Did extending Giordano ruin the Leafs' relationship with Rasmus Sandin?
We've reached the end of August and for the time being, Rasmus Sandin still doesn't have a new contract for next season. As it stands, there are 2 issues standing between the Leafs and Sandin's camp; cap space and opportunity. The odd truth is that of the two, the cap space is the easier hurdle. As the Leafs' roster is currently constructed, there isn't a spot on it for Rasmus Sandin.
Aside from Sandin, the Leafs have 8 NHL defensemen under contract for next season after signing Jordie Benn and Victor Mete to 1-year deals. Those two won't stand in the way of Sandin, cap or roster spot wise. Sandin is ahead of both on the depth chart and both contracts can be fully buried in the minors. The biggest cause for strife between the Leafs and Sandin is actually the extension of Mark Giordano. Gio is a hometown boy who, after coming to the Leafs before the trade deadline last season, signed at a huge discount to stay in Toronto for two more seasons. As a GM, when a guy who won the Norris just 2 seasons ago is willing to sign with you for $50k over league min, you have to do it. This gives the Leafs a left side of Rielly, Muzzin and Giordano and a right side of Brodie, Liljegren and Holl. Sandin is easily a better player than Holl, but he doesn't play the right side and Dubas himself has said he prefers Sandin on the left.
For the Leafs, signing Giordano to an extension was a no brainer. If Dubas had walked away from that contract, I would have joined the faction of our fanbase who call for his head almost every day. From Sandin's point of view, however, is that the Leafs just gave away his roster spot to someone else. Dubas called both Liljegren and Sandin huge parts of the Leafs future on defense, but if he cant resolve this issue and repair the relationship, he's going to lose one of his best prospects. If Sandin isn't willing to wait for a roster spot to open up, which, lets be honest, could happen very quickly given Jake Muzzin's injury riddled past 2 seasons, it may be time for the Leafs to use Sandin as a trade chip to upgrade at forward. That second line LW slot needs to improve this season. Sandin is a big enough ticket to bring in a young, bona-fide winger in return.
The alternative is to find a similar type of young defenseman who plays on the right side and try to manufacture a trade with Sandin going the other way. If I were in Dubas' shoes. I'd give it one more good honest run at re-signing Sandin, but if he and Lewis Gross (his agent) don't want to play ball, then pull the trigger on a swap before this becomes any more of a mess than it already is.
| POLL | ||
AOUT 30 | 248 ANSWERS Did extending Giordano ruin the Leafs' relationship with Rasmus Sandin? Do you think the Leafs giving Sandin's spot away to Mark Giordano is the real issue in the negotiations? | ||
| Yes | 50 | 20.2 % |
| No | 83 | 33.5 % |
| It's Sandin's agent that is the problem | 115 | 46.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
