Last week a reader asked me to take a more in depth look at the Jeff Finger signing. I did promise to further analyze some of the new signings by the Leafs (and to compare to those cast away). I will leave that for another day. Today is Jeff Finger’s day…

 Up until recently Jeff Finger was a career minor leaguer. With respectable numbers in his first 94 games as an NHLer (G - 9, A - 15, +22) was he really worth the amazing contract Cliff Fletcher awarded him? 4 years - $14 million! Adding another twist to the story, there is a conspiracy theory floating around cyber-space that claims MLSE actually signed the wrong player. Apparently, based on comments made, Fletcher was really looking to sign Kurt Sauer. Could he have accidentally signed the wrong guy? Probably not but the evidence is certainly compelling.

 The analysis begins by taking a look at some comments made by people close to the situation, namely GM Cliff Fletcher, Leafs coach Ron Wilson and former Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville.

 “A lot of people in Toronto are asking me, ‘Who the hell is Jeff Finger?’ simply because they haven’t seen him play. But Joel Quenneville told me he was one of the five best defensemen in the Western Conference last year. He played against the best players on every other team. Ron Wilson told me he was always on the ice in San Jose games against Joe Thornton. Same thing with Jarome Iginla in Calgary, or the Sedin twins in Vancouver. Quenneville said Jeff Finger was his best defenseman in the last half of the year.” -Fletcher

 “He was the most improved defenseman in the Western Conference last year. When we had Joe Thornton on the ice, Finger was the guy who had to play heads-up with Joe and he did a really good job” -Ron Wilson

 “I’m not BS-ing. He was the most improved defensemen at the end of the year in the Western Conference. He averaged almost 20 minutes [for the season], and in the first 30 games he didn’t play more than 10 in a game.”  - Ron Wilson

 All of these comments beg the question… Were Cliff Fletcher and Ron Wilson watching the right guy? Is it at all possible that Fletcher targeted the wrong guy?

 Taking a quick look at Finger’s stats showed that, in 2007-2008 he actually averaged 18:37 minutes per game in the first 30 games and 21:08 minutes per game over the final 42 games. In fact he never logged less than 11 minutes in any game that season. So Wilson is BS-ing. His quote is way off.

 Also, when matched up against the West’s best offensive threats (Thornton, Iginla, Sedin twins, Gaborik etc……) Finger only averaged about three minutes per game while Sauer’s numbers were closer to nine minutes per game. So it is true that Finger played a bit of time against the big guys but in terms of minutes played, he was low on the chart with Foote, Clark, Sauer and Hannan all playing significantly more minutes. Finger was a healthy scratch for half of the playoff games that season. Not usual for a “shut-down” defenseman who was about to get a ridiculous pay increase.

 At the end of the 2007-2008 season Sauer was a veteran of 288 NHL games, more than three times the games Finger had played. It is important to also mention that Sauer signed as an UFA in Phoenix for 4 years, $7 million, exactly half of what Finger got from Toronto. Finger, on the other hand, got a huge pay increase, almost ten times his $475,000 salary of 2007-2008.

 Did the Leafs make a mistake? Well it certainly looks like it’s possible.

 So now we find ourselves at present day. It’s hard to make an accurate assessment at this point. Finger has only played 34 games this season missing the first seven games of the season due to injury troubles. Paying a “shut-down” guy $3.5 million seems high. At best the Leafs are over-paying Finger for an unproven offensive potential… at worst they’re hugely over-paying an unproven player who is supposed to be someone else. I guess it really bring a new meaning to filling someone else’s shoes…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under Hockey, NHL-East, Toronto Maple Leafs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.