Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Ilya Mikheyev
The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed one of their two remaining restricted free-agents.
Instead of going to arbitration, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ilya Mikheyev have agreed to terms on a two-year contact extension.
The Leafs signed Mikheyev out of the KHL last summer as an unrestricted free-agent, and he was a revelation in the blue and white. Though a gruesome wrist laceration injury ruined his rookie season, Mikheyev proved to be quite the find for the Leafs.
His signing gives the Toronto Maple Leafs a ridiculous amount of depth at the forward position.
Toronto Maple Leafs and Ilya Mikheyev
Mikheyev was fantastic last year on the Leafs, and his extremely cheap AAV will make him a super valuable player going forward. Last season Mikheyev posted a 53.48% Corsi and a 53% expected-goals rating. He scored eight goals and had 23 points, most of them at even-strength. (All stats from naturalstattrick.com).
https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1318693537177882624
Mikheyev only played 39 games last year, but his 2.44 points/60 is first line scoring. In fact, it was even higher than Auston Matthews’. Now, of course you should take that with a grain of salt because Matthews plays way tougher minutes, and the sample size is small, but it still shows that Mikheyev can score.
The Leafs win when he’s on the ice, and they score goals. You can’t ask for much more than that for a complimentary player making under $2 million per year.
Next seaon, Mikheyev will have to fight for ice time due to the Leafs absolutely insane depth. Zach Hyman is the team’s top left winger, unless William Nylander is going to stick on the left side. Then there is Nick Robertson, who will be trying to earn a job in camp, as will Alex Barbanov and Jimmy Vessey. Wayne Simmonds might want to play higher than the fourth line, and one of Joe Thornton or Alex Kerfoot might be competing for minutes on the wing.
Suffice to say that all this competition can only help the team. It’s likely, but not guaranteed, that Mikheyev will be a regular. If he can maintain the on-ice stats and even half the scoring he put up last year, he’ll be an invaluable complimentary player for the Toronto Maple Leafs, not to mention a fan favorite because of his winning personality.
Next. Don't Count Out Justin Holl. dark
The 26 year old Russian was a great find, and the Leafs will be hoping to strike lightning again this season with KHL UFAs Alex Barabanov and Mikko Lehtonen.