Cliff Fletcher's Asset Management
A look at Cliff Fletcher's transacations as GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs
Picks Acquired
2008 – 2nd (PIT for Gill)
2008 – 3rd (FLA for Kilger)
2008 – 5th (FLA for Belak)
2008 – 5th (PIT for Gill)
Picks Traded
2008 – 3rd (TOR) to NYI for Schenn
2008 – 3rd (FLA) to STL for Mayers
2008 – 5th (TOR) to MTL for Grabovski
2009 - 2nd (TOR) to NYI for Schenn
2009 - 5th (PIT) to NYR for Hollweg
2010 - 2nd (TOR) to MTL for Grabovski
2010 - 4th (TOR) to FLA for Mike Van Ryn
Net Picks traded
2nd
3rd
4th
Net Picks Gained
None
Toronto Maple Leaf Draft Picks Remaining
2009 NHL Draft
1st (TOR)
2nd NO PICK: (NYI for Schenn)
3rd (TOR)
4th NO PICK: (SJ for Toskala, traded by JFJ)
5th (TOR)
6th (TOR)
7th (TOR)
2010 NHL Draft
1st (TOR)
2nd NO PICK: (MTL for Grabovski)
3rd (TOR)
4th NO PICK: (FLA for Van Ryn)
5th (TOR)
6th (TOR)
7th (TOR)
UFAs
Niklas Hagman $3M/4yrs.
Jeff Finger $3.5M/4yrs.
Curtis Joseph $700K/1 yr.
Jonas Frogren (contact in dispute)
Josef Boumidienne (two-way deal)
Cap Implications
Tucker -$4.0M total ($1.0M/year until 2013 - if you have a baby this Leaf season, your child will be in Junior Kindergarten when this salary comes off the books)
Raycroft -$1.266M total ($533K in 2008-09; $733K in 2009-2010)
McCabe +$11.45M total ($2.85M in 2008-09 and 2009-10; $5.75M in 2010-11)
Cheap Editorializing
McCabe and a 4th for Van Ryn: apparently I'm one of three members of Leafs nation that doesn't like this deal. I'll let Alan Ryder 'splain why. (I also have a completely irrational fear that Van Ryn will get hurt 10 days before the trade deadline making him unmovable in 2009).
Tucker (waived) - Mayers (acquired for a 3rd round pick): an aging grinder, former PP sniper now in decline swapped out for an aging grinder PK specialist who's allegedly not in decline.
Wellwood (waived) - Grabovski (acquired for a 2nd and 5th round pick): a small, soft, unproven second line centre waived to make room for a small, soft unproven second line centre.
Belak (traded for a 5th) - Holwegg (acquired for 5th) - Meh. If Holwegg plays more than 35 games something is seriously amiss in the land of alleged young player development.
Alright, seeing as the 2nd and 3rd we gave up for the right to draft Schenn over Colin Wilson or Mikkael Boedker aren't really a point of dispute for Leafs fans (though I'm tempted to make a case for it) we've essentially, in terms of net assets, moved a 4th round pick for:
ReplyDeleteOver $6 million in cap space over the next three years.
Getting rid of McCabe's sorry ass, in order to distribute his minutes to one of either Stralman, Cola, or Frogren.
And then used free agency to add to our defensive depth on the back end and on the last two forward lines/PK.
I can't say I'm displeased with that, all our quality moveable assets refused to waive their no-trade clauses, as Leafs nation seems to forget so quickly. Were we really expecting first and second round picks to just materialize out of nowhere? Same with top-level scoring? The team didn't add any major assets this off season because they had none to deal with.
Great work!
ReplyDeleteI think this trade goes to show the two fundamental problems with the Leafs:
ReplyDelete1. They are run on a populist (aka please the customer) basis. Trading McCabe made no sense what so ever if the best you can get is Van Ryn. Leafs corporate didn't want to ruffle the feathers of the masses, and saw something they could do to make themsleves look good in the eyes of the fans. McCabe has never been nearly as bad as he's been made out to be, and suddenly, people are crawling out of the woodwork saying the same thing.
2. For the most part, running a team based on the opinions of a bunch of fans will not get you one step closer to success. Teams like Montreal and Detroit have always done what was best for the team, not their fanbase. Look at Detroit, they let Darren McCarty walk a few years back. Fans were pissed as they saw him as one of their own.
Long story short, we should have held on to McCabe until he softened his position even more on a trade. Allowing him to pick two teams, one of which was not interested in him was of no help, but management jumped at the first chance to "do right by the fans." And now, instead of having three top 2 defenders, we have two. That sounds like a step backwards...
This is carry over from the last post but in terms of the net picks lost there is still all season for Fletcher to improve that position.
ReplyDeleteThey need to replace a 2nd and 4th in 2009 and a 2nd and 4th in 2010. After those drafts are done then they are lost but until then they are just gaps that have to be filled.
Thanks for the comments - I should clarify that I'm not that displeased with Fletcher. I'd probably give him a b- or a c+ on his work to date.
ReplyDeleteI do find it mildly troubling/disappointing that Fletcher and the Leafs have to shed more players for picks just to get back to zero with their own draft picks, never mind what they're going to have to do to get a surplus of picks/prospects into the system.