{"id":18122,"date":"2017-10-23T12:27:54","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T16:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=18122"},"modified":"2017-10-25T14:34:07","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T18:34:07","slug":"roman-polak-returns-to-leafs-on-1-year-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2017\/10\/23\/roman-polak-returns-to-leafs-on-1-year-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Roman Polak Returns to the Toronto Maple Leafs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Roman Polak will return to Toronto. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/maple-leafs\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> announced yesterday that they have signed defenseman<strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/polakro01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Roman Polak<\/a><\/strong> to a one-year contract.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Roman Polak signs a $1.1M, one-year deal with the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/leafs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#leafs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/reporterchris\/status\/922205444809961472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 22, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Roman Polak Returns to the Leafs<\/h2>\n<p>The deal is worth $1.1 million, less than half of what Polak earned last year when he made $2.25 Million (per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.capfriendly.com\/players\/roman-polak\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cap Friendly<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>This will mark Polak\u2019s fourth season with the club. Polak had a brief stop in San Jose after the 2015-16 trade deadline. The 31-year old Czech native contributed 4 goals and 7 assists through 75 games last season. He played mostly on the third pairing with now-<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/penguins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> defender <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hunwima01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Hunwick<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>A Surprise Signing<\/h2>\n<p>The move comes as a bit of a surprise, considering the Leafs\u2019 defense core was already heavy on bodies. New arrivals <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/borgman01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andreas Borgman<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/rosenca01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Calle Rosen<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>have\u00a0split games on the third pairing with third-year Leaf <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/carrico01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Connor Carrick<\/a><\/strong>, whose spot in the top four is now occupied by veteran <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/hainsro01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ron Hainsey<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Presumably, the Leafs elected to bring back Polak in an effort to spread out their Penalty Kill minutes among defensemen. Previously, Ron Hainsey and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/z\/zaitsni01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikita Zaitsev<\/a><\/strong> had been tasked almost exclusively with killing penalties. The pair logged an average of 6:02 and 5:18 per game respectively shorthanded. The next highest defenseman, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/riellmo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Morgan Rielly<\/a><\/strong>, averaged only 1:46.<\/p>\n<h2>Cause For Concern<\/h2>\n<p>The biggest point of concern surrounding Polak\u2019s return is his mobility following the devastating broken leg he suffered following a hit by Capitals defenseman <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/o\/orpikbr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brooks Orpik<\/a><\/strong> during last year\u2019s Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Polak, already a notoriously slow skater, will likely be further handicapped by the severity of his injury, bringing into question just how much he will be able to contribute to the club defensively.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N6GJ3hrBw4w\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, it looks like we will not have to wait long to see Polak\u2019s in-game return:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Based on who&#39;s out for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Leafs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Leafs<\/a> optional skate, looks like Roman Polak is slotting in for Connor Carrick tonight and Moore in over Fehr.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kristen_shilton\/status\/922475508649967616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 23, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Roman Polak and the Leafs face off against the Los Angeles Kings at the Air Canada Centre tonight at 7 pm Eastern.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"ZDuKjHfASjFwg4qfcIsHJg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/654282626\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'ZDuKjHfASjFwg4qfcIsHJg',sig:'8geKnmSVhERjjXoEnL8kQbVqSlfuv3qSM4RZp0Dy1s0=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'654282626',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roman Polak will return to Toronto. The Toronto Maple Leafs announced yesterday that they have signed defenseman Roman Polak to a one-year contract. Roman Polak signs a $1.1M, one-year deal with the #leafs. &mdash; Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 22, 2017 Roman Polak Returns to the Leafs The deal is worth $1.1 million, less than half [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2320,"featured_media":18126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,18],"tags":[37,38,875,72],"class_list":["post-18122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-leafs","tag-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-roman-polak","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}