10 replies to this topic

[**LS**]

Forward Joffrey Lupul has signed a five-year contract extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Lupul is now signed through to the 2017-18 season. Sunday's deal comes a day after Lupul was picked as one of the Leafs' alternate captains.

The 29-year-old played 66 games last season and ranked second on the team in goals (25), assists (42), points (67) and power-play goals (8). He had career highs for assists and points.

Toronto acquired Lupul along with defenseman Jake Gardiner from the Anaheim Ducks for Francois Beauchemin on Feb. 9, 2011.

Lupul has 151 goals and 172 assists in 517 games with Toronto, Anaheim, the Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton Oilers. The Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, native was originally selected seventh overall by the Ducks in the 2002 draft.

Associated Press

[**LS**]

The Leafs announced today that they have re-signed Joffrey Lupul to a 5 year contract extension at an average salary and cap hit of $5.25M/yr. Some Leaf fans are a little dismayed at both the value and the term of the deal as many people seem to view Lupul as a second line winger with a defensive liability that should have been traded, not re-signed. I won’t deny that Lupul is a defensive liability (though wingers generally have less impact on defense than centers or defensemen), but I will dispute the claim that he is a second line winger.

Last season I wrote an article pointing out that Lupul’s production was not an anomaly and that he has always been that good of a player. In it I showed that he made almost all of his line mates more productive offensively when they were skating with him than when they were not. I also showed that Lupul’s even strength goal production had not increased dramatically last year. I won’t reiterate that here as you can go read it if you want, but I just wanted to post one more chart. This chart shows the top 20 players in terms of goal scoring rates (individual goals per 20 minutes of ice time) during 5v5 zone start adjusted play.

Read more from David Johnson

[Rattler]

NHLTransactions: TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Signed forward Joffrey Lupul to a five-year extension through the 2017-18 season. http://t.co/roKVRONL

[gcc]

this is a pretty decent contract and to me , it puts a "load" (big) on this player to be a leader on this team.

[**LS**]

I'm surprised as I have been predicting that Lupul would be walking at first chance.

[chicken wing]

I guess he's getting along with Carlyle.

[**LS**]

Or he feels $5.25M is enough to tolerate him.

[gcc]

Or he feels $5.25M is enough to tolerate him.

As decent a guy as Carlyle is, thats pretty good coin !

[Munchausen]

...and he's out for 6 to 8 weeks with a broken arm.

[**LS**]

Yep. Fractured forearm.

Mind you, I like the offensive support this team has this season, with JVR's shot and Kadri's improved play. I suspect this will open up a spot to add Frattin to the team... who I would love to see on that top line in Lupul's absence.

[damned]

That's a tough lose.