toronto maple leafs Archives

Salary Cap Woes—Five NHL Teams Destined To Struggle in 2010-11

April 9, 2010 By John Leave a Comment

With the NHL regular season quickly drawing to a close, we begin to consider how the 2010-11 season could shape up. If the current top-heavy payrolls are any indication of how teams will fare next year, these five franchises could be in for long seasons.

5. Toronto Maple Leafs

As of right now, the Toronto Maple Leafs will pay defensemen $26.3 million in 2010-11—a whopping 46 percent of the entire salary cap. While it’s all but certainty that General Manager Brian Burke will find a suitable trading partner for Tomas Kaberle this offseason, the Leafs will still be left with three to five forward signings to make, not to mention the re-signing of rookie goaltender Jonas Gustavsson.

Simply put, Burkie may not have the cap freedom to effectively operate this summer. Looking ahead to next season, even if the Leafs are in the playoff hunt down the stretch in March 2011, they may not have the cap space to acquire a needed player at the deadline.

4. New York Rangers

Any team that pays a 32-point forward over $7 million will find themselves with cap trouble. That player is the Rangers’ second-line pivot, Chris Drury, but the issues don’t end there. Former offensive-defensemen Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival will collectively chew up $11.5 million next season.

To no one’s surprise, Marc Staal is posting career-highs in a contract year and will likely get a raise to somewhere in the $4 million range next season, which will severely cripple the Rangers’ abilities to go out and acquire some secondary scoring in the offseason.

However, the Rangers have a plethora of talented (and more importantly, cheap) young prospects in Evgeny Grachev, Derek Stepan and Bobby Sanguinetti, so the Rangers may rely on their youth.

3. Montreal Canadiens

When the who’s-the-most-overpaid-player discussion comes up regarding the NHL, Scott Gomez often find himself at the top of the list. He’s a great second line center at best, yet he’s being paid like a franchise superstar. The $7.4 million he’ll get next year is a cap killer, and the $5.5 million that defenseman Roman Hamrlik will get does not lighten the burden any.

Now add that the Habs’ best player this season, Tomas Plekanec, is leaving to free agency and that goaltenders’ Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price are each restricted free agents looking for a pay increase and you begin to understand why Bob Gainey relinquished his managing duties.

2. Boston Bruins

The Bruins cap troubles stem from the six forwards who are earning $3.5 million or more next season. While Marc Savard and David Krejci are worth their moderately hefty salaries, Patrice Bergeron, Michael Ryder, Marco Sturm and Milan Lucic have not played consistently well enough to warrant their current price tags. With Phil Kessel’s departure, they also lack a pure sniper.

Another problem area is between the pipes. With the emergence of Tuuka Rask as a prominent NHL goaltender, the Bruins have to pay last year’s Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas $5 million per year for the next three seasons, unless they can find a trading partner for Thomas’ services.

GM Peter Chiarelli will be busy this offseason trying to re-sign restricted free agents Blake Wheeler and Daniel Paille, among others. He’ll also need to find suitable replacements for veterans Mark Recchi, Miroslav Satan and Dennis Seidenberg—all this with just over $9 million in cap space.

1. Calgary Flames

GM Darryl Sutter has set the Flames up for a world of hurt next season. With approximately $53.4 million already tied up for 2010-11, Sutter will have very little operating room this offseason. With Vesa Toskala leaving through free agency this summer, Sutter will need to seek out a backup goaltender willing to play for the league minimum, while also finding several cheap forward options to replace unrestricted free agents Chris Higgins and Craig Conroy.

Ian White, arguably the most valuable player the Flames acquired in the “Dion Phaneuf trade” is a restricted free agent, but will command a pay raise from the $850,000 he made this year. Aside from Mikael Backlund, the Flames don’t have any top tier young talent that figure to make an impact at the NHL level next season, so Sutter may end up having to deal team captain and fan favorite, Jarome Iginla, just to make ends meet.

Leafs – Get ’em While They’re Hot

February 5, 2009 By John Leave a Comment

When analysts looked at the Toronto Maple Leafs’ roster heading into training camp this season, one question became quite popular; with Mats Sundin out of the picture, where is the scoring going to come from? I’ll admit it, I was a definite skeptic, and laughed at the thought of names like Mikhail Grabovski or Matt Stajan getting top line minutes against teams with elite offensive talent like the Pittsburgh Penguins. Who would have thought that the blue and white might actually boast some offensive firepower? Sure, defensively they’ve been mediocre and their goaltending has been nothing short of atrocious, but their offense, which ranks 11th in the league (only 6 fewer goals than the Penguins), has been a pleasant surprise, particularly of late.

Head coach Ron Wilson tried out a new top line a couple weeks back, and hasn’t looked back. The line features Jason Blake and Nik Antropov on the wings, with Dominic Moore at centre. Yes, the same Dominic Moore that analysts everywhere had initially projected as a career checking-line centre. While Antropov has continued his usual, steady point contributions, Blake and Moore have seen extreme number surges, with Blake contributing 7G and 7A in his last 8 games, and Moore compiling an astounding 9 points over his last 5. GM Brian Burke may have more trade bait a month from now than he initially thought he would, when the Leafs are expected to be among the busiest teams at the trade deadline.

The Buds have 5 forwards with more than 30 points, a claim that only 6 other NHL teams can make. When you consider that all 6 of those teams are sitting comfortably in playoff spots, it makes the Leafs’ offensive production look that much more impressive (but also their 11th place in the Eastern Conference that much more embarrassing). Blake, Moore, Antropov, and Alexei Ponikarovsky are all legitimate players in deeper leagues, with Blake and Moore being particularly valuable during their current streaks. Like some high school lunch lady somewhere used to say, “Get ‘em while they’re hot!”

Mats Sundin – A New Chapter

December 23, 2008 By John 2 Comments

When Mats Sundin opted not to void his no-trade clause last year, it was indeed a blow to the rebuilding process of the Toronto Maple Leafs. GM Cliff Fletcher had set up a deal that would have sent the all-time leading scorer in Maple Leafs’ history to the Montreal Canadiens, for 25 year old Christopher Higgins, 24 year old Mikhail Grabovski, and a 1st round pick. This would have been an enormous step forward for the future of the blue and white, however Mats declined the trade, arguing that he didn’t want to win the Stanley Cup as a rent-a-player. Mats recently signed a pro-rated $8.6 million deal for the remainder of the ’08-09 season with the Vancouver Canucks. Almost halfway through the season, it would seem very much that Sundin is a rent-a-player. And if he really wanted to win a championship, he could have taken a pay cut, and signed with a powerhouse team, instead of the rather mediocre Canucks (cough traitor cough).

Nevertheless, Sundin has never had a problem putting up points in his career, and should continue to do so out West. The Canucks say Sundin will be game-ready sometime in the beginning of January, and I predict that he’ll put up 15 goals and 25 assists for 40 points and a +5 rating over the remainder of the season. He is still available in more than a third of all fantasy leagues, so check the waivers and you may just find yourself a gem. He should help out the Canucks average powerplay, and may bump them up a spot or two in the standings. Just don’t look for the Canucks to upset the powerhouse Sharks or defending champion Wings come playoff time.

On the brighter side for the Leaf faithful, Justin Pogge looked solid in his first career NHL start tonight against the Atlanta Thrashers, stopping 19 of 21 shots to lead the Leafs to victory. If Burke does go ahead and deal Toskala, as many rumors have suggested he intends, Pogge would become a decent second fantasy option in the goaltending spot, as he will get the majority of starts for the remainder of ’08-09.