With Toronto having five days off after losing Dave Bolland to a serious skate cut to the ankle, the questions from Leafs Nation are understandably focused on the center situation and whether GM Dave Nonis will remedy it by making a trade or hope to tread water with James van Riemsdyk up the middle.
Q: …@trevorchef asks: Regarding centers and the untimely Bolland injury... Sign, trade for or promote from within?
A: It appears that the initial reaction from Leafs GM Dave Nonis is to handle the situation internally, moving van Riemsdyk to center and signing Jerred Smithson. The loss of Bolland and injury to Bozak left the Leafs with only two NHL centers. Trevor Smith was meant to be a signing to provide veteran leadership for the Marlies and not be a fill in at the NHL level, which is why the club signed Smithson and demoted the Marlies captain yesterday.
Smithson has NHL experience, played in the league last season, can take faceoffs, kill penalties and is a better fit as a bottom six center than Smith, but will not be the determining factor on whether Nonis has to make a deal to bring in a stop gap. That all depends on JVR adjusting to a new position and Nazem Kadri being able to handle more ice time.
Q: MaximusAurelius asks: What are the chances that McClement will not sign with Toronto, but will decide to explore the UFA market? McClement will easily get a 4 years/$3 Million per season
A: Nonis has indicated that there is no rush to sign any of the eight unrestricted free agents currently on the roster(including team captain Dion Phaneuf) and that most of the decisions on these players will be made during the off-season. Former GM Brian Burke made one of his better and more cost effective free agent signings adding the versatile McClement for $1.5 Million per season and if head coach Randy Carlyle has anything to say about it, they will be more than willing to sign the 30 year old to a contract extension.
The question is for how much and how long. My guess would be a three-year deal around $2.5 Million per season. If the cost is more than that, the Leafs could very well let McClement test the market. His value will be illustrated over the next few weeks as he sees more ice time filling in for Bolland and Bozak. Q: Betelgeuse asks: If the JVR at center experiment works well and Kadri locks up the 2nd, where does Bozak fit? Especially when Bolland returns
A: The van Riemsdyk experiment being successful would change a lot of things for the Leafs, as the main focus of improvement would change from adding a #1 center to adding a top four defenseman, but that is really a “glass is half full… scenario. The hope is that JVR can adequately handle the duties up the middle until Bozak gets back, so that he can return to his duties as a power forward on the wing. Bozak may not be a good fit as a first line center, but would work well on a second or third line unit.
Kadri could be the big loser if JVR proves he can play up the middle, since he still is not a consistent performer and prone to defensive lapses. Bolland is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and there is no guarantee he will re-sign with Toronto, but one aspect of his injury might be that the Leafs can get him locked up for a more cap-friendly salary than most expected.
Q: Peddy-93 asks: With Mark Fraser coming back, Jake Gardiner impressing Carlyle and Paul Ranger not coming out of that lineup despite poor play. (TSN’s Darren)Dreger says Rielly might be sat out, was it a smart choice in keeping Rielly?
A: It is clear that Rielly is capable of playing in the NHL and probably would not have learned anything more from another year in the WHL, so the decision to keep him past nine games was logical and understandable, but with eight healthy defensemen on the roster, it is not a guarantee that he will be in the Leafs lineup every night. It remains a possibility that the Leafs will attempt to keep the 19-year-old from exceeding 40 games this season(which starts the clock towards becoming an unrestricted free agent) by lending him to Team Canada for the World Juniors in Sweden in December and sending him to the American Hockey League after he turns 20 next March. All of this is moot if Nonis trades a defenseman on the roster to bolster his club up front.
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Q: GardinerExpress asks: Do you think Edmonton would be willing to dangle Sam Gagner to pick up a defenseman (Gardiner) or a goalie (Reimer)?
A: Gagner is a very talented offensive forward and he may the top six forward that Edmonton GM Craig MacTavish would be most willing to move, but from the Leafs point of view, he really would just be another smallish, skilled center to go along with Kadri, Bozak and Bolland. Plus, if the Leafs weren’t willing to trade Reimer for Nail Yakupov, they sure would not be interested in trading him for Gagner.
Q: …@Johnflee17 asks: Jake Gardiner for (Flyers center Sean)Couturier. Is that just media fueled or some legitimacy?
A: According to Bill Meltzer, who covers the Flyers for HockeyBuzz, Philadelphia is not looking to trade the 20-year-old Couturier, who has three assists in 14 games this year and only scored four goals in the lockout shortened 2013 season.
Couturier continues to be one of the Flyers better defensive players and with the club moving Maxime Talbot to Colorado, they are less likely to move another defensive forward.
The speculation does make sense, as the Flyers are loaded up front and have serious holes on the blueline. Kimmo Timonen is on his last legs, Luke Schenn has been scratched the last couple games and Philadelphia could use a swift skating blueliner like Gardiner, but it would be surprising if this deal were to happen.
Thanks for all the questions.
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