Sandin's agent Lewis Gross says they didn't even consider leveraging the Leafs for more money after slew of blueliner injuries
The Leafs and Rasmus Sandin finally ended their contract stalemate this morning after Sandin put pen to paper and signed a 2-year deal worth $1.4M annually. After losing Jordie Benn and Carl Dahlstrom during last night's game and already without Jake Muzzin and Timothy Liljegren, the Leafs were going be very thin on the blueline if they and Sandin had not agreed to a new deal.
Kyle Dubas mentioned at training camp this morning that Sandin and his agent, Lewis Gross, contacted him this morning to get a deal done. Sandin's agent touched on the subject in a statement saying, "After watching last night's game and the injuries that occurred, Rasmus and I contacted the Leafs early this am. Rasmus knew his teammates and the organization needed him and we had no interest in creating leverage because of a teammate's injury.»
While this all could have been avoided if Sandin had signed the deal back in June when it was presented to him, Sandin has an abundance of opportunity to play his way into an everyday role within the Leafs' D corps due to the amount of injuries. Sandin is reportedly scheduled to fly into Toronto Friday morning and join the team at their practice facility, so there will be a very quick turnaround here.
It's unclear at this point if the Leafs will slide Sandin into the lineup for some immediate preseason action this weekend or if they'll hold him back for a few practices with the team before adding him to an exhibition game roster. We should have more clarity on this on Friday.
