Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Getting Creative with Lu and T.O.

August 14, 2012, 9:53 AM ET [899 Comments]
Ian Esplen
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Follow me on Twitter for random hockey talk, question and answer sessions, and the odd witty tweet




I was asked the other day by Beatle_John what I thought Ek meant when he said that there may be a more creative way to deal Luongo that would include some outside out the box thinking. Here is my best guess as to what Ek meant by that.

Currently, the Rumouered asking price for Luongo is something along the lines of a roster player and a first round pick, with maybe a prospect in there to.

Currently, the rumoured offers are not close to that and generally involve Vancouver taking back a bad contract.

I believe that Burke and the Maple Leafs want Luongo more than any other team out there. Lu to T.O. just makes so much sense. I also believe that this creative way is involving these two teams and Mike Komisarek and his agent as well.

Brian Burke has been a hugely outspoken since the new/old CBA was signed that he felt that teams should be able to take on an pay parts of a player's contract in order to make deals easier for teams. I believe that this outside the box option is centred around this type of a set up. Here is how they make it work.

Step 1- Toronto buys out Mike Komisarek and takes roughly a 1.17 million hit for the next four years (7 million X 0.667, spread over 4 seasons).

Step 2- Mike Gillis and the Canucks agree that they will offer Komisarek and fair contract of say 10-12 million over four years, with a NTC when he becomes a UFA. This has been worked out with Komisarek and his agent before the buyout takes place.

For this to work you would need all parties to be on board but I don't think it would be much of a problem. Komisarek gets a small raise and an additional two years out of the deal, so I could see him being on board. Vancouver gets Komisarek at a more reasonable cap number and Toronto moves Komisarek's contract for the most part off the books while doing what Burke believes teams should be able to do.

Luongo then gets moved to Toronto in a deal that is a little closer to what Gillis is asking for.

Say…
A conditional first round pick (condition being that the pick is lower than 18, if not it will be a 2nd and a 2014 4th rd pick), Ashton, and Bozak

For

Raymond and Luongo

Ballard then gets moved out for a pick or prospect

Essentially it becomes Luongo for the type of deal Gillis wants and Raymond for Komisarek.


Vancouver's lineup looks like

Sedin/Sedin/Burrows
Booth/Kesler/Kassian
Hansen/Bozak/Higgins
Lapierre/Malhotra/Pinizzotto
Ebbett/Volpatti

Hamhuis/Bieksa
Edler/Garrison
Komisarek/Alberts (or one of the kids)
Tanev (Maybe he plays with Garrison and Komi plays with Edler)

Schneider
Lack



The other possibility that I wonder about is what happens on September 15th if there is no new CBA? I don't think players can be traded while they are locked out, but without a CBA are all bets off as far as trade rules? Maybe that is what teams are waiting on.

That's a wrap.

Ian

If you are interested in advertising your business to people in the Vancouver area or to hockey fans across North America, you can contact me by clicking the “CONTACT” button at the top of the page.

KINDLE USERS: Sign up for Canucks Buzz; a one-stop feed for all things Canucks-related on HockeyBuzz. Content is delivered instantly to your Kindle reader whenever a new Canucks-related blog is published. For more information click here.
Join the Discussion: » 899 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Ian Esplen