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Some readers had questions about a column that recommended the Toronto Maple Leafs make ruthless use of their wallet to prepare for a rebuilding job.
The questions: Why should interim general manager Cliff Fletcher slash his roster with contract buyouts and use of NHL waivers to clear as much salary-cap space as possible for next season?; and since rebuilding will take more than one year, the Leafs are not going to be much good next season, the logic goes, so why worry about shipping out players to create unnecessary cap space?
In the salary-cap world, cap space is an asset that can be as valuable as a defenceman who can move the puck out of his own end.
One of the Leafs' big problems when John Ferguson was the GM was that they always spent up to the cap once he made his free-agent decisions in the summer. This is fine if you make the right decisions. But as we know with our unerring 20-20 hindsight, Ferguson did not make the right decisions often. That meant no cap room later in the season to trade for someone who could undo those mistakes.
Related Information
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Jason Blake
- Robbie Earl
- Alex Foster
- Staffan Kronwall
- Bryan McCabe
- Kris Newbury
- Justin Pogge
- Vesa Toskala
- Darcy Tucker
- Jeremy Williams
Also, the goal here is not to clear cap space for next season, but the one after that. The best way to do that is get an early start. You also do not want the sour old holdover players around to work their reverse magic on your kids.
The solution offered on these pages last Saturday — using waivers and buyouts — would have the Leafs reduce their salary-cap obligations for next season to $24.4-million (all currency U.S.) for 10 players from $40.8-million for 17 players.
Next season, if a forecast by Paul Kelly, the executive director of the National Hockey League Players' Association, is correct, the cap could rise to $56.3-million from this season's $50.3-million, thanks to the rise of the Canadian buck and ticket prices. That would leave the Leafs with $21.9-million in free space under next season's cap, or a little more than Ferguson had to spend in 2005 when he signed all those defencemen to big contracts.
However, this does not mean the Leafs should make like a supermodel at a Coach purse sale. Twenty-two million clams would buy four or five top players at today's prices, but the Leafs need more time to get their foundation in order first.
Better the incoming GM has a year to sort out the organization by lining up more draft picks, if it's possible to trade any of the miscreants on the current roster for some, and figuring out which of the paltry number of Leafs prospects are worth keeping. Then, after a further trim of the payroll next season, the new GM could head into the 2009 free-agent market with a huge bankroll.
Starting in the summer, the unrestricted free agents available will be as young as 26. Under the collective labour agreement, the qualification for unrestricted free agency drops to the completion of seven professional seasons or reaching the age of 27 by June 30.
That frees up a lot of players just entering the best years of their careers. Any GM would love to be loose among those guys with $25-million to spend.
For all the bleating about the Leafs needing to reverse their sorry history and finally build through the draft, it must be remembered that it is only one of the four necessary pillars for a good franchise. Aside from drafting well, teams must also develop that young talent, trade for players to complement them, and sign free agents to fill any other holes.
With the age of free agents dropping, that category is no longer one restricted mostly to signing one or two star players. It can be a way of jumping ahead in the rebuilding program if, of course, you make the right decisions.
In the meantime, though, what do the Leafs do next season if players such as Bryan McCabe, Darcy Tucker, Jason Blake et al are gone?
First, Fletcher, or whoever is in charge, can go through the Toronto Marlies roster and decide who on the farm team deserves a full-time job with the Leafs. Based on their work late this season, that means Kris Newbury, Robbie Earl, Jeremy Williams, Staffan Kronwall and maybe Alex Foster should get a promotion. Goaltender prospect Justin Pogge is also a consideration as a backup to Vesa Toskala. There are also prospects such as Nikolai Kulemin, who played in Russia this season.
Then the final few spots can be filled with inexpensive free agents, who will be serviceable but not signed to any long-term deals.
