The Maple Leafs made an interesting call in free agency on Saturday.



They passed on keeping a cheaper 32-year-old defenceman who had worn a letter for them and played a lot of minutes the last two years.



They paid more per year to land a 36-year-old blueliner — albeit one from the Stanley Cup champions.



Within an hour of one another, Matt Hunwick and Ron Hainsey swapped teams on Canada Day. Pittsburgh gave Hunwick three years at $2.25-million. Toronto gave Hainsey two at $3-million.



So who made the right decision here?



At first glance, these are very similar players (thanks to Own The Puck for the chart):



The takeaway from this comparison is Hainsey is playing more minutes but generating fewer assists and shots on goal when he’s on the ice.



Advantage Hunwick, right?



Two things we have to keep in mind here. This is only even strength play. (More on that in a moment.) And this doesn’t factor quality...