Hockey Night In Canada’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed during the
Hot Stove portion of their Stanley Cup Final coverage Saturday night that the Toronto Maple Leafs have expressed interest in trading for Florida Panthers center Stephen Weiss.
Panthers GM Dale Tallon is interested in re-signing the 30 year old playmaker, who was drafted fourth overall by Florida in 2001 and is expected to reach out to agent Pat Morris of Newport Sports in the near future to explore the possibilities of a new deal.
If his price tag is too steep and the Panthers decide to trade Weiss’s exclusive negotiating rights before July 5th to recoup a draft pick or prospect, as Ottawa and New York did with veteran defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Mark Streit, Friedman confirmed that the Leafs, Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings were among a group of teams that had expressed interest.
Weiss has been a dependable source of offense, scoring 20 goals four times and averaging 53 points per season from 2007 – 2012, but struggled with a painful wrist injury and scored only four points in 17 games before having season ending wrist surgery in early March.
Leafs GM Dave Nonis has not made any progress towards signing UFA center Tyler Bozak to a new deal and Toronto Star columnist Damien Cox tweeted on Saturday that the Leafs may explore trading his rights in the near future. The expressed interest in Weiss could have been strategically leaked to get Bozak’s camp to consider taking a “home town discount” deal or it may represent legitimate interest on the part of Toronto.
The acquisition of Weiss would clearly be to provide winger Phil Kessel with an established playmaker if the Leafs pass on Bozak, but it just perpetuates the problem of having a primarily offensive player like Mikhail Grabovski playing a checking, shutdown role and being paid $5.5 Million to do it. Would Toronto improve next season with a top three of Weiss, Kadri and Grabovski??
The other consideration is how much it will cost to sign Weiss. The Leafs are not interested in paying any higher than $3.5 Million to $4 Million per season for Bozak and he will most certainly exceed that on the open market, with so few quality centers available this free agent season. The other top playmakers will be able to exact similar outrageous salaries.
Mike Ribiero is 33 years old and averaged over a point per game with the Capitals last season, which will virtually guarantee him being able to equal his $5 Million salary in free agency on a short term deal or slightly less on a longer term. Derek Roy scored just 28 points in 42 games, but could still make in the same neighborhood of $4 Million from a club looking for a second line center. Weiss is coming off an injury and scoring only one goal in 2013, but if there are at least three teams interested in acquiring him, he will undoubtedly be able to use that interest to get more than his $3.1 Million price tag.
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Notes
Toronto Star’s Damien Cox reports that winger Leo Komarov will be getting $2.5 Million tax free from his new contract with Moscow Dynamo, which is three times the amount what he would earned in the NHL after taxes.
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