Leafs won't buy or sell… but they will be active
The Toronto Maple Leafs won’t be just selling off any contracts they can. They also won’t be adding players on for a long playoff push. They’re going to do a little of both and finally start this rebuilding process. It will be a Fletcher style approach though.
Cliff Fletcher has done this before. He’s dealt names for names. Do you remember how he got Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr? He dealt away Vincent Damphousse, Luke Richardson and others. Do you remember the Anderson for Gartner deal? The ten player deal looked even at the time. Clark for Sundin. I don’t remember any of these deals. I was five years old when Fletcher was fired. That’s entirely not the point.
The thing is, Cliff Fletcher rebuilt with a Leafs team that had zero prospects, and developed zero prospects.
The thing Leafs fans can’t expect are moving in expensive rental players in the form of a Marian Hossa or the other types in a playoff push. How many people were expecting that anyways?
The Leafs won’t be able to move Bryan McCabe for prospects. If McCabe is dealt, it’ll be for another waste of money. If the Leafs are lucky, maybe the Sharks give up on Patrick Marleau. Marleau is having an off-year and next year is due to make $250k more than McCabe’s $5.75 million. I don’t see Ron Wilson as naive enough to think Marleau won’t bounce back though.
Calgary wants Mats Sundin and it’s been speculated they want to move Tanguay. A Sundin for Tanguay deal would make a lot of sense. They both put up comparable numbers, and have comparable salaries, but Sundin is what the Flames would want: a player with a shorter contract. The Flames will want a quality player in return for Tanguay so they can make a Cup run in the playoffs, but Tanguay is signed long-term, and the Flames need the space to make room for Dion Phaneuf.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have talked about moving Martin St. Louis… they need defense, and to dump salary… what about a Kaberle for St. Louis deal? Not straight up of course, we’d need to send a draft pick or prospect or maybe both along too. But it’s interesting frame work.
It’s impossible to tell what Cliff Fletcher is thinking of doing at this very moment, but I can make you a personal guarantee that the salary of the Toronto Maple Leafs will be above $40 million after the deadline.