Thursday afternoon, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced by way of Twitter that they have signed 24-year old defenseman Connor Timmins to a two-year extension.
Timmins was acquired back by the Toronto Maple Leafs back in November.
GM Kyle Dubas picked him up from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Curtis Douglas. The Leafs are Timmins’ third team since 2021 and has appeared to find a long-term spot playing for his hometown team.
Prior to being acquired in November, Timmins had suffered several injuries that had limited him to just 41 games split between the Colorado Avalanche and the Coyotes where he combined for just seven assists.
Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Conor Timmins
Since joining the Toronto Maple Leafs, Timmins has suited up in 18 games, has averaged 16:29 of ice-time while collecting 12 points, one being his first career goal.
Mark Masters reported that the deal is worth an average annual cap hit of $1.1 Million per season. The contract will expire when Timmins will be going into his age 27 season and per CapFriendly.com he will still be a restricted free agent.
Leafs sign defenceman Conor Timmins to a two-year contract extension ... average annual value of the contract is $1.1 million
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) February 9, 2023
One way you could critique this deal is that Timmins is getting a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal for a player that has played just 18 games for your organization and 59 career games.
However, I for one have been quite impressed with Timmins and see him as someone who could be an impact player on the team. Additionally, it’s only slightly higher than the league-minimum, and you can’t really get stuck with a contract like this.
He has had some mishaps since joining the team, but it appears more from inexperience than lack of talents. From watching Timmins, he looks to be one of, if not the best passing defenseman on the team.
Another reason to like this trade and the following extension is upside. Timmin’s likely won’t ever become a star player, but it’s not impossible that he does. If you sign enough low-risk guys like this, every once in a while you’ll hit on a Michael Bunting.
Timmins can make clean break out passes and find seams through the opposing team; which is refreshing from watching a player like Justin Holl skate with the puck to the opposing blue line force his forwards to stop and then dump it in.
I foresee Timmins being a regular next year on the club and at minimum be a bottom pairing defenseman with an upside of getting into the middle pairing. Worst case scenario is that Timmins doesn’t work out and the contract can be buried without counting against the cap. Another solid signing by Dubas.