Maple Leafs signing hard-nosed defenseman to entry-level contract

Cade Webber’s college season came to an end on Thursday when Boston University was eliminated by Denver in the Frozen Four semifinals.  However, his 2023-24 campaign hasn’t come to an end just yet as Joe Smith of The Athletic reports that the blueliner will be signing an entry-level deal with Toronto and joining the team for its upcoming road trip.

The 23-year-old was a fourth-round pick by Carolina back in 2019, going 99th overall.  However, he informed the team earlier in the season that he was leaning toward not signing with them and would test free agency in mid-August.  That resulted in them flipping him to the Maple Leafs back in March in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick.

Webber is a throwback defensive defenseman; he scored just once in his four-year collegiate career and had just six assists this season.  He led the NCAA in blocks with 137 this year, 35 ahead of second place and at 6-foot-6, has the size and reach to be disruptive and effective in the defensive zone.

Since Webber was on Toronto’s reserve list at the trade deadline, he is eligible to play for them in the playoffs.  However, with their defensive depth, it seems rather unlikely that he would.  Instead, he’ll likely serve as a Black Ace and burn the first of what will be a two-year, entry-level deal in the process.

At the moment, Toronto has just $547K in cap space, per CapFriendly.  While the terms of Webber’s deal aren’t known yet, it can’t be lower than $775K so they’ll have to make a roster move to free up the cap room to add him.  The easiest path to do that would be to paper winger Nicholas Robertson back to AHL Toronto for the final few days of the regular season, then recall him for the postseason.