Leafs need less talk, more action
With all the chatter of teardown, little has actually been done
For a team supposed to be in the middle of a massive “tear down,” much of the old is still standing with the Maple Leafs. Actually, basically all of it. While the front office is in the middle of being overhauled and a new $50 million coach has been hired, the highest-paid and most accomplished members of the lineup have yet to be affected. So far, players like Daniel Winnik, Mike Santorelli, Cody Franson and Korbinian Holzer are the only ones who have been shipped out.
Captain Dion Phaneuf remains a Leaf, as do Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak, Joffrey Lupul, James van Riemsdyk, Jonathan Bernier, James Reimer, Jake Gardiner and Nazem Kadri, together representing more than $40 million in salary for next season (Bernier has yet to sign a new contract).
So . . . not really much of a tear down so far.
But if the whispers around the league are accurate, that’s about to change, and possibly in a way that will rock the 2015 NHL draft by the time it opens for business in Sunrise, Fla., on June 26, just two weeks away.
In particular, there’s a widespread belief, as first reported a week ago by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, that the Leafs are making known their intent to deal Kessel before the draft, which could then trigger other moves. This could get wild in a hurry. With most teams having now finished their final pre-draft meetings, both ama- teur and pro, decisions are starting to be made on player personnel already, even with the Stanley Cup final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning not yet complete.
St. Louis has decided veteran defenceman Barrett Jackman won’t be back next fall. The chatter out of Pittsburgh is that unrestricted free agents Christian Ehrhoff, Paul Martin and Max Lapierre won’t be re-signed. Nashville won’t be re-signing Matt Cullen. A Buffalo radio report suggested young centre Cody Hodgson may be bought out by the Sabres.
Dallas won’t bring back goaltender Jussi Rynnas as GM Jim Nill continues to look at his options in the blue paint, possibly including trading goalie Kari Lehtonen.
Even the Cup finalists aren’t immune. Speculation is heating up that Hawks winger Brandon Saad might be the target of a free agent offer sheet. Some have suggested Boston defenceman Dougie Hamilton might be an offer sheet recipient, as well.
As all these names swirl about, the Leafs are trying to sell other clubs on the appeal of their best-paid players as they try to accomplish three things before the draft.
First, president Brendan Shanahan has said several times the team wants to change its leadership group before next season. Well, all the same leaders are still in place.
Second, the team badly wants to clear up its salary cap situation. There’s no appetite to be a cap team if the club isn’t going to be a contender for a playoff position.
Finally, the Leafs are clearly not just looking at this draft, and the two first-round picks they currently own, as a quick step back before leaping forward again.
In hiring almost exclusively from the ranks of the Canadian Hockey League, Shanahan has gone out of his way to hire people already familiar with the generation of players born from late 1996 to September 1999 and with contacts in the ranks of junior players around the world as the Leafs look not just to rebuild but to try to find a championship core. The Leafs are hoping to hit one or more home runs this month, but are also already looking to the 2016 proceedings (Auston Matthews, Kieffer Bellows, Jakob Chychrun, Jesse Puljujarvi) and even the 2017 draft (Nolan Patrick, Quinn Hughes, Max Gildon and others).
To be in position to get the best players over the next few years, more picks are needed and winning has to become a secondary goal, which means people have to go. Phaneuf almost went at the trade deadline to Detroit, and that’s a scenario that will be revisited, even though the Leafs have yet to hire a new general manager. Shanahan feels comfortable making major deals with Mark Hunter, Kyle Dubas and Mike Babcock at his side, and the Red Wings may be willing to give up the futures now that they weren’t willing to relinquish in March when a deal that featured Phaneuf going to Motown for the contract of Stephen Weiss and defenceman Brendan Smith wasn’t concluded because the Leafs also wanted futures the Wings weren’t willing to surrender at that point.
Kessel, meanwhile, has seven years to go at $8 million per, but even in an off, off season he potted 25 goals. There’s no obvious match here, but lots of teams failed in the playoffs or missed them because they struggled to score and could have interest in the winger.
Bozak and Lupul would be the next two on the list, and if Kessel can’t be moved, they are easier to deal. Lupul has three years left at $5.25 million, Bozak three more at $4.2 million.
The Leafs have demonstrated in the David Clarkson trade with Columbus and the Phaneuf talks with Detroit they’re willing to absorb salary if that’s what it takes to make a deal. Moreover, they’re keenly aware that once the free agent market opens July 1, and with the cap likely to increase only to about $71 million, their options to move these players are likely to be reduced significantly as budgets get spent.
Thus the urgency to get something done pre-draft, with the hope more draft picks could be acquired. Buffalo is looking to move the No. 21 pick, and the Leafs might be able to use the second of their first-rounders (No. 24) to package with one of their veterans and move up in the draft.
We’ll see what they can pull off. Maybe not nearly enough.
But soon this tear down needs to be about more than words. Damien Cox is a broadcaster with Rogers Sportsnet and a regular contributor to Hockey Night in Canada. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for the Star, and his column will appear here Saturdays. Follow him @DamoSpin.