If he is an upgrade I would say it is minimal and your cap space could be used better.

No, especially not at 4x the cost

He's a perfectly adequate bottom pair RD who makes way too much money for what he is. Do you have a good defensive system that can allow him to block shots and not have to think? If so, take the gamble. If not, don't.

With a better coach, yeah, he could be a decent shutdown guy who pots a few goals. He's almost never hurt and doesn't ever get suspended. With his contract, you can have him for free/FC/Conditional 7th if he plays like 12 games this year.

And to the Leafs fans that will way "Columbus has to pay to move him": No, we will not. If no one wants him, he'll sit in the pressbox for 194 straight games until his deal expires. We're not in a position as a team where we need to spend assets to get rid of him.

On a better team headed to the playoffs, new coaching staff, etc. maybe he trends back closer to his cap in terms of value. Leafs actually have a bit of cap, unlike the assets it would take for significant improvements on D.

If you go back to a few years ago he had 200 hits and 200 blocks while playing top 4 mins, he’s a stay at home dmen that has upside, he’d be a great fit in Toronto but his cap hit makes him a gamble, if he was making 1M a lot of teams would be interested

And yes he’s a better dmen than laggy boi, I think peeke is underrated and needs a fresh start