RealGM

* First, I'd like to note that this is only if we trade away another defenseman, (ie- Kubina, Kaberle, or Gill). I don't want to be paying our defensive core this much money.


Now, I was looking at salaries for the Leafs today, and absolutely shaking my head. We have some pretty ridiculous contracts rotting away on our roster that absolutely isn't needed headed towards the future, players like Mark Bell, Andrew Raycroft and Darcy Tucker add up to almost 7 million per season, that's a top line player that we could be paying, someone similar to Hossa.

We're paying 20 million (cap hit) towards our defenseman this season, and we're one of the worst defensive teams in the league. That includes Ian White and Anton Stralman's <1 million per season contracts.

If we're trading Kaberle or Kubina before the deadline, or sometime this offseason...I want to keep McCabe. Here's why:

- At a 5.7 million cap hit this season, he's not overpaid.

- Contracts paid to defenseman are rapidly increasing. Over the next year or two, McCabe's contract is going to look average, and rather in our favour.

- Looking at contracts throughout the league in comparison to McCabe, you've got guys making the following:

* Adrian Aucoin- 4 mil per season
* Corey Sarich- 3.6 mil per
* Adam Foote- 4.6 mil
* Brad Stuart- 3.5 mil
* Rob Blake- 6 mil
* Paul Mara- 3 mil
* Wade Redden- 6.5 mil
* Andrei Markov- 5.7 mil
* Roman Hamrilk- 5.5 mil
* Scott Hannan- 4.5 mil
* Mathieu Schneider- 5.6 mil
....and so forth.


As you can see, defenseman are slowly earning more money with each passing offseason. They're starting to be slightly overpaid, and their value will continue to be raised each season.

Bryan McCabe's contract is frontloaded, as in 09/10...he'll be making 4.1 million. When Ferguson handed out some of his contracts, you'll notice that some of them are indeed frontloaded.

He logs a ton of minutes, and although he's rather careless in his own end...he's still valuable on the ice. He'd significantly elevate his play if he was paired with more of a shutdown type of defenseman like a Brandon Witt. His mistakes wouldn't be as noticeable because he wouldn't be paired with another offensive defenseman like Kaberle. The two of them together are a disaster in the making in their own end. We have too many offensive defenseman right now, and I'm absolutely confident that McCabe would be a valuable player on this team (earning his contract) if he played with someone else.

* There's probably a ton of spelling mistakes throughout this but I'm on my way out.

You're crazy.



I didn't know about the front-loading of McCabe's contract. If that's true, it changes my opinion somewhat about keeping him. My argument for wanting him gone has been primarily a financial one - I've never thought that he's trash, just that he's nowhere near as good as the contract he received. And of course, there's the whole no-trade, no-movement issue.

I still think if you look at that list and the salary being paid, McCabe would be near the bottom in terms of bang for your buck. But, it's not quite as bad as I thought it was. I've tended to compare him to Kaberle, who of course is underpaid by current standards and maybe kicking himself for signing that contract!

Of those three defencemen, if I could wave my magic wand I would move Kubina first, then McCabe, then Kaberle. Kubina seems to be the least in demand based on all of the rumours (which of course mean very little). Kaberle is undoubtedly the one with the most demand, and the one who would by far fetch the most in return. But he's also the best player of the group, so that's not a surprise. Also younger than the other two (I think).

It's funny, I haven't had this much interest in the Leafs since before the lockout, and it's all because they're terrible!

+1. I totally agree.

McCabe is a top 2-3 defenseman on ANY team (other than Anaheim) and with the way defensemen contracts have been steadily increasing, his isn't looking so bad after all.

I also hear he is one of the most popular guys in the dressing room and a locker room leader... VERY important. Cut the guy some slack and keep him here with the Leafs.


*Also, apparently Dan Boyle and Brian Campbell are possibly both looking at 6 year contracts at $7M per... so is McCabe THAT overpaid after all?

IMO the only reason, the prices are getting so high is cause of contracts like McCabe's. If teams didn't break the bank on players that over achieved over 1 year then the prices would be considerably lower.

Nothing we can do about that now, that just my 2 cents

MAS wrote:IMO the only reason, the prices are getting so high is cause of contracts like McCabe's. If teams didn't break the bank on players that over achieved over 1 year then the prices would be considerably lower.

Nothing we can do about that now, that just my 2 cents

Agreed on both counts. One other possible reason - the cap has gone up faster than most teams anticipated since the lockout, so the richer teams have had some money to throw around to give out those bad contracts.

Also, this is hardly a phenomenon specific to hockey - Yogi Stewart anyone?

GIZMO wrote::crazy:

Post something or go away. We are all aware that you usually do your comunicating in pictures and grunts but maybe with some help you might be able to make an intelligible comment that someone might be able to respond to.

MAS wrote:IMO the only reason, the prices are getting so high is cause of contracts like McCabe's. If teams didn't break the bank on players that over achieved over 1 year then the prices would be considerably lower.

Nothing we can do about that now, that just my 2 cents

I think that it was inevitable that larger contracts were going to be handed out. With the salary cap increasing, and a greater demand of star players under a hard cap, we were going to see inflated contracts.

I generally would like to keep McCabe around, but keeping McCabe most likely means keeping Kaberle. Why? Because in my opinion if you keep McCabe, you want to keep a strong D corps, and keeping Kaberle does that. And keeping both those two means you have $10M locked up in 2 dmen (who are very good) that haven't brought you any success so far. I just think the Leafs need to open up their options and keeping expensive players won't do that. IMO, Sundin/Tucker/Kubina will not be wearing Leaf uniforms come next year (Sundin - retire, Tucker - picked up off re-entry waivers or bought out, Kubina - dealt for the period his NTC is not in effect). But not so sure bout McCabe/Kaberle. I believe Kaberle's NTC expires sometime during this offseason if I'm right. McCabe has full control of his. Whatever happens, Cliff/new GM better make sure we have a different blue and white club come next season.

juucer wrote:+1. I totally agree.

McCabe is a top 2-3 defenseman on ANY team (other than Anaheim) and with the way defensemen contracts have been steadily increasing, his isn't looking so bad after all.

I also hear he is one of the most popular guys in the dressing room and a locker room leader... VERY important. Cut the guy some slack and keep him here with the Leafs.


*Also, apparently Dan Boyle and Brian Campbell are possibly both looking at 6 year contracts at $7M per... so is McCabe THAT overpaid after all?

If mccabe did not make so many mistakes in his own end i would agree.

mccabe is the kind of player that hurts your team but he puts up nice offensive stats so it doesn't look so bad. Unless you're good enough to have him play as a 4th or 5th dman while playing heavy minutes on the powerplay, he's gonna cost you more wins than he gives.

I put him on the same boat as souray, players i wouldn't want unless they came cheap and I would limit their ice time to certain situations