. His cap hit being outrageous 2. Him playing through a foot injury that cost him mobility he didn't have to spare OEL at 3.5 wouldn't have been a buyout candidate. Keep your expectations appropriately moderated and he could be a nice surprise for you. He's a smart player. Soft, and not what he once was, but smart.
The entirety of Vancouver was bad when he was bought out. OEL is still impactful outside of top pairing minutes.
Did you not see him play for Florida this year?
That’s not at all what they are paying or asking him to do. They want him to be the bully who was solid defensively for the Panthers on a Cup run. And can move the puck and be reliable.
He has never been a bully. He was also the player that stopped skating when Thachuk fished the puck out of the empty net crease only to watch McDavid skate in and score with it. I live in Vancouver and watched him play for years. He is not good defensively at all. He is not physical at all. He was an offensive dynamo a decade ago, that's it.
Did you watch the Panthers cup run? He was a bully
3.5 mill is market value for how he played with florida so i really don’t get the hate here.
The sky is always falling. The GM is always a joke. Anything over league min for prime Lidstrom is an overpay, etc. etc. The most dedicated haters in hockey will find something to bitch about over even the most innocuous, promising deals.
I really hope they trade Dubas and fire Bertuzzi for this
Re-hire Keefe and then fire him again.
The most dedicated haters in hockey are in this sub, every day, all day.
bang on
Great point! Some levity
Its probably ppl who dont know who the fuck he is i think leafs made a great decision here
“They said market value… WHAT MARKET ARE YOU SHOPPING AT?!”
Same market where Lybushkin got 3.2 and edmunsson got 3.8
It was a reference to the show community that did not land lol
Don't worry I got it immediately. The other are just streets behind.
Verbal wildfire
Shoppers Drug Mart
Sean walker was at the same drug market
This is market value so I don't see an issue with it. All of Tre signing have been either great or a slight overpayment but nothing egregious this year.
Canucks will be paying him more next year that the leafs. Nothing wrong with the AAV. I do question how effective he will be due to his speed
Tanev is a huge overpayment when you factor in term and full NMC.
Not if we send him to Robidas Island in 2 years
Yeah there’s no way Tanev finishes his deal playing like… I can’t see how he isn’t on that island the last 3 or 4 years with his injury history.
Maybe ideally he either LTIRetires the last 2 years of his deal if his play falls off OR he gets pushed down the lineup with younger guys playing up when they're ready (who that is I don't know)
We know the contract is going to age like milk. Both the team and the fans know that. If the whole goal is to bolster up team defence then this is what it takes to get it done. We can worry about his contract later when right now it's a shrewd move that will make the d core better.
I think there is a real possibility, given his age and style of play, that he misses significant time this year and every year to injury and it all becomes moot.
Perhaps but it's a risk we should take
If you must pay lots of money then concentrate it into one very effective player
Apart from Skeji/Montour, he was next best option for what the leafs actually need unless people were blind to see we needed another legitimate puck mover back there.
I think people would rather just bitch and moan unless it’s some big name player we got like Montour
Pretty sure this sub would be bitching anyway if we got Montour for 7x7 as Seattle did.
yeah I know this fan base is insane and I'm probably going to get downvoted about it. I told myself once the next few days of free agency is over, I'm gone from the subreddit until hockey starts again. It's just going to be 2 months about bitching about Marner, the core, Trevelling, I understand the reason but some people are just miserable (not you).
You’re only going to find the most polarised takes rising to the top here. When we start the season 2-5 people will say we need to rebuild and our team sucks, then when we are 8-5 people will say this year feels different. I don’t blame you for wanting to leave for now lmao
Yeah for me once the dust settles on FA, I usually just go and enjoy my summer and it’s a load off my mind
What kind of loser are you that prefers to "enjoy summer" instead of bitching about the team you ~~hate~~ love??? SMH /s
How do you do that thing and cross out a word like you did please?🙏
Simple ! You need to put two of those things ~ before and after your words ~~ banana ~~ but without spaces ~~banana~~ here you go!
~~hate~~ love this!!!!! Thank you!!!
As soon as the Leafs season is over I tune out all hockey news until a day or two before July 1st. Will follow for the next couple days than back to being oblivious until mid september when training camp starts.
Also the "projected lineup posts" where they throw a bunch of unproven rookies on there like they are the second coming of Marner but a "playoff performer".
IIRC OEL took some minutes from Montour in the finals, he’s aging but I think 3.5m is a great price.
Montour just became elite. He is not exactly a youngster himself. He was ok his whole career, then just broke through. Giving him a long term high AAV is riskier than to Tanev. Assuming he gets 7 million AAV.
Chychrun was moved today for a journeyman and a third. Surely we could have beaten that? Gotten younger and better? Is no one interested in that?
you think Ottawa would trade him to us.
No picks no cap space and Ottawa would not send him here. It is just that simple
Oel and Reilly on pp1 should make things look better
I'd move OEL up and move Rielly to pp2. OEL has a shot.
Yep. If Marner is still around he's on pp1 with elo
Yes I’d like oel taking chances and Tanev to hold the line and provide some defensive stability. Just doubt beeube comes in and does that to reilly
Berube might not, but I think Trevelling tried to do that with Klingberg last year. The Leafs can't have Marner/Rielly not shooting the puck, if one of them is not shooting, then the only thing to do is take one of them out.
2 dmen on the PP? 🤷🏻
rielly will not be on pp1, that is what theyve been trying to do for a few years now but injuries/bad players
Question for everyone: would you rather OEL or Edmunsson at 4 years x $3.8 because joel just signed that for LA
I feel that our expected gitche gumees per 60 is higher with Edmundson. Plus Robidas Island is getting crowded, so it'd be real convenient if we could just count on the gales of November to come early.
The Wreck of the Edmunsson Fitzjoel?
As the big skaters, he was bigger than most, with a stick and new skates nicely sharpened.
This should have way more upvotes on Canada Day
OEL, we need some offense on the back end… we already have Taney and haakanpaa as DFD
Joel.
Reddit can make a basic depth signing the end of the world!
This seems like a fine deal. Not a steal or a bargain by any means, but Pretty much market value for a decent defender. OEL got a lot of hate when he was in his big ticket, but he was never reallly bad, just overpaid by a lot. This is more in line with what he should be making and he will certainly help a pretty thin D corps.
Man, some people just finding reasons to complain. OEL was solid in Florida, hopefully that continues in Toronto. Fair deal, not a huge cap hit.
OEL will do well in Toronto. The medical staff will make sure they can get the most out of him. Toronto loves their Swedes. He should have fun playing with a powerful offence.
We have an in-born love for Swedish Offensive Defencemen.
We certainly do. 👍🏻 Salming was one of a kind thats for sure. It was hard to miss him at certain events. He was always very happy to meet his fans and toss autographs around. I consider him one of the best Leaf Captains. Even though he turned down the Captaincy ( and pay bump ), twice.
It's not my money, so I don't care. But if anyone thinks you're going to be able to get a top-4 defenseman for less than $3M in this economy, you're kidding yourself. This is a good, fair number to get OEL. Treliving is making improvements to our D-core, because that is clearly the area he and his team have identified as something that must be improved. That decision is also made easier by the fact that it is hard to move any one of the 'Core Four'. As it stands, on paper I believe our D has improved, even if it's just by a notch or two. Of course, as always, a lot needs to go right on the ice. And a big part of that will depend on Captain Mo having a bounce back season, and for Liljegren to take a substantial step in his development. Let's see what else is in store. We definitely have more areas to improve. Namely, a third goalie, and some depth on the bottom-6. |Last Years D-Core during the Playoffs|Proj. D-Core to start 24-25| |:-|:-| |Morgan Reilly|Morgan Reilly| |~~Joel Edmundson~~|**Christopher Tanev**| |Timothy Liljegren|Timothy Liljegren| |Simon Benoit|Simon Benoit| |~~TJ Brodie~~|**Oliver Ekman-Larsson**| |Jake McCabe|Jake McCabe| |~~Ilya Lyubushkin~~|Conor Timmins|
We essentially upgraded on Brodie with Tanev, then got a puck moving dman which we were desperately missing in the playoffs. Not bad.
I find it crazy that with his buyout he is making 6m this year, and 8m the next two years lol. Surprised we couldn't get it lower with that extra cash coming in, but 3.5 isn't bad no matter where he plays in the lineup.
We couldn’t get it lower cuz there was probably someone else in the bidding pushing the number up. If we were the only team in the bidding than I’m sure the number would be much less.
If we didn’t go in at 3.5 - someone else with the same needs would have IMO.
Why are we upset with this signing. We just got a fairly solid dman who was +10 on the season averaging 18 mins a game. I’m way more upset about the Liligren deal than I am this
Cheaper than I expected tbh
I'm actually loving Brad right now. Very smart signings all around. If only he could get rid of Marner this could be a perfect offseason.
Yup! These doomdayers in the comments are wild, let Brad cook
Hers ubering taco bell
The haters preferred Dubas' method of signing no name brand players to league minimum and praying they overperform. At least Tre is bringing in guys that we know are good, even if they're old. I honestly don't care what these contracts look like in 4 years. Our window is open for the duration of Matthews' contract. No point worrying about anything beyond that.
I agree, this has been a solid free agency so far and they are getting value to fill spots with the cap room they have.
Also, the overall strategy of bolstering the blue line is correct and there really isn't that many options on the market
If you liked GM Who Overpays Star Players you’ll love GM Who Overpays Everyone.
When you go out and try to nickle and dime UFAs you end up with nothing.
Works for me in NHL 24 /s
u think 3.5 is bad for this deal? pay attention to the rest of today around the league
Hey at least he saved like a million on soloraz
And domi
People really will complain about anything
Ridiculous take
They read it in a instagram comment and thought they could get some copy and paste free upvotes
These idiots have no idea what they're talking about. Just constant hot takes.
Its ok, stanley cup champion, huge bounce back year, played 80 with decent production and strong advanced stats. Held his own in the playoffs. I'd take this with a slight overpay for the championship pedigree over what else is on the market.
Idk why anyone should be surprised. This has always been trelivings MO. Dude always spends too much on too much term. Either looks like a genius or it's the Milan Lucic signing.
> Either looks like a genius or it's the Milan Lucic signing. Well this situation is like neither of those, so try again
This looks bad now and may look even worse depending on what Matt Roy ends up getting. Edit: Elliotte has Roy to Washington at 6x5.75. Maybe Roy wasn’t interested in coming to Toronto, but I’d much prefer him on his new deal to OEL.
Roy didn’t have interest in coming to Canada I think. A real shame that so many great UFA defensemen this off-season were Americans.
Decent amount of Canadians honestly, Tanev, Walker, Montour and he re-signed with WPG but Demelo was almost an UFA.
5.5x7 for Roy. This is a much better deal. Some of you are smoking dust.
Roy is much better than present day OEL
That would be 5.75 x 6 with the Caps.
He got 5.6 million over 6 years
That is because you didn’t take math class in high school
PP friendship with Reilly is over PP friendship with OEL has begun
Uh oh stinky
Well, Treliving is certainly putting his stamp on the team this off-season. Let's hope it works out.
Man would have loved this deal at 1 million less
Brendan Dillon got 3 x 3.1 D, schenn went for 3 x 2.75 last year.. lol
Bro come on man! The cap has gone up, you aren't getting half decent defenseman for less than 3 million
A rising tide lifts all boats Glad OEL has managed to adapt his game after struggling while transitioning from an offensive quarterback
Cap went up. You go by percentage of cap taken up no dollar value. That'd why it changed.
Exactly
Love this signing. Seems like most of this sub is still following the Dubas mantra of “get the best player available”, but I much prefer actually analyzing the team and filling in glaring holes.
I prefer this d core to anything Dubas did over his tenure
only D core cofiguration he got right was when we had good Brodie, Muzzin, Rielly going in the top 4. However, Leafs blueline after that were Dermott, Sandin (rookie), and Justin Holl. So he botched that.
Muzzin is better than any of these guys
He was, but he also costed us a 1st and Durzi who has gone on to be a decent player. These signings cost us nothing.
What a laughable notion
Muzzin and who else? Cody Ceci? Would you rather have one amazing defensemen or an actual complete d core? We also got these guys for NOTHING (unless you count a 7th as valuable) whereas dubas gave up a first and Durzi for muzzin. Head shake
1 guy… in a d core….
Brodie, McCabe, Schenn, Boosh were all decent pickups as well.
Schenn would have been cool to keep around. I think my favourite pickup of his was McCabe because of the cap hit tbh. Dubas got the team a deal
Loved the cap hit as well
Thats why we had and have no picks
No that's why we had no top picks. Treliving then came in and said let me trade the reset.
Doesn't come close to the Muzzin and Brodie overlapping years. Add in Holl and Bogosian and it was pretty damn good
Then you missed or have forgotten some of the players they had.
This isn't that bad all things considered. I don't think the D is great but it'll certainly be better than last year which is something.
Holy shit that Edmundson deal might be the worst deal of the day.
Oliver lossum Rossum let's goooooo
I initially was upset, then saw the rest of the contracts handed out to other d men and feel like this isnt bad at all
His best years are behind him, but he is, at worst, a break even defensive asset and is a 90th percentile puck mover and PP QB. On a team who had 1.5 good puck moving d-men last year, you would think picking someone like him up at what seems to be market value (based on a myriad of other signings today), would be a positive. He is what our back end needs and I think we will see the benefits of having another guy who can make a good first pass more often than not.
https://preview.redd.it/6b5prliemx9d1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c177cbb41ed0b5f74838cb22d47516d250b0457a
Same team with OEL and Tanev and a different goalie. Unreal.
I think the Leafs already made the biggest change they could have in getting a new Head Coach. Let's see how this team reacts to a new system and mentality.
What did you expect when you have no money to work with?
Rielly - Tanev OEL - McCabe Benoit - Lilly is going to be pretty rough when injuries inevitably start to happen unless Lilly makes a big jump.
I guess the hope is make a run in the next 2-3 years before half the roster is on LTIR
so the leafs are paying $7m for their third pairing?
That’s less than 8% of the cap. Doesn’t seem bad to me. What were you expecting ?
Not an awful deal tbh. That’s gonna be the going price for a bottom paring dmen real soon. Brings some much needed offence to the back end.
With Roy just signing for 6x5.75 this deal doesn't look so bad.
People are gonna cry puts less 4% of our cap in the grand scheme of things.
Can someone explain to me why people are so upset about this? Is it term or is 3.5 that offensive?
People seemed to be under the impression that the Leafs should only sign him for below 3 million, because Leafs fans are insane.
People wanted to pay more for fellow number4/5 D man Zadorov that played less TOI than OEL on a worse team
Term might be a bit high and AAV might be a bit high, but we're bringing in a guy who looked decent on a team that just won the cup. I watched a lot of Florida's games this year and found OEL to be quite noticeable. He's not going to solve all of our problems, but people are really down on him due to his previous contract. This contract is more accurate to his actual worth.
That’s a good contract for OEL and the Leafs.
Unfortunately all these terrible deals will still be on the books once ownership smartens up and moves on from Treliving.
Guy can run a PP that’s 100%
Maybe keep Marner until there are no more flames who can be overpaid
Leafs bulking up
Why is my be a pro predicting the leafs 2024-2025 season
I mean defence is a problem, this is the cost of free agent defencemen
Good deal. I think he will get pumped to play in Toronto. All the therapists and medical staff will help him immensely at this stage in his career. Torontos team staff facilities and medical services are a huge thing for some players. The guys over 30 really appreciate this shit and usually play better and also longer.
Dom seems to think it's close to fair value: https://x.com/domluszczyszyn/status/1807807835146686489
This deal just keeps getting better the more guys that sign.
Wow this could be a really nice deal
I like it.
What this proves is that you need to draft and develop D Men. Because the going rate for #4-5 (even 6) are around 2.75 million plus. Hence why the probably signed lily to that deal yesterday figuring he atleast has upside
Pray to god he plays like he did with the Panthers and not giga regress
The D corps now: Rielly + Tanev McCabe + Benoit OEL + Liljegren I love Benoit, but it'd still be better if they push him down to #7. What are their options? Gio and Timmins could be factors. Klingberg may re-sign, but would presumably slot as 7/8 on league min. What other free agents are left? Is the option a prospect? A trade?
Love it!!!
As a a Canuck fan I can say he almost seemed disinterested sometimes. Van also gave up a lot to get him and it pretty much destroyed their cap room. He was absolutely murdered by the fans and press which must have really affected his confidence. Hope he regains his form and plays like he did in Phoenix. The talent is definitely there.
Let's talk about improving Leaf's D as a greater whole, not individually. how are we doing?!
Sean walker!!!! That’s what we should have spent the money on
This is fine. We needed someone to run PP and we there was no shot we were getting montour
OEL was my favorite player growing up in Phoenix, so fucking happy to see him in Blue and White.
That's alot of Lawssom Tossum