TORONTO — In the long term, the tear-down of the Toronto Maple Leafs will be all about the draft picks and prospects the organization adds while stripping its roster bare.
Right now each move also must create added flexibility, which was an important aspect of Sunday’s decision to send Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli to Nashville for a 2015 first-round draft pick, prospect Brendan Leipsic and veteran Olli Jokinen.
In doing so, the Leafs shaved $2.3-million in salary commitments off their cap for this season and better positioned themselves to make additional moves before the March 2 trade deadline.
They’re going to need it.
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Consider Jokinen’s inclusion in this transaction: The 36-year-old centre was a throw-in to help Nashville balance its books. The Leafs will now attempt to flip him somewhere else. However, this deal wouldn’t have been possible if Toronto wasn’t willing and able to add his $2.5-million cap hit for the balance of the season.
Money is a significant factor in virtually every trade completed in today’s NHL, especially with growing fears that the salary cap will stagnate because of the slumping Canadian dollar.
So as the Leafs look to dismantle a high-priced core, the ability to either retain salary (which they didn’t do with Franson and Santorelli) or take on some throw-away contracts in return will be key.
The deal with the Predators improved their ability to do just that.
It helps explain the timing of the trade with more than two weeks still to go before the deadline. Leafs general manager Dave Nonis found a motivated buyer in Nashville counterpart David Poile and was comfortable acting quickly.
“Well you never know if you wait longer if [the return] is going to get better or if it’s going to drop off,” Nonis explained on a conference call. “They’re both good players. You do run the risk of the market changing and you run the risk of injury.”
Rather than take the risk, he emphatically pushed over the first domino on what should be an intriguing two-week period in Toronto. There is certainly more on the horizon.
Getting a first-round pick in return for Franson was key for the Leafs front office, even though it’ll likely end up being in the high 20s with Nashville looking like a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. Leipsic is a skilled centreman who plays with some edge, according to scouts, and the 20-year-old prospect basically amounts to the return for Santorelli.
The focus is entirely on the future for the men who occupy the big offices in the tower above Air Canada Centre.
This season is already a lost cause for the Leafs, who have gone 2-15-2 since Jan. 1 and are suddenly looking at the possibility of a franchise-changing draft pick in June. They’re not tanking outright, but management has warmed to the idea of getting worse as a means to getting better — which is why every player on the roster is available.
They may not be inclined to deal a Morgan Rielly or Nazem Kadri or James van Riemsdyk, but nothing can be ruled out entirely. This construction project is going to start from as close to scratch as possible.
“It’s not like we’re trying to move out our whole roster,” said Nonis.
Just a significant portion of it.
Daniel Winnik, David Booth, Korbinian Holzer and Jokinen are the only pending UFAs left in the fold. They will aggressively be shopped before March 2. Tyler Bozak, Joffrey Lupul and others should also draw interest, with captain Dion Phaneuf and leading scorer Phil Kessel on the market as well.
Yet another new era for the Maple Leafs will soon be upon us.
Trading Franson and Santorelli will be billed by some as the official start of a rebuild in Toronto, and to a certain extent that’s true. However, they were also easy players to move because both were desirable assets with expiring contacts who didn’t fit into the Leafs salary structure moving forward.
You see, this won’t truly qualify as a rebuild until one of the team’s core players on a big contract is sent packing. And without much-needed salary cap flexibility, that simply wasn’t going to happen.
Now it just might.
