Whenever someone is put on waivers, the default answer to do you claim them should be no. This year the quality of players on waivers really has hammered that point home, and when you consider that as of this morning the Leafs cannot claim Stralman due to being at 50 standard player contracts already really makes the decision for the Leafs.
So all of those things considered, I still have a hard time getting the idea of Anton Stralman out of my head. He’s older, he’s not the player he was in his prime and he’s never been particularly fast and definitely not physical, but he’s always been effective. With a $1M cap hit, a right shot, and the Leafs regularly putting Mac Hollowell in their lineup, it’s not ridiculous to consider a defensive option that comes particularly cheap.
So here is the current state of Anton Stralman:
He’s played 8 games this season, he’s averaging around 14 minutes a night, and seeing about a minute of penalty kill time each game. His Corsi For % is 51%, and his expect goals % is as …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation