Toronto Maple Leafs Extend Nic Petan For Two Years

The Toronto Maple Leafs made another transaction to solidify their depth today by extending Nic Petan for two years.

One of the most important aspects of any contending team is their overall depth and the Toronto Maple Leafs certainly have that offensively.

The Leafs re-signed Nic Petan to a two-year contract extension with a $775,000 AAV for each season on Thursday. As was first reported by Irfaan Gaffar of Sportsnet on Monday, here are the full details from the Leafs official Twitter page:

This is another team-friendly contract that is important for any team to have to ensure continued success. For Petan especially, it is vindication that he has earned a spot on the Leafs and is part of the teams’ plans for the foreseeable future.

Nic Petan

Since being acquired at the trade deadline from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for Par Lindholm, Petan has appeared in 5 games and has only recorded 1 goal. At 5v5, he has also registered a 52.63 CF%, a 50.00 FF%, a 55.00 SCF%, and a 51.61 SF% in those games.

Additionally, Petan has gotten power-play minutes in which he has been placed in the high slot which has seen mixed results. Nonetheless, Petan has made himself noticeable at times, showcasing flashes of the player that had promise back in 2015.

Prior to joining the Leafs, Petan had recorded 0 goals and 2 assists in only 13 games played with the Jets.

Even with the limited sample size, moves like this are ones that Kyle Dubas loves to make. We have seen the likes of Trevor Moore, Calle Rosen, and Andreas Borgman extended to cheap extension far below their current deals. This is the definition of strong asset management and it will be especially important in a years time with the Leafs heading towards a cap-crunch of sorts.

Petan hasn’t blown away the competition since his arrival, but he has provided solid depth value which has been especially important with the flurry of injuries the Leafs have been dealing with. With an extended opportunity, Petan should no doubt continue to trend towards a permanent spot in the lineup going forward.

While not the largest player (standing at 5’9” and 179 lb), Petan is a young player who is talented offensively and is now a cheap deal for the next two years. That is no doubt a huge improvement over Lindholm, who has yet to find the scoresheet in two games with the Jets.

Cheap depth players are important to have on any team, especially one with championship aspirations. With today’s signing, the Leafs have retained another quality option for the next two years.

Thanks for reading!

All stats unless otherwise noted are from Hockey-Reference.com and Natural Stat Trick.

All salary information is from CapFriendly.com.