July 28, 2010
Bleeding Blue and White: Signing Blake Wheeler and Keeping Tomas Kaberle
Welcome to Bleeding Blue and White. The purpose of this article is to review the latest news, moves, and rumours in Leafs Nation in an interesting and in-depth way.
As you may already know, the Boston Bruins had a salary arbitration meeting with Blake Wheeler on Tuesday. Wheeler’s agent said that the meeting was professional, essentially stating that it wasn’t very contentious.
What is a matter of contention is how the Boston Bruins are going to respond to Wheeler’s award.
According to capgeek.com, the Boston Bruins have just over $12,000 left for two to three players to fill out their roster. Recognizing that Marco Sturm is going to miss the first month and a half of the season due to ACL rehabilitation, the Bruins are still in deep cap trouble.
Sturm has a cap hit of $3.5 million. Assuming he is put on LTIR and misses the first two months of the season, Sturm will still take up $2.5 million.
Add the signing of Tyler Seguin, which will have a cap hit of about $3.75 million (see Taylor Hall), and the Bruins are in trouble.
With recent arbitration dealings such as Clarke MacArthur receiving $2.4 million and the signing of Mason Raymond for $2.5 million a year, it stands to reason that Wheeler will get anywhere from $2.4-2.7 million a year.
That is $2.7 million the Boston Bruins do not have. Enter Brian Burke.
After the Bruins are forced to walk away from Wheeler’s arbitration deal, Brian Burke has the opportunity that many GMs don’t have. He has the roster space, the cap space (waiving Finger), and the bait to bring in a top six forward like Wheeler.
The bait is playing alongside former college and Bruins linemate Phil Kessel. Once Wheeler is signed, the Leafs would have a top six forward who is only 23 with 25 goal potential and a big-body power game.
In other Leafs news, looking at recent reports, it’s very clear that the biggest stone of the UFA season needs to fall before any Tomas Kaberle trade can occur. Luckily, the NHL and NHLPA are looking for an arbiter, and hopefully, this will all be settled by the end of the week.
But at this point, do we really want to trade Kaberle?
I realize that we have eight defencemen and some younger guys waiting in the wings, but with Wheeler possibly signing with the Leafs, the need for a top six forward will be satisfied. And once Finger is waived, we can trade another defencemen.
Defencemen of Kaberle’s ilk aren’t exactly a dime a dozen. For the right price, the best deal may be the deal that rights a wrong from the past, and locks in a player who has always been loyal to the Blue and White.
Read more NHL news on BleacherReport.com
Related posts:
- How the Blake Wheeler Arbitration Will Affect Everybody in the NHL
- NHL Trade Rumors: Is Tomas Kaberle Now On His Way To Boston?
- Toronto Maple Leafs Talk Tomas Kaberle Trade With The Boston Bruins: Be The GM
- Tomas Kaberle To The Boston Bruins a Done Deal? Maybe, Maybe Not
- NHL Trade News: Boston Sends Blake Wheeler To Atlanta To Clear Room For Kaberle
ccm
August 3, 2010 at 11:47 am
There was never any chance Wheeler signed with the Leafs. No speculation, no rumors, nothing. Just simply Leaf fans being Leaf fans and assuming everyone will go to Toronto. Too bad signed with Boston.
And yes, he does have a big body, too bad he doesn’t know how to use it even a little bit.