Liles on Waivers

[jdh1]

The thing about Liles if he clears waivers..the Leafs have got a experienced defenceman down there that can be recalled should other D fail up on the Leafs..plus playoff depth as needed.

 

[Kessel Run]

It's also very likely that this is only to give Rielly his 9 games or so, and he will be back after that. The 925K they save by having Liles in the minors is less than Rielly's cap hit isn't it?

 

[Fanatic]

Perhaps they thought that Liles was more tradable than Komisarek. But at this point it is obvious that no one was willing to pay anything for him. It would be great if he was snapped off waivers, but it seems unlikely.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

It's also very likely that this is only to give Rielly his 9 games or so, and he will be back after that. The 925K they save by having Liles in the minors is less than Rielly's cap hit isn't it?

There's still a few things working against Liles in his return to the NHL. First, we really don't have any idea whether or not the Leafs will keep Rielly up for the full season. If he sticks, the Leafs have 7 NHL defencemen and we likely won't ever see them carry an 8th until injuries hit.

If Rielly is sent down and Liles is called up, he'll still be behind 6 NHL defencemen and probably a regular healthy scratch unless Carlyle goes crazy and starts benching Gardiner again. But sitting in the press box for an extended period of time probably hurts his trade value more than playing in the AHL does.

And even if Rielly gets sent down and the Leafs choose to carry 7 defencemen, it would make more sense for them cap-wise to call-up Brennan instead of Liles. That would give them an extra $325k in cap space, which could go a long way. Again, neither will likely play if the other defencemen are healthy so it just makes more sense to carry the cheapest possible option for emergencies. The 7th guy could even see himself get bounced to and from the AHL during home games or off days to give the Leafs even more relief.

 

[bustaheims]

Busta seems to know all the CBA stuff, but my understanding is that the cap clearingest move would've been to compliance buyout Grabo and Liles for $5.5m + 3.85m, and then regular buyout the last year of Komi's contract, which turns his $4.5m cap hit for the 2013-14 season into a $1.5m cap hit for the next two. That seems to clear about $12.4m in cap space, instead of the $10m that the Grabo & Komi buyouts did. On the other hand, I've not had much luck figuring out cap savings today -- so who knows?

Because of the way Komisarek's contract was structured, it wouldn't have worked out quite like that. His contract was frontloaded, the Leafs would have had to pay off some of the cap savings they received. The cap hit for an ordinary course buyout on Komisarek would have given the Leafs a cap hit of $2.17M this season and $1.17M next season. So, going about things that would would have really only provided the Leafs a little more than $700K in extra cap space this season.

But what's the deal with Liles? Will the $2.95m hit remain on the cap for next 3 seasons that he's under contract and buried?

If Liles is still with the organization and with the Marlies for the entire time, yes, his total cap hit minus the league minimum + $375K will say on the Leafs' cap. Which means $2.95M this season and next season, and $2.925M in the the final season.

 

[bustaheims]

And, just because I know it's going to come up, here are the buyout figures for Liles, if the team were to take that route after this season:

2014-15: $791,667
2015-16: $2,291,667
2016-17: $1,166,667
2017-18: $1,166,667

So, really, I'd say it's not at all a safe bet he'll be bought out. There's big savings next season, but the difference in 15/16 is barely more than the league minimum salary. If the Leafs choose not to buy him out, he's off the cap after that season. So, it will really come down to how much they value the extra $2M available for next season, and, that's going to depend on a number of factors - negotiations with their many free agents, what moves get made between now and the draft, the quality of the UFA class, etc.

 

[moon111]

Liles might not be playing because of the contract JFJ signed Darcy Tucker to. 

 

[ZBBM]

Wow another ex Avalanche defenceman  goes bust , Finger and now Liles . Nonis, note to self ,3rd time is the charm

For the record, in no way was Finger a bust.  Far from it.  He was perfectly serviceable.  He just got paid 2x more than he should have.  Nor is Liles anything like a bust.  For that matter, neither was O'Byrne.  All of these guys played to a reasonable level.

 

[Kessel Run]

It's also very likely that this is only to give Rielly his 9 games or so, and he will be back after that. The 925K they save by having Liles in the minors is less than Rielly's cap hit isn't it?

There's still a few things working against Liles in his return to the NHL. First, we really don't have any idea whether or not the Leafs will keep Rielly up for the full season. If he sticks, the Leafs have 7 NHL defencemen and we likely won't ever see them carry an 8th until injuries hit.

If Rielly is sent down and Liles is called up, he'll still be behind 6 NHL defencemen and probably a regular healthy scratch unless Carlyle goes crazy and starts benching Gardiner again. But sitting in the press box for an extended period of time probably hurts his trade value more than playing in the AHL does.

And even if Rielly gets sent down and the Leafs choose to carry 7 defencemen, it would make more sense for them cap-wise to call-up Brennan instead of Liles. That would give them an extra $325k in cap space, which could go a long way. Again, neither will likely play if the other defencemen are healthy so it just makes more sense to carry the cheapest possible option for emergencies. The 7th guy could even see himself get bounced to and from the AHL during home games or off days to give the Leafs even more relief.

True, but there are still lots of reasons why he could still make it back as well. For example, Rielly gets sent back, Franson is rusty, Gunnarsson's health issues from last season pop up, and also because he is good with some of the younger guys.

 

[Deebo]

He cleared waivers, no surprise.

 

[lamajama]

He cleared waivers, no surprise.

Any word on the others?

EDIT: just looked on TSN - all cleared waivers

 

[13th fan]

Wow another ex Avalanche defenceman  goes bust , Finger and now Liles . Nonis, note to self ,3rd time is the charm

For the record, in no way was Finger a bust.  Far from it.  He was perfectly serviceable.  He just got paid 2x more than he should have.  Nor is Liles anything like a bust.  For that matter, neither was O'Byrne.  All of these guys played to a reasonable level.

I know they're decent players . I  guess my point is that our track record  with ex Avalanche player hasn't been good and I totally forgot about O'Byrne  ;D

 

[princedpw]

Wow another ex Avalanche defenceman  goes bust , Finger and now Liles . Nonis, note to self ,3rd time is the charm

For the record, in no way was Finger a bust.  Far from it.  He was perfectly serviceable.  He just got paid 2x more than he should have.  Nor is Liles anything like a bust.  For that matter, neither was O'Byrne.  All of these guys played to a reasonable level.

No, O'Byrne was a bust.  Not NHL-level player.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

Wow another ex Avalanche defenceman  goes bust , Finger and now Liles . Nonis, note to self ,3rd time is the charm

For the record, in no way was Finger a bust.  Far from it.  He was perfectly serviceable.  He just got paid 2x more than he should have.  Nor is Liles anything like a bust.  For that matter, neither was O'Byrne.  All of these guys played to a reasonable level.

No, O'Byrne was a bust.  Not NHL-level player.

O'Byrne was what he was. He was brought in to be a fill in and back up in case of injury. He did that.