Early Leaf Decisions

The most positive development from this pre-season has been seeing the young players that are ready for a spot on the Leaf roster. Coach Wilson put it very well when he said that many of these players have earned a job on the Leafs with their play during camp, but they had not stolen a job. This leaves Burke with some work to do this season to see if he can obtain value for some of the veterans that will be pushed aside by next season. This task is made more difficult during a season where the Leafs goal is to battle for a playoff position. Finishing lower in the standings will be especially difficult to stomach for Burke since he traded away next year’s number one pick in the draft for Kessel.

The excess on defense is the easiest piece of the puzzle. The top two pairings are a lock for the next two years so a proven top four defender like Van Ryn is a luxury they do not need. Van Ryn is in the final year of his contract and will not be on the Leafs next season. If he can show that he is healthy, he will be a commodity that is attractive to a western conference playoff contender that suffers an injury. White can also help a playoff contender needing offense from the back end. With the emergence of Gunnarsson, White will likely not be retained when he becomes an RFA at the end of the season. If Burke can move these two, the third pairing and back up will be handled by Finger, Exelby, Frogen and Gunnarsson. The salary anchor there is Finger earning $3.5 million for three more years and that is a salary that Burke would love to dump.

Up front you have the three college kids and Rosehill ready for Leaf jobs now, with Kadri a year away. The difficulty here is determining who on the current roster will be a part of a winning team going forward.

The right side may be easiest to project with Kessel, Hanson and Orr being three of the four long term. Hanson could play on the second or third line depending on whether the Leafs keep Hagman as a solid third line player, or if Kulemin shows that he can be a skilled number two winger. Stempniak does not fit long term but the only choice may be to let him play out the final year of his contract. Even without Hanson a log jam occurs when Kessel is ready that could force a trade or send Kulemin to the Marlies.

Stajan and Ponikarovsky look to be entering Antropov type years. Both are useful, but neither are top six forwards for a contending team. If the Leafs were not shooting for the playoffs both would likely be moved at the trade deadline for second round picks since they will be UFA’s next year. One or both could still be moved if Bozak and Stalberg show they are ready within the first few months of the season. Though signed to a new contract, Grabovski is also not untouchable though a trade involving him may be a multi player deal for a top center on a non contending team.

Tlusty is at the crossroads this year. Are the Leafs ready to give up on the former number one pick who is still only 21? Does he deserve a spot on the Leafs ahead of Stalberg? There does not seem to be much to be gained by him spending another year with the Marlies so look for these questions to be answered fairly soon.

Primeau, Mayers and Wallin are useful in the bottom six. They are low maintenance players that can even sit in the press box and wait for spot duty. None may be on the team next year, but each is a reasonable piece at around $1 million.

Burke put himself into a tougher position when he traded his two number ones for Kessel. Trades now are not only for long term growth, but must also not detract from the goal of the playoffs this season.