The Maple Leafs and center Tyler Bozak are miles apart on reaching a deal, according to a report on Saturday from
The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta.
Pagnotta reports that Bozak’s representatives are looking for a multi-year contract extension in the $5 Million to $5.5 Million range, similar to what fellow Leaf center Mikhail Grabovski received when he re-signed in March 2012, but that the opinion regarding the 27 year old around the league is that he is miscast as a top line center and paying him at that level would be a mistake.
The University of Denver product led all Toronto forwards averaging over 20 minutes ice time per game, mostly due to confidence from coach Randy Carlyle in his abilities as a penalty killer and faceoff specialist, but his 2013 offensive numbers (12 goals and 16 assists in 46 games) average out to around 50 points over a full 82 game schedule, which is the same total he reached in 2011-12 playing first line minutes alongside leading scorer and close friend Phil Kessel.
Bozak has expressed interest in staying in Toronto and Leafs GM Dave Nonis has also indicated that he would like to keep the former undrafted college free agent in the fold if the contract makes sense, but very rarely do contracts make any sense in the summer months.
Nonis is likely looking to get the center signed to a more cap friendly figure in the $3.5 Million to $4 Million range more commensurate with the salary of other second or third line centers in the league and relying on the fact that Bozak will not be given such a central and integral role with other teams that he would be in Toronto.
Factors in Bozak’s favor are the dearth of quality centers in free agency, with Vancouver’s Derek Roy, Florida playmaker Stephen Weiss and Washington’s Mike Ribiero heading up the list, but that negotiating advantage is slightly negated by the league’s salary cap going down to $64 Million.
This is likely the first of many salvos that will be fired in the media between the Leafs and Bozak’s representatives before the July 5th free agent frenzy begins and Nonis must tread carefully if he does not want to repeat the mistakes made by his predecessors.
Former GM John Ferguson Jr put the Leafs in cap peril in 2006 when he overpaid pending free agents Bryan McCabe and Tomas Kaberle and it took four years to get out of it. Nonis has inherited a mostly positive fiscal structure from Brian Burke, now he has to make the right decisions going forward.
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