Leafs sign Martin Marincin to 2-year deal ahead of arbitration
7 years ago
Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY SPORTS
It’s officially confirmed – literally nobody wants to sit in an arbitration room with Lou Lamoriello. Martin Marincin, the last remaining restricted free agent for the Leafs to sign this offseason has agreed to a two-year deal with the team.
From the official press release:
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that the hockey club has signed defenceman Martin Marincin to a two-year contract. The average annual value of the contract is $1.25 million ($1.2M in 2016-17, $1.3M in 2017-18).Marincin, 24, scored one goal, collected six assists and registered 34 penalty minutes in 65 games with the Maple Leafs last season after being acquired in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers on June 27, 2015 In 150 career NHL games, the Kosice, Slovakia native has recorded 18 points (two goals, 16 assists) and 66 penalty minutes.
First off, kudos to the team for actually releasing contract terms, a rarity for both themselves and teams across the league. It would be nice to see that more often, given that the salary cap ties financial details directly to team on-ice performance and that all of these deals leak out within hours or minutes anyway.
As for the circumstances, the team avoided arbitration by four days, well exceeding the morning of deal with Peter Holland and the day before deal with Frank Corrado. The two sides hadn’t even gotten to the stage where their offer and asks were made public yet, which makes you wonder if they were very far off to begin with.
As Drag Like Pull mentioned today, one of the reasons for a two-year deal specifically may be to make him eligible for the expansion draft next summer. Beyond that, though, it’s very good value for a player who aggravates the casual viewer with his play style, but impresses in his shot suppression performance and appears to make his teammates better from a possession standpoint.
With the contract signed, the Leafs are speculated to have a five digit figure remaining in cap space. As we mentioned here earlier this week, there are still a lot of cap-related hurdles for the team over the next few months.
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