Toronto Maple Leafs Season All but Over: How Can Team Improve in Free Agency?

With a disturbing loss to the post-trade deadline AHL version of the Florida Panthers last Thursday night, the Leafs' season unfortunately all but ended.

While this has been an expected outcome, even with the late push the team has made the last 20 games, it is still crushing to us playoffs-crazed fans.

Nevertheless, there still is work to do over the next 10 games. The Leafs must still compete if only to ensure that Boston, which will be a contending team for a while, ends up with a lower first-round pick this season.

Also, the next 10 games provide an opportunity to evaluate which players are key building blocks for the establishment of a championship team.

The Leafs have $24 million in cap space to spend on filling out their roster for next season. While for the previous few seasons Leafs fans have grown accustomed to the big money being spent on Niklas Hagman, Mike Komisarek, Jeff Finger and Jason Blake, hope still remains that money can be spent wisely in the future.

While not all of these significant mishaps can be attributed to Brian Burke, I think he has realized after the Francois Beauchemin-Komisarek disaster that it is not worth overpaying for free agents to expedite the process.

That being said, the money needs to go somewhere, and I personally hope that the majority of it does not get spent in this very, very weak free-agent class. A weak free-agency class breeds panic amongst GMs, and they make foolish signing decisions—just ask Glen Sather about Scott Gomez and Chris Drury (and no, they should not trade for a contractual disaster like Vincent Lecavalier either).

Before discussing free agency, it is imperative that the Leafs understand the value of the players on their current roster that will become free agents on July 1.

The biggest component of the roster that needs to be re-signed is the defensive pairing of Carl Gunnarsson and Luke Schenn. Both are restricted free agents and have shown enough talent and work ethic to be re-signed. While Schenn will command top dollar (and I think every Leaf fan will be happy to give it to him), Gunnarsson will probably command a $1.5 million per season number.

To put that in perspective, Brett Lebda's cap number is a ratio of 1:1.45 million per goal he has scored as a Leaf. (Hint: He has one goal. In other words, he sucks for an offensive defenceman.)

The most important thing to keep in mind is that even though Schenn is only making $875,000 at the moment, his cap hit is $2.975 million because of his signing bonus as a rookie. So while his salary may rise to approximately $4.5 million, the hit to the cap, which is the only number that any Leafs fan should actually care about, does not go up too dramatically.

Burke is going to have to make some tough decisions between the pipes for next season. First things first: J.S. Giguere must go.

With Jonas Gustavsson under contract and James Reimer playing like Felix the Cat, there is no room for Giggy on the roster. Gustavsson cannot be sent down to the minors without clearing waivers (which he most definitely will not), and imagine the uproar that the Leafs fans would make if Reimer did not start with the team. You thought the anger directed at Ron Wilson for sitting him in Florida was bad...

Also, there seems to be a new trend in the cap era of the NHL that it is not worth it to invest significant money in the goalie position. Rather, that money should be used to improve the rest of the team.

Aside from Roberto Luongo—and I am not sure that the Canucks would not rather have Cory Schneider in net and use Luongo's $7 million elsewhere—none of the other top five teams in the NHL standings have a top-10-paid goaltender. Rather, they use young salary-controlled prospects and incorporate them into a system with an absolutely stacked defence (look at Detroit and Philly for perfect examples).

Burke may be smart to follow suit and use the money saved in Giggy's contract to attract a Christian Ehrhoff-esque player and a rugged D-man—you know, the sort of player we expected Komisarek to be.

When it comes to the offence, the situation becomes murky. Clarke MacArthur and Tyler Bozak (and his crippling $3.75 million cap hit) are the two biggest names that come off the books.

I think these two players both fall under the category of what I would call the Stephen Weiss problem. The theory goes like this: Neither player has the skill set to be the rugged and defensively responsible third-line player that he should be, but at the same time, their offence is not up to standard of a championship-calibre top six forward.

Essentially, they can only have a key role, with the money that comes with it, on a bad team. No team with MacArthur and Bozak in their top six will win a championship, and neither player will ever embrace a Colby Armstrong role on a Leafs team.

The only player less impressive than Bozak's minus-26 while playing with Phil Kessel first-line minutes in the NHL is Simon Gagne. How is he a minus-21 in only 54 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning? I think that Steve Yzerman may wish he had Andrej Meszaros after all.

I know that Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin have played well with Clarkie this season, but I think in the long run it may be best for the Leafs to convert Nazem Kadri to the wing and have him play on a line with those two and hopefully create a dynamic second line for many years to come.

I know this dampens the exciting Kessel-Kadri duo that all Leafs fans have been waiting for, but be realistic—neither of them has any idea how to play a legitimate two-way game. Unless Jere Lehtinen is joining them on that line, you're looking at two goals given up a game.

While I am a huge fan of Kessel, I think that he really needs to work on his defensive responsibilities. The addition of Joffrey Lupul to his line has really helped him improve in that area. Over the last 17 games, Kessel is a plus-one; comparing that to a minus-21 number the previous 56, it is a truly remarkable turnaround.

This is why I believe that the Leafs need to keep those two together and have Kadri play with Kuly and Grabo to create a deeper top six.

Sorry Clarke—you were a solid piece to the team this year, but I think this is a case where you peaked with talented linemates and can now only hinder the future success of the team. And to you, Bozak—sorry, but you definitely had your chance. Nobody would be happier if you showed your worth over the next nine games than me. Good luck!

The rest of the free agents on the current Leafs roster are Joey Crabb, Darryl Boyce, Jay Rosehill, Fredrik Sjostrom and everyone's favorite Leaf, Tim Brent.

Rosehill should sign a minor-league contract and prove to be a sufficient backup should we lose Colton Orr again. Crabb and Boyce have been nice fill-ins on the...first line (sounds stupid, I know) and at the right price would be great on a two-way contract. They do deserve it.

Brent, on the other hand, fully deserves a new contract. He has played the point on the power play, has been our best penalty killer at times this season and has done an exemplary job in the third-line role.

Sjostrom, a similar player to Brent, is probably going to be shown the door.

So what do the Leafs do with their desperate need for a first-line center? There are two distinct approaches that can be taken, each with its own upside.

The first option is to make a serious pitch at a long term-fixture. Without speculating too much, Brad Richards is a name that will always pop up in discussions. He would most likely command a five-year, $40 million deal to come to Toronto. The Leafs can most definitely fit him under the salary cap next season, and he will provide for them some much-needed leadership amongst the forwards as well.

Another option that is much less Brian Burke style (and won't go over well with the fans) is to find a stopgap player before the likes of Joe Colborne make it to the big-league team. The gain with this approach is that when the team is finally ready to compete for a championship, it will not be tied to long contracts and will be able to fill its needs at a more appropriate time.

The reason I am inclined to take the second approach is because I do not think that Richards puts the Leafs into the top four teams in the Eastern Conference, and it is a significant risk to invest a five-year deal in a player of that age.

Of course, the Leafs can chase after RFAs Steven Stamkos and Zach Parise, but after the Kessel trade and Leafs nation foolishly being frustrated with Burke, do you think he may try to pull one off again? Burke is notorious for being anti-offer sheet on someone else's RFA, so if he does go after these superstars, expect a sign-and-trade.

Whatever happens, I think all Leafs fans are just hoping that Burke can avoid the business model of all his predecessors: "I will take an incredibly stupid risk, because if I do not, I will lose my job." With that logic in mind, I would just like to thank John Ferguson Jr. again for trading Tuukka Rask for Andrew Raycroft—haunting us forever.

Hope you enjoyed!

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