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Toronto Maple Leafs Discussing Trade With Vegas

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As teased in our earlier article about George McPhee’s confirmation that he and the Vegas Golden Knights already have at least six trades completed, is that the Toronto Maple Leafs are also still in discussions with the club. As Frank Seravalli of TSN notes in his latest piece, Toronto GM Lou Lamoriello was affected by travel issues and was given more time from McPhee to negotiate a deal with Vegas.

Though the Maple Leafs aren’t likely to need to dump salary or protect extra players—Joffery Lupul or Nathan Horton’s contracts could be moved for more cap space this summer, but it’s not imperative that the team do so—they could be on the prowl for one of the extra defensemen that Vegas will pick tomorrow. Seravalli notes Mathew Dumba, Colin Miller, Sami Vatanen and Marc Methot in his column but there are obviously many more.  Trevor van Riemsdyk

In our mock expansion draft, we had the Golden Knights picking ten defensemen from around the league and while it’s still unclear how the already completed trades could affect these names, it’s a list that would draw wide interest from the Maple Leafs. While Brayden McNabb and Nate Schmidt are both left-handed and would likely have to slot in behind Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner, they are both young enough to fit into the Leafs’ competitive window and would offer upgrades on Matt Hunwick and Martin Marincin, the duo most often deployed in that third pairing LHD spot last season.

The most interesting name though may be Trevor van Riemsdyk, young brother of Maple Leafs’ forward James van Riemsdyk and expected expansion casualty from the Chicago Blackhawks. The younger van Riemsdyk is only 25, right-handed and has begun to show a capability beyond his beginnings as an NCAA free agent.

In any case, there should be many names available to the Maple Leafs if the Golden Knights are looking to flip contracts after the draft. With several exciting prospects still in the Leafs system and a glut of young players already fighting for jobs at the NHL level, they could afford to move out a couple in any deal. It will be interesting to see what kind of dealing they have planned with the expansion franchise, if any at all.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Islanders Likely To Move Grabovski And 15th Overall To Vegas

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Arthur Staple of Newsday has had to deal with multiple changes in story for the Islanders in the wake of their bizarre protection scheme released yesterday. It seems as though the rationale behind that suspect arrangement might finally be coming to light.

According to Staple, there is a complicated arrangement between Vegas and the Islanders to move Mikhail Grabovski to the team as well as steer Vegas’ pick by enticing them with a 1st-round selection (#15). The 33 year-old Grabovski has had massive concussion issues which kept him sidelined all last season. There’s a very real possibility that Grabovski never fully recovers to full form, so this would be a pure cap dump from the perspective of Vegas. He hasn’t played over 60 games in a season since 2012, and although he has posted decent offensive numbers, he’s never broken 60 points. His contract is worth $5 MM and only runs for another season. It remains to be seen what enticement Vegas will need in order to take on that contract.

The 1st round pick will be offered to Vegas in exchange for their staying away from certain players. As of now, it seems probable that this means the protection of Brock Nelson and/or Calvin de Haan, as other names have been floated with little confirmation. Nikolai Kulemin could be a possible intriguing draft target for Vegas – it would help the cap situation of Garth Snow even further and he has a tight connection with Grabovski. Kulemin is also only under contract for another season, at $4.19 MM.

Even in light of this this information, the whole arrangement seems wildly unnecessary and convoluted. However, If Vegas is willing to take on injured players contracts and cap dumps, as this deal would imply, it may keep the doors open for players such as Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul.  If there are any further details that break before Vegas’ selections, we at PHR will be on top of the development.

Should Vegas Corner Goalie Market?

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With the recent trade of Mike Smith to Calgary, the market for starting goaltenders is dwindling even further. An interesting dynamic for the Vegas Golden Knights as they choose their team will be whether they opt to select every quality goalie out there in order to flip them to other teams. There are quite a few available – Marc-Andre Fleury of Pittsburgh, Eddie Lack (and Cam Ward) of Carolina, Calvin Pickard of Colorado, Antti Raanta of New York, Petr Mrazek of Detroit, Roberto Luongo of Florida, Jaroslav Halak of the Islanders, Michal Neuvirth of Philadelphia, Peter Budaj of Tampa Bay, and Philipp Grubauer of Washington, with a few interesting prospects also exposed.  As we’ve seen in the past few seasons, dealing a goaltender for anything remotely resembling fair value can be an enormous challenge. The salary cap has really warped the value of a solid starting goaltender in a way that has not been totally beneficial to the players.

One down season and a tender’s value goes down quite heavily. The top ten goalies in the league always seem to find a home on the rare occasion they hit unrestricted free agency, but that has been a rare occurrence. Many might point to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final when they isolate a particular moment that the highly-paid goaltender became an oddity. In that Final, Michael Leighton, third-string for Philadelphia, faced off against the very pedestrian Antti Niemi, who was then  sacrificed for cap reasons. With the whole league watching, these teams ascended to hockey’s main stage with relative no names in the crease. While that moment may have been particularly damaging, the moment for me was the fiasco that was the Luongo and Cory Schneider trade saga in Vancouver, which lasted parts of 2 seasons. Then Canucks GM Mike Gillis had a terrible time finding a suitor for Luongo before finally being forced to ship Schneider off in the 2013 offseason for a 9th round pick. This too, was terrible value, considering that Schneider was one of the best young goalies in the league and coming off a scorching season where he had a .937 save percentage. This ordeal took place less than two years after Luongo had taken the team to its first Final since 1994. Granted, Luongo’s contract was considered a bit of an albatross, but it very publicly cemented the value of goaltenders on the trade market as minimal.

Looking forward to the present day, and the last two goaltenders have been traded for rather uninspiring returns. Arizona’s Smith only fetched a 3rd rounder, and Ben Bishop only netted a 4th from Dallas. GM George McPhee could end up hosting a goaltender buffet, with few paying customers. He would be wise to gauge the interest of other teams before deciding on their selections in net. They obviously want to draft a solid starter and a few young goaltenders as future cornerstones. They need to draft 3, and it’s difficult to envision them drafting less than 4 with the enticing names available out there. But if they decide to go into 5 or 6 goaltender territory, McPhee could manufacture a logjam that could be difficult to sort out. After all, only the WInnipeg Jets are truly desperate for a starting goaltender, and that’s assuming they don’t want one of Brian Elliott, Mike Condon, or another UFA to be their partner for Connor Hellebuyck. Philadelphia could be interested in a younger asset, and there are always teams who will desperately seek a starter mid-season when a keeper inevitably goes down to injury. That said, the market simply doesn’t favor the strategy of going all-in in net.

Vegas Storming 1st Round Of Draft

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The Vegas Golden Knights are in an odd position, where they control a strong negotiating position over teams who don’t want to lose valuable roster players. Vegas is under no obligation to comply with any requests, and can essentially extort other teams for maximum return. If Anaheim wants to protect Josh Manson, for example, Vegas will play hardball. They will do so for two reasons: first, the better the player, the more important he will be to a future Knights team, and two, they have no incentive not to take that player for anything less than an optimal return. GM George McPhee is already looking to have a better competitive jump-start than any previous NHL expansion team by a significant margin. And it doesn’t look as though he will opt out of choosing the best available players for anything short of a ransom. Some teams might be desperate enough to do so.

Vegas is already assumed to have three picks, and could easily snag more. They have their own pick at #6, and are believed to have side-deals with Columbus and the New York Islanders in order to acquire the #24 and #15 picks, respectively. Anaheim is definitely in discussions to keep Manson and possibly even Sami Vatanen, who they desperately tried to trade for value before Saturday’s roster freeze. It’s quite conceivable that picks are in play there, but Anaheim no longer has its 2017 first after trading it to Dallas for Patrick Eaves.

Other teams who will be desperate to keep players include Nashville, who would lose James Neal, Chicago, who have exposed Trevor van Riemsdyk, and San Jose, who could lose one of Paul Martin or David Schlemko. If those teams, or any other organization, really want to hang onto particular players, there’s a very real possibility they will need to surrender a top pick.

For historical reference, only one team has ever drafted with 5 first-round picks – the 1974 Montreal Canadiens. The last team who had 4 first-round picks was the 1999 New York Islanders, when they selected Tim Connolly at #5. If Vegas could amass yet another first round pick, or even two, it would put them in an incredibly enviable position headed into the Entry Draft. The importance of flash and showmanship is rarely overlooked in the City of Lights, and the team looks to continue that philosophy by embracing the saga that the expansion draft has become.

Islanders’ Perplexing Side-Deal With Vegas

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As I briefly mentioned in a previous article, the New York Islanders decided to travel a very perplexing road with their protection list. They shielded only 3 forwards, and protected 5 defensemen, allowing a whole host of forwards to be claimed.  These include Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome, Casey Cizikas, Nikolai Kulemin, and Josh Bailey at the upper end of the spectrum. Defenseman Calvin de Haan, who has reportedly has had difficulty coming to a deal with management on a new contract, is also left at Vegas’ disposal

What complicates matters is that Arthur Staple of Newsday has been insinuating that the Islanders have a deal in place to protect Nelson, Strome, and de Haan, while others, such as Darren Dreger, believes the deal only applies to forwards.  NHL Numbers stated today that the protection agreement would protect only Bailey and Cizikas, which is easily the most disastrous deal of the group. From a pure value standpoint, Nelson, de Haan and Strome have far more value than either player. Staple believed yesterday evening that the Islanders were going to trade their 15th overall selection in order to push Vegas in a favorable direction. Even still, it doesn’t explain the particulars of the players protected.

John Tavares is an obvious keeper, and Andrew Ladd helped the offense in a big way after a rocky start. Anders Lee is coming off a phenomenal 34 goal season in only his 3rd full outing. The defense revolves around Nick Leddy and Travis Hamonic, and despite his steps backward Johnny Boychuk is a big minute eater for the team. You could have made a case for Ryan Pulock over Boychuk, and made that quite convincingly, but it seemed inevitable that team would lose a defender no matter what. Boychuk did have an NMC, which complicated that matter. Considering that the team was 17th in goals against this past season, that wasn’t exactly a worst-case scenario.

Instead of taking the orthodox 4-4 route and protecting Nelson or Strome as well as Pulock or de Haan, or protecting all but one forward in a 7-3 scheme, the Islanders chose instead to protect a relative no-name in Adam Pelech. Pelech had a solid season, to be sure, but he is a bottom-pairing defenseman and doesn’t project as a difference maker. By opting to leave these players exposed, they take a large aspect of the decision making out of their own hands. GM Garth Snow sacrificed a first round pick and a certain degree of autonomy to protect two forwards, when they could instead have done that on their own. If the end goal was to entice Vegas into selecting Thomas Hickey, they could have done so without the bizarre protection structure. This isn’t even delving into the insanity of surrendering a first-round selection to protect one mid-level player over another.

All in all, the Islanders and GM Garth Snow have stolen the show today for most bewildering decision. Unless the deal with Vegas is far more encompassing than it appears at the moment, they are looking to lose a solid contributor and a 1st-round pick when both could have been avoided.

 

The original article incorrectly linked Dylan Strome.

Metropolitan Division Offers Vegas Multiple Goalies, Project Players

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The Metropolitan Division was undoubtedly the most competitive last season, with 3 of the league’s top 5 points finishers within it, including the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Penguins. Some teams in the Metro have prepared poorly, while others look to take a minor hit and move on from expansion relatively unscathed. No major surprises exist outside of Brooklyn, where the Islanders took the crown for the most unorthodox and confounding strategy.

The Penguins seem to have known for quite some time that Marc-Andre Fleury was Vegas bound. GM Jim Rutherford balked at trade offers last off-season despite the goalie’s no-movement clause potentially complicating matters further down the line. The organization finally asked him to waive his clause in February, and both parties seem willing to move on. Rutherford did seem to be leaning toward the 7-3-1 model originally, but eventually opted to go with the 4-4 route to protect both Olli Maatta and Justin Schultz. If for whatever reason Fleury is not chosen, playoff performer Bryan Rust is almost certainly the claim. Columbus’ list is about what we expected, but it still seems strange to see Josh Anderson and Jack Johnson are left exposed. If there is a deal in place for a 1st round pick, as reported earlier by the Columbus Dispatch, Johnson is the likely selection. He’s still got a lot of talent, and with all his international experience, he could be a great leader for younger players in Vegas.

The Philadelphia Flyers made one of the smarter (if unexpected) decisions of the day and opted to protect Scott Laughton over assistant captain Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and the streaky Michael Raffl. Jordan Weal is still left exposed, and theoretically any of the three could be headed to Vegas. The Washington Capitals are absolutely going to lose a solid player, and it’s destined to be either the very promising defenseman Nate Schmidt or standout goalie Philipp Grubauer. The Capitals knew this was coming for a long time, but it can’t hurt any less to lose assets in this fashion. A possible scenario to watch out for is whether Vegas will pursue T.J. Oshie as a free agent in the short-term. They have first dibs on negotiations if they want to open that conversation, and he’s considered by many to be the top available UFA. The team doesn’t really need another goaltender, and their defense would survive without Schmidt, even with his incredible talent.

The New Jersey Devils arguably have the weakest roster on paper at the moment, and it shows with the potential selections Vegas need to consider. Mike Cammalleri is unproductive and overpaid, Beau Bennett has all but busted when he isn’t injured, Jacob Josefson scored one goal last season, and Devante Smith-Pelly is with his third club in as many years. The New York Rangers couldn’t move Antti Raanta and now it seems probable that Vegas will take advantage. Other options would include Jesper Fast and the very productive (27 goals) Michael Grabner, neither of whom is good enough to justify passing on the solid Raanta. No surprises here, but management certainly waited until the final hour to buyout Dan Girardi – which allowed them to utilize that 7-3-1 strategy effectively. Carolina will offer up one of the worst prizes to the Golden Knights, and Lee Stempniak is the only name that truly jumps out. Long-time goalie Cam Ward finds himself on the outs, as does Eddie Lack, but when the team moved for Scott Darling this fate was very foreseeable. Perhaps management will try to entice Vegas to claim one of the keepers and help their logjam along.

The New York Islanders seem to have botched their efforts today, but there may be machinations behind the scenes which could justify such a bizarre strategy. GM Garth Snow opted to protect only 3 forwards and 5 defensemen – the only team to do so. Even worse, one of the defenseman left unprotected was Calvin de Haan. Assuming there is no deal to take a blueliner in the works, Vegas could choose de Haan or their favorite from a large selection of intriguing forwards. Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson, and Ryan Strome are all available, and each provides a different skillset. McPhee could even take one of the league’s toughest bottom sixers in Casey Cizikas or a crafty, veteran Nikolai Kulemin. He has loads of options, and none of them are any good for an Islanders team who survive off their depth. Why Adam Pelech, with his 12 career points and 46.6% Corsi For in 2016-17, was worth protection over any of those names will surely be one of the draft’s greatest quandaries.

Vegas will get an opportunity to draft their starting two goaltenders from the Metro, and will have a wide assortment of options elsewhere. The Washington situation should be fun to speculate on, and trying to find a worthwhile pick in New Jersey could be an adventure for the Knights. Snow’s Islanders are just an incredible anomaly, and that list may draw some serious criticism.

Atlantic Division Offers Scoring, Depth Players

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The Atlantic Division was arguably the weakest in the league, but Vegas should be happy to know that they can claim two previous 30-goal scorers from the group. Some teams offer very little, such as Buffalo, because of their lack of depth, and Toronto, because of good planning. But others, such as Montreal and Detroit, will provide interesting options at multiple positions.

The Boston Bruins have one of the weakest lists of the lot, but there are still a few names which could help the Golden Knights organization. Vegas could opt for the overpaid but serviceable Matt Beleskey in hopes of his return to form as a solid 3rd-line piece. They might instead select a defenseman, either the puck possession defender in Colin Miller or physical presence in Adam McQuaid – but there may be better defenseman available elsewhere. A very probable scenario is that they opt for a project player in defenseman Joe Morrow or goalie Malcolm Subban. The Toronto Maple Leafs probably released one of the best lists today. Veteran Brooks Laich is an option, but McPhee may opt for 25 year-old Martin Marincin in hopes that he can build upon his last two seasons. Neither loss would impact the team’s ascendance in the slightest. Something to keep an eye out for is the perennially injured Joffrey Lupul – it’s certainly possible GM Lou Lamoriello will use Vegas to take his contract off the books. It wouldn’t take much of a sweetener.

The Montreal Canadiens left veteran defenseman Alexei Emelin exposed, which some predicted – but it could still set their defense back in the short-term. GM Marc Bergevin did well to utilize that final forward protection spot, trading for Jonathan Drouin and locking him up long-term. A potential player to watch is Alexander Radulov and whether Vegas will pursue the unrestricted free agent in the next few days. They do have a head-start, and he would be a potent addition. The Detroit Red Wings made what I consider to be a very surprising move in exposing goalie Petr Mrazek over Jimmy Howard. It could pay dividends if Vegas opts to go in a different goaltending direction, but it seems quite likely they will go the best player available route. Xavier Ouellet is also left exposed, which could decimate their defensive hopes. Unfortunately for Wings fans, Ken Holland very well will pay extortion-level prices for not being more aggressive in the trade market when he had the opportunity.

The Ottawa Senators will contribute one of the top three players to Vegas, regardless of his very hefty $7 MM contract. Bobby Ryan is bound for Nevada unless something unforeseen happens – he’s a former 30 goal scorer, is coming off a hot playoff, and an overpaid contract won’t break this team off the start. They could opt to speak with Mike Condon or go the less expensive route and take the veteran Marc Methot, but neither seems likely. Losing Ryan might hurt the Senators’ depth in the short term but is a solid cap-centric decision. The Buffalo Sabres will not lose much at all. Vegas could take a chance on the surprisingly available young forward William Carrier, or claim an average defenseman in Josh Gorges or Zach Bogosian. Vegas fans who were banking on a Tyler Ennis jersey will have to re-think their potential first purchase.

The Florida teams took completely different approaches to their expansion lists, and its clear that Tampa took the wiser route. Although they lost Jonathan Drouin, they re-couped a solid defenseman and made certain they didn’t lose an asset for nothing. Instead of losing Vladislav Namestnikov, they will instead look to probably surrender one of Cedric Paquette or J.T. Brown. There are a lot of mid-tier options available for Vegas, and I wouldn’t count out Cory Conacher as a darkhorse UFA signing considering his dominant performance in the Calder Cup playoffs. The Florida Panthers produced an inexcusably bad list. They will almost certainly lose their top scorer by not protecting the undersized Jonathan Marchessault. He had a breakout season with 30 goals in 75 games and his loss up front could really sting next season. Also of note is the decision to leave Roberto Luongo unprotected, although nothing likely will come of it.

Ultimately, the Atlantic division has a few players that will provide offensive punch to the Golden Knights, and a couple interesting decisions. McPhee could opt for safer veteran options, or take some gambles – only time will tell.

 

The original article had mistakenly replaced Collin Miller’s name on the protection list with Kevan Miller.

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Mason, Number One Pick, Buchberger

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Last offseason, the Penguins didn’t make any substantial changes to their roster while the biggest departure was defenseman Ben Lovejoy to New Jersey.  Speaking with Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, GM Jim Rutherford admitted that there will be a lot more changes this time around:

“If I could keep most of them together this year, I would do that. But the [salary] cap and the economics will dictate some decisions that we’re going to have to make that aren’t necessarily ones we would make if we didn’t have the cap.”

Pittsburgh currently has a little over $60MM committed to 16 players per CapFriendly.  Restricted free agents Justin Schultz, Brian Dumoulin, and Conor Sheary are all in line to get raises from their current contracts while their list of unrestricted free agents is highlighted by veterans Trevor Daley, Nick Bonino, and Ron Hainsey.  Even if they lose Marc-Andre Fleury’s $5.75MM, there’s still not going to be enough money to keep everyone around.  Speaking of those pending UFAs, Rutherford noted that talks with some of those players will begin on Thursday.

Elsewhere in the Metropolitan:

  • The Flyers have not engaged in contract discussions regarding pending unrestricted free agent goaltender Steve Mason, agent Anton Thun told Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Accordingly, Thun expects Mason to hit the open market on July 1st and head elsewhere.  The 29 year old is coming off a tough season in Philly, posting just a .908 save percentage in 58 games.  Mason was critical of his usage at the end of the year, calling into question the effectiveness of the platoon system that saw him and Michal Neuvirth splitting starts at times.
  • New Jersey is not anticipating trading the first overall pick as things currently stand, GM Ray Shero noted to NHL.com’s Mike Morreale. Shero acknowledged that he has received inquiries regarding their willingness to move down as well as some specific offers but has yet to find the right fit yet.  If New Jersey retains the pick, they’re expected to choose between a pair of centers in Nolan Patrick and Nico Hischier.
  • The Islanders are expected to wait until after next week’s Entry Draft before officially announcing the addition of Kelly Buchberger as an assistant coach, reports Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. He had been Edmonton’s Vice President of Player Development but has spent time behind the bench as well, spending six seasons as an assistant with the Oilers.  Buchberger will soon join Luke Richardson and Scott Gomez on a newly-revamped coaching staff in New York.

Offseason Keys: Toronto Maple Leafs

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While the expansion draft is set to headline a busy NHL offseason, there are still several other storylines for each team in the months ahead. Here is a closer look at what lies ahead for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Most teams that are eliminated in the first round would say their season was a disappointment.  Although that was the end result for the Maple Leafs, there is plenty of optimism for next year and beyond as their core nucleus of youngsters made a very positive impression this season.  The timetable has moved forward somewhat and GM Lou Lamoriello will be looking to add pieces to help the team take the next step.  Here are some of Toronto’s keys for the summer.

Free Up More Summer Cap Space

While the likes of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander are all still on cheap rookie contracts, the majority of bonuses that they hit this past season will carry over and count against the cap in 2017-18.  The early indication is that their overage charge will be a little more than $5MM.

On top of that, they will also have to deal with their long-term injured players coming back onto the cap for the summer.  While Joffrey Lupul and Nathan Horton were on LTIR last year, that doesn’t exist in the summer and teams are limited to exceeding the salary cap by no more than 10% throughout the offseason.

Between their committed contracts and expected bonus overage, Toronto already has $67MM committed to 19 players for next season with the salary cap not expected to change much from the $73MM it was last season.  (Note that Horton and Lupul are included in that calculation.)  If the Leafs want to re-sign their free agents and make a splash on the open market, it’s going to be a tighter squeeze in July than it might appear at first glance.  They’ll be in fine shape when next season gets underway and LTIR becomes an option once again but if Lamoriello can shed some money before July, they’ll be in much better shape for free agency.

Add Defensive Help

Scoring goals wasn’t an issue for the Leafs this year and it’s not likely to be much of one for the foreseeable future.  Despite improved goalie play from Frederik Andersen this season, keeping pucks out of their own net was still a concern and projects to be one moving forward as well.

With Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, and Nikita Zaitsev, Toronto has a group of quality players to work with but none of them are a true shut-down defender.  Finding one of those players that can handle a top four role would go a long way towards rounding out their back end.  However, the free agent market is limited so the trade route may wind up being the way to go.

They also face a decision when it comes to their third pairing as both Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak are unrestricted free agents and aren’t likely to return.  Are they content with the likes of Alexey Marchenko and Martin Marincin (plus their prospects) to manage the bottom three spots on the depth chart or will they try to seek upgrades there as well?  If it’s the latter, they should be able to get that help via the free agent market.

Extension Decisions

Jan 31, 2017; Dallas, TX, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs left wing James van Riemsdyk (25) skates against the Dallas Stars during the game at the American Airlines Center. The Stars defeat the Maple Leafs 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY SportsA pair of key forwards are set to enter their walk years in Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk (plus Leo Komarov as well).  Knowing that their ‘big three’ up front will be needing second contracts before too long (Nylander is now a year from restricted free agency), Lamoriello will need to decide whether he can afford to keep one or both of them long-term and whether the time is right to potentially pursue an extension.

Both players will likely be getting raises on their next deals.  Bozak has a cap hit of $4.2MM while van Riemsdyk checks in at $4.25MM, solid value for players that recorded 55 and 62 points respectively this past season.

If Lamoriello decides not to try to keep them around, the next decision will be whether or not to trade them with the idea of getting something now instead of potentially losing them for nothing later.  Going that route would have been easier had Toronto not made the playoffs and potentially accelerated the timetable this year.  As the Leafs are now viewed as a playoff threat, it would be hard for them to take a step back by dealing one or both of the veterans without getting comparable talent in return.  Even if they can’t agree on extension terms this summer, it’s hard to imagine both players not being back at least to start next season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

More Players Not Asked To Waive NMCs

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Newsday’s Arthur Staple reported that the New York Islanders did not ask forward Andrew Ladd or defenseman Johnny Boychuk to waive their NMCs, and the New York Post’s Larry Brooks reported that the New York Rangers did not ask defensemen Dan Girardi or Marc Staal to waive theirs either.

Ladd just finished his first season on his new $5.5MM AAV contract with the Islanders, and was unlikely to be exposed at the expansion draft, despite a underwhelming season. While Ladd scored 23 goals, he only added 8 assists for 31 points in 78 games. Boychuk finished second in average ice time, and was one of the Islanders’ better defenders all year. His protection, however, means that unless the Islanders trade Travis Hamonic, both Calvin de Haan and Ryan Pulock will be left unprotected.

[Check out the Islanders Expansion Primer here]

The Rangers’ non-moves were expected as well. Girardi finished the season averaging 19:06min a game, and Staal with 19:11. Neither had stellar production, but both are mainstays on the Rangers blueline. No word on whether John Tavares or Rick Nash were asked to waive their NMCs, though those scenarios are very unlikely.

 

 

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