It can take perception a good bit of time to catch up with reality. Any NHL fans who still think of the Toronto Maple Leafs as a laughingstock haven’t been paying attention since Brendan Shanahan took the team over almost two years ago to the day.
His fingerprints are all over this organization now — from Kyle Dubas sitting as assistant GM to the creative handling of the salary cap — and earlier today we saw another radiant example of how far this franchise has come since April of 2014.
Toronto manged to get Nazem Kardi and Morgan Rielly signed to six-year contract extensions for absurdly outstanding cap hits. Kadri’s deal carries an AAV of $4.5 million, while Rielly’s fresh contract sits at a cool $5 million AAV.
Kadri's AAV is $4.5M and Rielly's is $5M. Both 6 year deals.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) April 13, 2016
Getting these deals done sooner rather than later saved the Leafs nation some summertime headaches, and it’s tough to punch holes in either deal. Rielly is considered the lynchpin of Toronto’s blue line, which is something that general manager Lou Lamoriello alluded to once the signings were announced.
He had this to say about the 22-year-old defender according to Kevin McGran of The Toronto Star:
“Morgan has the potential of being an all-star in this league. He is the key to our defence, our leader there. He is a core player, and one to be counted on.”
Lamoriello’s words hold strong when looking over Rielly’s numbers. The former fifth-overall draft pick lead the team’s defensive unit in scoring with 36 points last season and no other Maple Leaf saw more ice time on average per game. In fact, his 23:13 per-game average was 28th in the entire NHL. He matched defenders such as Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Victor Hedman and Jake Muzzin in that regard.
If he continues to develop like he should — he’s increased his point total in all three pro seasons so far — there’s a good chance that Rielly could have one of the better cap hits among top-pair defenders.
Some comparables for Rielly 6 yrs @ $5M:
Bogosian 7 yrs @ $5.14M
McDonagh 6 yrs @ $4.75M
Klingberg 7 yrs @ $4.25Mhttps://t.co/Hc1x4KhI8l— General Fanager (@generalfanager) April 13, 2016
There’s always some risk for teams when it comes to inking lengthy extensions like this, but Toronto bought up two of Rielly’s UFA years without having to go overboard on the cap hit.
When building championship teams, it’s vital to identify your core early in the process. With these deals, Toronto is committing to Kadri and Rielly as cornerstone pieces. That being the case, these cap hits look even better.
Consider what the Chicago Blackhawks were able to do simply because they (at one point) had Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews on bargain-basement deals. The same goes for Duncan Keith, who may have the most team-friendly cap hit in pro hockey.
The Maple Leafs are putting themselves in a similar position with these extensions. They are identifying their Stanley Cup window by projecting the development of their top prospects while locking up key young players who are already at the NHL level. Over the next two years they can shed the contracts of Brooks Laich, Milan Michalek, Michael Grabner, Colin Greening and Matt Hunwick which will give them even more cap flexibility to bring in marquee free agents or trade targets to round out the roster.
While Rielly has always been viewed as a potential top-end player, the same can’t be said for Kadri. The Maple Leafs have kicked the proverbial can down the street on the center for three years now, and they have finally decided to commit term and cash to the 25-year-old. He struggled at times under former coaches Ron Wilson and Randy Carlyle, but continued to evolve under the guidance of Mike Babcock this year.
His one-year extension was essentially a prove it deal, and he did just that despite seeing the bottom drop out on his shooting percentage. As Chris Johnston of Sportsnet.ca pointed out on Twitter, Kadri would have been a 27-goal player had he simply matched his career average in shooting percentage in 2015-16.
Nazem Kadri had an extremely low shooting% this season, which tends to be cyclical. He would have scored 27 goals with his career average.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) April 13, 2016
As good as Rielly’s deal could look within a year or two, Kadri’s could look even better. His contract is similar to that of an Andrew Ladd or James Neal, both of whom signed at the age of 25 like Kadri, and at this stage of his career has even more upside. Especially when you consider the talent that he’ll be able to line up with during the life of the contract. Toronto hasn’t been a great possession team during the center’s time there, but he’s typically had a positive impact while on the ice.
The Rielly and Kadri contracts are just two more feathers in the cap for one of the most creative brain trusts in the league. Toronto has six picks in the first three rounds of the draft this year and their AHL team has done a ton of damage in 2015-16.
There’s still a lot of work for the Maple Leafs to do before pushing for their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1967, but the right people are clearly in charge now.
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