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NHL Free Agency 2018: Toronto Maple Leafs sign Frederik Gauthier

By Thomas G

TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 2: Frederik Gauthier #33 of the Toronto Maple Leafs enters the locker room after the first period against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Air Canada Centre on January 2, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 2: Frederik Gauthier #33 of the Toronto Maple Leafs enters the locker room after the first period against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Air Canada Centre on January 2, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs have re-signed struggling prospect Frederik Gauthier to a two-year deal worth $1.35 million in NHL free agency

The Toronto Maple Leafs just can’t get enough obscurely-spelled Frederiks, with the re-signing of forward Frederik Gauthier. The 23-year-old Laval native stands at 6’5″, weighing 232 pounds. Toronto selected him 21st overall at the 2013 draft. He’s yet another addition to the Leafs via NHL free agency.

Gauthier has really struggled through six years in Toronto. Despite an impressive 142 points in 153 games in his QMJHL career with the Rimouski Oceanic, Gauthier hasn’t been able to achieve similar success with the Marlies or Maple Leafs.

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In 159 games with the Marlies, Gauthier has scored just 17 goals and 32 assists for a total of 49 points. He has not excelled offensively, as this gives him less than two points every five games. In that respect, he certainly has some work to do.

Additionally, in 37 NHL games, Gauthier has just three goals and two assists for a total of five points. This includes nine games this year, where he only managed to score one goal. Now, to be fair, Gauthier is sometimes credited as more of a defensive-minded player. However, his advanced stats appear to contradict this.

In his 9 games in the NHL this season, Gauthier had an absolutely abysmal 38.2 Corsi For percentage. This leaves him with a relative corsi percentage of -16.2 percent. This means that the Leafs registered 16.2 percent more shot attempts when he was off the ice.

Corsi is by no means a flawless stat. However, when someone’s advanced stats are that low, it serves as a good indicator of the situation. So, we can pretty safely conclude that Gauthier did not excel at either side of the ice on the Leafs, at least this year.

Well then, I must think that this is an absolutely terrible signing then, right? Well, not necessarily.

Thoughts on the Gauthier signing

Whenever a young player has a particularly bad season, we have to keep reminding ourselves that he still has time to develop. Gauthier is only 23 years old. He hasn’t enjoyed much success at this point in his career, but I think that he deserves a second chance.

Additionally, Gauthier is only making $675,000 a year. I’ve said this with just about every other signing lately. If it doesn’t pan out, nothing was really lost. I, personally, am just going to hope that he is better than a 38 corsi.

Next: Maple Leafs Offseason Outlook

He obviously hasn’t really excelled since his days in the QMJHL, but I think that Gauthier could probably benefit from a bit longer in the AHL. His situation is far from hopeless, and I think GM Kyle Dubas made a good decision in re-signing him.

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