The NHL playoffs are on and us Leafs fans are sitting back and enjoying the hockey that is being played now as our team sits on the sidelines once again for another season. Brian Burke pulled off another great move last week signing restricted free agent Jonas Gustavsson to a two year deal for $2.7 million as the keeper continues his growth under the tutelage of Francois Allaire.
Burke now has turned his attention to winger Nikolai Kulemin and since the Leafs dont have a pick until the third round of the NHL draft at the moment, I have decided to take an early look at some of the key unrestricted free agents that Burke may want to go after as he looks to get the Maple Leafs rebuilding plan on fast track but before we get their we need to take a look at the clubs current cap structure.
The Leafs have 16 players (look to end of blog to see players used) under contract for the 2010/11 season for a total cap hit of just over $50 million, this number does not include the potential signings of RFAs, Kulemin, John Mitchell and Christian Hanson or Nazem Kadri's cap hit of $1.75 million and at this stage, there is no reason to believe that he will not be a part of this team next season. The cap hit does include $1 million from the Darcy Tucker buyout. The rumours coming out of the NHL's head office is that the league may be looking at a $57 million top end of the Cap. The Leafs will be sure to spend towards the top of that total, which would give the franchise about $6M to spend at this point.
We look to be capped out and unable to go after any players in the UFA market but not to worry Leafs Nation this is Brian Burke we are talking about. Burkie is looking to unload or bury contracts and a few names have been popping around the rumour mill, Kaberle, Grabovski, Finger and Beauchemin are the main names that you hear, combined their cap hit is $14.45 million, the Leafs could have anywhere from $12M to $17M to spend under the cap.
Brian Burke knows that he will need to provide Ron Wilson with a Top 6 forward, rugged winger for the bottom 6 forwards and some more depth on the back end whether it be a Top 4 guy or bottom 2. These are the next steps towards respectability for the team and whether he acquires this from trades of the players above or goes on the hunt on July 1st, Burke will continue with his restructure, there is no doubt about that.
Potential Free Agents that could help the Leafs:
Ilya Kovalchuk (27 years old)
Top 6 Forward
Potential Cap Hit: $8M to $10M
Patrick Marleau (30 years old)
Top 6 Forward
Potential Cap Hit: $7M to $8M
Paul Kariya (35 years old)
Top 6 Forward
Potential Cap Hit: $3M to $4M
Colby Armstrong (27 years old)
Bottom 6 Forward
Potential Cap Hit: $2.5M to $3.5M
Manny Malhotra (29 years old)
Bottom 6 Forward
Potential Cap Hit: $1M to $1.5M
Steve Begin (33 years old)
Bottom 6 Forward
Potential Cap Hit: $1M to $1.5M
Zbynek Michalek (27 years old)
Top 4 Defense
Potential Cap Hit: $2.5M to $3.5M
Mike Mottau (32 years old)
Top 4 Defense
Potential Cap Hit: $2M to $3M
Jay Mckee (32 years old)
Bottom 2 Defense
Potential Cap Hit: $1M to $1.2M
Mike Weaver (31 years old)
Bottom 2 Defense
Potential Cap Hit: $1M to $1.2M
These are just a few names that could help the Leafs in their quest to make the playoffs but the bigger question is what does Burke have up his sleeve? Leafs Nation has no choice but to wait patiently
The 16 Maple Leafs players used in cap calculation:
Kessel, Grabovski, Bozak, Stalberg, Orr, Sjostrom, Caputi, Kaberle, Gunnarsson, Schenn, Phaneuf, Beacuhemin, Komisarek, Finger, Gustavsson, Giguere
"Burkie is looking to unload or bury contracts and a few names have been popping around the rumour mill, Kaberle, Grabovski, Finger and Beauchemin are the main names that you hear, combined their cap hit is $14.45 million, the Leafs could have anywhere from $12M to $17M to spend under the cap."
ReplyDeleteI just love the homerism. Who is going to take the bad contracts that the Leafs gave out? Who is paying Jeff Finger or Francois Beauchemin without the pot being sweetened? There is a price to pay in Sports for mis managing your payroll and in his attempt to unload Finger and Beauchemin, 'Burkie'- are you drinking buddies? You got his cel number? - will have to give away more than he will receive back. So saddle Finger and Kaberle? Ok deal! Grabovski and Beauchemin? Done and Done. Just don't think those underachievers are going anywhere without the Leafs eating either money or players.
Thats great you figured out that the Leafs have given some players bad contracts but so has much of the league, the Flyers, Hawks, Bruins, Flames, Penguins, Habs, Rangers, Oilers, Hurricanes and I can go on, are less then 2 million under the cap with at least 6 players(Habs need most at 10) to sign, bad contracts are every where. Teams will need to place guys in the minors or make buyouts/ trades. Finger is AHL bound if the Leafs dont buy him out, Kaberle is a gone and why not package him with Grabovski who will not be a top 2 center on this team with Bozak and Kadri, he wont be on 3rd or 4th line, as for Beauchemin if he stays so be it. We can eat a contract and if that means taking a Sharp from the Hawks or Ryder from the Bruins and their $4M cap hit and giving back Grabovski and his $2.9M so be it the teams just saved $1.1M. This is how the new NHL seems to work how else would we have traded Toskala and Blake for Giguere it was more about salary exchange. This needs to happen and trades you would never see happen before the cap will continue, wait until the cap actually goes down, then all hell will break lose.
ReplyDeleteAre those all of the top available FA's or just some you pick out? What a weak group!
ReplyDeleteThe Leafs have no chance at Kovy (assuming he's not KHL bound) he'll want to play for a winner.
No draft picks. No great FA's to sign. What a mess the Leafs are.
Hey TML, I take back any snarky comments I may have made - you know your stuff. I thought you were a homer with Blue tinted glasses. You didn't put any technical stuff in your original post, so my mistake was an honest one.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, when the cap does go down there will be all hell breaking loose. Nice post, I'll be coming back soon.
I think the best move for the leafs is to try and deal with Chicago who has talent and needs cap relief.
ReplyDelete