Over the last couple of days there has been a lot of discussion about the future of Tyler Bozak. The unrestricted free agent centre played on the top line with Phil Kessel throughout the year in Toronto and is looking for a big pay day due to some varying success during this past shortened season.
The Leafs need to tread very cautiously here. In my opinion, Tyler Bozak has too much leverage in this situation with the Leafs. He had success as the team’s #1 centre this year, a position that was given to him by need and not by merit. We’ve seen this movie before. To me, Tyler Bozak is Dominic Moore, Matthew Lombardi, or Matt Stajan. Each of these guys were middling centres who appeared to have success given top 6 minutes, but also can and have just as easily fallen off. There are MANY of these types available, in which you won’t have to spend $4 plus million to sign. The term in that regards I would use is “dime a dozen”. If the Leafs balk at Bozak’s asking price, I think he will find that there won’t be very many teams willing to come close to that price. If someone does, like the Calgary Flames did with Matt Stajan 3 years ago, then I implore him to take the deal. The Leafs need to have the foresight to know that Bozak’s play just is not consistent enough to warrant that type of salary.
Another reason why Bozak has too much leverage in negotiations with the Leafs is Mikail Grabovski’s contract. His cap hit at $5.5 million a year is completely ridiculous for what he brings to the table. Grabovski has shown that he is a one dimensional player with slight defensive capabilities, but can’t be trusted on a defensive zone faceoff. He also has had some tendencies for selfish play, whether it’s trying to do everything himself or trying to get an empty net goal from beyond the centre line (with the team only up by 1). What I will give him credit for is that he was a warrior during the playoff series against Boston. Grabovski was beaten and bruised throughout that series but never gave up an inch to the likes of Chara, Seidenberg or Boychuck.
Last year there were rumours that the Nashville Predators offered the Leafs a 1st round pick for Grabovski at the deadline. The other rumour to go along with this was that Nonis wanted to do this deal, but Brian Burke wanted to keep Grabo. As with what I said earlier with Bozak, having the foresight to know if the level of play could be sustained is crucial in times like that. In my mind, I didn’t trust the fact that Grabovski could repeat the success he had last season. Sure he has a different coach now in Carlyle, in which he played a different role, but that is part of the game in which all players need to be able to adjust to. Also, there is a running excuse that he was sick all season. In this I find it exactly as I just called it, an excuse. The Leaf doctors ran all sorts of diagnostic tests on Mikhail and they found nothing wrong with him. The sickness wasn’t bad enough to keep him out of the lineup which makes me think that it can’t be that much of an excuse even though they couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
What Grabovski’s contract does inflate the salaries of any middling centre looking to sign or re-sign with the Maple Leafs. That player will look to compare themselves to someone already on the team in the same position (i.e. Grabovski) and use his contract as a negotiating point. If I had my way, I would have used one of the compliance buyouts on him. This would have saved the Leafs that cap space, which the Leafs could use in trying to bring in someone who can create a new element to the team. Also, this removes the Leafs from a bad spot in negotiating a new contract for other players. It doesn’t look like Nonis will attempt to remove Grabovski this off-season, so hopefully I’m wrong about him for everyone’s sake.
Lastly, the notion has been put out there that the reason the Leafs should be lenient in negotiations with Tyler Bozak because he and Kessel share and agent and are good buddies. The idea for this being that if you do them a favour with Bozak, Kessel will be an easier signing. To this, I say “Grow Up”. This is professional sports. If anyone really thinks that two players in the prime of their career will give up anything based off the other’s contract they have another thing coming. If they do think that way, I imply the same sentiment to them, “Grow Up”.
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