Darryl Sutter has signed recent acquisition, center Matt Stajan, to a four-year, $14 million contract extension. Stajan was scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this July 1.
Was Sutter afraid that the player who managed three quarters of a point per game as the Leafs' first-line center was going to command more than $14 million on the open market? Or is he trying to reinforce the idea that he didn't trade future All-Star defenseman Dion Phaneuf away for a checking center?
Matt Stajan is a good player. He's good in the face-off. He's an able checker. He has offensive skills that look good on the third line of almost any team in the league.
He's probably even good enough, on a team with a lack of depth at center, to be a low scoring, defensively responsible second-line center.
His role in Toronto as first-line center came about because Mats Sundin left. He inherited the first-line job and the power play time because of the dearth of offensive talent, especially at center, on that Leaf team.
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Article written by Scott Weldon