The Toronto Maple Leafs had a rough end to last week, losing three straight games in dramatic fashion. It makes sense that they would want to start off this week on a different note.
The team announced on Monday morning that they have come to terms with defenceman Jake McCabe on a five-year extension worth $4.51M per season. This deal comes as McCabe was a pending unrestricted free agent and will keep him in Leafs colours until he is 36.
Locking up the back-end
Brad Treliving clearly wanted to keep his defensive core together as long as possible. With the McCabe extension, the team now has Morgan Rielly, Christopher Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and McCabe signed until the end of 2028.
This is McCabe’s third season with the team and his second full campaign after being acquired in 2023. Last season he posted eight goals and 20 assists, both career-highs.
That’s not bad for a team that had struggled with defencemen for a long time, but also not great that all four of those players are already above the age of 30—Tanev being the oldest of the bunch at 34.
As part of the contract, McCabe is taking deferred money between years two and three of the extension, dropping the AAV from $4.7M to the $4.51 that will end up on the books. A bit of an interesting quirk that is starting to become more common with recent contracts.
McCabe is a solid NHL defenceman that the team won’t regret having, but he absolutely took advantage of a career season and the looming threat of unrestricted free agency to get a solid contract out of the Leafs.
One Comment