The Toronto Maple Leafs have been one of the busiest teams in the NHL season since the 2012-13 campaign came to an and two weeks ago.On NHL Draft day, June 30, the Leafs traded three draft choices for center Dave Bolland of the Chicago Blackhawks. On July 5, they re-signed unrestricted free agent center Tyler Bozak and also agreed to terms with unrestricted free agent forward David Clarkson of the New Jersey Devils. The club also re-signed enforcers Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren.
Reports out of Toronto said the Leafs have signed Clarkson to a seven-year deal while Bozak re-signed for five more seasons. There were no financial details available on the Clarkson signing while Bozak will reportedly make $21 million over the next five years. Bozak had initially asked for an eight-year deal, which is the maximum allowed under the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement.
Clarkson hails from Mimico, Ont, which is also the hometown of the 27-year-old Bolland, so it’s possible the addition of Bolland to the roster helped persuade Clarkson to sign with Toronto.
The Leafs top centers at the moment are Nazem Kadri, Bolland, Bozak and Jay McClement. The 29-year-old Clarkson scored 15 goals and nine assists for 24 points last season in 46 games with the Devils. His career best was in 2011-12 when he scored 30 goals.
New Jersey signed Clarkson in the summer of 2005 as an undrafted free agent. He made the team in the 2006-07 season and played 426 games in the regular season for them.
Clarkson scored 170 points in those games on 97 goals along with 73 assists. The winger also played 44 postseason games with New Jersey and added 14 points. The 27-year-old Bozak scored 28 points for Toronto last year in 46 contests. He’s played 238 career games with the Leafs and has 134 points.
Toronto was able to make roster and salary-cap room for the recent spate of signings as the club bought out the contract of defenseman Mike Komisarek and have place forward Mikhail Grabovski on waivers as they also plan to buy out the remainder of his contract. Komisarek was demoted to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League (AHL) last season, so the writing was more or less on the wall for him.
The Grabovski buyout took many people by surprise though since he still had four years to go on his current five-year contract. That deal would have cost the Leafs a total of $21.5 million, including $5.5 million a year towards the salary cap.
Grabovski scored 52 goals in two seasons before signing a contract extension for five years and $27 million in the summer of 2012. However, new coach Randy Carlyle tried to turn the talented scorer into a checker and he responded with just nine goals and seven assists in 48 games last season.
Dave Nonis, the Leafs’ general manager, thanked Grabovski for his efforts over the past five years. He added that it wasn’t an easy decision to make, but the club needed to free up some salary cap space. Grabovski wasn’t too happy with the buyout though and he publicly lambasted coach Carlyle in the press.
The center said Carlyle used him primarily as a checker and cut his ice time down drastically during the season. Grabovski then bounced back and was one of the Leafs top performers in the playoffs.
