Leafs won’t give up 2016 pick as compensation for Babcock, Lamoriello
By Ryan Fancey
7 years agoJust a quick hit of some news to pass along this morning, as it’s been confirmed the Leafs will not be forking over a pick in this upcoming draft as compensation to the Wings or Devils for plucking away Mike Babcock and Lou Lamoriello last summer.
As the cap site General Fanager noted, today is the deadline for providing the compensatory picks. Looks like Toronto will stand pat.
Alright, so what happens next?
Given Lou’s history with giving up picks to the league, I doubt there’s anything automatic about this.
But loopholes aside, now that we have a clear picture of how these picks will be dished out, some have pointed to the fact that this will make expensive offer sheets basically impossible for Toronto this summer, as they’d likely need to involve a 2017 third-rounder. But not so fast, because as our pals at Oilers Nation pointed out last week, there could be some work-arounds.
…during the period of free agents this year and in 2017, Columbus, Edmonton, Toronto and San Jose will therefore be (like 26 other teams) make offers to free agents, even if they don’t have more choices for second or third round. They may do so by giving them choice next draft or by giving them choice of second or third round they acquired through such transaction or a choice of the following year.
That first option obviously wouldn’t be available to the Leafs this summer, as we just noted they’re losing a third in both 2017 and 2018, but the ability to move out an acquired pick from another club in an offer sheet situation keeps the window open if they want to get creative. Then next year, when RFA compensation would include a 2018 pick, they could slide that to 2019 or go the acquired pick route, if needed.
[Note: None of this will actually happen because offer sheets are dead.]
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