Schenn still looking, Leafs invite 70 to camp

by Ryan Fancey on September 15, 2011 in Leafs News - 367 Comments

I’ve only got two links this morning, and I’m sure it’s enough to keep everyone talking.

While speculation swirls around RFA defencemen Luke Schenn and Drew Doughty, it appears that they’re situations couldn’t be more different. Both restricted free agents, we’ll likely see a deal for Schenn in the next 24 hours while Doughty and the Kings still remain far apart on an agreement. It’s been said that the Kings could actually pull their current deal (around 6.8 per season) from Doughty at week’s end if things don’t shape up.

Schenn has remained positive about his whole contract process, implying that he doesn’t want to see negotiations take the focus from his game. So when the two sides eventually do settle, what type of price are we looking at? As Darren Dreger pointed out last night, somewhere between Zach Bogosian’s 2.5 and Marc Staal’s 3.9 million per season. That’s a pretty wide gap.

Chemmy at the Leafs Nation has more, with some Schenn comparables:

What odd is that the rumors swirling around have Luke Schenn earning almost $4M per season and that seems pretty high given Schenn’s skillset. Defensive defensemen are generally fairly underrated. Mike Komisarek got $4.5M to be a big shutdown guy in Toronto (ignore that he actually sucks, he was a premiere free agent). Francois Beauchemin got $3.8M to be a shutdown guy. Anton Volchenkov got $4.25M in free agency. All of those guys were unrestricted free agents and while I understand paying for potential the reality is you need to put the squeeze on your RFAs.

When you look at some of the players Chemmy has listed, it’s tough to see Schenn’s price rising all the way to 4 million, which is a good thing for Leafs fans. Obviously the more cap space, the better.

That cap space could come in handy over the season if Burke‘s stable of prospects starts to burn a hole in his pocket. If he decides to flip some kids for help in a specific area, he’s got the flexibility to do so.

Speaking of prospects and players, here’s 70, yes SEVENTY of them who are invited to training camp tomorrow.

43 forwards, 21 defenceman and six goalies. Who wants to bet that Burke tries to convince Wilson to hold on to all 21 defencemen for opening night? You really can’t have too many.

If you have any other links to share, throw them in the comments section.

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