The Maple Leafs cleared salary cap room and a roster spot by trading forward Matthew Lombardi to the Phoenix Coyotes for a conditional 2014 draft choice Wednesday night.
Per TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Leafs will receive a fourth round pick in 2014, but could improve to a third round pick if Lombardi re-signs with Phoenix.
Taking advantage of the new perimeters of the CBA, the Leafs will pay a portion of Lombardi’s 2013 salary and his $500,000 signing bonus.
The 30 year old forward was acquired from Nashville in July, 2011 along with defenseman Cody Franson for Brett Lebda and Robert Slaney, but was a big question mark after missing all but two games of the 2010-11 season with concussion related issues.
Lombardi surprisingly made it back for the beginning of the 2011-12 season, but his play was spotty at best. In 62 games with the Leafs, he managed only eight goals and 10 assists and a team worst -19 plus/minus rating.
This trade did not come out of the blue, as Hockey Night In Canada reporter Elliotte Friedman in his excellent “30 Thoughts” column earlier this week indicated that Phoenix was “sniffing around” the former Coyote, as he spent time during the lockout practicing with some ex- teammates in Arizona.
Lombardi enjoyed his best professional season in 2009-10 in the desert, scoring 53 points alongside Coyotes captain Shane Doan.
This is the first deal for new Leafs GM Dave Nonis and its makes a good deal of sense from their perspective.
Lombardi was one of a large group of forwards competing for a few spots available on the third or fourth line, but with coach Randy Carlyle stressing defensive play and winning one-on-one battles, those spots were likely to go to players more well suited to his aggressive defensive style, like Leo Komarov or Matt Frattin, instead of the speedy Lombardi, who played a good portion of last season on the wing, instead of his natural center.
It is unknown how much of Lombardi’s $3.5 Million salary Toronto is retaining in this deal, but the limit set by the new collective bargaining agreement is 50%($1.75 Million).
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The Leafs announced Wednesday evening that Ryan Hamilton, veteran minor leaguer Keith Aucoin and recently signed defenseman Mike Mottau were placed on waivers to be sent down to the AHL Toronto Marlies. With the move of Lombardi, the Leafs training camp roster is down to 27, with four more cuts to be made by Friday.
It is unlikely that Aucoin or Mottau will be claimed, since they are over 30 years old, the claiming team would have to open a roster spot and those clubs would be on the hook for a rather pricey AHL contract if they tried to send them down later in the year(both make $300,000 or more this season), but the 27 year old Hamilton might draw interest from someone, as he has scored 17 goals in 34 games with the Marlies this season.
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