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Cowen placed on waivers

CarltonTheBear

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Chris Johnston ‏@reporterchris
The #leafs have placed Jared Cowen on waivers.

That's a little odd. Even if they wanted him on the Marlies, he'd be a prime conditioning stint candidate (assuming he agreed, which I can't see why he wouldn't).
 
Well, players have to be placed on waivers before they can be bought out but I'm not sure the timing lines up for that considering the buyout period is in the off-season.
 
That's a strange one.

Giving away an asset for free here, no?

Perhaps he refused to go on the IR and they need the roster spot for pending trades.

Clune to the Marlies too.
 
Leafs trying to hoard all the cap space?

His cap hit probably means he clears, even with the buyout credit. Also, having him clear waivers now means that, if he is traded, the team picking him up doesn't have to worry about doing the same.
 
Patrick said:
Giving away an asset for free here, no?

I wouldn't be surprised if he clears, because even if teams value his credit they might not think it's worth taking on his cap hit for the rest of the season. Unless of course it's a team that thinks they can claim him now and then trade him in the offseason. I guess we'll find out how much teams value that credit.
 
Dappleganger said:
Well, players have to be placed on waivers before they can be bought out but I'm not sure the timing lines up for that considering the buyout period is in the off-season.

He'll have to be placed on waivers during the buyout period to be bought out, so, no, this has nothing to do with that.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
I wouldn't be surprised if he clears, because even if teams value his credit they might not think it's worth taking on his cap hit for the rest of the season. Unless of course it's a team that thinks they can claim him now and then trade him in the offseason. I guess we'll find out how much teams value that credit.

Or even this move might be an indication that it's not quite as valuable as we thought.
 
Patrick said:
I meant LTIR. (cap relief)

That's not really his choice, and, in a way, it's not really the team's, either. If he's healthy enough to play, he gets activated. If he's not, grievances get filed, the league can get involved, etc. It can get ugly and it's just not worth it. Also, the Leafs aren't exactly in need of cap relief, and the amount that he'd offer is pretty negligible at this point.
 
Nik the Trik said:
Or even this move might be an indication that it's not quite as valuable as we thought.

On it's own, it doesn't have much value, no. The value comes from being able to shed a contract as part of the deal on top of the credit. $650K in extra cap space is really just injury insurance wiggle room. Being able to move a $3M+ contract and get that extra $650k? There's value in that. Not huge value, but maybe enough to get a 3rd round pick instead of a 4th, or something like that.
 
bustaheims said:
On it's own, it doesn't have much value, no. The value comes from being able to shed a contract as part of the deal on top of the credit. $650K in extra cap space is really just injury insurance wiggle room. Being able to move a $3M+ contract and get that extra $650k? There's value in that. Not huge value, but maybe enough to get a 3rd round pick instead of a 4th, or something like that.

That seems like a fair evaluation. So my thinking is just you wouldn't sweat losing that too much. 
 
Nik the Trik said:
That seems like a fair evaluation. So my thinking is just you wouldn't sweat losing that too much.

Nope. Also, having him clear waivers now can also help facilitate a trade. The team that acquires him can send him to their AHL team immediately, so they don't have to take on the entirety of his cap hit at any point. So, any team that trades for him doesn't have to worry about creating the full pro-rated value of $3.1M in cap space just to have him on their roster for 24 hours. They only have to create enough to cover ~$2.2M - and, while that may not sound like much, it could be the difference between them being able to add that extra depth player they're looking for or not.
 
I guess it would seem that they're trying to make Cowan more appealing then...and worst case scenario is that he gets grabbed, but who cares really. 

Or they've got a deal in place to somewhere like Chicago, and they'd only take him if he's already been waived because of the cap space implications that have been mentioned. 
 
bustaheims said:
Nik the Trik said:
That seems like a fair evaluation. So my thinking is just you wouldn't sweat losing that too much.

Nope. Also, having him clear waivers now can also help facilitate a trade. The team that acquires him can send him to their AHL team immediately, so they don't have to take on the entirety of his cap hit at any point. So, any team that trades for him doesn't have to worry about creating the full pro-rated value of $3.1M in cap space just to have him on their roster for 24 hours. They only have to create enough to cover ~$2.2M - and, while that may not sound like much, it could be the difference between them being able to add that extra depth player they're looking for or not.

This was what I was thinking at first (obviously not as articulated and well researched). This will catalyze a transaction.
 
bustaheims said:
Nik the Trik said:
That seems like a fair evaluation. So my thinking is just you wouldn't sweat losing that too much.

Nope. Also, having him clear waivers now can also help facilitate a trade. The team that acquires him can send him to their AHL team immediately, so they don't have to take on the entirety of his cap hit at any point. So, any team that trades for him doesn't have to worry about creating the full pro-rated value of $3.1M in cap space just to have him on their roster for 24 hours. They only have to create enough to cover ~$2.2M - and, while that may not sound like much, it could be the difference between them being able to add that extra depth player they're looking for or not.

But why would someone take a pass on the waiver and then trade for him. I'm not saying there isn't a reason, but I don't know it. Leafs will retain salary?
 
Bill_Berg said:
But why would someone take a pass on the waiver and then trade for him. I'm not saying there isn't a reason, but I don't know it. Leafs will retain salary?

The team claiming him would need to then waive him if they wanted him in the AHL, thus risking losing him if another team claims him on waivers and losing his potential cap credit.

If the Leafs waive him and he clears and then they trade him, his new team can leave him in the minors, save the 950k against the cap this season and still get his credit next season after buying him out in the summer.
 

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