The Calgary Flames decided not to re-sign defenceman TJ Brodie as they continue their retooling and with that, he has agreed to a new four year, $20 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Brodie finally became a free agent this offseason after spending his first ten seasons with the Flames.
TJ Brodie to TOR
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 9, 2020
TJ Brodie Signs With the Maple Leafs
TJ Brodie has been a mainstay in the Flames top-four for virtually most of his career. And that’s where the Maple Leafs are most likely going to put him. Despite being 30 now, this is still a good player. Even though he only had four goals and 19 points in 64 games this past season. Before that, he had nine goals and 34 points in 79 games during the 2018-2019 season with the Flames. His CF percent that season was also at 56 percent which was a career-high for him. This past season, it dipped down to just above 52 percent. That’s still great for a player who’s best years are behind him.
What This Means Going Forward
Besides Mark Giordano, TJ Brodie was one of their best point producers in the playoffs even though Calgary lost in six games to the Dallas Stars. He had one goal and four points in ten playoff games for them. He did have his struggles though, as according to Natural Stat Trick, his GF percent was only 36.36 percent overall for the playoffs and his xGF percent was 48.9 percent the latter being better but still not that great. That’s going to have to be a trend for the Maple Leafs to watch throughout his contract even though it was just a 10-game sample size.
Despite all of that, Brodie will bring a veteran presence to the lineup. He can also eat a ton of minutes. He can also play on the second power-play unit and potentially even move up to the first unit if need be. Brodie adds another left-shot defender to the Maple Leafs line up that is already stocked with left shots. However, Brodie likes playing on his off-side which will certainly where he will line up with the Leafs next to either Morgan Rielly or Jake Muzzin. It’s an area where the Leafs desperately needed to improve and they accomplished that with this move.
Main Photo:
