The Toronto Maple Leafs liked what they saw from veteran defenseman Mark Giordano after acquiring him from Seattle at the NHL trade deadline, and rewarded him with a two-year contract extension on Sunday.
The deal will reportedly pay him a salary cap hit of $800,000 per season.
Giordano is in his late 30s and is not the same player he was at his peak, and his offensive game has definitely declined, but he remains a solid defensive presence and possession driver.
At that salary cap hit it should be a steal for the Maple Leafs even if he is no longer an elite scorer as a defenseman.
Their defensive play was underrated during the 2021-22 season and Giordano definitely helps their blue line. It is also a very low-risk deal for Toronto given how low the salary cap number is. At the very least he should be able to give them a strong defensive effort in 2022-23.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.