Toronto Maple Leafs

Trading Partners?

Ok, so according to this morning’s Toronto Sun, Bryan McCabe is just waiting out his $2 million signing bonus, and then he’ll be available to the highest bidder. According to the article Bryan has suggested he’s willing to go to Florida, Philadelphia, Boston, the Island, or the Rangers. The Lightning are also rumoured to be interested.

We can basically cross the Rangers off the list since they’ve already signed Roszival and Redden to deals that prevent them from really needing a player of McCabe’s ilk. As interesting as the Island has been for the past few months as far as discussion of trade possibilities goes, I’m not going to waste much space in logging potential deals with Garth Snow. They have young untested prospects the Leafs might want, but I’m not sure they’re as interested in McCabe as has been suggested by many in the media.

Philadelphia presents an interesting but unlikely possibility. While the Flyers have a number of good young players, they are also OVER the salary cap. Derian Hatcher still has a year and $3.5 million left on his contract, and Mike Knuble is still also a year away from being kicked to the curb with $2.8 million left on his deal. The only way the Leafs can make a deal with Philly is if they EAT payroll, and somehow I’m not sure that’s likely. While they could easily carry an aging player or two before letting them slink off into the cold dark night, I’m not sure what it gains the Leafs if they don’t get prospects or picks in return. I think Philadelphia has to go into the “not going to happen” bin.

Boston is also of interest, but they too are very close to the cap, with only $1.2 million remaining before they bump into it. For the Bruins, McCabe would present a further upgrade on the blue line, but what would they have to give up in exchange? David Krejci? Peter Schaeffer? Marco Sturm? I’m just not sure they can put enough pieces together to make the cap numbers work. Also, a thing to remember is the Leafs really don’t NEED more D coming back in return. They have too many D men already as it is. Picks and prospects make more sense.

Florida might be the best option of the bunch. They have $5.78 million left in cap space, they are worried about Bouwmeester flying the coop at season’s end, and they have a fair amount of young talent. The current scuttle butt coming from Nick Kypreos and George Richards is that the Panthers are offering up Mike Van Ryn, who is making $2.9 million a year. I’m fairly sure the Leafs would prefer Bouwmeester and his 1 year $4.8 million deal, but it’s unlikely he’ll be moving. Other players that might be exchanged could include some of the Leafs depth at forward, for some of the Panther’s forwards also. For instance, if the Leafs were willing, they could ship Boyd Devereaux in exchange for Richard Zednik, or Radek Dvorak, or perhaps even Anthony Stewart who are either Right Handed shots or play Right Wing, which the Leafs are in need of. In a deal that sees the Leafs move McCabe and a spare part forward in exchange for Van Ryn and either Zednik, Stewart, or Dvorak, the Leafs would be taking on anywhere from $3.4 million to $4.5 million in salary while sending down an average of $5.75 million a year in McCabe. That means Florida would only be adding $1.225 million in payroll at the low end, and $2.33 million at the high end. They would still be well under the cap, and since Bouwmeester, Boynton, Skrastins, Zednik, Dvorak, Kilger, and Peltonen come off the books in a year as UFAs, they’d have another $15.3 million to play with in the offseason.

*Update*

TSN and Sportsnet are both reporting that the deal to send McCabe to Florida is already agreed to in principle, the two teams are just waiting 2 weeks so McCabe can get his $2 million signing bonus from the Leafs so the Panthers don’t have to pay it.

According to the articles, Mike Van Ryn will be the key player heading back to Toronto, while McCabe heads south. Van Ryn played only 20 games last season due to major wrist surgery. Prior to that, in 2006-07 he had 4 goals and 29 points, and was a -5. In the 2005-06 season he put up 8 goals and 37 points and was a surprising +15 on a bad Florida team. In 2003-04 he put up 13 goals and 37 points in a -16 season.

If healthy, he presents a reasonable defensive option who should work out in the Leafs top 4 rotation. That being said, this works towards future deals for the Leafs regarding their blue line. They now have at least 7 NHL caliber defensemen, with Jonas Frogen on the way, and Staffan Kronwall waiting in the wings. That means the Leafs really have 9 bodies when there’s really only room for 6 regulars, and 1 7th D man. Expect the Leafs to be looking to make trades as we get closer to training camp.