I'd like to think that Anderson is still part of the plan here (at the very least for the contract given to him). What potentially gives me pause is both the six games in two seasons as a Leaf and also the previously being placed on waivers by the team.
Not too concerned about waivers. Plenty of players have been put on waivers and have turned out (Nick Paul being a more relevant example right now).
As for opportunities, we were too busy playing underperforming players like Clifford and Simmonds unfortunately. Clifford almost played as many games as all of our good prospects combined, and he only played 23.
Anderson does have 58 games of NHL experience overall, and that is double what Bunting had before we put him on the top line (and Bunting is 3 years older than Anderson). Hyman had zero NHL experience before he was made a full time NHLer after the TDL in our rebuild stage.
Anderson may or may not work out, but he has upside, he is cheap, and he plays the kind of game the 2nd line needs right now. I'd rather that than taking a chance on an inflated UFA contract, likely on a guy who is not going to live up to it, and having less space elsewhere. That 2LW spot just needs a round peg to fill the round hole; JT and Nylander can do the rest.