Sandin loses more negotiating leverage as another RFA defenseman signs for cheap
As Rasmus Sandin and his agent Lewis Gross continue to twiddle their thumbs and drag out the negotiation process with the Leafs, they continue to lose any leverage they may have had as another RFA defenseman has signed. The LA Kings announced yesterday that they resigned Mikey Anderson to a 1-year, $1M deal.
At 23, Anderson had a breakout year defensively as you can see from the chart below. At one point he played top pairing minutes with Drew Doughty, until Doughty got hurt. The Kings shuffled their blueline pairings around and although Anderson wasn't playing on the top pairing, he still played top 4 minutes throughout the season. While he only put up 8 points in 57 games, Anderson was rated the 6th best defensive defenseman in the league by The Athletic.
Signing at just $1M for next season is an absolute steal for the Kings and Kyle Dubas should be sending Rob Blake a thank you letter when he gets Rasmus Sandin locked up as Anderson's deal only helps the Leafs in negotiations. Even though Sandin put up double the points (16) in 57 games, he spent the majority of his time playing bottom pairing minutes and only on occasion did he get put into a top 4 role.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 11 | 668 ANSWERS Sandin loses more negotiating leverage as another RFA defenseman signs for cheap Seeing his comparables signing cheaper deals, what is the maximum you'd lay Sandin on a 2-year deal? | ||
| $2M-$3M | 90 | 13.5 % |
| $1.5M-$2M | 307 | 46 % |
| $1M-$1.4M | 271 | 40.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
