Maple Leafs ink defencemen Mete, Benn
Published
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed defencemen Victor Mete and Jordie Benn to one-year $750,000 contracts on Thursday.
Mete, 24, registered seven assists in 37 games with the Ottawa Senators last season.
Drafted in 100th overall in the fourth round of the 2016 NHL Draft by the Montreal Canadiens, Mete spent the first three seasons of his NHL career in Montreal before he was claimed off waivers mid-season in April of 2021 by the Senators.
He was re-signed by the Senators to a one-year $1.2 million contract in August of 2021.
The 5-foot-9 native of Woodbridge, Ont., has five goals and 43 points in 236 career games split between the Canadiens and Senators.
Benn, 34, scored one goal and had eight points in 39 games for the Minnesota Wild last season.
The native of Victoria, B.C., was signed as an undrafted free agent with the Dallas Stars in 2011 and he stayed there for six seasons before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens in 2017. Since then, he has played for the Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets and the Wild.
Benn has played more than 45 games in a season just once in the last four campaigns, and the limited playing time has contributed to the declining numbers.
He is coming off a one-year, $900,000 deal last season, and has 25 goals and 135 points in 595 career NHL games.