IS HE WORTH IT?

Nicholas D'Agostino

It’s currently September 14th and with the NHL season just a month away Rasmus Sandin is still unsigned. So far in his career, Sandin has played 88 NHL games over parts of 3 seasons. He has a total of 28 points in those games to go along with 6 career NHL goals.

This offseason, Sandin became a restricted free agent as his entry level contract came to an end. We had heard reports early into the offseason that Sandin and the Leafs were far away on a potential deal but I don’t know how many expected that Sandin would go unsigned into September.

From Sandin’s perspective, he has expressed that he is rather unhappy with his playing time as last season was his first full year in the NHL, and he only played 51 games. For the most part, he has seen third pairing ice time while looking at Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin on the left side. Now with the resigning of Mark Girodano, there doesn't seem like a definite spot for Sandin on this roster.

This year, the Leafs have quite a bit of defensive depth with their guys like Sandin, Liljegren, Holl, Benn and Mete all looking to play meaningful games with the Leafs this season. This is why I believe Sandin doesn't have a contract right now.

As of right now, there is no need for Kyle Dubas to give in to Sandin as he might not even make the opening night roster depending on how things work out. Either way, Sandin is a young, talented defender with upside and If/when he is signed he will play games for the Leafs this season.

Let’s look at some potential Sandin comparables around the NHL. Just recently, Kings defender Mikey Anderson signed a one-year $1 million dollar deal and he is about as comparable to Sandin as you will see. The 23 year old has played 117 games with 20 points over the course of 3 seasons in the NHL. The only difference between the two is that Sandin is more of an offensive defender and Anderson is a defensive defenseman

Another comparable is Coyotes defenseman Connor Timmons. The 23-year old signed a 2 year, $1.7 million dollar deal with a cap hit of 850,000. He signed the deal last year with Arizona after coming off his entry level contract. He was in the same position as Sandin but the only thing is he hasn’t been as productive as Sandin in his NHL career. He only has 7 points in 39 NHL games. Nonetheless, I expect Sandin to come in and around the numbers of Mikey Anderson and Connor Timmons.