The Toronto Maple Leafs have won their arbitration hearing against Jared Cowen, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
This is good news for the organization’s cap picture. The Maple Leafs would have had to deal with the extra contract in addition to plenty of bonuses from their talented rookie class.
As Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston explained back in February, Cowen has a unique contract quirk that gives the Maple Leafs a salary cap credit of $650,000 in 2016-17 for buying him out. The club will then take a $750,000 cap hit next year—a far cry from the $4.5 million in salary that remained on the deal had he not been bought out.
The Leafs placed Jared Cowen on unconditional waivers back on June 15 with the intention of buying out the remaining year of his deal. Cowen cleared waivers the next day, but concerns about the 25-year-old’s health kept the buyout from being processed. (The former Ottawa Senators forward has been dealing with lingering effects from a 2012 hip surgery.)
Cowen never dressed for a game in blue and white — not surprising, as Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello had been up front about his intentions since the nine-player blockbuster trade that saw Cowen land in Toronto.
