Confirmed Signing with Link: [TOR] Ilya Mikheyev signs extension (2 years, $1.645M AAV)

[Strangelove]

2 year term is phenomenal. He will blow this contract out of the water.

Expected 1 year but the Leafs were able to pick the term since Mik initiated arbitration. Glad to see them settle.

It didn't go to arbitration.

(the two sides had to agree on term)

And I believe a two-year deal takes him to UFA.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Awesome! Huge to get him locked up for the 2 years, and glad we avoided arbitration.

 

[Phion Keneuf]

This guy isn’t much worse than Johnsson or Kapanen and half the price. Leafs continue to impress.

He’s not worse than either

 

[Taluss]

Pretty good, I like it

 

[Matt24]

He’s not worse than either

He might not be, but he also has a smaller sample size and sucked in the playoffs post-injury.

 

[96]

Great. But we should move one of Engvall/Holl/Dermott out now.

 

[KevinRedkey]

Seems fair, and he seems like a good candidate to step up a little and 'replace' some of the production lost by moving Kapanen and Johnsson.

 

[TMLeafer]

Sweet! he's a useful player!

 

[Leafs at Knight]

This guy isn’t much worse than Johnsson or Kapanen and half the price. Leafs continue to impress.

He isn't worse than either though

 

[LeafChief]

I'm actually a bit surprised the AAV is so low. I guess he's only got around half a season worth of bargaining power, but he performed like a middle six winger in those games. I'd think that's worth at least $2 million per.

Maybe the combination of COVID and his limited games played factored in and he's just happy to be a millionaire for the next two years.

I'd imagine it's the games played. If he didn't get hurt and continued at the pace he was on, he's likely getting a lot more in terms of AAV (maybe double?)

 

[Strangelove]

He was horrible in the playINS, how's that wrist?

 

[kabidjan18]

Leafs just need to convince Dermott to take the QO now.

 

[Cor]

Very good deal. He’ll out preform that AAV easily.

I imagine Dermott’s deal will get done fairly quickly

 

[Skate2Stick]

Thought he’d definitely get more than he did.

 

[slimbob8]

That injury really helped keep his cap hit low. He's extremely underpaid for the type of player he's shown he can be. Great contract.

 

[6ix]

Damn, Dubas got taken to the cleaners again!

 

[Deadly Dogma]

I really am expecting a Dermott trade soon, unless they are gonna try Thornton at 3c at move Kerfoot.
Personally I think Lehtonen is our best 3LD and would be ok with trading Dermott for a 2nd

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

IIRC the arbiter just sets the number, the Leafs would have gotten to decide one year or two so they certainly would have picked 2. And based on where the comparisons were at, 1.6 seems like about what the arbiter would have gone with. I see this deal as essentially a deal that went to arbitration.

It didn't go to arbitration though.

 

[The90]

I really am expecting a Dermott trade soon, unless they are gonna try Thornton at 3c at move Kerfoot.
Personally I think Lehtonen is our best 3LD and would be ok with trading Dermott for a 2nd

Out of curiosity, how many games have you watched lehtonen play?

 

[kabidjan18]

It didn't go to arbitration though.

It didn't but the way arbitration would have played out, I suspect, would have been very similar.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

Personally I go with
Mikheyev-Matthews-Marner
Hyman-Tavares-Nylander
Robertson-Kerfoot-Simmonds
Engvall-Thornton-Spezza

Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Lehtonen-Bogosian
Sandin
leaves 349.8K cap room lol

 

[kabidjan18]

I really am expecting a Dermott trade soon, unless they are gonna try Thornton at 3c at move Kerfoot.
Personally I think Lehtonen is our best 3LD and would be ok with trading Dermott for a 2nd

I could see them trading as well. They can absolutely make resigning Dermott work, but they would have to move 2 of Robertson, Lehtonen, and Sandin down the minors to be cap compliant (because those 3 players are waivers exempt). I think that's something that they're willing to do but I don't think that's something that they want to do. Those players worked very hard and show hints of promise and seem to be ready, it would be a real shame to bury them right now, especially that we don't even know if there will be an AHL season, it certainly looks less likely than the prospect of an NHL season because the AHL has fewer resources.

But if they trade, I think they'll get good, or at the very least decent value coming back because they're not forced to make a move for cap space, they just prefer to.

 

[X66]

Seems fair, and he seems like a good candidate to step up a little and 'replace' some of the production lost by moving Kapanen and Johnsson.

Im a big fan of kap and johnsson and know they’ll be fine on their new teams, but Mikheyev is a better player than both in my opinion.

 

[Albus Dumbledore]

He might not be, but he also has a smaller sample size and sucked in the playoffs post-injury.

Johnson and kapanen couldn't drive play like Mikheyev can. Your right it was half a season of play. But he got iirc 70% of his points away from any of the top 4 forwards which is just incredible production on his own.

 

[oooooooooohCanada]

I really am expecting a Dermott trade soon, unless they are gonna try Thornton at 3c at move Kerfoot.
Personally I think Lehtonen is our best 3LD and would be ok with trading Dermott for a 2nd

Are you suggesting they need to ship out money or something? Because they don't. They'll just be running with only 1 extra body at a time. Leafs have 1.4m roughly with a 20 man roster right now, Dermott would come in at 1x1.4m or less, similar to a Mete deal. Lehtonen I'm assuming will be splitting time in the lineup so he'll be sent to the AHL as a paper transaction on off days and days he isn't playing, allowing them to carry a 13th forward instead.

Also Dubas basically said he sees Dermott as a long term part of the defense, suggesting he'll grow to replace Brodie in 4 years.