Stajan Re-ups With The Leafs
July 7th, 2008 by Steve
Matt Stajan has signed on for another 2 years at a price of $3.5 million to MLSE. $1.75 million a season is nothing to scoff at though. He’ll be making $50,000 more than Alex Steen, who scored 9 more points, and had an even plus/minus rating in comparison to Stajan’s -11.
He kills penalties (poorly last season) and he got a bit of power play time alongside Tucker and Blake. Is he worth $1.75 million a year? Well if you compare him to the other players in the NHL at that pay grade last year you’d be including Brian Campbell, Cory Stillman, Dan Hamhuis, Martin Erat, Owen Nolan, and Ryan Kesler.
Other players with similar experience (or slightly more to compare to Stajan going forward) and pay grade include Sean Avery, Nick Schultz, Stephen Weiss, Jason Williams, Tyler Arnason, and Mark Bell.
So umm… lets just say, if he continues to score 30-35 points, he’s pretty much a disappointment.
Stajan, like Steen, needs to see a serious rise in his fortunes. Using the logic of trickle down economics, the assumption amongst the Leafs brass is, if Stajan and Steen get more ice time and opportunity to score, the team will improve along with them. The unfortunate flip side of that coin is, if they don’t score given that increased opportunity, then the team will seriously suck… suck like it has rarely sucked before.
I hope Stajan can find the nerve to shoot the puck more, and that playing for Ron Wilson improves his confidence to the point that he’s capable of playing top 6 minutes and producing to match. I also am not sure I think that turn around is about to happen.
By this time next year we’ll have a better read on whether or not this signing, or the Finger signing, was more appropriate. Frankly I hope both work out.
Posted in Announcements
8 Responses to “Stajan Re-ups With The Leafs”
By dan
on Jul 7, 2008
Steve, would you address the comments made by Kevin Lowe on the “in coming Leafs GM” Burke…?
Thanks
By eyebleaf
on Jul 7, 2008
stajan sucks. there’s no way he should be making more than steen.
By scotty
on Jul 7, 2008
Stajan had 6 less points last year despite having almost 3 more minutes a game of ice time. I know the team was struggling and lines were changing, but that seems a bit odd. The Leafs really need him to get out of the 30some point range and break 50. The organization has been very patient with his development and undoubtedly would like to see a breakout season like Antropov had last year. Right now it’s not easy to imagine however.
By Steve
on Jul 7, 2008
Dan, I honestly don’t have any thing to say of note about the “war” of words. It’s petty, and frankly idiotic.
GM’s do what they do to try to make their team win within the rules of competition. Beyond that, I think it’s all posturing.
By dan
on Jul 8, 2008
Too bad, I was hoping to get your opinion on the Nonnis comments and on how Lowe figures he tears down everything that is given to him.
By Doug
on Jul 8, 2008
Hi guys: At this point it is clear that Stajan isn’t worth the confidence the Leaf brass are showing in him, but I guess; sometimes showing confidence is good for a young player. Maybe Matt will rise to the occasion and become a solid player.
I never could understand why the Leafs showed the level of interest in Burke that they have. I agree with Kevin Lowe’s assessment of Burke’s credentials. What really has Brian Burke accomplished? He won the cup with a team some one else built.
He is a type “A” personality with good political skills. I guess knowing how the Leafs have run their organization Burke would make sense for them. If Cliff Fletcher is healthy enough, I say; let him keep running with the ball.
By dan
on Jul 8, 2008
Burke overhauled the entire defence on the Ducks, got rid of the europeans and brought in Canadians. He brought in Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne, Francois Beauchemin, Todd Marchant and Sean O’Donnell. He moved Federov’s salary out of town. Sure he gained a good team with some critical players in place but without the players mentioned above it’s hard to see them winning the cup that year.
I consider the moves he made (he also brought in Randy Carlyle) to be very significant. If it was a cup that someone else built, why didn’t they win the cup in 2005-2006?
He always has a trick up his sleeve and is able to get the star players to sign for less than they would get elsewhere on the market.
By Steve
on Jul 8, 2008
The Pronger deal had more to do with Pronger’s wife than it did Brian Burke… Burke also made that deal with prospects drafted by Bryan Murray.
The Niedermayer signing had more to do with Scott wanting to play with his brother Rob before retiring.
Teemu Selanne wanted to come back and play for the ducks before Burke ended up there, and he had played there previously (again under Murray).
Todd Marchant was claimed off WAIVERS from Columbus.
Sean O’Donnell was gained in a trade with Phoenix for Joel Perrault, a 5th round draft pick by the Ducks in 2001, and an AHL regular who has yet to play 82 games in the NHL, despite being a pro since 2003 - that’s 5 years and no real NHL action yet.
The Beauchemin/Tyler Wright deal in exchange for Fedorov and a 5th rounder was a pure salary dump, and nobody in their right mind would’ve expected Beauchemin to develop into the top 4 defender he’s become. Beauchemin was claimed by Columbus off waivers from the Montreal Canadiens. He had played 5 seasons in the AHL, and had 2 points in 12 career NHL games to go along with a -7 rating, at the time of the deal.
At the time of that trade Tyler Wright had been playing in the NHL for parts of 12 seasons. He was obviously the main piece of the deal coming back from Columbus. Beauchemin was the equivalent of the 5th rounder going the other way. The idea that they expected him to turn into a 30 point +15 D man overnight is just not logical.
Think about this, Leafs fans are complaining about Jeff Finger for only playing 94 games in the NHL before being valued at $3.5 million a year. Do you think Anaheim fans would’ve leapt with joy at the idea of their top player being shipped out in exchange for a guy with 12 games NHL experience? Sure in retrospect it looks great, but at the time it wasn’t considered the best move.
Bringing in Randy Carlyle is the one thing I’ll give him serious credit for… but frankly when you’re coaching a team with Niedermayer, Pronger, Giguere, Selanne, et al… does the coaching really matter that much?? Probably not.
Oh and lets remember that Perry and Getzlaf were drafted by the previous regime.
Burke has drafted one serious prospect thus far… Bobby Ryan. Ryan has yet to make it as an NHL regular. Beyond that he’s dropped Ilya Bryzgalov for zero return, he’s signed Bertuzzi to a ridiculous contract, and then bought him out in the span of 1 year. He’s gone out and signed another expensive D man in Schneider, on top of the 2 he’s already got, ostensibly to replace Neidermayer, who didn’t exactly retire.
In his latest move he’s brought in a disappointing Brendan Morrison to play Centre on the 2nd line. The D will keep Anaheim in it next year, but they still need more balanced scoring up front, and they aren’t going to find that with their current roster.