July 2nd, 2009 by Steve
Ok, so day one of free agent insanity is done, and the Leafs beefed up a bit. The first signing they made was of ex-NY Rangers tough guy Colton Orr. The team’s first legit heavyweight since the departure of Wade Belak, Orr is one of the better fights in the league, but he isn’t a very good skater, and he won’t do much else for the team on the ice. He averaged 6:29 in ice time a game for the Rangers last year, but led the team in penalty minutes with 193. He played in all 82 games, so he’s durable to boot, but if you average out the PIMs that means he spent 2:21 in the box per game… or in the showers… whichever.
Then came the Leafs first action on the trade front this off season, as they dealt $5 million dollar a season, top goal scoring defense man Pavel Kubina and the rights to Tim Stapleton to the Atlanta Thrashers for Garnet Exelby and Colin Stuart. Exelby was an upgrade to the heft of the blue line, giving the Leafs another heavyweight, who throws the body effectively. He’s a bit of a cheap shot artist who lets his elbows fly, and he often takes himself out of position with his hits, but he’ll make sure the other side has it’s head up. Stuart has played most of his pro career in the minors for the Chicago Wolves, and while he adds size to the mix at 6′3″ and 205 lbs, he’ll probably spend a lot of time on the Marlies this season.
The biggest news for the Leafs of the day soon followed when they signed Mike Komisarek for 5 years, at $4.5 million per season, including a limited NMC in the deal that lets Komisarek select 12 teams per year that he’s willing to be dealt to. Komisarek has been one of the league leaders in hits the past few years, and he is a talented defensive defenseman, but last year was his worst in the NHL statistically, and he only played in 66 games following shoulder issues as a result of a fight during last season.
Hopefully Komisarek recovers completely from the injury, and he patrols the Leafs blue line for most of next season, again reinforcing the new rule of vigilante justice on the Leafs back end. I’m not a huge fan of the signing as I feel $4.5 million per season over-estimates his worth to the team, and I don’t think he adds enough across the board to merit that kind of contract. He’s making the most money of any defender on the team now, so he’d better step up to the plate in terms of his all around game.
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