{"id":69900,"date":"2020-02-24T15:38:14","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T20:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=69900"},"modified":"2020-02-24T15:38:14","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T20:38:14","slug":"toronto-maple-leafs-extend-jake-muzzin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/02\/24\/toronto-maple-leafs-extend-jake-muzzin\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Maple Leafs Extend Jake Muzzin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/maple-leafs\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> have announced that they have signed <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/muzzija01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jake Muzzin<\/a><\/strong> to a four-year contract extension worth $22.5 million. The contract carries him through the 2023-24 season and carries a cap hit of $5.625 per year.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Buzzing for four more years!<\/p>\n<p>Jake Muzzin has signed a four-year extension. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LeafsForever?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#LeafsForever<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Details &gt;&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lIkeg622wr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/lIkeg622wr<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3zyPXdHiDY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/3zyPXdHiDY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MapleLeafs\/status\/1232036398359814149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 24, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Jake Muzzin Extended by the Leafs<\/h2>\n<p>Muzzin was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/2019\/01\/28\/jake-muzzin-trade-toronto-maple-leafs\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">originally acquired<\/a> by the Maple Leafs prior to last year&#8217;s trade deadline.<\/p>\n<p>In 52 games this season, Muzzin has scored five goals and 17 assists for 22 points. He has also registered 40 penalty minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Over his career split between the Leafs and the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/kings\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Kings<\/a>, Muzzin has scored 61 goals and 190 assists for 251 points in 578 games.<\/p>\n<p>Muzzin was originally drafted by the Kings in the fifth round, 141st overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.<\/p>\n<h3>Leafs Lock-Up Another Important Piece of Their Defence Group<\/h3>\n<p>Locking up Muzzin is an extremely important move for the Maple Leafs moving forward. While the cap hit is a little higher than his current contract, it is still not a crippling number. This is extremely important given the Leafs cap situation.<\/p>\n<p>The Leafs defence group has struggled, especially on the right side. Muzzin is a left-shot defender, however, having such a solid defender to guide young players like <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/sandira01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rasmus Sandin<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/liljeti01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Timothy Liljegren<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/dermotr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Travis Dermott<\/a><\/strong> moving forward is huge for the Leafs.<\/p>\n<p>Muzzin&#8217;s offensive output won&#8217;t scream at you, however, he is capable of putting up points as he has reached the 40 point plateau three times over his career. However, it&#8217;s his defensive ability that is his claim to fame. Muzzin is a solid shut down player who plays a gritty in-your-face style of play, which is appreciated on a team that lacks toughness.<\/p>\n<p>With Muzzin now locked up, it is time for the Leafs to focus on the right side and find him a solid partner that can fit into the top four. Liljegren may become that in the future. However, they need a stop-gap for the time being.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"apk0Ra2bRyBAYqtZ_J1gVA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.ca\/detail\/1201231849\" 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:'apk0Ra2bRyBAYqtZ_J1gVA',sig:'4b7MWsAa5J1VA_WDNtxp44uqG2AjWVDa2H0BFyu9SgI=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1201231849',caption: true ,tld:'ca',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that they have signed Jake Muzzin to a four-year contract extension worth $22.5 million. The contract carries him through the 2023-24 season and carries a cap hit of $5.625 per year. Buzzing for four more years! Jake Muzzin has signed a four-year extension. #LeafsForever Details &gt;&gt; https:\/\/t.co\/lIkeg622wr pic.twitter.com\/3zyPXdHiDY \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2506,"featured_media":69904,"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":[18,34],"tags":[393,72],"class_list":["post-69900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leafs","category-news","tag-jake-muzzin","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"modified_by":"Colton Osmond, Dept Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69900","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\/2506"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}