Heading back to Buffalo after a long weekend in Philadelphia, where my impression of the upcoming free agent frenzy is that many NHL teams will try to tamper down the expectations of players shopping their services on the open market with the salary cap number coming in at a lower than expected $69 Million.
The most sought after defenseman, Pittsburgh’s Matt Niskanen, is likely to get over $6 Million from some NHL team, in part because he is the best of a bad lot, but also because he is 27 years old and a right-handed shot.
This cap number may also effect the number of suitors for Leafs center Dave Bolland, who is reportedly still looking for a long-term(7 or 8 years) deal at around $5 Million per season.
With the exception of the swap of Roman Polak for Carl Gunnarsson, the most interesting bit of news that emanated from Philadelphia was confirmation from Team President Brendan Shanahan that the Leafs have expressed interest in signing 42-year-old Martin Brodeur.
The Bergen Record’s Tom Gulitti , who reported the sighting of Brodeur at Rogers Center for a Yankees – Blue Jays game with MLSE Chairman Tim Leiweke earlier in the week, spoke to Brodeur’s former teammate on the possibility of the future Hall-of-Famer finishing his career in Toronto.
“We’ve expressed an interest,… Shanahan said. “But I think when you get to a point in Marty’s career, it’s really about fit. I was never the best goalie in the history of the game, but I’ve been a veteran player sort of making these decisions. You do things differently when you’re at Marty’s point in his career.… The Leafs did express interest in signing the future Hall-of-Famer two seasons ago when his last contract expired, but Brodeur decided to stay in New Jersey. With Cory Schneider firmly entrenched as the starting goaltender for the Devils, Brodeur will undoubtedly be moving on.
Factors that make Brodeur coming to Toronto a long shot is potential interest from teams who have a better shot at winning a championship, the potential unwillingness of the Leafs using a significant amount of cap space for a backup goalie and the presence of RFA James Reimer.
The status of Reimer is up in the air after draft weekend, as Leafs GM Dave Nonis stated that it is possible that the 26-year-old will return for another season, most likely because the offers in return for the Morweena, MB native were not on par with what Nonis is looking for.
As the goaltending market sorts itself out over the next few days, Reimer could be moved to a team that misses out on their target in free agency. If that happens, then there could be something to the Leafs interest in Brodeur.
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