Analysis: Maple Leafs to sign defenseman Victor Mete per reports

The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed free agent defenseman Victor Mete reports Luke Fox of Sportsnet.

The Twitter account @RinkRatReport was first with the news:

Mete, 24, was a fourth-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens back in 2016. The Woodbridge native won the Memorial Cup with Mitch Marner and the London Knights before making the Habs as a 19-year-old. He’s a 5’9″ left-shooting defenseman who already has 236 NHL games under his belt. He grew up as a die-hard Leafs fan, so it will be cool to watch him play for his hometown team.

I’ve been a big fan of his game for a while now having wanted the Leafs to draft him back in 2016 (they took Adam Brooks eight picks earlier). He’s a smaller player who doesn’t produce a ton of offense — and that’s a bit of a weird profile — but he’s an absolutely phenomenal skater. He started his career on a pairing with Shea Weber, and given how long ago that was, it’s tough to believe that he just turned 24 last month.  You could make the argument that he was fast-tracked into the NHL when the patience and development path of another year of dominating junior followed by some AHL grooming might have been best for him in the long run.

Mete primarily played on the right in London; he’s very comfortable on either side. He wore #98 while Marner wore #93, and they were always the two smallest and fastest players on the ice. He’s a great transitional defender who can get out-muscled at times due to his small stature, but his speed allows him to frequently jump up into the play.

After parts of four seasons in Montreal, he was claimed off of waivers by the Ottawa Senators halfway through the 2020-21 season. He played in just 37 games this season and ended up serving more of a seventh-defenseman role than a true regular. He’s likely best paired with a bigger and stronger partner who could use some mobility on their pairing.

By Evolving Hockey’s goals above replacement (GAR) statistic, Mete was below replacement level this season (-4.7). However, he was above replacement level in the previous four seasons and had strong numbers in his rookie season. It’s nice to have a capable NHL defenseman around if a need arises, but it seems like he’s destined to start the season with the Marlies given this:

The Leafs already have seven NHL defensemen in Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, T.J. Brodie, Timothy Liljegren, Mark Giordano, Rasmus Sandin, and Justin Holl. I highly doubt they’ll start the season with eight defensemen on their roster. A trade could follow in the near future, or else someone would need to start in the minors or pass through waivers to keep all eight in the organization.

In describing the addition of Adam Gaudette, Kyle Dubas said, “It is one of these bets that we make a few times every summer.” Mete is another one. He will provide NHL depth, but he also just turned 24 and this is one for the development staff to get to work on to see if there is some untapped potential to be mined. He is a fast puck-moving defenseman who can also transport the puck, but he likely won’t run produce loads of offense or run a top power play in the NHL; bringing more out of him offensively given his talents is one part of it, but he needs to be able to make defensive stops and competently take care of his own end to play regularly at five-on-five as well.

Victor Mete Statistics S Team League GP G A TP PIM +/-   POST GP G A TP PIM +/- 2012-13 Toronto Jr. Canadiens U15 AAA GTHL U15 – – – – – – | Toronto Jr. Canadiens U16 AAA GTHL U16 – – – – – – | 2013-14 Toronto Jr. Canadiens U16 AAA “A” GTHL U16 33 12 18 30 10 – | Playoffs 14 3 3 6 2 -0 Toronto Jr. Canadiens U18 AAA GTHL U18 1 0 0 0 0 – | 2014-15 London Knights OHL 58 7 16 23 14 19 | Playoffs 10 1 7 8 2 -4 Canada Red U17 “A” WHC-17 5 1 1 2 4 – | 2015-16 London Knights OHL 68 8 30 38 18 53 | Playoffs 18 4 7 11 0 15 2016-17 London Knights “A” OHL 50 15 29 44 14 36 | Playoffs 14 1 6 7 4 -3 2017-18 Montréal Canadiens NHL 49 0 7 7 4 5 | Canada U20 “A” WJC-20 6 0 3 3 2 11 | 2018-19 Montréal Canadiens NHL 71 0 13 13 6 17 | Laval Rocket AHL 7 1 3 4 0 2 | 2019-20 Montréal Canadiens NHL 51 4 7 11 20 5 | Playoffs 10 0 2 2 2 1 2020-21 Montréal Canadiens NHL 14 0 3 3 6 3 | Ottawa Senators NHL 14 1 1 2 2 5 | 2021-22 Ottawa Senators NHL 37 0 7 7 4 -19 |