The Toronto Maple Leafs and Emil Andrae came to terms on a two-year deal worth $1.55 million per season on Saturday.
Andrae was acquired as the centerpiece of the return in the trade that sent Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit to Philadelphia.
The contract itself is actually a tidy piece of business for the Leafs, as AFP Analytics projected a two-year term with a $2,124,200 AAV. On the same day this deal was announced, the Oilers signed Shakir Mukhamadullin — acquired from San Jose in the Darnell Nurse trade — to a two-year extension worth $1.75 million per season. Mukhamadullin has played 24 fewer NHL games, has produced slightly more on a worse team, but has also been outscored in his minutes compared to Andrae.
It’s a small win, but a win nonetheless. When the deal expires, Andrae will remain an RFA but will have arbitration rights.
Andrae was always going to get a bridge deal, as he hasn’t shown enough — especially at just 5-foot-9 (though he is a sturdy ~190 pounds, which helps offset some of that size concern) — to warrant a long-term commitment. He is firmly in prove-it territory, and the Leafs will retain his rights and can cross that bridge later should he prove capable of more. In the meantime, he’s signed to a team-friendly deal and should get every opportunity to earn a bigger payday.
With Gavin McKenna now signed to his entry-level deal as well, the Andrae contract leaves the Leafs with just over $1.8 million in cap space on a 22-man roster, with Max Domi on LTIR.
We’ve already talked about Andrae as a player when the Leafs acquired him, so rather than rehash that after a very affordable contract extension, let’s look at the makeup of the blue line as things currently stand.
The Maple Leafs’ blue line picture
The Leafs now have their top seven defensemen all under contract for the next two seasons: Darren Raddysh, Jake McCabe, Chris Tanev, Morgan Rielly, OEL, Troy Stecher, and Andrae. After those two seasons, both OEL and Stecher will become UFAs, while Andrae will require a new contract.
By the end of the calendar year, the average age of that defense corps will be 31.8. Andrae is currently the only defenseman in the group under the age of 30.
Andrae will be joining what was a much-maligned defensive unit from last season, but even if the Leafs don’t make another move, they have essentially turned over half the group. Both Raddysh and Andrae are new additions, while Tanev played just 11 games last season (and the Leafs outscored opponents 13-5 at five-on-five in those games). When everyone is healthy, I’d actually argue that Raddysh and Tanev are their two best defensemen, so that’s a fairly significant upgrade at the top of the lineup, with a major domino effect throughout the rest of the group.
Of course, Tanev’s health is a question mark at this point. Prior to last season, he was actually regularly available. He played 75 games in his first season with the Leafs, 75 games the season before coming to Toronto, 65 the year before that, then all 82 games, followed by all 56 during the shortened season. So, despite the narratives surrounding Tanev’s injury history, he actually played in roughly 92 percent of his team’s games over the previous five seasons before last year’s disaster.
The bigger question is how Tanev will respond after essentially missing an entire season at his age. Will the time off leave him rested and rejuvenated, or will it be difficult for him to rediscover his game? Think back to many of the 35-plus veterans who, after missing a full season with the 2004-05 lockout, struggled in 2005-06.
Tanev’s availability really sets the tone for this entire group. Even though Raddysh is the marquee free-agent addition with the booming shot and the ability to produce offensively, Tanev is the only defenseman on the roster capable of being a true high-end shutdown defender. Jake McCabe went through some extended rough patches without him (which wasn’t solely because of Tanev’s absence — the entire team struggled), and nobody else really fits that role.
At least if Raddysh were to miss time, the Leafs have other defensemen who have successfully run power plays and produced offensively in OEL and Morgan Rielly, not to mention the possibility of Andrae getting an opportunity given his offensive skill set.
When Tanev is healthy, it’ll be fascinating to see how the Leafs structure their pairings.
Will they reunite the McCabe-Tanev shutdown pairing that had success when the Leafs won the Atlantic Division? If they do, who plays with Raddysh? The current left-shot options beyond McCabe are Rielly, OEL, and Andrae, none of whom scream top-pairing left defenseman.
The Leafs should want Raddysh on the ice with Auston Matthews, facilitating the transition game and providing a shooting threat that either creates space for Matthews or capitalizes on it when teams collapse on #34 as they did last season. That means whichever left-shot defenseman joins that pairing will inevitably face difficult head-to-head matchups against opposition like Brayden Point, Aleksander Barkov, Nick Suzuki, and others.
For all that has been made about the Leafs acquiring checking forwards — who will undoubtedly absorb some difficult minutes and defensive-zone starts — you aren’t simply sheltering Matthews from difficult assignments. He’ll play 20-plus minutes per game, and opposing teams will game-plan to get him into tough matchups that can’t be completely avoided. There are two sides to this coin — opponents aren’t suddenly going to deploy their second and third lines against Matthews all season.
With that in mind, it would be reasonable to pair McCabe with Raddysh and have them on the ice with Matthews (potentially alongside Matthew Knies and William Nylander) as the team’s primary five-man unit.
If they go that route, they could pair either Rielly or OEL with Tanev — both of whom have had productive stretches alongside him. That would leave the other to play with Andrae on the third pairing, or perhaps Troy Stecher, though we’d give the early nod to Andrae, considering the Leafs traded for him and are paying him more.
Basically, the top four would be more balanced, with both pairings featuring a blend of offensive and defensive ability.
Jim Hiller could also try Andrae with Tanev in more of a hybrid defensive role while reuniting the sheltered Rielly-OEL pairing that quietly performed reasonably well last season, winning its minutes 22-21.
Alternatively, if they reunite the McCabe-Tanev shutdown pairing, they’ll have to decide who plays with Raddysh and how to deploy those pairings. In Tanev’s first full season with the Leafs, his most common forward linemates were Mitch Marner, Matthew Knies, William Nylander, and Auston Matthews. Again, that’s simply what happens when teams generally match up their top players against one another.
If this group remains intact, you’d have to give both Rielly and OEL an opportunity alongside Raddysh and evaluate the results. If both somehow struggle, then you’d have to consider Andrae at that point or reshuffle the pairings as discussed above. Whoever doesn’t end up with Raddysh would play together.
Ultimately, it’s easy to see why the Leafs would ideally add another top-four left-shot defenseman who could slot beside Raddysh and allow them to comfortably keep the McCabe-Tanev pairing together. It’s certainly possible that one of their current left-shot defensemen clicks with Raddysh, but given the defensive limitations of each, you would probably need to deploy the McCabe-Tanev pairing with the Matthews line and the Raddysh pairing alongside the Tavares line in a sheltered role.
There is, of course, plenty of time for that to change. We’re not even a week into July. But this is some food for thought on where things currently stand. This is an improved — perhaps even a much-improved — defensive group if Tanev stays healthy, and we haven’t even factored in the coaching change.
There’s also room to move bodies and a clear area of the lineup to address at left defense. I feel obliged to mention that Zach Werenski would have been an incredible fit in this spot, even considering the acquisition cost. That option is off the table, but players always become available during the offseason, and if not, the Leafs may simply have to be patient until the trade deadline.
