Do the Maple Leafs Have to Trade Sundin?

The last few Stanley Cup winners (as well as their opponents in the finals) have consisted of excellent core players (ie., with big salaries), excellent cheap young players, a great goalie and smattering of role players that don't cost too much. The Leafs don't have too much of these things right now.

I think everyone realizes that the key to rebuilding the Leafs is unloading anyone who doesn't fit in any of the above categories. Lets ignore no trade contracts for the moment. Sundin can be a keeper because he earns his pay and he could be traded because his market value is high. And lets face it the most tradeable players are Sundin, Kaberle and Antropov for the very reason is they are good value. The least tradeable are McCabe, Blake, Kubina and Tucker because they are grossly overpaid and have long-term contracts.

Fletcher's goal over the next month is to create some cap space for the future and collect more young talent. So trading the dead weight will be difficult not just because it will be difficult to find a dumb manager to take them off your hands but the cap even prevents the dumb ones from making this mistake. A team that has only $2 million in cap space cannot take on Blake's salary without unloading at least $2 million in excess salaries. Calgary has been rumoured to be interested in Sundin but would expect Toronto to take back Tanguay to take on Sundin's contract. Not exactly what the Leafs have in mind.

So don't be surprised if the Fletcher isn't that active at the trading deadline even if players agree to waive the no trade provision in their contracts. When you are rebuilding you trade anyone who you think will get you back more than you are giving up. So a Steen or Stajan should be moved if the return is good enough. However, these aren't the players who are likely to go anyway because they are still "works in progress" where teams are looking for depth. So some of the Leafs larger players could move to help contenders (Kilger, Gill) though some of the larger players are hurt (Ponikarovsky, Bell). In fact your only untouchables should be Toskala, Colaiacovo and Stralman. That's because the team would be a disaster without Toskala in net and the two young defenseman still have huge upsides.

So there you have it. Trade who ever you can. Don't expect the Leafs to move the big contracts. They will have to be unloaded by either waiving the players and sending them down to the Marlies or buying them out.