Lupul should be bought out, he's being played as a 4th liner and recently his icetime is going down, Babs doesn't seem to have any faith in him. He makes far too much coin for his value.
If TO bought him out they'd be on the hook for approximately 1.75 mil. for the next 4 years, add his total to Gleason's buyout 1.3 mil per for 3 and Kessel's salary take back 1.2 for 6 years so for the next 3 years TO has 4.5 mil. in dead money.
I don't think buying out Lupul makes any sense, either keep him on the roster or even better send him to the minors and let a rookie take his place. I think a better scenario would be if TO could move him while retaining half of his salary but I doubt anybody even thinks he's worth that much.
The majority of TO's FAs are expendable, being rid of them would in fact be desirable but there are 3 that are decent players. Kadri, Reimer and Polak. I think that last place teams falling in love with their players is the surest way to keep them in last place.
Of the 3 Kadri is the best, IMHO, but the question is, is he good enough to sign for 5+ mil for term, let's say 6 mil. for 5 years. Can TO envision him as say Jeff Carter to Kopitar or Bergeron to Krejci? TO already has a 2nd line center signed for 2 more years and I'm hoping TO will have possible resources to replace both by the end of Bozak's contract. I'm hoping/expecting Nylander will be an upgrade to both. Does TO need a 6 mil. $ placeholder, I don't think so.
Reimer is in about the same situation as Kadri, TO has a goalie signed for next year and possible potential playing for the excellent Marlies. Resigning him would only make sense if TO could move Bernie but even then can we feel an expensive long term commitment to him would be worthwhile. Reimer has has a spotty career highlighted by inconsistency and injury. TO's various regimes have never appeared to be sold on Reimer, Kiprusoff almost ended up a Leaf even tho Reimer was heroically good during the short season. It seems that Reimer is bad when he's great and horrible when he's bad, it's time to move on, trade him ASAP.
Polak, love this guy, he's been an upgraded version to Fraser by quite a margin. On a good team he's a 3rd pairing d-man so it would be stupid for TO to overcommit to this guy and overcommit is something TO would have to do to sign him now. Interesting that Polak has been receiving the most d-man icetime for the last 2 weeks of all of TO's d-men, actually it's both interesting and pathetic.
I think losing teams shouldn't fall in love with the players that make them losers especially when those players don't have the potential to improve and bring the team with them. TO made the mistake of over committing to Phanny and Kessel, for instance, let's hope they don't continue down the path of overpaying because replacements aren't immediately evident.
If TO bought him out they'd be on the hook for approximately 1.75 mil. for the next 4 years, add his total to Gleason's buyout 1.3 mil per for 3 and Kessel's salary take back 1.2 for 6 years so for the next 3 years TO has 4.5 mil. in dead money.
I don't think buying out Lupul makes any sense, either keep him on the roster or even better send him to the minors and let a rookie take his place. I think a better scenario would be if TO could move him while retaining half of his salary but I doubt anybody even thinks he's worth that much.
The majority of TO's FAs are expendable, being rid of them would in fact be desirable but there are 3 that are decent players. Kadri, Reimer and Polak. I think that last place teams falling in love with their players is the surest way to keep them in last place.
Of the 3 Kadri is the best, IMHO, but the question is, is he good enough to sign for 5+ mil for term, let's say 6 mil. for 5 years. Can TO envision him as say Jeff Carter to Kopitar or Bergeron to Krejci? TO already has a 2nd line center signed for 2 more years and I'm hoping TO will have possible resources to replace both by the end of Bozak's contract. I'm hoping/expecting Nylander will be an upgrade to both. Does TO need a 6 mil. $ placeholder, I don't think so.
Reimer is in about the same situation as Kadri, TO has a goalie signed for next year and possible potential playing for the excellent Marlies. Resigning him would only make sense if TO could move Bernie but even then can we feel an expensive long term commitment to him would be worthwhile. Reimer has has a spotty career highlighted by inconsistency and injury. TO's various regimes have never appeared to be sold on Reimer, Kiprusoff almost ended up a Leaf even tho Reimer was heroically good during the short season. It seems that Reimer is bad when he's great and horrible when he's bad, it's time to move on, trade him ASAP.
Polak, love this guy, he's been an upgraded version to Fraser by quite a margin. On a good team he's a 3rd pairing d-man so it would be stupid for TO to overcommit to this guy and overcommit is something TO would have to do to sign him now. Interesting that Polak has been receiving the most d-man icetime for the last 2 weeks of all of TO's d-men, actually it's both interesting and pathetic.
I think losing teams shouldn't fall in love with the players that make them losers especially when those players don't have the potential to improve and bring the team with them. TO made the mistake of over committing to Phanny and Kessel, for instance, let's hope they don't continue down the path of overpaying because replacements aren't immediately evident.