Leafs Off Season (Forwards)
Posted 3:57 PM ET | Comments 3
Leafs Off Season (Forwards)
With the season long over, okay, it’s been less then 24 hours, but it is good to move on quickly. The Leafs will need to start looking at what needs to be done this summer. The main focus will be on the salary cap retracting from 72 to 64 million. With what I have looked at the Leafs have 46 million tied into, six (6) wingers, two (2) centers, five (5) defencemen and two (2) goalies.
Left Wing:
The Leafs have James Van Riemsdyk (4.25), Joffrey Lupul (4.25) and Nikolai Kulemin (2.8) already locked in for next season. I think it is a foregone conclusion that Leo Komarov deserves that last spot on the wing and I assume he will most likely sign a two year deal in the range of 1.2 – 1.5 million per season.
Right Wing:
Toronto has Phil Kessel in the final year of his 5 year, 5.4 million annual contract, along with Matt Frattin signed to less then a million next year. Fraser McLaren is a restricted free agent and I doubt anyone will tender him an offer. The decision will come down to whether the team will want to use McLaren primarily in the enforcer role or bring back Orr so they can split the duties. I am assuming they will want to bring both back. I see McLaren getting a three year deal in around 800K, while Orr will probably get a two year deal around a million.
I think Clarke MacArthur has run out his time in Toronto, while he can score some big goals, he completely disappears for very long stretches. MacArthur I think is going to be hoping to lock in a deal around four million annual and I don’t think he is worth that. Let MacArthur walk. Frattin can jump into the second line winger duties or bring in an offseason acquisition to fill that role.
The number one priority this summer will be signing Phil Kessel to another long-term deal. While Kessel outplayed Tyler Seguin this series, if the Leafs lose him to nothing next year just when the team is getting going they lose that deal. Kessel at his worst with the Leafs was an elite level sniping winger and at his best was a top 10 player in the league. You can see his game has completely mature he has collected 119 goals in 282 games, which puts him around 35 goal pace over a full 82-game season. I would hope to get him signed to a 6 million annual salary, however I am thinking he is fair value of Marian Gaborik and will see 7.5 million. Let’s cut the difference and hope he signs a 5 year deal worth 35 million.
Center:
Center may be the most interesting spots the only thing I know for sure, is that Jay McClement is signed for next season and will be with the club. I would also start working on an extension for him, but that isn’t a pressing at the moment so I won’t worry about it. Mikhail Grabovski is signed long term to 5.5 million, with what he brings may be a little too high.
Dave Nonis needs to find out what Tyler Bozak wants, I think Bozak is more dependable then Grabovski. If the team can sign Bozak in around the four million per season you do that and attempt to move Grabovski.
The Leafs center position is a complete domino effect right now. Nazem Kadri is the number one center on the team going into next year and is also without a contract, albeit a restricted free agent. The Leafs need to sign Kadri long term now, don’t make the same mistake that Montreal made with P.K. Subban. Kadri has incredible hands and is amazingly shifty; those two skills cannot be taught and are extremely rare. Kadri also has a lot of fight in him and does not like to fail. I would like to think you could get him for the same contract as JVR and Lupul (4.25), but have a feeling if you want him long term, you may have to go into the 5.5 million area, which I would be fine with if you get him longer then five years.
So Bozak 4 year, 4 million; Kadri 7 years, 5.5 million and trade Grabovski. Joe Colborne can come up as the teams number three center and McClement remains the fourth line center with top three line roles.
Forward Lines
JVR-Kadri-Kessel
Lupul-Bozak/Grabovski-Marlie/Offseason Pickup/Frattin
Kulemin-Colborne-Marlie/Offseason Pickup/Frattin
Komarov-McClement-McLaren/Orr
With the season long over, okay, it’s been less then 24 hours, but it is good to move on quickly. The Leafs will need to start looking at what needs to be done this summer. The main focus will be on the salary cap retracting from 72 to 64 million. With what I have looked at the Leafs have 46 million tied into, six (6) wingers, two (2) centers, five (5) defencemen and two (2) goalies.
Left Wing:
The Leafs have James Van Riemsdyk (4.25), Joffrey Lupul (4.25) and Nikolai Kulemin (2.8) already locked in for next season. I think it is a foregone conclusion that Leo Komarov deserves that last spot on the wing and I assume he will most likely sign a two year deal in the range of 1.2 – 1.5 million per season.
Right Wing:
Toronto has Phil Kessel in the final year of his 5 year, 5.4 million annual contract, along with Matt Frattin signed to less then a million next year. Fraser McLaren is a restricted free agent and I doubt anyone will tender him an offer. The decision will come down to whether the team will want to use McLaren primarily in the enforcer role or bring back Orr so they can split the duties. I am assuming they will want to bring both back. I see McLaren getting a three year deal in around 800K, while Orr will probably get a two year deal around a million.
I think Clarke MacArthur has run out his time in Toronto, while he can score some big goals, he completely disappears for very long stretches. MacArthur I think is going to be hoping to lock in a deal around four million annual and I don’t think he is worth that. Let MacArthur walk. Frattin can jump into the second line winger duties or bring in an offseason acquisition to fill that role.
The number one priority this summer will be signing Phil Kessel to another long-term deal. While Kessel outplayed Tyler Seguin this series, if the Leafs lose him to nothing next year just when the team is getting going they lose that deal. Kessel at his worst with the Leafs was an elite level sniping winger and at his best was a top 10 player in the league. You can see his game has completely mature he has collected 119 goals in 282 games, which puts him around 35 goal pace over a full 82-game season. I would hope to get him signed to a 6 million annual salary, however I am thinking he is fair value of Marian Gaborik and will see 7.5 million. Let’s cut the difference and hope he signs a 5 year deal worth 35 million.
Center:
Center may be the most interesting spots the only thing I know for sure, is that Jay McClement is signed for next season and will be with the club. I would also start working on an extension for him, but that isn’t a pressing at the moment so I won’t worry about it. Mikhail Grabovski is signed long term to 5.5 million, with what he brings may be a little too high.
Dave Nonis needs to find out what Tyler Bozak wants, I think Bozak is more dependable then Grabovski. If the team can sign Bozak in around the four million per season you do that and attempt to move Grabovski.
The Leafs center position is a complete domino effect right now. Nazem Kadri is the number one center on the team going into next year and is also without a contract, albeit a restricted free agent. The Leafs need to sign Kadri long term now, don’t make the same mistake that Montreal made with P.K. Subban. Kadri has incredible hands and is amazingly shifty; those two skills cannot be taught and are extremely rare. Kadri also has a lot of fight in him and does not like to fail. I would like to think you could get him for the same contract as JVR and Lupul (4.25), but have a feeling if you want him long term, you may have to go into the 5.5 million area, which I would be fine with if you get him longer then five years.
So Bozak 4 year, 4 million; Kadri 7 years, 5.5 million and trade Grabovski. Joe Colborne can come up as the teams number three center and McClement remains the fourth line center with top three line roles.
Forward Lines
JVR-Kadri-Kessel
Lupul-Bozak/Grabovski-Marlie/Offseason Pickup/Frattin
Kulemin-Colborne-Marlie/Offseason Pickup/Frattin
Komarov-McClement-McLaren/Orr
Good write-up Wendel-Mania.
I agree that this is what is most likely to occur this off season. Good job.
I appreciate it, going to follow up with an Article on Bozak tonighht