Toronto Maple Leafs

Who The Leafs Should Target In Free Agency And Why

Ok, over the past few years I’ve made many vocal suggestions on who the Leafs should be looking for in Unrestricted Free Agency.  A few years ago I was in favour of Pavel Kubina.  I was right on that one, but unfortunately the mumbling guy with Richard Peddie’s hand up his behind decided it was a good idea to sign Bryan McCabe to a completely asinine deal, thus wasting a gazillion dollars and setting the Leafs needed rebuild back a few years.  Toss in a dose of Jason Blake and that year was SNAFU… still is in some ways.

Last season I was in favour of signing any of Niklas Hagman (check); Aaron Voros (toughness and grit you say?); Ryan Malone (toughness and grit you say again?); Adam Hall (nada); Shean Donovan (c’est la vie); Michael Ryder (might not have worked in T.O. but he looked pretty good this year); Curtis Glencross (best $1.2 million Sutter spent last season); Ruslan Fedotenko (He won another Stanley Cup); Joe DiPenta (played for Frolunda in Sweden last year); and Michal Roszival (he stayed in NY where bad contracts are all the rage).

1 guy out of 10 means I was batting .100 this past season, but I still think 6 of those guys would have looked mint in Blue and White.  But obviously the Leafs aren’t going to sign every free agent available so I’ll take that one I was right on and put the feather in my cap.

So let’s see… going into this off season, I’ll make my list of 10 players and based on historical reference we should be fairly certain at least 1 of them will be signed by the Leafs, and more than half of them will have a solid season SOMEWHERE… even if it isn’t in Toronto.  So here goes:

1.  The Sedin Twins - I’ve made this case many times already.  I’m not going to rehash all the arguments you can read by clicking on those three links I just posted.  I am in favour of the Leafs resigning them if they can keep the cap hit under $6 million a year for each, and if they can keep the term to 8 years or less.  I think expecting players to be productive past the age of 36 is a bit of a huge stretch of the imagination at this stage of my thinking.  If they’re still on the team at that point, and they’re productive, cross that bridge when you get to it.

2. Samuel Pahlsson - Ok, I haven’t really gotten into a lot of depth on this one, but I think Samuel Pahlsson addresses many of the Leafs key needs going forwards.  He gives them a top defensive shut down centre ice man, he gives them a key face off man, and he provides veteran leadership up the middle on a team lacking in true NHL centres.  He’s won a Stanley Cup, and he’s played for Burke in the past so he’s a known quantity.  Wilson would respect him given the number of times the Sharks faced the Ducks over the years and Pahlsson was working to shut down Marleau and/or Thornton.

He had a subpar season for the most part last year with the Ducks, and was a -16 before being dealt to the Blackhawks.  His game is likely in decline a bit, but he looked pretty good backing up the young guns of the Blackhawks next wave.  He is going to be 32 next year so it’s unlikely his production value will rise in the next couple of years.  He has never scored more than 26 points in a single season, and his career best +/- rating was +10 in a year he only played 34 games.  Every other season of his career has been a minus on the docket.

I would hope the Leafs will offer him something in the neighbourhood of  $1.5 to $2 million for 2 or 3 years.  They could front end load the deal a bit and offer him $3 million this year, $2 million next year, and $1 million the following year… just as a way of managing the cap hit.

3. Ian Laperriere - He would lend instant credibility from a toughness perspective to the Leafs.  Yes he is old as he’ll be turning 36 this season, which is why I wouldn’t offer him more than a 1 year deal.  He’d be a capable middle weight to play on a grinding line for the Leafs next season.

His veteran leadership would definitely be an asset, though he’s never won anything significant having spent the majority of his career playing with the Kings from 1995 to 2004.  He has played a solid role as a checker with Colorado over the past few seasons, and has often stepped up in place of injured stars like Sakic and Forsberg to be a leader on the club.  He would still have some value with the Leafs, and because the Avalanche decided to let him walk, he might be available for between $1 and $1.5 million on a 1 year contract.

4. Francois Beauchemin - He’s only turning 29 next year, and after a Stanley Cup victory with the Ducks under Burke a couple of seasons ago, he’s proven he’s a capable rear-guard that can log top-4 minutes on one of the best teams in the NHL.  If the Leafs deal Kablere and/or Kubina, Beauchemin would be an adequate replacement piece.  He can eat 20+ minutes a night, play a sound defensive game in his own zone, add an edge to the team as one of the most feared fighters in the NHL, and in the end make the Leafs a better, tougher, all around opponent.

He played for $1.65 million last year, and I don’t think there’s any chance the Leafs could get him for less than what they’re paying Jeff Finger.  That means they’d have to offer him at least $3.5 million and it would probably end up being closer to $4 million a year.  I’d have no problem with them giving him a 4 year deal.

5. Ruslan Fedotenko - I’m repeating myself here since I stated my case for signing him last season.  He’s unrestricted again after 1 year in Pittsburgh helping them win the Stanley Cup.  He’s now won the Cup twice, once with Tampa Bay and once with Pittsburgh, and he comes up clutch every time.  He isn’t a huge scorer, and he isn’t amazing defensively, but he is a winner.

He’s not quite Joe Nieuwendyk, or Cory Stillman, or even Jamie Langenbrunner, but he has enough of a resume that one might think he’s worth around $2.5 million a year.  If the Leafs offer him a couple of years at $2.5 or so they might get a deal done with the 30 going on 31 year old.

He is likely looking to stay in Pittsburgh though, so if it takes a bit more to pry him away the Leafs might have to think long and hard about the asking price.

6. Martin Havlat - He’s injury prone, and a tad volatile on the ice.  I’m not sure I can get over the fact he played for the Senators and has a history of doing things like kicking players with his skates… but he definitely qualifies as a top 3 forward on most franchises in the NHL, and he’s only 27 years old.

He made $6 million dollars a year for Chicago and it took a contract year for him to play up to the value of the deal.  He’s apparently willing to take a bit of a pay cut to play for the Hawks in a fashion similar to Hossa’s suggested pay cut to stay with the Wings.  The thing is, he wants them to sign him to a relatively long term deal, and the Hawks might be more concerned with keeping some of their young blue line together (maybe signing Brian Campbell wasn’t such a great idea?).

If he can’t sort things out with the Hawks, the Leafs might want to think about bringing him to Toronto as a serious upgrade on their offensive skill set.  He’s proven this past season he can lead a top team offensively as he scored 29 goals and added 48 assists for 77 points in 81 games for the Hawks.  He’s also defensively responsible as he ended up +29 on the year.

If the Leafs can sign him to a 4 year deal for around $5 million a year it wouldn’t be the worst deal in the world… if he’s healthy.  The worst thing with Havlat is his fragility.  He averaged 57 games a season in his 3 years with the Hawks, and that’s with the 81 he played last year.  In Ottawa he wasn’t much better, with 67, 68, and 18 game seasons leading up to his last run at UFA status.  He got $6 million a year out of the Blackhawks though so obviously his skill level made some people salivate.

7. Travis Moen - Burke is fond of him, and has been since his time in Anaheim.  He played really well in their Stanley Cup playoff run, and he’d likely enjoy playing for Burke and Wilson in a strong forechecking system.  He’d do well as a bottom 6 forward in Toronto and Leafs fans would love his style of play.

He played for $912,500 last year with the Ducks and Sharks, and would likely cost around $1.5 million this time around given his Stanley Cup resume and the fact that he’s become a household name in hockey circles.

Another advantage with Moen is the fact that he’s only turning 27 this year.  He’s still quite young and can contribute to the Leafs for years down the line.  If they sign him to a $1.25 million a year, 4 year contract, he’d basically provide the same level of agitation factor that a Ryan Hollweg did last year, at a superior level, for slightly more cost.

If the Leafs can swing this deal I think it happens in a second.

8. Mike Rupp - Would add to the toughness factor on the Leafs, and he’s only 29, turning 30.  He fights, and the Leafs could use more of that.  Not sure what they would have to pay him but he only made $500,000 last year.  So I’m guessing it’s less than $1 million.

9. Mike Grier - He’s a known commodity to Ron Wilson from his time in San Jose.  He’d add size and toughness to the team though he’s lost a step and would be slightly less useful on the forecheck.

He’s turning 35 years old so he’s a bit long in the tooth, but his veteran presence would help in the dressing room and he’s been part of a winning program for years, first with Buffalo and more recently with San Jose.

He is also familiar to Brian Burke from his work with the US national team program.  I don’t think this is a slam dunk by any means, but it wouldn’t shock me if he could be signed for about $1.5 million a year or so.  If the Leafs offer him a 2 year deal I bet he’d be ok with that.

10. Colton Orr - Turning 27 this coming year, and he’d give the Leafs a legit heavyweight at 6′3″ 222 lbs.  He’s not as scary as some in the NHL, but he’ll drop the gloves with anyone and he’ll come out on top at least half the time.  He fought 18 times last season, and he won 12 of them.  He fought 18 times the year before, and he won 12 of them.  That’s good for 66% of his fights.  If the Leafs sign him AND Mike Rupp, there’s pretty much no chance they’d get beaten down badly by any team in the NHL.

I wonder if Brian Burke goes to sleep at night thinking of signing Orr and Rupp and thinking about how much fun it would be to watch them play everyone else - and beating the bejeezus out of the other team in the process.  He probably does… in fact, I might go do that tonight.

So on that note - I’m expecting at least ONE of these guys to join the Leafs (technically there’s 11 on the list with the Sedin twins, but since they’re a combo deal I only counted them once).  If none of them do, then I’m going to count this off-season as pretty much a complete failure on Burke’s part to accomplish any of his goals or objectives.

That isn’t to say there aren’t other players available that would impress me (i.e. Bouwmeester, Jay - or Gaborik, Marion), but they aren’t what Burke has said he’s going to be doing, so I’d be surprised if that’s the direction he heads in.

Oh and one last thing - I expect the Leafs to either sign Jonas Gustavsson later this week, or else add one of Craig Anderson, Brent Johnson, Martin Biron, or Anterro Niittymaki through free agency - or perhaps Josh Harding through a trade.  They still need another goalie, and that’s going to resolve itself sometime before the start of next season.

Let me know your thoughts everyone.