Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Aston-Reese, Final Camp Thoughts

Toronto Maple Leafs, Josh Ho-Sang (52), Nick Robertson (89) Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Toronto Maple Leafs, Josh Ho-Sang (52), Nick Robertson (89) Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

As expected, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Zach Aston-Reese to a contract, after a successful professional tryout with the club.

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Aston-Reese to a near league-minimum deal with an $836 K cap hit. (from capfriendly.com).

The economics of the NHL are really raking ZAR over the coals here, as he is a valuable player who is much better than a team usually gets for the league minimum. He is superior to a normal replacement player because of his excellent defense.

However, the NHL doesn’t pay for defense, and so as a UFA a team needed to offer him a raise in order to maintain his rights.  Since he doesn’t score, that didn’t happen, and he ends up taking a pay cut despite being able to make the roster of the league’s deepest team.

It’s a good bit of business for the Leafs, and he does make more than most doctors, so we can’t feel too sorry for him, but it is, at the very least, interesting in that it exposes the difference between market value and actual value.

No Trade Criticism Silly

One thing I see a lot of people complaining about is all the no-trade clauses the Leafs have.  It’s true that Kyle Dubas seems to hand them out like candy, but I don’t think people ever really stop to consider the implications before complaining.

In contract negotiations, you have have to give something to get something.  It is likely that one way in which the Leafs have navigated being right up against the salary cap for years is with these no trade clauses.

Every time they give one out, it likely lowers the overall cap hit of the player in question’s contract.  That kind of short-term relief could have been an immense benefit over the last several seasons.

Sure, it would be nice if the Leafs could just jettison Jake Muzzin, but they likely wouldn’t have been able to even fit him on their team in the first place if they didn’t use the NTC to lower his annual price.

The Leafs realy don’t get even 1% of the credit they deserve for navigating the salary cap.

Nick Robertson Huge for Leafs

A sniper on the second line is going to make a huge difference for the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Alex Kerfoot is a nice player, but the way in which Robertson will pull players off covering Tavares and Nylander will open up the ice for the other two stars.

It will force teams to move defenders around the lineup because after surviving Marner and Matthews, other teams will no content a second line capable of scoring over 120 combined goals.

At home when the Leafs third-line combo of Kampf/Engvall can faceoff against top lines, further freeing the top two lines from top defenders, the Leafs will be nearly impossible to contain.

Robertson also turns the second-power play unit into a weapon with his shot alone, which is among the best shots in the entire NHL.

That they will get all of this for a league minimum salary is just a bonus.

Roster Grades. dark. Next

Liljegren, Sandin and Robertson all being on their way to stardom is going to add  a layer to this team that makes it nearly unstoppable.