The Toronto Maple Leafs have re-signed Connor Dewar to a one-year contract extension slightly above the league minimum.

This isn’t a bad deal for the Leafs since they avoided significantly overpaying him or giving him no-trade protection, a mistake they often make.

The good news is Dewar is 24 and has some potential if you look closely enough.

Even better, he earns $1.18 million, and the team can bury $1.15 million in the minors if necessary, making it easy to demote him without any real penalty (puckpedia.com).

The issue is one of principle: why pay more than the league minimum for interchangeable players? Why block young players with veterans who have less upside?

The Leafs might not want to continue Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan’s “Studs and Duds” approach to team-building around the NHL’s salary cap. Overpaying a dud every time they pay a stud hurts the team.

For the umpteenth time: Pick a lane.

The Toronto Maple Leafs paid another replacement player above the league minimum
The Leafs traded for Dewar last year at the deadline. GM Brad Treliving entered the playoffs with Ilya Samsonov in net despite waiving him in January and did nothing at the trade deadline to help the team, who lost in OT of game 7.

Re-signing Dewar serves almost no purpose. He played 17 games with the Leafs where puck-possession wasn’t a strength, but his line’s shots on net resulted in an expected goals rating of 51%, despite losing their minutes by one goal.

Considering his most common Leafs linemate was Ryan Reaves, the worst player in the NHL, and they played well enough to win their minutes, Dewar is a helpful player who can contribute to a decent fourth line (stats naturalstattrick.com).

However, this is based on a small sample of 17 games playing less than ten minutes per night. In Minnesota, where he had more minutes, he performed poorly.

During his last two seasons with the Wild, Dewar struggled, achieving just 40% of the goals and 47% of the Expected Goals.

It’s puzzling why the Leafs would trade a fourth-round pick for him and then pay him more than the league minimum.

Even if Dewar was everything the Leafs hoped, any rookie could provide the same. Dewar adds zero wins over a full season and might have negative value. At least with a 20-year-old, there’d be a chance for unexpected improvement.

That doesn’t typically happen with 24-year-olds with a history of losing their minutes. In conclusion, Dewar doesn’t harm the team but represents a trend of the Leafs overpaying for no reason.