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Leafs Trade Five To Islanders For Grabner |
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The Toronto Maple Leafs opened training camp at the Mastercard Center in Etobicoke, ON on Thursday with 73 players preparing to make the trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, but before the medical evaluations and media availability was concluded, five of those players were told they had been traded to the New York Islanders in the first trade of GM Lou Lamoriello's tenure in Toronto.
The Leafs traded forwards Taylor Beck and Carter Verhaeghe, defenseman Matt Finn and Tom Nilsson and goalie Christopher Gibson for 27-year-old winger Michael Grabner.
"We acquire an experienced player who has one year left on his contract and brings a tremendous amount of speed to the lineup." Lamoriello said following the deal. "It also allows us with the number of contracts that went back, it allows us to do other things at the right time."
Beck was acquired in July from Nashville for winger Jamie Devane was expected to be in the mix for a roster spot, but may have been considered expendable with the additions of veterans Devin Setoguchi, Curtis Glencross and Brad Boyes on professional tryout contracts.
The 20-year-old Verhaeghe(Toronto's 2013 3rd round pick) had consecutive 80+ point seasons with the OHL's Niagara Ice Dogs, where he was teammates with Islanders forward Ryan Strome.
Finn, the Leafs second rounder in 2012, split time between the AHL Toronto Marlies and ECHL's Orlando Solar Bears in his first pro season, but appeared sluggish at last week's Rookie Tournament in London, ON.
Nilsson scored one goal and five assists in 44 games with the Marlies last season, but the 6'0", 183 lb may not be big enough to play a hard-hitting style in the NHL.
Gibson was the Marlies primary starter done the stretch and played four of the five games in their first round playoff loss to Grand Rapids, but the Leafs have young goalies in Garret Sparks and Antoine Bibeau who need playing time in the AHL, which made the 22-year-old goalie expendable.
Grabner scored eight goals and five assists in 34 games in an injury-riddled season for New York and makes $5 Million in the final year of his contract($3 Million cap hit). The speedy winger scored a career-high 34 goals as a rookie in 2010-11, but his offensive totals have declined steadily since.
The motivation for Toronto was clearly to reduce the number of professional contracts, which is capped at 50 for each NHL team. The Leafs were at 49 players before the trade and now are down to 45, which allows them to sign one or more of the PTO veterans, claim a player on waivers or take more players back in future trades.
"We don't know what might come available. It gives you the opportunity to do just the reverse, should that come about." Lamoriello said. "You always want to have the availability to do anything and everything."
Listen to my take on the deal with CTV London's Norman James:
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