Qualifying Offers – Quick Notes
Monday afternoon’s 5pm qualifying offer deadline has come and gone. A QO is simply a mandatory minimum contract, valued at either the player’s previous year’s salary or slightly above, which prevents said player from becoming an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.
The Maple Leafs extended qualifying offers to forwards Nikolai Kulemin and Christian Hanson, while letting go of forward John Mitchell and defensemen Matt Jones and Phil Oreskovic. Collegiate free agent signee Kyle Rogers was also among the Marlies’ restricted free agents, but there is no word yet on whether he was qualified. If Rogers becomes a free agent, the Leafs will have trimmed down their contract obligations down to 43.
Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos also adds that the club will look to bring Mitchell back for a lesser salary, and continue to discuss a long-term contract with Kulemin, though the latter is believed to be seeking north of $3 million per season. Around the league, some may be surprised to hear that the Islanders will not be bringing back 26 year old forward Sean Bergenheim, an industrious checker who has averaged 12 goals/year over the past 3 seasons.
June 29th, 2010 at 10:25 am
If we do get Savard Fans can start wearing sponge head hats just like when the Blue jays used to do the cone heads
June 29th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Does this site make me lazy or am I just a lazy person?
June 29th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Huselius to Leafs? (e2)
According to my sources within the Columbus Blue Jackets organization, the Toronto Maple Leafs are willing to part with D Tomas Kaberle and LW Alexei Ponikarovsky to obtain the services of LW Kristian Huselius. Remember, you heard it here first!
seems fair, would you?
June 29th, 2010 at 10:36 am
dlb wrote:
How old is that?
June 29th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Jordan wrote:
agreed, wonder though what Semin would want contract wise after this year?
June 29th, 2010 at 10:36 am
dlb wrote:
Good deal considering the Leafs don`t own Ponikarovsky anymore, how about throwing in Toskala as well.
June 29th, 2010 at 10:39 am
@ lonsmos2:
Probably around 6. I would like him here for that
June 29th, 2010 at 10:44 am
[b]Ponikarovsky to Devils? (e5)[/b]
According to my sources within the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, the New Jersey Devils are willing to part with G Martin Brodeur, a Gary Bettman bobblehead, LW Zach Parise and a rusty zamboni to obtain the services of LW Alexei Ponikarovsky. Remember, you heard it here first!
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[b]Parise to Leafs? (e2)[/b]
According to my sources within the New Jersey Devils organization, the Toronto Maple Leafs are willing to part with G Vesa Toskala, a 4th round pick and a rusty zamboni to obtain the services of LW Zach Parise. Remember, you heard it here first!
June 29th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Jordan wrote:
I would definitely give him a Camamalleri contract but if he has another great season this year he may want more…
June 29th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Schenn wrote:
I wouldn`t include the rusty zamboni in either trade, big time overpayment. How about a complete set of Leaf playoff tickets from 2010 instead.
June 29th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Jordan wrote:
I could live with that
June 29th, 2010 at 10:55 am
@ long_suffering_leaf_fan:
I blamed you when my boss asked me what my problem was today. Now he has a new bookmark. For everyone who think’s I lost my mind…
http://hockeybuzzhogwash.com/rumourgen.htm
.
Imagine he really does skim this site for ideas…
June 29th, 2010 at 10:55 am
@ ingy56:
hahahaha…boooooooo
June 29th, 2010 at 10:57 am
You boys keep playing with that thing and you’re gonna go blind…
June 29th, 2010 at 11:22 am
dlb wrote:
Haha sorry guys my intention was not to get anyone fired from the jobs
June 29th, 2010 at 11:42 am
@Charlie
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How quickly you forget that Backes was playing absolutely horrid the whole first half of the season. He was rumored to be on the outs with Team USA, but picked his play up in January and earned his spot back. I’m pretty sure even Strickland was wondering if management would trade him before it became apparent his 30 goal season was a fluke. You really need to stop assuming that any player who plays well is automatically an immoveable object that anyone would be insane to trade. Backes is a checking winger with scoring upside – not a franchise player. Give it a rest. Teams let much, much better players than Backes leave their rosters every year.
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I’m not saying he’ll leave, I’m just saying that saying he definitely won’t is no less legitimate than me saying it’s possible he will. Gomez, Briere, Drury, Redden, Chara, Gaborik, Kovalchuk, Bouwmeester, Cammalleri, Komisarek – all of these guys are or were captain material who left their teams in recent years. It happens every year.
June 29th, 2010 at 11:44 am
@ Falcon:
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I’ll try to explain is a different way then. Burke knew exactly who he was targetting last July 1st, and knew (approximately) how much it would cost to sign those players. So the first thing he did is to try to figure out how much cap space he required by July 1st to do that, and also which players were not going to figure in his future plans. Obviously, he deemed that Kubina didn’t fit his vision, so him and his salary cap hit needed to be moved by July 1st to be able to have the cap space to go after the players he wanted. The return was a moot point – he needed the deal done by July 1st to have the cap space he needed. Whether he actually got all the UFA’s he was targetting is not the issue (I’m 100% sure he didn’t) – the issue is that he at least had the cap room needed to at make an attempt to sign the players he wanted.
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Keeping all that in mind about needing to clear the cap space prior to July 1st, do we also know if another team other than Atlanta showed any interest? My guess is no. Since having Kubina and his contract on the books was going to prevent what Burke hoped to accomplish last July 1st, Kubina had to be moved quickly, and Burke took the guaranteed deal offered at that point because he couldn’t afford to wait any longer for other teams to maybe show any interest prior to July 1st.
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Yes, it meant that the return in actual players was less than could have been anticipated, but that was not the point here. The point was that sitting on Kubina and not trading him prior to July 1st meant that Burke wouldn’t have the cap space to attempt to go after all the players he wanted. Burke (in addition to not having the $$$ to go after the players he wanted) was going to be stuck with a player he couldn’t move, a cap hit he didn’t want, and a player that was going to walk for free this July 1st.
June 29th, 2010 at 11:51 am
@ kb:
Exactly. We tend to sit on mediocre players and complain that we don’t have any really good ones. Look at how many players we’ve gotten rid of that are now looking for a team to play on. That should speak volumes…
Move out the ones you know don’t fit into your long-term plans. Give new prospects a shot as you are going to find someone good once in a while, and they’re inexpensive. Use the extra cap space to pick up available players that are better and make sense relative to your plans.
Sounds like a solid plan to me…
June 29th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Cameron wrote:
No, YOU have to remember that he was in his third full year in the NHL. His previous all saw his production go higher. You have to remember, they’re not the Leafs of old. They give their young guys time to develop, ESPECIALLY guys like Backes who show they can score and hit. The guy is a beast. And they talk about his as captain material.
And I’m pretty sure Strickland never once wondered if they would trade him.
Your comparisons make no sense. Some of those guys were never considered captain material, some of those guys weren’t re-signed because the team didn’t have the cap space or budget to and some of those guys are almost double Backes age. You’re comparing apples and oranges here. You have to look at this situation by itself.
June 29th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
@ Charlie:
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Whatever, he was definitely getting bad press just a year ago. There are other examples if you don’t like those. Before the new coaching staff took over in LA, Frolov was considered an untouchable after putting up 2 30 goal campaigns in 3 seasons. Now he’s on the market. He also hits and digs puck out of the corners, contrary to the standard Canadians anit-Russian media’s reports otherwise.
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Ryan Smyth was the heart and soul of the Edmonton franchise. Yes he was 31, not 27 when he hit UFAgency, but he was definitely captain material who hit and scored. I understand there were other things at play, but you can’t tell me that similar circumstances won’t ever be in play in any other city ever; it’s just foolish to think that way. Next summer they have to resign Berglund and Oshie as well, and they’ve been given the mandate to spend big this summer – as evidenced by the Halak acquisition. It’s very possible there’s a different outlook in St.Louis in a few months time.
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Also, it’s a stretch to call this Backes’s third season. He played a pretty full pro year before that with 49 games, and 31 AHL games. There isn’t much excuse at that point. Christ, we’re ready to execute Grabovski after less than two whole seasons – he’s worthless don’t you know? We wanted Schenn traded when he had a bad sophomore year. Why does Backes get a free pass in year 4 at age 26? I don’t get it.
June 29th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Cameron wrote:
Cause he’s not a Leaf and every Leaf sucks don’t ya know?
June 29th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
@ H.H.:
Agitate:
Welcome Back!
June 29th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
@ jimmgeo:
I think I would take a flyer on Frolov….he has skill,size and is pretty good in the corners and on a good line he could score close to 25-30 goals………sign him fr 3-4 years at 3.5–4.5 mill a year….after Kovi I think he is the next best thing we could sign.
June 29th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
BeLeafer29 wrote:
Let’s hope Kessel’s career is just as productive as Bob’s; or maybe not… we can’t expect Phil to play into his 60s. Apparently old Bob still laces the skates up once in a while to relive his Minnesota roots.