With the signings of Peter Holland and Carter Ashton this week, the Maple Leafs have only four unresolved contract situations to reconcile this summer and only three with players expected to be part of their 2014-15 roster.
Marlies winger Spencer Abbott and defenseman Jake Gardiner are not expected to be difficult negotiations for GM Dave Nonis.
The 25-year-old product of the University of Maine led all forwards on the Leafs AHL affiliate with 69 points(averaging over a point-per-game), scored 11 points in the Calder Cup playoffs and may have the skill and speed to make the NHL, but the Hamilton, ON native's 5’9” 170lb frame could be a major impediment.
Ideally the Leafs are looking to sign Gardiner to a short-term bridge contract as they did with Nazem Kadri last summer. Gardiner could try to wait out the Leafs in hopes of getting a better deal, but without arbitration or the possibility of an offer sheet as leverage, there is little chance that the 23-year-old Minnesota native will hold out past the start of training camp.
Restricted free agent defenseman Cody Franson and goalie James Reimer elected to resolve their impasse with salary arbitration. The hearing for Franson is scheduled for next Monday, while Reimer’s will be held on July 28.
Franson's tenure since being acquired from Nashville in July, 2011 has been difficult. He played only 57 games in his first season with the Leafs, mostly because of a lack of confidence in his abilities from Ron Wilson.
The lanky blueliner was a restricted free agent in 2012 and played 26 games for Brynas in the SHL throughout the NHL lockout before signing a one-year, $1.2 Million deal just before the start of the shortened 2013 schedule. He posted his best career numbers playing on the bottom pairing with Mark Fraser (5 goals, 28 assists in 45 games and six points in seven games in the playoff series against Boston), but confusingly did not use the arbitration option to get a new deal and ended up holding out until late September before signing another one-year contract for $2 Million.
The Salmon Arm, BC native led the Leafs in defensive scoring with 33 points, but was woeful in the defensive zone and led the club with a -20 plus/minus rating.
Arbitration awards are often about comparables and Franson could get a figure that the Leafs may find tough to swallow. Taking the average salary of the 10 defensemen who scored just ahead and below Franson (Jason Demers, Slava Voynov, Jason Garrison, Christian Ehrhoff, Jack Johnson, Andy Greene, Justin Faulk, Dion Phaneuf, Nick Leddy and TJ Brodie) in 2014-15, the amount is $4.018 Million.
With the addition of right-handed blueliners Stephane Robidas and Roman Polak, young Petter Granberg getting a serious look at training camp and team captain Dion Phaneuf’s preference to play the right side, Franson could be an expendable asset that Nonis is willing to trade if the Leafs believe the arbitration award will be too rich.
Reimer signed a three-year, $5.7 Million contract after taking the starting job in 2011 from the inconsistent and oft-injured J-S Giguere and Jonas Gustavsson. His first season as a starter was knocked off track by concussion issues courtesy of a Brian Gionta elbow, playing just 34 games, with a 3.10 GAA and .900 save percentage, but the Morweena, MB native rebounded with a 19-8-5 record, 2.46 GAA and .924 save percentage in 2013, as the Leafs made the playoffs for the first time in nine years.
Reimer(fair or unfair) received a significant share of the blame for the three-goal, third period collapse in Game 7 against Boston and the traumatic playoff loss convinced Nonis that the club needed to look elsewhere for a starting goalie.
With the acquisition of Jonathan Bernier from Los Angeles, it was only a matter of time until he became the club’s go-to guy in goal. The two goalies split duties almost equally until mid-December, when Randy Carlyle began to start Bernier almost exclusively. Reimer did not adjust well to the role of a backup, winning only two games in spot duty from January till mid-March and went 2-9-0 in the final month of the season after Bernier suffered a sports hernia injury.
The unknown with Reimer is whether the arbitrator’s award will be closer to what some NHL starting goalies earn or comparable to that of a quality backup. If Reimer agrees to a deal with the Leafs on par with his previous contract or receives an award in the neighborhood of $2 Million, it is likely that Toronto will keep the 26-year-old as Bernier’s backup in spite of his wish to go somewhere else with a better chance to be a club’s primary starter.
If the award is significantly higher than that, Toronto could opt to walk away from the award, make him an unrestricted free agent and sign a veteran free agent like Martin Brodeur, Tomas Vokoun, Tim Thomas and Nikolai Khabibulin.
*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact” button at the top of the page.*******
For Those on Twitter:
KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information
click here.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»