A Fleury of RFA action sees the Leafs come out empty handed and scratching their heads.
It was one year ago, right around this time of the offseason, when the new Leafs gm started in this league, and his first line of duty was a difficult one, having to release Vinny Lecavilier. The good news was they got decent picks back for him. But, the lesson was learned. Today, the Leafs tried to address their goaltending needs , taking the advice of a few "knowledgeable gms" and were agressive in bidding 7.6 million pr yr for 4 yrs on Avs goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Leafs GM knew full well that unless they were serious with their bid, they wouldnt have a chance to sign anyone, and weaker bids on players like Tanabe, Kubina, Freisen were proof of that, since they were all easily matched. At the same time, they didnt want to bid insanely like has happened in the past. So what happened? Well, the Avs had stated they wanted to keep MAF, and would match most bids, but possibly not an insanely high one. This seemed to make sense, as even at 7.5 mill for Toronto or 8.3 mill for the Avs, both teams could send MAF to the farm, and restructure his contract at a later date. The Avs gm did match, and right after the match was done, they dealt MAF to the Thrashers for a few high first rounders, where they no doubt will be drafting a goalie.
This begs the question of why you would trade a 22yr old established star goalie, for a pick who may or may not be ready to play in net on the pro as a backup, for anywhere from 3-6 seasons?
I dont have the answers. Perhaps the Avs fellow gms got a kick out of seeing him vent and fester after getting word of the bid amount, and then trading him away. I have no idea. All we know, is unless you want to sign an RFA, you have to at least put out a serious bid on guy. We did that, and would have been very pleased to have signed him.
So, there goes Leafs plan A...next up? Plan B...or should we call it plan "C".
The Leafs GM knew full well that unless they were serious with their bid, they wouldnt have a chance to sign anyone, and weaker bids on players like Tanabe, Kubina, Freisen were proof of that, since they were all easily matched. At the same time, they didnt want to bid insanely like has happened in the past. So what happened? Well, the Avs had stated they wanted to keep MAF, and would match most bids, but possibly not an insanely high one. This seemed to make sense, as even at 7.5 mill for Toronto or 8.3 mill for the Avs, both teams could send MAF to the farm, and restructure his contract at a later date. The Avs gm did match, and right after the match was done, they dealt MAF to the Thrashers for a few high first rounders, where they no doubt will be drafting a goalie.
This begs the question of why you would trade a 22yr old established star goalie, for a pick who may or may not be ready to play in net on the pro as a backup, for anywhere from 3-6 seasons?
I dont have the answers. Perhaps the Avs fellow gms got a kick out of seeing him vent and fester after getting word of the bid amount, and then trading him away. I have no idea. All we know, is unless you want to sign an RFA, you have to at least put out a serious bid on guy. We did that, and would have been very pleased to have signed him.
So, there goes Leafs plan A...next up? Plan B...or should we call it plan "C".
posted by Leafs GM at 11:05 PM
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