Toronto Maple Leafs: Plenty of New Faces To Join in Offseason

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter

With the addition of the salary cap, the NHL has seen a record number of players changing uniforms each offseason. The days of a player making one NHL team his home for his entire career are all but gone. In fact, more often than not, an NHL player can bank on switching teams upwards of five times.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are no exception to these rules; there will be change this offseason. In fact, there will be plenty.

Heading into the summer the Leafs will need to address numerous unrestricted free agents, including Garnett Exelby, Wayne Primeau, Rickard Wallin, Jamie Lundmark, and Mike Van Ryn. Add that to a list that includes restricted free agents Jonas Gustavsson, Nikolai Kulemin, John Mitchell, and Christian Hanson and you have a team that will undergo plenty of changes.

Of those players that are unrestricted free agents only Rickard Wallin has a chance of getting re-signed for next season, while restricted free agents Kulemin, Mitchell, and Hanson should all be retained and/or signed to contract extensions.

According to nhlnumbers.com, the Leafs have a total of $44,208,000 committed to 13 players, leaving them with little salary cap room to pursue blue-chip free agents (keeping in mind the NHL salary cap is currently set at $56,800,000).

With as many as 11 players to sign to their 2010-’11 roster and a little over $12.5 million in which to do it, the Leafs are definitely going to have to consider trading one of their top-tier defensemen in order to facilitate bringing in that coveted No. 1 centre that everybody wants.

We have debated ad nauseam which defenseman is the most likely to be traded with Tomas Kaberle emerging as the odds-on favorite to be moved. Trading Kaberle would save the Leafs $4.25 million in salary, money that could be used to bring in that coveted No. 1 centre and/or upgrade other key forward positions.

Another option for the Leafs is to send defenseman Jeff Finger and his $3.5 million contract down to Leafs' AHL affiliate, Toronto Marlies, which, in turn, would negate his salary from the Leafs' payroll.

In the end, both moves may need to be made in order for the Leafs to free up the kind of money they will need to improve and hold on to emerging talents such as Kulemin, Mikhail Grabovski, Tyler Bozak, and Victor Stalberg (all of whom will require new contracts on or before the summer of 2011).

Freeing up the salaries of Kaberle and Finger would give the Leafs an extra $7.7 million in which to spend, but it would also mean the Leafs would have to find two replacements for Kaberle and Finger, respectively.

In the end, the Leafs are likely to bring in a number of prospects to fill out their roster, including centre Nazem Kadri (currently ripping it up in the OHL with the London Knights) and long-shots Jimmy Hayes, Jerry D’Amigo, Chris DiDomenico, Philippe Paradis, and the newly signed Brayden Irwin.

Of those six, maybe two will make a positive contribution next season, with Kadri being the most likely candidate to crack the roster.

Trades, signing current roster players to extensions, and free agent signings will off-set what the Leafs prospects cannot deliver, with an emphasis on young, skilled forwards.

Some affordable options via free agency the Leafs may consider include Mike Comrie ($1.25 million 2009-’10), Chris Higgins ($2.25 million 2009-’10), Matt Cooke ($1.2 million 2009-’10), Alex Tanguay ($2.5 million 2009-’10), and Maxim Afinogenov ($800,000 2009-'10).

Potential high-priced talent the Leafs may kick the tires on include Colby Armstrong ($2.4 million 2009-’10), Alexander Frolov ($4.0 million 2009-’10), Raffi Torres ($2.75 million 2009-’10), Thomas Plekanec ($2.75 million 2009-’10), Patrick Marleau ($6.3 million 2009-’10), and defensemen Willie Mitchell ($3.5 million 2009-’10) and Jordan Leopold ($1.75 million 2009-’10).

I was a big supporter of NHL teams perusing undersized defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron ($750,000 2009-’10) last summer. I would suggest he could be a decent addition to a Leafs roster that still has issues moving the puck out of their own zone. It should be noted that Bergeron did a fine job with the Montreal Canadiens when Andrei Markov went down early in the season and could fill a limited role for the Leafs in a pinch on the cheap (Just sayin').

One thing’s for sure: With the Leafs bringing in so many new faces to start the 2010-’11 season, they will be hard-pressed to get off to a fast start as, in all likelihood, they will lack chemistry. Over the course of the season Leaf fans can expect their club to show some great improvement with a playoff berth no certainty, but a realistic goal nonetheless.

It’s an exciting time for Leaf fans and management. Hopefully Leafs general manager Brian Burke makes us proud!

Until Next time,

Peace!