Maple Leafs quell some rumours, sign Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman to two-year entry level deals

The Leafs have signed two Swedish defencemen, Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman, to entry level deals, as announced by the team with no details (as per usual under Lou Lamiorello).

The @MapleLeafs announced today they have signed free agents Calle Rosén & Andreas Borgman to two-year entry level contracts #TMLtalk

— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) May 16, 2017

Rumours of the Leafs pilfering Europe for defencemen have been floating around since Mike Babcock alluded to it in an interview with Darren Dreger of TSN. Katya wrote about Borgman earlier today, and Rosen has been rumoured since late April. Those pieces have some depth on both players.

Rosen is a 23-year-old, left-shooting defenceman, who most recently played with Vaxjo in the SHL.

Calle Rosén via Elite Prospects

Borgman is a 21-year-old (turning 22 before July 1), left-shooting defenceman, who spent the 2016/2017 season with HV71, who won the SHL. Signing age for contracts is determined as the date when the contract takes place, so for our purposes, he’s 22 and should receive a two-year deal.

Andreas Borgman via Elite Prospects

Both of these players will not be eligible for Vegas to take in the upcoming expansion draft. The million dollar (or rather, $925,000) question is what this means for the Leafs roster in the fall. The Leafs have a clear top three with Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, and Nikita Zaitsev. Those guys are going nowhere.

Connor Carrick looks likely to stay on as the number four, for now, but the bottom pairing is in flux, with incumbents Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak as pending UFAs. Additionally, there are players like Martin Marincin and Alexey Marchenko who remain in the mix for those spots, but are also possible expansion draft targets for Vegas. One would think that the Leafs are signing these two Swedes with an eye for them to compete for those bottom-end roster spots.

The natural comparison for fans to make is with the Leafs signing of Zaitsev last year. That would be a mistake, and neither of these players will come close to the year Zaitsev had, coming over from Europe and stepping into a high usage role in the NHL. Zaitsev had more pedigree, was closer to his prime, and was playing a larger role in a better league. What seems more likely is that the Leafs are adding some defensive depth to their ranks, more on the AHL level than the NHL level.

The organization is quite barren in that position throughout the farm system, particularly on the right side. This addresses the defensive depth only a little. Neither are right shots, but Rosen has experience playing on the right side. Both probably need some time in the AHL before they do anything of note for the big club.

What this also means is that the Leafs still have a gaping 1D sized hole on their blueline. It remains to be seen if the Leafs will address that during the offseason.

We will add more details about the specifics of their deals as they emerge.