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Leaf Rumours

If Garrioch is accurate, it looks like Savard is picking destinations that

1) Don't have the cap space to accomodate him without sending contracts back, or otherwise jumping through hoops to clear cap space

2) Have logjams, expensive logjams at centre


Philly currently has 3 centres who make a total of 17.25 million (this fact of course has forced one of them, Briere, to the wing). Philly has ~10 million in capspace without a single goalie under contract, and 5 other roster spots requiring attention, with Coburn & Carcillo as notable RFA's that will get significant raises if kept.

Chicago is in a similar situation with 3 centres making 13.575 million...Chicago's cap situation is well documented...they simply have no cap space to go outside of the organization to add talent. They're going to be hard pressed just to keep their own RFA's.

Montreal of course has a newly signed Plekanec and the huge Gomez contract soaking up 12.357 by themselves. Montreal has ~9 million in cap with 7 players needed to fill out a 23 man roster. Including of course a contract for #1 goalie Carey Price.


Now, this might be my homerism talking....but it sure seems like Savard is picking teams that he knows can't/won't be interested in taking a shot at him to influence the process to be where he really wants to be, which is clearly Toronto.

If that's the case, I frankly couldn't blame him. He should be a little choked that after signing an extension at a significantly reduced cap hit, Boston is looking to dump him at the first opportunity.
 
Also, I believe it was lebrun that already confirmed that Montreal is NOT on his list and that it is just Toronto and Ottawa.

I think we can put little stock into his rumor that the Sens have no interest considering the source..
 
But with that said, if I had to guess, I'd say Savard isn't going anywhere. I really really really can't see the Bruins trading him to the Leafs.. especially if Kaberle isn't included.. I'm just not a believer at this point. It makes no sense at all.
 
Boston HAS to move salary. They have no choice.

and they HAVE asked Savard to waive his NTC, and he HAS lifted it for Toronto.
 
zeke said:
Boston HAS to move salary. They have no choice.

and they HAVE asked Savard to waive his NTC, and he HAS lifted it for Toronto.
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They'll move Thomas, sign the 3 or 4 players, send guys like Hamil and Marchand down (won't be on the team anyway, and make 2.1 combined), and they'll be fine. It would be helpful to get rid of Savard, but it's not 100% necessary.. especially if the return sucks.
 
Boston's not moving Thomas. No team in the league is going to do them to favour of taking that albatross of a contract off their hands.
 
Preston_Mizzi said:
They'll move Thomas, sign the 3 or 4 players, send guys like Hamil and Marchand down (won't be on the team anyway, and make 2.1 combined), and they'll be fine. It would be helpful to get rid of Savard, but it's not 100% necessary.. especially if the return sucks.
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sending guys like hamill and Marchand don't make a difference. you're forgetting that half that salary is bonus money that doesn't count anywyas.

They have to move Thomas or Savard - and preferably both. Moving only one of them still leaves them very tight against the cap.

And I'm not sure they'll have much luck moving Thomas.
 
Talking to a knowledgeable Bruins fan on expected contracts from their RFA's:

Stuart: $2 million
Wheeler: $2.75 million
Paille: $2 million

And yea, if anyone takes Thomas, they'll definitely have to take on salary in return.. especially if it's someone like Philly (who have been rumored to be interested). Maybe this does make a bit of sense after all..
 
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I have to disagree with that knowledgeable Bruins fan.

I'd peg them at:

Wheeler: $3.0
Stuart: $2.0
Paille: $1.75
 
Hamil isn't currently counted in their cap numbers...and Marchand makes 800K....they're not going to find much cap savings there at all.

They have 17 players currently on their NHL roster and 5.5 million in cap. This of course doesn't count Seguin (~3.5), Wheeler (RFA @ 2.8, looking for a raise) or Mark Stuart (RFA @ 1.3)

and sure, they can trade Thomas to alleviate some of those woes, but the fact that Philly went out and spent assets just to have a window to negotiate with Nabakov tells you all that you need to know about current interest in Thomas. If there was any interest, Chia would give Thomas away with a handjob for an 8th round pick in the 2027 draft.
 
Preston_Mizzi said:
Talking to a knowledgeable Bruins fan on expected contracts from their RFA's:

Stuart: $2 million
Wheeler: $2.75 million
Paille: $2 million

And yea, if anyone takes Thomas, they'll definitely have to take on salary in return.. especially if it's someone like Philly (who have been rumored to be interested). Maybe this does make a bit of sense after all..
Click to expand...


So, taking your buddy as an authority just for arguments sake, what we have there is 6.75 million. Add Seguin in and his ~3.5 million (though there is bonus cushion built into that) and we're at 10.25 when the B's only have 5.5 in space available. That would take the B's to 21 of 23 roster spots filled. Even if they were able to flip Thomas and take no salary back they're at 20 roster spots filled with no capspace (-.5 or so) to do it with.

I'm sure they'd love to move one of Sturm or Ryder, it's really they're only way out without moving Savard. Though I can't see there being much interest in either body at the prices they command.
 
MindzEye said:
Hamil isn't currently counted in their cap numbers...and Marchand makes 800K....they're not going to find much cap savings there at all.

They have 17 players currently on their NHL roster and 5.5 million in cap. This of course doesn't count Seguin (~3.5), Wheeler (RFA @ 2.8, looking for a raise) or Mark Stuart (RFA @ 1.3)

and sure, they can trade Thomas to alleviate some of those woes, but the fact that Philly went out and spent assets just to have a window to negotiate with Nabakov tells you all that you need to know about current interest in Thomas. If there was any interest, Chia would give Thomas away with a handjob for an 8th round pick in the 2027 draft.
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Seguin's cap hit will be at 900k. The rest are bonuses. Pretty much, they need to find a team desperate enough to trade for Sturm, Ryder and/or Thomas without taking as much salary back. If not, they're left without a choice. I'm sure Chia's been shopping those two for a while now and knows the market isn't so hot for them which is probably why he asked Savard if he would waive his NTC.. I'm not sure what else they can do other than trade Savard.. I know Chia is cringing at the prospect of this, but he has to realize his team is close to a cup right now and do what's best for them. If trading Savard frees up space for a decent UFA d that they so badly need, then so be it.
 
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I don't think you can simply bank of Seguin not hitting a chunk of his bonus money, and if Chia want to play fast and loose with next year's cap money, all the power to him.

I agree entirely, Chia is left with tough choices, I just refuse to believe that he didn't look into all other options (Thomas, Ryder, Sturm) before he'd approach Savard about waiving his NMC. The fact that he did tells us a lot about the position he feels that he's in.

Honestly, Savard's position (wanting to be closer to his kids) coupled with the length of the contract and his concussion issues makes it a shitty, but fairly obvious decision to make. All Chia can do here is try to get the best assets back that he can, taking as little (preferably no) salary back in return.

This is actually kind of similar to the situation Fletcher backed his way into a few years ago with McCabe, except at least the Leafs had the ability to take Van Ryn's salary back the other way (though we ended up having to give a pick up on top of giving the superior player away) and McCabe didn't have serious injury questions leading into the situation.

Savard's NMC & Boston's dire looking cap situation is creating a perfect storm here.
 
Burke knows the Leafs are the only solid trading partner with any real interest, which is why he immediately said "no Kaberle" (since when does he tell the media anything).

The pressure was on Boston as soon as they asked Savard to waive his NMC and Savard came back with those five teams. I mean you can imagine how happy Savard is right now to know the Leafs are interested in him.

Wouldn't mind something like Savard+Ryder for Beauch, but then we'd need to find Grabs a new home.
 
The key for Boston is moving one of their big salaries, and not taking any salary back in return. And out of Marco Sturm, Michael Ryder, Tim Thomas and Marc Savard---the only player that they stand a reasonable chance of doing that with is Savard. And the only team he'll go to/is a fit with....is Toronto.

I dunno, I think Boston really needs to hire someone who's job is solely to be a "cap expert", because this is the second summer in a row Chiarelli's gotten himself into a situation where he's ****ed by the cap, and is going to have to dump a quality player as a result.
 
I agree with madvillain, I think the best route for us to go, is to take Ryder off their hands along with Savard....making it a more attractive potential deal for the B's.

Savard + Ryder

for

Gunnarsson + Caputi + 4th round pick 2011
 
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Even though this whole thing kind of fell into the Leafs lap, I would do horrible, nasty, regrettable things to Burkie if he gets this baby done.

Savard and Kessel re-united? Another top six forward for Kaberle? This whole thing seems way too good to be true.. I'm still skeptical even though it's starting to make a whole lotta sense to me.
 
Screw that. If we're taking Ryder off their hands as well, then Boston's going to be the one throwing some nice assets into the deal, not Toronto.
 
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