Mark Giordano makes important decision regarding his future

Giordano plans to play next season, and potentially longer. He will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st and is not expected to be back with the Leafs.

After being acquired from the Seattle Kraken in March of 2022, Giordano signed a team friendly two-year extension that summer that carried a cap hit of $800K.

Last season, Giordano played in just 46 regular season games for the Leafs due to a handful of injuries and did not play in any playoff games for the Leafs. Many expected the 40-year-old to announce his retirement at some point this off-season given his age, but according to his agent, Rich Winter, Gio isn't ready to do that just yet.

The league's oldest player made his debut with the Calgary Flames back during the 2005-2006 season and spent 15 seasons with them before being acquired by Seattle at the expansion draft and subsequently traded to the Leafs. In 1148 regular season games, Giordano has 158 goals and 577 points to go along with 918 penalty minutes.

While he may have lost a step or two, Giordano can still be a very servicable seventh defenseman that can eat pucks and minutes on the penalty kill.

Source: The Toronto Star
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