UPDATE: Coach Ron Wilson gives James Reimer the start tonight against San Jose.
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The signing of Carolina center Tuomo Ruutu to a four year, $19 Million contract extension yesterday was not only bad news for the number of teams looking for a top six forward rent-a-player before the February 27 trade deadline, but could also represent a blow to the hopes of the Toronto Maple Leafs to be able to re-sign pending unrestricted free agent center Mikhail Grabovski to an affordable contract.
In his eight NHL seasons, the 29-year-old Ruutu has scored in double figures seven times, but has only reached the 20 goal mark on two occasions (23 in 2003-04 and 26 in 2008-09) , solid and consistent numbers to be sure, but not the type of production you would expect to earn $4.75 million per season.
Grabovski has only been a full-time player since being acquired from Montréal in July, 2008 and in that time has also scored 20 goals twice (20 in 2008-09 and 29 in 2010-11) and is on pace to eclipse that mark for the third time, with 18 goals through 54 games this season.
With his offensive production, as well as the fact that the 28-year-old will be amongst the most sought after free agents this summer, Grabovski’s agent has leverage to demand a higher salary than Ruutu just signed for(reportedly in the range of $5 to 5.5 million per season) but that amount is likely not something that will interest Leafs GM Brian Burke.
With the exception of Jeff Carter and Rick Nash, the trade market for scoring forwards is limited to Edmonton's Ales Hemsky and Montréal's Andrei Kostitsyn, which might entice Burke to shop Grabovski in the next four days, especially if he can get a first round pick in return.
There are four possible avenues that the Leafs could go down with Grabovski. They could overpay and sign him to a long term contract extension(probably four or five years), they could stay status quo and finish the season as is, hoping to get him signed before July 1 but with the likelihood that he will walk away for nothing, they could trade for someone like Jeff Carter costing probably a high draft pick and top prospect and then trade Grabovski to recoup the assets that the club had to trade to get Carter or they could just trade him and move Tim Connolly to center the second line and Matthew Lombardi as the third line center.
Which way should the Leafs go???
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In the wake of Jonas Gustavsson’s poor performance on Tuesday night and the continuing inconsistency of James Reimer, Brian Burke indicated for the first time this season that he might look to acquire some goaltending help before the trade deadline.
In an interview with TSN Radio Wednesday evening, the Leafs GM stated that “it’s very hard to watch what happened last night and wonder if we have enough (goaltending).
When asked if there were any goalies available that could help the Leafs down the stretch, Burke indicated that they had not been searching for goalies and “I’m not sure that we’re not gonna be in the market before we’re done.”
ESPN/TSN insider Pierre Lebrun indicated that Evgeni Nabokov could be a prime candidate if negotiations with the Islanders on a contract extension do not work out by next Monday. Other candidates are pending Minnesota UFA Josh Harding, L.A’s Jonathan Bernier and Nashville backup Anders Lindback.
Will be updating throughout the day with any rumors or news that comes to light.
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