The Toronto Maple Leafs have inked a three-year entry-level deal with a defender from the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
The Ontario-based franchise selected the 18-year-old youngster 185th overall in the spring 2023 NHL Draft. The ‘Canes announced on Friday, December 22nd, that Noah Chadwick had signed with
the Maple Leafs.
Chadwick has scored seven goals and accrued twelve penalty minutes for the Hurricanes so far this season, totaling 24 points. The Saskatoon player has punched in 32 penalty minutes and scored 47 points, including 14 goals, in 110 games.
Since Dylan Cozens joined the Buffalo Sabres, Chadwick is purportedly the first Hurricane player to earn a three-year entry-level contract with an NHL organization. In addition, he is the third Canuck to be selected by the Maple Leafs, after David Brumby in 1993 and Andrew Nielsen in 2015. He is also the 81st player to be drafted into the NHL.
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Bad Choice Costs Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Competing Senators
After covering the Toronto Maple Leafs for as long as I have, some trends begin to show.
A recurring pattern on the club is the signing of a bad player that nobody wants or cares about, followed by months of silence, until the player becomes well-known and everyone speaks about how the Toronto Maple Leafs were smart to sign him.
How quickly it’s paying off. and the team’s intelligence, etc.
This was to be expected in the case of Martin Jones. That’s because Martin Jones has been smelling bad for the past five years or so. In addition, he was a sloppy signing made by the Leafs during their “name-brand summer”—which involved hiring a new general manager four minutes before the offseason began and signing a bunch of players with name recognition.
I couldn’t help but giggle when people mentioned how lucky the Leafs were to have Jones when he was called up to the NHL and went on to win his first three games (one in relief, the other two in back-to-back games where the Leafs scored seven goals each).
It’s hilarious how typical it is to cover the Leafs that they felt it was a good idea to sign a guy who had five straight seasons with a save % of.900 or worse, only to have the rafters applaud them for signing him after two blowouts and an unlikely comeback.
Martin Jones is a sub-replacement level goalie who was a terrible signing, and is a terrible NHL goalie. He is 33 and has no business in the NHL at this point, and you could replace him with any random goalie and not notice a smidge of difference.
The Leafs should be trying to get Ilya Samsonov right, and the only way to do that is to let him play. Playing Martin Jones, as seen last night, is a waste of everyone’s time.
Jones has played in three losses for the Leafs in his previous four games, two of which were against the weakest teams in the NHL (you can’t really blame him for the Buffalo game, since he was just as terrible as Samsonov was).
Jones has only been in seven games, so while his numbers are good overall, the shutout against the Penguins and the victory over Columbus significantly distort the results.
He has performed horribly in three of his previous four games, including two that the Leafs should have won.
Martin Jones had a dreadful game Friday night against the Senators, which is mostly why the Leafs, who are by far the best team, lost.
Currently, Martin Jones has no business being in the NHL. The Toronto Maple Leafs had to decide whether to trade for Ilya Samsonov, bring up Dennis Hildeby, or swallow the bullet and go with him.
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