Breaking: Mark Giordano signs a new deal with the Maple Leafs.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have just pulled off quite a coup.

On Sunday, National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman announced that Giordano was closing in on a deal with the Leafs, and while he was slightly off on the number he was the first to break the story.

The Leafs have since confirmed the report and have now officially announced that Giordano has signed a new deal that will keep him a Maple Leaf for the next 2 years. On this new deal Girdano will carry an average annual value and salary cap hit of $800,000 per season, a number that has to feel like a steal for the Leafs who are now making a habit of signing veteran players to these types of contracts.

This new deal will represent a drastic decrease in salary for Giordano who is currently in the last year of a 6 year contract that carried an average annual value and salary cap hit of $6.75 million. Not only was that Giordano's cap hit for this season though, that number also represents his actually salary for this season so he is taking quite the shave here. That being said it seems very likely that, like in many of the similar cases we have seen with the Leafs, this is a lot less about money and a lot more about quality of life for Giordano.

The 38 year old National Hockey League veteran is a native of Toronto, Ontario and no doubt remaining in the city will allow him to be closer to his family and closer to many aspects of his life that he would otherwise miss out on while traveling on the road with a different NHL franchise. Add to that the fact that Maple Leafs are a first class sports organization, and that both Giordano and his family will benefit from that, and it becomes easier to understand why he chose to go this route rather than opt into free agency this summer.

This will however break the hearts of many fans in Calgary who were hoping to see a reunion with Giordano some time in the near future.