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There’s only one thing you need to know about Jeff Finger -- this will be his last season as a Leaf. His contract was the mistake by the lake for the Buds and his contract has been buried with the Marlies for a season and a half. He’ll be hard-pressed to see any time in the NHL this season and may not earn another contract anywhere. Good thing he’s a rich man …
Finger is in the fight of his life. Overpaid and having woefully underperformed, Digit is on the outside looking in on the Leafs' bottom defense pairing. General manager Brian Burke has long maintained he has no problem with stashing contracts in the AHL and that's where we expect Finger and his $3.5 mil to land. Both Carl Gunnarsson and Luke Schenn are higher on the Leafs' lists than Finger and it's those two who'll be numbers five and six on the team. Avoid him.
Finger is a no-frills defender who is in a real battle for one of the bottom two defense spots on the Buds. He's in tough to earn that spot and if he does, he'll only bring about 20-25 points to the table. He only has worth in the deepest of leagues and even then, he won't deliver power-play points or PIMs. That's a tough play in any format.
Fans in Toronto have been screaming five-finger discount ever since this relatively green defender signed his overinflated contract this summer. We don't think that deal is the highway robbery the fans think it is -- good stay-at-home defenders are worth their weight in gold. Either way, Finger isn't worth spit from a fantasy perspective... not even for PIMs.
Finger plays steady defense and was tied for second on the team last year at plus-10 (in 22 games), but will find it hard to crack the top three defensive pairings.