<p>Jake McCabe will be a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the foreseeable future, reaching a <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-jake-mccabe-5-year-extension">five-year extension worth $4.51 million annually on Monday</a>.</p>
<p>McCabe is now a core member of the team&#8217;s contention window in the next phase of the Auston Matthews era, and will be alongside Morgan Rielly and Chris Tanev for the long haul.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s our quick analysis on the Maple Leafs reaching a five-year pact with McCabe:</p>
<h3>Why the McCabe extension is a mutual victory for team and player</h3>
<p>McCabe clearly wanted to remain with the Maple Leafs for the long haul and this new deal provides him with the long-term security he was looking for. <a href="https://x.com/reporterchris/status/1850902680085950834">The Athletic&#8217;s Chris Johnston</a> indicated that McCabe left money on the table, and it&#8217;s almost certain that he would&#8217;ve received more money elsewhere if he tested free agency. In and of itself, that&#8217;s not necessarily a win for a player but McCabe struck a reasonable deal which gets him the term he was seeking, and the deferred value of the contract still gets him the money he was looking for.</p>
<p>The salary cap is projected to rise, and now McCabe joins Tanev and Rielly on long-term pacts, with the inference that Ben Danford and Topi Niemela will eventually graduate to the Maple Leafs during this five-year window. For a Maple Leafs team that is win-now mode for this season — and really, for the duration of Auston Matthews and William Nylander&#8217;s tenures — it indicates that retaining quality players for the next three seasons is paramount to their goal of winning a Stanley Cup imminently.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s possible the deal ages badly in the final two years, but that&#8217;s not a real consideration for Brad Treliving and his staff. The next three years are what matters, and he can buy himself a window to get out of cap hell — essentially, this is what he&#8217;s been tasked with since taking on the job, now he&#8217;s building the roster in his own visage.</p>
<p>McCabe is a plus-skater with physicality, who routinely stands up for his teammates in skirmishes, can log heavy minutes against top-six forwards, can be used on the penalty kill and helped Simon Benoit produce the best results of his career last season as his primary partner. The 31-year-old has been primarily used with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, providing the Maple Leafs with arguably their strongest top-four defence pairings of the past decade.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Very solid on the AAV but McCabe definitely gets a + here getting the 5th year. Comps did not point to that. Good defensive d-man for the Leafs who can play up and down the d-pairs. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LeafsForever?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LeafsForever</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NHL</a> <a href="https://t.co/1e1EfqcqHb">pic.twitter.com/1e1EfqcqHb</a></p>
<p>&mdash; AFP Analytics (@AFPAnalytics) <a href="https://twitter.com/AFPAnalytics/status/1850901588384059434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Win now, worry about the consequences later. McCabe is in it for the long haul and took slightly less money than his market rate suggested to remain with the Maple Leafs throughout this chapter. If he&#8217;s part of the first Leafs team to win a Cup since 1967, he will be deified for his commitment, but we&#8217;re looking too far ahead. For now, it&#8217;s a good deal for both the player and the Maple Leafs, it drew consensus approval from The Leafs Nation staff. Congratulations to McCabe and his team for reaching this agreement.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jake McCabe, signed to a 5x$4.5M extension by TOR, is a steady top four two-way defenceman and penalty killer. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LeafsForever?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LeafsForever</a> <a href="https://t.co/2xuoZRC3Xo">pic.twitter.com/2xuoZRC3Xo</a></p>
<p>&mdash; JFresh (@JFreshHockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/JFreshHockey/status/1850906605186859249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><strong>Maple Leafs&#8217; grade: A-</strong></p>
<p><strong>McCabe&#8217;s grade: B+</strong></p>
<h2><strong>PRESENTED BY PRIME VIDEO</strong></h2>
<p><a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-111196" src="https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2099/08/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213.jpg?resize=795%2C404&#038;ssl=1" alt="" width="795" height="404" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2099/08/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213.jpg?w=795&amp;ssl=1 795w, https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2099/08/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213.jpg?resize=300%2C152&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2099/08/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213.jpg?resize=768%2C390&amp;ssl=1 768w" sizes="(max-width: 795px) 100vw, 795px" /></a></p>
<p>This Article is a Presentation of Prime Video. Catch Prime Monday Night Hockey, all season long. <a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020">Claim your free trial today</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Jake McCabe will be a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the foreseeable future, reaching a <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-jake-mccabe-5-year-extension">five-year extension worth $4.51 million annually on Monday</a>.

McCabe is now a core member of the team's contention window in the next phase of the Auston Matthews era, and will be alongside Morgan Rielly and Chris Tanev for the long haul.

Here's our quick analysis on the Maple Leafs reaching a five-year pact with McCabe:
<h3>Why the McCabe extension is a mutual victory for team and player</h3>
McCabe clearly wanted to remain with the Maple Leafs for the long haul and this new deal provides him with the long-term security he was looking for. <a href="https://x.com/reporterchris/status/1850902680085950834">The Athletic's Chris Johnston</a> indicated that McCabe left money on the table, and it's almost certain that he would've received more money elsewhere if he tested free agency. In and of itself, that's not necessarily a win for a player but McCabe struck a reasonable deal which gets him the term he was seeking, and the deferred value of the contract still gets him the money he was looking for.

The salary cap is projected to rise, and now McCabe joins Tanev and Rielly on long-term pacts, with the inference that Ben Danford and Topi Niemela will eventually graduate to the Maple Leafs during this five-year window. For a Maple Leafs team that is win-now mode for this season — and really, for the duration of Auston Matthews and William Nylander's tenures — it indicates that retaining quality players for the next three seasons is paramount to their goal of winning a Stanley Cup imminently.

It's possible the deal ages badly in the final two years, but that's not a real consideration for Brad Treliving and his staff. The next three years are what matters, and he can buy himself a window to get out of cap hell — essentially, this is what he's been tasked with since taking on the job, now he's building the roster in his own visage.

McCabe is a plus-skater with physicality, who routinely stands up for his teammates in skirmishes, can log heavy minutes against top-six forwards, can be used on the penalty kill and helped Simon Benoit produce the best results of his career last season as his primary partner. The 31-year-old has been primarily used with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, providing the Maple Leafs with arguably their strongest top-four defence pairings of the past decade.

https://twitter.com/AFPAnalytics/status/1850901588384059434

Win now, worry about the consequences later. McCabe is in it for the long haul and took slightly less money than his market rate suggested to remain with the Maple Leafs throughout this chapter. If he's part of the first Leafs team to win a Cup since 1967, he will be deified for his commitment, but we're looking too far ahead. For now, it's a good deal for both the player and the Maple Leafs, it drew consensus approval from The Leafs Nation staff. Congratulations to McCabe and his team for reaching this agreement.

https://twitter.com/jfreshhockey/status/1850906605186859249?s=46

<strong>Maple Leafs' grade: A-</strong>

<strong>McCabe's grade: B+</strong>
<h2><strong>PRESENTED BY PRIME VIDEO</strong></h2>
<a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-111196" src="https://publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2099/08/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213.jpg" alt="" width="795" height="404" /></a>

This Article is a Presentation of Prime Video. Catch Prime Monday Night Hockey, all season long. <a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020">Claim your free trial today</a>.

&nbsp;

Recent articles from Arun Srinivasan

Breaking News