2 of the 5 Worst UFA Signings This Summer Were Ex Toronto Maple Leafs

Most of the free agents are off the board now and it looks like the Toronto Maple Leafs are done adding to the roster on the free-agent market.

Many opinions have been put out there about the Toronto Maple Leafs new acquisitions however, I want to focus on signings around the league.

Over a billion dollars was thrown around on July first and as usual, on July first, some bad deals were handed out.

This list of the five worst signings so far isn't going to be in any particular order. Some of the things I looked at when deciding on the five worst deals were money and term but I also looked at the fit for the player as well as the organization.

Joel Edmundson

Joel Edmundson signed a four-year deal with an average annual value of 3.85 million dollars with the LA Kings (All salary statistics from Capwages.com).

The former Leaf can play both the left and the right side and is a defensively focused defenseman. He struggles with footspeed but will be a physical presence on the backend for the Kings.

This deal was head-scratching for me. I'm struggling to see what General Manager Rob Blake was thinking with this signing. The Kings lost Matt Roy this offseason, who is a good two-way defenseman and a strong skater.

With that tough loss on the blueline, they decided to give way too much term as well as too much money to a 31-year-old Joel Edmundson who has also struggled with injuries throughout his career. While he can play both the left and right side as well as the penalty kill, he can't really skate or move the puck.

This deal reminds me of the four-year contract with an AAV of four million dollars the Blue Jackets signed Erik Gudbranson to in the 2022-23 offseason.