After hearing from My Friend Aaron Fair that McCabe could be headed to Florida, it is now being reported on Sportsnet that he could be going that way. Makes sense for both teams. By the trade deadline in 2009 Jay Bowmeester WILL NOT be a Florida Panther. He refuses to sign a long term deal, and becomes a free agent next summer. Unless they offer him a ridiculous contract ( something like 5-6 years at 7 million per) he’s going to be traded. So McCabe fits in nicely in that he takes his spot. Bowmeester was seen as the next Bobby Orr when he got drafted and although he hasn’t lived up to the potential, there are signs he’s blossoming into one of the top 6 defensemen in the NHL. Remember he went right from the draft to the NHL and it often takes time to develop into the players guys become. For every Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, there’s a Mike Ribeiro or Pavel Datsyuk. Unfortunately I don’t see the leafs getting Bowmeester back in this trade. I do think the leafs should explore the possibility, perhaps offering Steen or Stajan and a pick after the 2nd round. The Leafs will also most likely need to take on some salary back, looking at the Panthers roster, look for the Leafs to get somebody such as Radek Dvorak or possibly Stephen Weiss, if we’re lucky. Anyways stay tuned, something concerning McCabe should get done by the end of the month.
P.S – Would like to apologize for writing so little the last few days, Olympics has kept me working every day, so the none posts will continue for another 10 days. To keep you updated Zimbabwe, Togo and Michael Phelps have more medals than Canada…. Very sad.
1 comment:
The Mccabe saga continues, here are some thoughts:
Keep Mccabe-
BMac signed a three year contract in the summer of 2006 and is due 6.15 million next year and 4.15 in the last two years of his deal. I wouldn't be suprised to see him bounce back in an attempt to raise his value this year- expecting 15 goals and > 35 points from Mccabe is not unreasonable. Mccabe has averaged 42 points over his 7 seasons in Toronto, including three 20 (29, 24, 23) point campaigns.
By keeping Mccabe this year the leafs would be able to get more of a return on a trade near the playoff deadline or this time next summer due to Mccabe's lowered salary over the last 2 years of his deal. Florida has offered Mike Van Ryn- a cheaper but less offensively gifted replacement to Mccabe. MVR has only broken the 40 point barrier once- and it was when he played for the Sarnia Sting in the O. Mccabe has broken 40 on four seperate ocacasions (43,53,68, 57) Truthfully, the last thing the leafs need is an under-achieving 30 year old defenceman (2 points last year in 20 games).
Obviously ridding themselves of Mccabe's large contract would be a large weight off Cliff Fletcher's back- however, in terms of return on investement, the best thing the buds could do- would be to weight and evaluate Mccabe's worth near the deadline. With injuries, playoff bound teams are always in the market for a puckmoving hard nosed defenceman- and they tend to be more willing to give up prospects at the deadline then in the midst of the summer.
The Leafs have larger concerns then defence- which actually looks relatively strong
Pairings:
Mccabe - Kubina
Kaberle-White
Stralman-Finger
+ Coliacavo, Kronwall, etc.
I'm not convinced the leafs defence is weak at all.
My largest concern is our void upfront-
Relying on the Marlie crew to fill the void in our first two units might be asking a bit too much too soon.
Robbie Earl, Kuleminin (never played in N.AM) and JWilliams might be ready- but expecting more then 25-35 points from any of them is a bit of a stretch.
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