Mailbag: Lazy Sunday

I’ve probably used this title before, but I don’t know that it really matters. Today, I’m focusing my day on cleaning my room, doing laundry, responding to messages, and laying the foundation several weeks worth of content for this site. In the process, I noticed that I had a mailbag email (!!), a mailbag tweet (!!!) and 23 AskFM questions. I really need to chip away at these, so we may have more mailbags over the next week or two. The bottom three questions are three months old, for reference.

To submit a question, send me a tweet, email me, ask me, or leave a comment.

The current compensation chart is as follows:

$1,110,249 or below – No Compensation

Over $1,110,249 to $1,682,194 – 3rd round pick

Over $1,682,194 to $3,364,391 – 2nd round pick

Over $3,364,391 to $5,046,585 – 1st round pick, 3rd

Over $5,046,585 to $6,728,781 – 1st round pick, 2nd, 3rd

Over $6,728,781 To $8,410,976 – Two 1st round Picks, 2nd, 3rd

As for Subban, it’s going to take a heck of a lot more than $6.7 million to get his deal done. Looking at top end defencemen who signed contract with restricted free agent expiry, we get Drew Doughty (7M), Erik Karlsson (6.5M) and Alex Pietrangelo (6.5M) in the general range. Pietrangelo signed at 23, Karlsson signed at 22,, and Doughty signed at 21. Subban is a lot closer to a “way out”, now 25 years old and only a one year contract away from being able to hit the market as an Unrestricted Free Agent. He also has a Norris Trophy under his belt (which Doughty and Pietrangelo didn’t and still don’t have), and another successful year to prove he wasn’t a fluke (Karlsson signed immediately after winning).

Montreal also owes him for that drastically lopsided bridge contract, and has $26 million to spend with himself, Gionta, and Markov being the only massive pieces to lock up. Basically, he’s naturally due to get paid something fierce this year. Without the “it’s the Leafs” factor considered, I think the Habs match anything below $8.5 million, if not even $9 million. 

Adding one of your biggest rivals to the mix? The Leafs would have to offer something close to league max to pull it off.

I don’t have a blueprint for what I think the Leafs should do, but I think the obvious targets are a centre and second defenceman for the starting lineup. As for trades, anybody should be available as long as they’re being overpaid for them. It’s a generic answer, but there’s no quick way to lay out a detailed plan that accounts for the perspectives of the rest of the league.

I’m hoping that the impression I’ve left on Dave Nonis is that I’m a smart, handsome gentleman who deserves to be paid handsomely for his smarts. I’m going with this grammatically answer because I’ve looked at this question for a quarter of a year and not been able to put a definitive opinion on it.

Clarkson is more offensively gifted and is better at driving the puck and play into the offensive zone. He throws around the body more and seems to make himself more involved verbally. I’ll have more nice things to say as he inevitably improves from the worst year of his career.

His contract is terrible, but that doesn’t make him a completely ineffective player.

We’re currently in the “a potato would be a better fit than Carlyle” stage of things across the blogosphere, so my natural answer to this is “probably”. As for having him come back to coach the Leafs, I figured that a promotion was his natural progression a couple of years ago, but now that he’s departed, it’s worth stepping back and seeing how his time in Edmonton plays out. So far, he’s been pretty polarizing, but the team also happens to be a tire fire.

Also, thanks for the compliment, and thanks for reading! You’ve probably already forgotten that you asked me this question, though.