NHL Free Agency: Maple Leafs Ink Mikhail Grabovski to 5-Year Extension

Brian Burke and the Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to get ahead of the game by starting the re-signing process and Mikhail Grabovski was inked to a five-year contract extension with an annual cap hit of $5.5 million.

Grabovski was slated to become a UFA this July and both sides have been trying to iron out a deal and Burke was very happy to get a deal done. The Leafs general manager told the press,

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“We are extremely pleased to have Mikhail under contract for the next five seasons,” said Burke. “His speed and skill are valuable commodities and fit perfectly with our style of play. He leads by example and his work ethic speaks for itself.”

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What is interesting about this deal is Grabovski is earning $5.5 million annually under the new deal despite never scoring 30 goals or 60 points in a season. This contract falls under the same category as the Ales Hemsky deal.

The free agent market this summer is very slim and teams are overpaying to retain their own talent. If Grabovski doesn't continue to grow and step up his game, this deal could end up being a major bust.

The general sentiment around Twitter is that this deal was way too much for an unproven player. Here are a few tweets.

Mark Spector @SportsnetSpec

Better hope Grabo and Carlyle get along. He just became a Leaf for life. Too much term, IMO. 

6 Mar 12 

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Corey Krakower@ckraks

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Grabovski cap hit is $5.5M. Now there are 44 forwards that earn $5.1M+ per year, and Grabovski is the only one without a 60+ point season.

6 Mar 12

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Damien Cox@DamoSpin

 Grabovski hits the jackpot. Leafs likely to regret this deal.

6 Mar 12

At the end of the day, the Leafs may have rolled the dice and all they can do is hope for the best. Odds are that this contract could become a benchmark used as a starting point for free agents like P.A. Parenteau, who is having a career year.

Did the Leafs overpay? Will the deal pan out? Only time will tell with this one.

Tom Urtz Jr. is an NHL Featured Columnist. For NHL news, updates and alerts about players: