As the first wave of free agent signings has passed and deals for big name players such as Rick Nash and Roberto Luongo remain conjecture, the Maple Leafs current roster configuration remains a puzzle.
The lone move of GM Brian Burke, adding free-agent Jay McClement was to address the team’s lack of size, as well as adding a solid checking center, but that gives Toronto a glut of centers, with returnees Tim Connolly, Tyler Bozak, David Steckel, Mikhail Grabovski and Matthew Lombardi.
Add to that the intention of coach Randy Carlyle to give the recently acquired James van Riemsdyk a long look at center in training camp and you have the makings of a dilemma that presumably only a trade can solve.
“He’s a big man and we’re going to try him playing in the middle for us….It’s always nice to have a 6-foot-plus center in your top six. We feel there is an opportunity to explore him at center.”
Grabovski is a lock as the second line center, the addition of McClement appears aimed at playing the third line checking role and Steckel fits in as a fourth liner/face-off specialist/penalty killer, but if the experiment of moving the lanky van Riemsdyk to the middle is successful, Toronto has $9.75 Million in salary allocated towards three players who are not a good fit at any other position other than center.
Both Connolly and Lombardi played wing at times last season, but their lack of size and physicality does not seem to fit the type of game that Carlyle is looking to play going forward, while Bozak has been at his most effective between Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul and does not appear to be a fit in any other role.
Burke stated last week that more changes are in the offing during the summer, bolstering their goaltending and adding more size and snarl. Moving one or more of these extra centers may seem to be a difficult prospect, but with the prices of free agents so steep and most of the quality players already signed, the option of trading for a Connolly or Bozak with one year remaining on their deal may be a more preferable option than signing someone still on the market to a multiple years.
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