Veteran defenseman Mark Giordano will get two more shots at winning the Stanley Cup with the Toronto Maple Leafs after coming short this season. The 38-year-old player just signed a two-year extension with the Maple Leafs that will keep him at the franchise through the 2023-24 NHL season.
The Maple Leafs confirmed the news on the weekend, revealing that Giordano will get $800,000 annually as part of the deal.
Giordano joined Toronto ahead of the NHL trade deadline from Seattle Kraken. He contributed with 12 points (two goals and 10 assists) in 20 games during the regular season but failed to help the team make a deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Maple Leafs were eliminated in the first round by Tampa Bay Lightning despite leading the series three times.
Mark Giordano spent the majority of his pro career with Calgary Flames, who signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2004. During his 15 seasons in Flames jersey, Giordano made three All-Star teams and was named the recipient of the James Norris Memorial Trophy for league’s best defenseman in 2019. Curiously, the majority of his individual honors came after 2015.
Despite a late-career Renaissance, the Flames left Giordano exposed in the 2021 NFHL Expansion draft. The Seattle Kraken jumped on the opportunity to select him, and he even started the franchise’s inaugural season as a captain. But while Giordano was productive in Seattle, the two sides decided it was time for an early split after the Leafs came calling. The trade allowed Giordano to play for a contender and do so in his hometown of Toronto, while Kraken got some valuable assets to speed up the growth of the franchise.
