The Biggest Steal in the NHL! Uncovering the NHL’s Most Shocking Contract Bargain
How do you determine the value of what someone is worth? Do you make your own price based on what you believe the market for that person should be and stick to it no matter what? Or do you compare that person to other people to find out what a fair market value might be for their services in case of an over payment?
Either way, whatever the Toronto Maple Leafs did to sign Bobby McMann to a two-year deal at $1.35M AAV during last season, they need to apply that same tactic when trying to extend Mitch Marner.
If McMann didn’t score another goal this year, he has still outperformed his current contract. McMann has set a new career high in goals with 17 and has added eight assists for 25 points, producing at a rate of 0.54 points per game in 46 games this season. He’s currently on pace to score 27 goals, which would see him finishing fifth in the Maple Leafs scoring behind William Nylander, Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Matthew Knies.
I honestly don’t know which stat is more impressive: the fact that he’s scored 30 goals in his last 76 games or only three of his 17 goals have come on the power-play this season, which is tied for 18th in the league. For the 13th highest-paid player on the team, I guess it doesn’t matter. To put in perspective how well McMann has performed for the Maple Leafs, his 17 goals this year, while playing less games, are more than guys like: New Jersey Devils forward Timo Meier (55GP, 15G), Florida Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe (56GP, 15G), who just signed an extension for $7M AAV a year or New York Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere (53GP, 14G).
Not enough big names? Okay, I understand.
With his power-play marker against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, McMann is now also ahead of Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers (46GP, 16G), Nashville Predators newly-signed forward Jonathan Marchessault, who makes $5.5 million annually for five seasons (52GP, 16G), and New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider, a former 50-goal scroer. (45GP, 16G) — when you look under the hood, his stats prove that it’s not just luck for the Maple Leafs’ sniper.
McMann ranks 17th in the league with 1.5 goals per 60 minutes via MoneyPuck. That figure ranks ahead of players like Tampa Bay Lightning star Nikita Kucherov, New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin and Mikko Rantanen, the Carolina Hurricanes’ new addition, while being tied with his teammate, Matthews. Yes, you can point to an unsustainably 14.5 shooting percentage or that he’s riding a hot streak, scoring his last three game, but McMann does shoot the puck 2.5 times game and is able to use his wicked release to create great rebound opportunities.
Determining the value of what someone is worth in the NHL doesn’t just come on the number of goals you score though. It’s also about what someone brings to a team and for McMann he’s been able to be the glue guy for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s been tasked with moving up and down the lineup due to the countless number of injuries. Head coach Craig Berube has been able to put him with anyone and find production, one of the few players that has been able to do that. It’s not like this is a former first-round pick we’re talking about that just has had a slow start to their career, instead, he’s the complete opposite.
McMann went from being undrafted to signing a two-year, two-way deal with the Toronto Marlies in 2020, where he spent most of the time in the ECHL before making his NHL debut during the 2022-23 season and has carved out a top-nine role. It’s been a long road for McMann to be in the position he is today, a key piece on a championship team that can play valuable minutes while also finding the back of the net.
Being signed for one more year at this number, his deal has to be looked upon as one of the best deals on the team, but if he doesn’t cool off in the second half of the year it has be talked about as one of the biggest bargains in the NHL.
