Correct me if I am wrong, but a 35+ year remains on the cap even after the player is assigned to the minors, with only 100K coming off instead of the max of 1.25 million, correct?
If the above is true, then this is a laughable deal. Lucic IS a better player, and I bet he isn't signing a multi-year deal. Lucic is both tougher (based on the same guys that they fought) and produces more. Reaves is so ineffective at almost everything else now other than being extremely scary on the ice.
However, I do think that the Leafs absolutely need more toughness. We all saw Mathews take a lot of abuse, and when he tried to stick up for himself by abusing back, he ends up looking foolish laughing it off as the guys challenged him to fight. I think you could see that it affected him. Having Reaves there would probably put a stop to that, and Mathews can just get back to taking just the 'regular abuse' that stars tend to take.
Yeah, I am really glad that Treliving isn't the GM here any longer. I think part of the reason that Calgary spun its' wheels under his tenure was the dead cap space in buyouts plus the bloated contracts in the bottom 6 (and occasionally in the bottom pairing on D), among a few other issues. I wouldn't be happy about this if I am a Leafs' fan, but at least Mathews won't have to put up with that nonsense any longer.
|