TORONTO (Sep. 2) -- Full-term pregnancies have evolved faster than it took the Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers to consummate the Bryan McCabe-Mike Van Ryn trade, but it finally came to fruition today around 5 p.m. Eastern. The legal beagles in the NHL office spent more than seven hours poring over the language in McCabe's contract that dealt with the transfering of his no-movement clause between Toronto and Florida. Once the lawyers were satisfied everything was kosher, Leafs' GM Cliff Fletcher announced the deal. There had been a small risk throughout the process that the league might scuttle the trade, which would have necessitated McCabe removing his daughter, Stevie, from school in Boca Raton after just one day with her new classmates. Thankfully for Bryan and his family, that didn't happen.
McCabe initially presented Fletcher with the option of trading him to two teams -- the Panthers and, presumably, the New York Islanders -- but the second club lost interest after the July 1st free agent frenzy. The Islanders, of course, spirited defenseman Mark Streit [and his 62 points last season] away from Montreal, which offset the need for McCabe. Limited to negotiating with only the Panthers, Fletcher knew his counterpart, Jacques Martin, held the hammer, and Martin insisted Fletcher include a fourth-round draft pick in 2010 as a "favour" for assuming McCabe's hefty salary, and his $5.75-million annual cap hit.
"It's a money deal, and that's the way the league operates today," Fletcher shrugged. "Florida took on a substantial amount of cap money and additional salary, so [yielding a pick as well] is simply a fact of life in a salary cap system."
Van Ryn is excited about joining the Leafs -- I spoke with him from Florida earlier tonight -- and he'll save Fletcher a combined $5.7 million in cap room [compared to McCabe] during the next two seasons... if he remains in blue and white. And, that's a rather large "if". As it stands, the Leafs have nine defensemen listed on their roster for 2008-09 -- six of which will earn full-time roles. Pavel Kubina, Tomas Kaberle, Anton Stralman and Jeff Finger have positions locked up. Unless Jonas Frogren is a complete bust -- and you know the Leafs did not haul him out of Sweden to play in the AHL -- he'll assume a fourth spot. It leaves the remaining top-six position available to Van Ryn, Carlo Colaiacovo, Ian White or Staffan Kronwall.
Clearly, Van Ryn is the most established of that foursome and is therefore be the most attractive trading commodity -- providing his wrist is fully healed. The Maple Leafs have acquired him chiefly on his own word that the surgically-repaired joint, which limited him to 20 games last season, is up to the rigors of the NHL; Fletcher told me today the trade was not contingent on Van Ryn passing a physical.
The Leafs, without expectation this season, could surely make due with Colaiacovo, Kronwall and White filling out the bottom of the defense core. Van Ryn, at some point, might enable Fletcher to add balance to his Spartan group of forwards. The GM, however, is not a big Ian White fan, and Kronwall hasn't yet proven capable of earning full-time employment in the NHL. So, it's likely that Van Ryn will get a decent look before he's offered up around the league.
On the Mats Sundin front, Fletcher is under no illusion that the long-time Leafs' captain will give him a detailed update on his playing status when the two meet here in town this Friday. Sundin hasn't changed his tune one iota; he is still completely unsure whether he can withstand the physical and mental toll required of a 37-year-old to perform at an elite level in the NHL. If he isn't able to convince himself of that, Sundin will almost certainly retire before many more weeks pass. But, he will not have an answer for the Leafs by Friday.
"It won't be about us doing a selling job on Mats," Fletcher confirmed. "We have long been aware of his situation, and have been proceeding, since July 1st, on the basis that he will not be back with us. If Mats changes his mind, we'll welcome him with open arms, but there is no expectation he'll do that anytime soon."
LEAF NOTES: Fans attending games at the Air Canada Centre this season will notice a pair of significant changes. The centre-ice design will now feature a giant Leafs logo enveloping the entire circle, rather than the two smaller logos that previously flanked the checkered red line. I saw the updated art-work earlier today and it looks sharp... also in place is the new $8 million scoreboard that will hang above centre-ice. It is much like the excellent version at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston -- with three levels of screens, all in high definition. A circular screen makes up the top of the board. A series of flat screens are in the middle, with another circular item at the bottom. If the images are as sharp as the one in Boston, Leaf fans will be in for a treat... with all the new players on the hockey club, you'll need a program early in the season. What I can tell you is that Finger will wear No. 4 [not worn since Cory Cross in 2001-02]; veteran forward Jamal Mayers will wear No. 21 [last used by John Pohl], and it appears that ex-Montreal farmhand Mikhail Grabovski will don No. 84 -- a first for the Leafs. Goalie Curtis Joseph will probably wear No. 30, unless he can coerce Kubina into relinquishing the No. 31 jersey Cujo wore in Toronto from 1998 to 2002... Van Ryn has a bunch of family pets, and therefore cannot fly here. He will drive north on Wednesday, and hopes to be skating with his new teammates at Lakeshore Arena by next Monday... it'll be awhile before any of the former Leafs appear at the ACC, unless you count a Sep. 26th exhibition game against Pittsburgh. Hal Gill could be in uniform that night. Otherwise, McCabe [and ex-Leaf Wade Belak] won't be in town until Jan. 6th. Florida also plays here on Feb. 3rd. Kyle Wellwood and the Vancouver Canucks make their lone Toronto visit on Feb. 21st, as part of CBC's popular Hockey Day In Canada celebration. And neither of Darcy Tucker nor Andrew Raycroft appear at the ACC this season. The Leafs travel to Colorado for a Jan. 29th match... interestingly, that two-game trip will see the Leafs visit the arenas that hosted the national political conventions in the U.S. The Democratic convention was at the Pepsi Center in Denver last week, and the Republican gathering is now taking place at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, home of the Minnesota Wild. The Leafs visit the Wild on Jan. 27th, then go to Denver.
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