Did the Toronto Maple Leafs make the single worst UFA signing of the summer?

Full disclosure: if I was running the Toronto Maple Leafs I would have massively overpaid to get Nikita Zadorov on the roster.

The Toronto Maple Leafs had interest, but Zadorov ultimately went to the Boston Bruins. The reason I wanted him is because he's not only huge and a great shut-down defender, but he can also rush and move the puck. I think he's a late blooming star on the verge of being a top-pairing defender, and if I had the chance to do so, I would have bet heavily on it.

Brad Trelving, as we know, doesn't have that kind of risk tolerance. He's far more likely to go after an established name-brand player that he sees as a lesser risk. Ironically, making the safe player is often far worse, as the Leafs have shown.

This summer the Leafs tried to partially rebuild their blue-line and all they did was realize that they couldn't have five guys who were terrible at moving the puck (Brodie, Edmundson, Lyubushkin, Benoit, McCabe) so now they only have two (three if they get their wish and Jani Hakanpaa ends up on the team).

The Leafs blue-line is old, lacks upside, and is the most average blue-line in the NHL. In trying to improve their blue-line the Leafs just added name-brand players and called it an (expensive) day. This includes possibly the worst contract handed out in all of free-agency this year.

Since I have been writing about hockey all summer, I've probably thought about this more than most people and I cannot grasp what the Leafs were thinking when they signed Oliver Ekman-Larsson to a contract. It's so stupid that it would be funny if any other franchise did it. With the Leafs, we just sigh and go "well at least it didn't make this list!"

Here are what I think are the worst three contacts handed out this summer.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson

The Toronto Maple Leafs are the most frustrating team in the NHL. On one hand, they have a great roster that has a nice mix of superstars and up-and-coming potential stars. On the other hand, they have a bumbling fool of a GM who has no idea what he's doing.

Last summer, Treliving had $20 million to spend and an easy path away from Kyle Dubas Studs and Duds Salary Cap Strategy, all he had to do was trade William Nylander for a defenseman and call it a day.

Nylander even paved the way for a trade by starting last season on an MVP-like tear that of course he couldn't keep up. But of course, the Leafs signed him right at the peak of the insanity for the absolute most money possible.

As far as improving the team though, Treliving basically took the entire season off. He stuck with Ilya Samsonov and didn't even get a new goalie when he was forced to waive Samsonov in January. At the deadline, he did nothing but minor moves that wasted draft picks but actually made the team worse.

Treliving signed Nylander and he signed Matthews. There is nothing wrong with that, but he didn't do anything else. If he was going to stick with the core four he should have been more careful about throwing away money on mid-range players, but it's a lesson he can't seem to grasp.

Anyone expecting a better off-season this time around was massively disappointed. Treliving changed nothing and all he did was add Chrs Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, two defenseman whose combined age is nearly 70.

Tanev, at least, is still at the top of his game. Ekman-Larsson has been in decline for years.

Last year OEL played the role of left-side defenseman on Florida's 3rd pairing. He was on a one-year $2.25 million dollar deal.

Last year OEL scored 0.9 points per 60, while adding a 56% Corsi, 55% Goals-For and 54% Expected Goals Rating.

Playing the exact same role on a simlar team, Mark Giordano scored at a rate of 0.76 Points per 60, while adding a 55% Corsi, 56% Goals-For and 54% Expected Goals Rating.

The two players put up the exact same numbers in the same role. Only thing is Gio did it for half the price. The Leafs didn't care. "OEL" is a brand name and casual fans will think the team added another star. It makes the GM look good because very few people are going to realize that they forced the guy willing to play for the league minimum into retirement while hiring a guy that is literally no better for 4 x the money and with a bizarre four year commitment.

This is maybe the worst contract handed out in the entire NHL this summer. While I have listed three other options below, the fact is none of those teams forced a guy into retirement to replace him with someone who just put up identical numbers for 4x the money and term. (all stats naturalstattrick.com).

Chandler Stephenson

There are bad contracts, and then there is whatever the hell the Seattle Kraken gave to Chandler Stephenson, who should immediately build a massive statue of his agent on whatever island property he surely purchased after this hilarious blunder was deemed official.

Stephenson signed a seven year contract with a cap hit of $6.25 million. He is also 30, most definitely not a star player and the contract takes him to age 37.

While the cap is up and $6 million isn't what it used to be, this is still completely nuts. We are almost 20 years into the Salary Cap Era and it could not be any clearer or less disputable that the best practice is to never hand out term and big money to non-star players.

Stephenson's career high is 21 goals, which he did three years ago. His highest ever point total is 65 but he dropped to just 51 last year. In the playoffs, he had one point in seven games.

Stephenson doesn't shoot the puck, and he doesn't play defense. He is a pass-first forward who doesn't drive play. In short, he tops out as an OK second-line centre who can only be effective if he's paired with high-volume shooters who can put the puck in the net.

There was a rumour the Leafs wanted to sign Stephenson, and all I can say is that thankfully Treliving didn't get his way. This is just a bizarre contract and it won't work out at all.

Stephenson's terrible contract save Brad Treliving from having the distinction of handing out the worst deal of the summer. That doesn't make OEL's any better, but at least it's not the very worst one.