Grabovski Bought Out

[Stronger Than All]

I have mixed feelings on this one.  I'll never forget some of the Grabbo moments like the OT winner in Montreal or the Boston game winner after getting smoked by Chara.

 

[mr grieves]

He's also 27, and has but two full NHL seasons to his name. That isn't exactly a pedigree I'd want to move forward with.

Hold on...are you saying you don't like Bozak!?!!?!!?!?

I like anyone in the right roster spot and at the right price.

Here's hoping the buyout means it's Weiss at Grabbo's money, and Phil benefits from his playmaking. That'd be an upgrade on Grabbo.

 

[caver]

According to Tom Petty the waiting is the hardest part.

 

[Tigger]

Some want to give him another year and if he sucks again, then buy him out.

What if he sucks, gets injured and is ineligible for a buyout?

Then you put him on the shelf, enjoy the LTIR and buy him out when he's healthy?

Wouldn't be a compliance buyout and you have a cap charge.

Right, window closes, fair enough. If there were no alternatives, and I presume Nonis has some up his sleeve, I would have risked it.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

"I would like to thank Mikhail for his contributions with the Leafs over the past five seasons," said general manager Dave Nonis in a team statement. "This was not an easy decision to make as Mikhail made numerous contributions to our hockey club. This is a roster move that will give us salary cap flexibility moving forward."

Doesn't really tell us much, but we have flexibility.

 

[Kin]

I don't know if I buy that this necessarily means someone is coming to Toronto. The timing of it is a little weird, maybe, but nobody in the world should be surprised if MLSE ultimately decided that they would use the two compliance buyouts to save money.

 

[cw]

Maybe I've been gawking at the frenzy news too much but this thought occurred to me:

Teams like the Islanders and Coyotes have had a problem attracting good offensive players via UFA. The Isles have 15 players signed and are below the cap floor by $12 mil.

I wonder if there wouldn't be some discussion about snatching Grabbo off waivers and holding their nose a little on his salary. Maybe he's overpaid $1.5 mil per year ...

And maybe Nonis knows this ...

Again, maybe I'm going crazy but if I were GM of one of those teams that have trouble attracting UFAs, Grabbo and his current contract might interest me.

I realize it's doubtful as they could have picked him up with something like a 7th round pick .... but it's just a thought.

 

[mr grieves]

I don't know if I buy that this necessarily means someone is coming to Toronto. The timing of it is a little weird, maybe, but nobody in the world should be surprised if MLSE ultimately decided that they would use the two compliance buyouts to save money.

I'm not sure that this will save MLSE money.

There's $22m left on Grabbo's contract. The 2/3rds buyout is about $15m, and that's over 8 years. So, unless the team replaces Grabbo for less than $3.625m they aren't "saving money" with his 1.875m annual buyout.

$3.625m will only get you an RFA that can play on the second. That sounds like Kadri to me.

 

[Kin]

I'm not sure that this will save MLSE money.

There's $22m left on Grabbo's contract. The 2/3rds buyout is about $15m, and that's over 8 years. So, unless the team replaces Grabbo for less than $3.625m they aren't "saving money" with his 1.875m annual buyout.

$3.625m will only get you an RFA that can play on the second. That sounds like Kadri to me.

Right. That's where my first sentence where I say that I don't know if someone is necessarily coming to Toronto comes into play.

 

[cw]

I don't know if I buy that this necessarily means someone is coming to Toronto. The timing of it is a little weird, maybe, but nobody in the world should be surprised if MLSE ultimately decided that they would use the two compliance buyouts to save money.

I would be. I can't see them winding up many millions below the cap for a net savings.

And if this backfires on Nonis causing his club to flounder, it could cost him his job quickly.

 

[Zee]

I don't know if I buy that this necessarily means someone is coming to Toronto. The timing of it is a little weird, maybe, but nobody in the world should be surprised if MLSE ultimately decided that they would use the two compliance buyouts to save money.

The timing isn't weird given that today was the last day they could place a player on waivers for purposes of compliance buyout.  They tried to trade him and couldn't so this was the only recourse.

 

[Kin]

I don't know if I buy that this necessarily means someone is coming to Toronto. The timing of it is a little weird, maybe, but nobody in the world should be surprised if MLSE ultimately decided that they would use the two compliance buyouts to save money.

The timing isn't weird given that today was the last day they could place a player on waivers for purposes of compliance buyout.  They tried to trade him and couldn't so this was the only recourse.

Good point. I don't know if it would have taken them that long to determine that they could trade him but I suppose I see the idea that they might wait until the last minute regardless.

 

[Zee]

I don't know if I buy that this necessarily means someone is coming to Toronto. The timing of it is a little weird, maybe, but nobody in the world should be surprised if MLSE ultimately decided that they would use the two compliance buyouts to save money.

The timing isn't weird given that today was the last day they could place a player on waivers for purposes of compliance buyout.  They tried to trade him and couldn't so this was the only recourse.

Good point. I don't know if it would have taken them that long to determine that they could trade him but I suppose I see the idea that they might wait until the last minute regardless.

Who knows, they may have had a back and forth with a team and couldn't agree to a trade or the other GM definitely backed out last minute.  Something we may never find out.

 

[Corn Flake]

The timing isn't weird given that today was the last day they could place a player on waivers for purposes of compliance buyout.  They tried to trade him and couldn't so this was the only recourse.

For sure the reason it happened today. I'm sure attempts were made to move the guy but they couldn't get it done. The waiver pickup is a possibility still.

As a cash saving exercise for the Leafs, I can't see that being the case as they just spent $15 mil to send Grabbo packing.

 

[mr grieves]

I'm not sure that this will save MLSE money.

There's $22m left on Grabbo's contract. The 2/3rds buyout is about $15m, and that's over 8 years. So, unless the team replaces Grabbo for less than $3.625m they aren't "saving money" with his 1.875m annual buyout.

$3.625m will only get you an RFA that can play on the second. That sounds like Kadri to me.

Right. That's where my first sentence where I say that I don't know if someone is necessarily coming to Toronto comes into play.

Right, but I was considering they'll need fill the 1C still. So, they're not going to come out "saving money" relative to holding Grabbo for that.

Before buyout: Grabbo ($5.5m) + Kadri ($3.5m) = $9m

After buyout: someone? ($5.5m?) + Kadri ($3.5m) + Grabbo buyout ($1.875m) = nearly $11m.

And, needless to say, getting a 1C on the UFA market for less than $5.5m is no sure thing.

Say Bozak re-signs and it's: Bozak ($4.5m) + Kadri ($3.5m) + Grabbo buyout ($1.875m) = about $1m more than where we were.

So, I don't see how MLSE comes out saving money. It's a cap space/ roster spot move that means, for the bottom line, an extra $2m of real dollars spent on the center position -- plus whatever above you end up paying the 1C -- is an improvement on Grabbo.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

The timing isn't weird given that today was the last day they could place a player on waivers for purposes of compliance buyout.  They tried to trade him and couldn't so this was the only recourse.

Yeah, I had mentioned this yesterday, although I was a day early on it. I thought the buyout period ended today.

I agree with Nik though, it wouldn't have taken this long to figure out the trade possibilities for him, so I think it was Nonis solidifying another deal for a new player, whoever that will be. I don't think he could have bought out Grabbo, without another plan in place, he would have been booed out of Toronto on a rail.

 

[Kin]

As a cash saving exercise for the Leafs, I can't see that being the case as they just spent $15 mil to send Grabbo packing.

Sure, but you and I both know that 15 million over 8 years is less expensive than 15 million dollars today.

 

[Kin]

Right, but I was considering they'll need fill the 1C still. So, they're not going to come out "saving money" relative to holding Grabbo for that.

Unless, of course, the plan is to go with Kadri, Bolland and Colborne as their three top centers next year.

 

[mr grieves]

Right, but I was considering they'll need fill the 1C still. So, they're not going to come out "saving money" relative to holding Grabbo for that.

Unless, of course, the plan is to go with Kadri, Bolland and Colborne as their three top centers next year.

Which seems just as risky as going with Grabbo, Kadri, Colburne, and McClement.

And it doesn't sound plausible that they'd go with what they've got and save the cash. Isn't the new ownership serious about winning, bringing in Lieweke and all?

 

[cw]

As a cash saving exercise for the Leafs, I can't see that being the case as they just spent $15 mil to send Grabbo packing.

Sure, but you and I both know that 15 million over 8 years is less expensive than 15 million dollars today.

Sure it is. But much of that $15 mil over 8 years is over and above the cap dough they're likely to spend on top of that - which overwhelms the interest on $15 mil "today" ("today" = over the 4 years left on the contract).