2006-03-02

The Toronto Star is reporting that the Leafs are having trouble getting defenceman Bryan McCabe signed to a new contract, which is of some concern. He is rumoured to be looking for $5M a season, for five years. Considering that partner Tomas Kaberle just got a new $4.25M, 5-year deal, this doesn't sound too unreasonable - although McCabe might be wrong in his assumption that he's worth $750,000 more per year than the smooth-skating Kaberle. Just for argument's sake, however, take a look at what eight of the league's other top defencemen - the ones McCabe played with on Team Canada, plus the two who got hurt - are making per year:

Rob Blake: $6,364,111
Jay Bouwmeester: $946,000
Adam Foote: $4.6 million
Ed Jovanovski: $3.99 million
Scott Niedermayer: $6.75 million
Chris Pronger: $6.25 million
Wade Redden: $3.724 million
Robyn Regehr: $1.672 million

Illuminating, no? Now, obviously McCabe is going to try for as much money as he can, but if he's actually planning on testing the waters of free agency this summer and getting more than $5 million per season, he'll have another thing coming. If one looks at this list of players and figures with the assumption that dollar amounts directly reflect skill level, that would mean that McCabe would be the fourth-best defenceman on the list, ahead of Foote, Redden, Jovanovski, Regehr, and Bouwmeester. Foote was the big free agent signing of this past summer, by the Columbus Blue Jackets, and they only paid $4.6M for his services - a figure that the Leafs, who were rumoured to be a possible destination for the big veteran, couldn't match. McCabe is reportedly looking for a Sergei Gonchar-style contract (also $5M/5 years), but looking at how the Penguins are doing after that acquisition, you won't see many teams looking to make the same mistake by overpaying as they might have last summer.

McCabe's agent, Jeff Soloman, insists that Bryan loves playing and living in Toronto; hopefully he loves it enough to bring his price down closer to the $4.75M price tag that the Leafs are said to be looking for. If this doesn't happen, and it looks to management before next Thursday afternoon at 3:00 that their star defenceman will bail come July 1, he could very well be dealt. It's that simple. And with Toronto likely set to completely rebuild the team if they miss the playoffs, that would free up some big-time cap space for the summertime to sign a player like Brad Richards, or another couple of defencemen.

He's got one week left to decide...
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quick question for you Tay. How many on that list are under 31 and haven't had the ability to be unrestricted free agent? I don't know the answer, but that may be why he makes so much more then Bouwmeester, Regehr and Redden.

5:41 p.m. EST
Taylor said...

Great question, Dan. Of those eight players, five haven't seen free agency: Bouwmeester (22), Redden (28), Regehr (25), Jovanovski (29), and Pronger (just turned 31 last October). This summer would be McCabe's first opportunity as well.

Keep in mind, however, that McCabe will make $3.458 million this year, which is one of those fairly generous salaries that MLSE used to be able to dole out (minus that 24% rollback, of course). Let's compare that salary for a second with Wade Redden's, who makes $266,000 more. Almost anyone with a head for hockey would tell you that Redden is a better defenceman than McCabe is, even during the latter's career year; given that, you could argue that McCabe is already overpaid.

I guess that it just irks me that McCabe suddenly seems to think he's too good for Toronto now that he's at his peak. Plus, Adam Foote - one of the most reliable stay-at-homers out there - was getting a "big contract" when he accepted $4.6M per season from the 'Jackets. When you consider the restraints of the cap system, trying to drive up prices seems like a foolish thing to do, especially since several players are flirting with that $7.8M ceiling already.

6:04 p.m. EST
mike said...

If you had to put a number on McCabe's worth, say for a four year deal, what would it be?

5:51 p.m. EST
Taylor said...

I would probably offer him about $4.75 million per year (so, $19M over 4 years), which is what the Leafs have put on the table. That's still a lot of money considering that he's not the NHL's best defensive defenceman, but he does have, as the kids say, "mad skills."

I also think that Tomas Kaberle could've pulled in $4.5M, if he had wanted to; his abilities don't earn him quite as much fanfare, but he's a silky-smooth puckhandler, is smart on defence, and is playing with more of an edge this season.

6:44 p.m. EST

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