The Toronto Maple Leafs have narrowed their training camp roster to 51 players on Friday.
Forwards Connor Brown (Erie – OHL), Fabrice Herzog (Quebec – QMJHL) and Carter Verhaeghe (Niagara – OHL), defenseman Matt Finn (Guelph – OHL) and goaltender Antoine Bibeau (PEI – OMJHL) have all been reassigned to their respective junior clubs according to the club’s website.
Forward Matt Rupert and defenseman Trevor Murphy have been released from their amateur tryout contracts.
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The battle between the Leafs and restricted free agent defenseman Cody Franson appears to be more about the length of a new deal rather than how much money he will get.
The 26-year-old blueliner who led the Maple Leafs in defensive scoring with four goals and 25 assists in 2013 and six points in the seven-game first round loss to Boston is looking to sign a one-year deal in the neighborhood of $3 Million per season according to TSN’s
Jonas Siegel , while the Leafs are looking to get Franson locked up for two years for slightly lesser money.
A one-year deal would be advantageous for Franson since he would be a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility (a road that he chose not to go down this summer) and if he followed up his 2013 success with another good season, he would be in position for a sizable bump in pay on a one-year deal before becoming an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2014-15 season.
The Leafs are holding fast to their demand of a two-year deal because they are already have four blueliners(Dion Phaneuf, Mark Fraser, Paul Ranger and Jake Gardiner) qualifying for some form of free agency at the end of the 2013-14 season and want to not put themselves in such a position of vulnerability.
The contract impasse could last into the regular season, but the Leafs do not appear willing to budge from their position and Franson does not have many options since restricted free agent offer sheets are anathema throughout the NHL.
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For those who think the free agent invitation to former Vancouver Canucks forward Mason Raymond may not add up to much for the Maple Leafs….think again.
According to Sportsnet’s
Chris Johnston , the 27 year old winger has a good chance to earn a contract with Toronto based his two-way ability and speed, which may be needed after the departure of forwards Clarke MacArthur, Matt Frattin and Mikhail Grabovski over the summer.
“There’s no charity even though I go back a little ways with Mason,” Leafs GM Dave Nonis said of the player he drafted back in 2005. “This isn’t one where I’m doing him a favor or his agent a favor. This is one where he’s going to be given a chance to make our team.”
Raymond has not been the same offensive threat since a serious back injury in the 2011 playoffs, but has come to Leafs camp in good shape and with a positive attitude. He has received assurances from Nonis that if he plays up to expectations, the club would make room under the salary cap for him.
Toronto will need to open up additional cap space to get Franson under contract and sign Raymond and that may be possible by trading defenseman John-Michael Liles, but the three years remaining on his current contract at $3.875 Million would be a tough contract to move. An easier transaction might be to move winger Nikolai Kulemin, who makes $2.8 Million and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2013-14 season.
Raymond does not have Kulemin’s strength or size, but would be an adequate and more economical replacement on the third line. It also allows the Leafs to trade the former 30 goal scorer one year before he becomes an unrestricted free agent and departs to another NHL team or to the KHL.
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Per the Globe and Mail’s James Mirtle, there are three Leafs that have changed numbers from last season: Mark Fraser from #45 to #2, Joe Colborne from #32 to #22 and John-Michael Liles from #24 to #26. New addition Dave Bolland is wearing #63, David Clarkson #71 and Jonathan Bernier #45.
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