Fergusons offseason report card

Many people dispute the job Ferguson has been doing as GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has made both good and bad decisions as GM this offseason. Negotiating: D-

Negotiating has to do with making quality trades, and quality contracts. So far this offseason he has made only one major trade. On draft day he sent Tuukka Rask to Boston for Andrew Raycroft. Rask is a quality prospect with a wealth of international experience. Surely he is worth more than a goaltender who had a GAA of 3.71 last season. There were no other trades which is actually the reason he gets a D- instead of an F. There were rumors of trading away Kaberle and Steen for Chris Pronger. This trade would have sent a prime defenceman and valuale pospect for a guy who only showed up in the playoffs last season.

Now lets look at his contracts. These are all of the ones that were over one million dollars per season:

Kaberle 4.25 million per season

McCabe 5.85 million per season

Kubina 5 million per season

Gill 2.1 million per season

Peca 2.5 million per season

Raycroft 2 million per season

Peca and Raycroft are geting about what they deserve, but Kubina and Gill are coming off bad seasons and getting huge pay raises. McCabe is too inconsistent to get 5.85 million a year. Although Kaberle is arguaby worth his money. These players negotiated more money and more years out of Ferguson then they actually deserved.

Drafting: B+

It is impossible now to determine how successfull Fergusons drafts will be however he selected Jiri Tlusty in the first round (who was expected to go much earlier in the draft), and Nikolai Kulemin in the second round. Kulemin is a Russian player who is 19 and almost NHL ready. Many people believe that if he plays in North America he should make the NHL roster sometime this season.

Deciding who to keep: A+

Ferguson resigned Kaberle, Kilger, McCabe, Antropov, Wellwood, and maybe Stajan. What do all these players have in common? They made significant improvements last season, and were the stronger players on the team. Ferguson let go of Belfour, Lindros, Allison, Berg, Khavanov, and Richardson. What do these players have in common? They were all poor defensively. In the department of keeping the right guys, Feguson did an excellent job.

The UFA market: D+

Three key UFA’s were signed. Peca was a good signing. While he won’t replace Allison offensively, he’ll make up for it defensively. Kubina was an interesting signing. He’s a defenceman who is solid defencively, and has offensive talents. The Leafs don’t need an offensive defenceman as they already have two of them, who worked very well together. Lastly Gill was signed. My exitement for t resgning Berg was destroyed after Ferguson signed a slightly taller version of Berg, in Gill. He’s slow, he takes lots of penalties, and he’s a defensive libility. All at the fabuas price of 2.1 millon dollars a season. Ferguson should also take some heat for what he didn’t do. He didn’t sign a winger for Mats Sundin.

Overall he averages about a B Average. Its not bad but not fabulas either.