The most controversially debated 5-6 minute hockey player on Twitter, Colton Orr, has been re-signed for 2 years at $925,000 per season. Not overly surprising given Randy Carlyle has always and will always feel there is a need for an enforcer on his roster, a philosophy Dave Nonis is seemingly on board with.
Assistant General Manager Claude Loiselle hopped on TSN radio shortly after the signing was announced and had this to say about Orr:
Loiselle calls Orr one of the Leafs leaders, notes that he played all 7 games in the playoffs, provides forechecking+makes the team bigger.
— Anthony Petrielli (@APetrielli) June 13, 2013
In Orr’s defence, after his demotion last year he did cut weight and improve his footspeed and conditioning to the point where he could keep up with the play and forecheck more effectively this past season. He still is no threat to contribute secondary offense and has been known to kill breakouts with poor puck skills. Of course, the primary reason for the signing is far more to do with what Orr does with his fists, and the usefulness of that contribution is a hotly debated topic to say the least. The next question becomes – does Nonis now re-sign Frazer McLaren as well?
An important note – if Orr winds up in the minors again, his cap hit will not count against the cap under the new CBA, as it is below $950,000.
In other news, Drew MacIntyre, the goaltender who saved the Marlies season after signing a PTO contract in February, has been re-upped on a two-way contract to start for the Marlies/serve as the third string goaltender for the organization next season.