The Toronto Maple Leafs look to be in better shape than everyone thought, even though this article from
SLAM! has a bit of a negative slant to it. None of their players have elected salary arbitration, so it's expected that most of them will accept their qualifying offers. Here is a list from the article to help illustrate their situation:
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
APPROX. CAP ROOM LEFT: $6.7M
* FORWARDS
Mats Sundin 6,840,000
Darcy Tucker 1,596,000
Jeff O'Neill 1,500,000
Jason Allison 1,500,000
Tie Domi 1,250,000
Matt Stajan 805,600
Chad Kilger 668,800
Nik Antropov 1,000,000*
Nathan Perrott 450,000*
Alexei Ponikarovsky 450,000*
* DEFENCE
Bryan McCabe 3,458,000
Tomas Kaberle 2,280,000
Ken Klee 1,900,000
Alex Khavanov 1,250,000
Aki Berg 1,064,000
Wade Belak 800,000
Karel Pilar 450,000*
* GOAL
Eddie Belfour 4,560,000
Mikael Tellqvist 450,000
I believe the * are the players who have yet to sign, so the salaries are projected. Their defense looks solid. It's basically the same group from the last season. Goaltending is set. They have 10 forwards pencilled in. They are talking with Eric Lindros and Anson Carter, and if they can work out deals with both Toronto natives to play for the home team for less, then they just need to bring in two more forwards cheap, and they are set. My guess is Carter is looking for $3.5 million. Lindros may be looking for the same, but he should take a one year deal for less, maybe $2 million. Lindros needs to prove he can be healthy. He doesn't want to admit it, but that's the way it is. Next summer, Toronto will be dropping some contracats, so if Lindros finally returns to form this year, they will be able to sign him for more long term.
Even without Lindros and Carter, the team doesn't look so bad. John Leclair and Jamie Langenbrunner might be viable options. Also, Mogilny has yet to sign anywhere. Who knows, maybe he'll want to return? There are still some good forwards out there, and it looks like Toronto does have some money to work with.
The thing to remember about Toronto is that they have always played their best when they were supposed to suck. It was only the last couple of seasons that saw the Leafs spending recklessly. Had they been smarter then, maybe they would have been in better shape. They need to work on their scouting and farm teams right now. They will need a steady influx of young talent if they want to compete in the future. For now, they should be alright. But the teams that draft well and develop their own talent from within are the teams that will dominate this new era of the NHL.
