On The Last Three Moves


Posted by Jeff Veillette on 03 Sep 2010 / 3 Comments


As we all know, the Toronto Maple Leafs did a bit of tweaking to their roster in the past few days. Nothing of incredible significance, but at least the effort was made, with a hat trick of transactions occurring (a trade, a signing, and a resigning). Here’s my opinions on all three.

Trade: Stefano Giliati and Alex Berry to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Matt Lashoff

A lot of people have been moaning about this one, saying they don’t see the point in the Leafs trading forwards for defencemen when we have a d-core the size of Texas. In theory, I would agree with this opinion. In practice, however, its not a great one to go with.

The fact is, both Giliati and Berry, as much as their NHL10 trade value begs to differ, have about zero shot of ever doing anything significant not only at the NHL level, but the AHL level as well. Both strugged to make an impact on the Marlies, and didn’t show much potential to be more than ECHLers in their time there. In that respect, keeping them is rather useless. On the flip side, Matt Lashoff still has the potential to be a decent NHL defenceman on another team, and is certainly a heck of a player to have on an AHL team. Putting him on the first pair (possibly with Jeff Finger if the ever so expected waiving happens?) on the Marlies with a chance to come up for injury purposes is fantastic. The Lightning benefit from saving some money, but as we all know, money is the last thing MLSE has to worry about. Most importantly, the trade cleared up a contract spot, which was used for our next transaction.

Leafs Sign UFA Clarke MacArthur – 1 Year, 1.1 Million

There are two equally puzzled sides that see this story – the ones that are saying “Wow! Didn’t he get a 2.4 million arbitration award! STEAL!” and the ones going “Why would we waste our time with a player like Clarke MacArthur? Unnecessary signing.” The fact is, both sides are wrong.

The reasoning for MacArthur getting less than half of his arbitration award isn’t because Burke is a genius negotiator, it’s because the award was a farce of sorts. After the Thrashers traded for Andrew Ladd, they decided that MacArthur wasn’t going to be a part of their future plans. and didn’t submit an offer at his arbitration hearing. MacArthur’s side went in with 2.4 million, and were awarded it automatically as Atlanta was planning on walking afterwards. However, the one negative to that award for us? The team that owned his rights can match contracts if they’re under 80% of the award. MacArthur’s was about 45%, so theoretically, Atlanta can decide in the coming days they’ll be taking Clarke as theirs. This is unlikely, though.

Personally, I’m incredibly excited about signing MacArthur. At 25, he’s not exactly old, so there’s room for improvement. Even if he doesn’t improve, 16 goals while getting 3rd line minutes for 1.1 million a year is fantastic, contrary to the opinions of people that feel it unneccessary. You know who else produces at the exact same clip as MacArthur? Nikolai Kulemin, who everyone was excited about signing at 2.35 million. Granted, Kulemin is a bit better defensively, a few months younger, and signed for more years, but to complain about getting MacArthur for half the price is a bit much. If he can repeat his results with 2nd-3rd line minutes, he’s more than worth his money. An article will be upcoming comparing him and Kulemin in further detail, but I thought I’d hit a detail right now.

Lastly…

Leafs Resign Christian Hanson – 1 Year, 2 Way, 650k

A meh signing, in all honesty. I like Christian Hanson as a person. I hope he does well. But he’s not ready for NHL minutes, that much is evident. He takes less money than his qualifying offer, but why? Its all in the one way deal. Even he probably knows he’s going to be seeing a lot of time with the Marlies next year. Its good to have him in the system for now, but its nothing earth shattering.

Written by Jeff Veillette

I run this site, along with MarliesHQ. Leafs fan as far back as I can remember. You can follow me on twitter at @Jeffler

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  • http://Website nhlcheapshot

    Actually, Hanson’s salary is a 2-way deal… he makes $105k with the Marlies.

    http://www.capgeek.com/players/display.php?id=195

    He didn’t accept his QO because either his agent is an idiot and thought they could get more than $1M/1year, or thought they could wait the Leafs out to get a 1-way deal.

  • http://Website Mike The Beeker

    I can’t really comment on the trade with TB. To be honest all players involved didn’t, and don’t, interest me in the slightest of slights.

    I’ve seen all the complaints from Leaf fans in several forums / blogs about the signing of MacArthur. I have yet to read a valid point or arguement as to why it was a bad signing. So that would make them all invalids. He isn’t that great two way first line – big body – forward we were all hoping for but he makes this team better. In more ways than one. It was a good signing. Not great, but good.

    I don’t want to say too many negative things about Hanson so I will just say this. He will never be a legit NHL’er if he doens’t pick up the intensity in his game. Too many nights (for both the Marlies and the Leafs) do you see Hanson’s play as “meh.” The Leafs don’t need another forward that can play a whole game without Joe Bowen saying his name. That reminds me…..Whatever happened to Jonas Hoglund? Hanson can be effective if his intensity picked up. Both physical intensity and using his size around the net. It seems as though he plays his shifts with Fabergé Eggs in his underwear.