Dave Nonis took over the Leafs general manager duties when former GM Brian Burke was fired in January 9, 2013, right before the start of the shortened 48 game 2013 NHL season. Let's take a look at the moves that Nonis has made since being appointed general manager. His first real sizable move was resigning forward Joffrey Lupul to a 5 year, $26,250,000 contract, worth $5,250,000 a year. Lupul had built off a great 2011/12 campaign in which he had set his career high of 67 points, and broken the point per game wall for the first time. It was also only the second time he had played more than 56 games since 2007. Nonis gave Lupul a 5 year deal only 1 day into the 2013 season, and 2 games later, Lupul broke his forearm. In Lupul continues to play at a point per game rate, as he has over the past 82 games between the last two seasons, then the contract should be very good value. However, Lupul has played in only 42% of his teams games over the past 5 seasons, and if he spends anywhere close to that same percentage of time on the sidelines over the next 5 years, the contract will be severe burden on the Leafs.
The next move by Nonis was his first transaction that brought a new player to Toronto. On the last day of January, Frazer McLaren was claimed off waivers from the San Jose Sharks. McLaren brought some much unneeded toughness to the Leafs roster, as they already had Colton Orr and Mark Fraser to do the face-punching duties. McLaren proceeded to put up a grand total of 5 points in 35 games for the Leafs while amassing 102 penalty minutes. Mclaren took 1.6 penalties per 60 minutes played, and drew only 0.7 penalties per 60 minutes played. To make matters worse, McLaren was extremely misused. He lead the entire team in offensive zone starts, at 55.3%, meaning that over half the time he was put on the ice off a whistle, he was in the offensive zone. Don't you think it might've been a better idea to put your players who do a little bit better than 0.14 points per game in the offensive end? Bad move from Nonis to bring a 3rd facepuncher to the roster.
The Leafs made the playoffs, carried by goaltender James Reimer, and lost in a heartbreaking 7 game series to the eventual Stanley Cup finalists, the Boston Bruins. Heading into the offseason though, there was hope surrounding the team for the first time in years, with young talent abounding, and what seemed like the first great goalie in Toronto since Eddie Belfour. The team had cap space, and had 2 compliance buyouts to use as a result of the lockout.
The offseason began with the quick resigning of Colton Orr. Carlyle and Nonis were making it clear that they liked the brawlers on their team, they wanted the Leafs to be "feared" by the opposition because of their toughness, not skill. 10 days later, Nonis completed his first trade as the Leafs GM, bringing in 26 year old goaltender Jonathan Bernier from Los Angeles in exchange for forward Matt Frattin, goaltender Ben Scrivens, and a second round draft pick. Frattin had played on and off for the Leafs over the past two season and had served quite well as a bottom six scoring option, putting up 13 points in 25 games in his sophomore NHL season. Scrivens had been a very good backup option for the Leafs in the 2012/13 season, posting a .915 save percentage, but was probably at the peak of his playing ability. Still, he was a cheap solid backup. In Bernier, the Leafs got a former first round draft pick (11th overall, 2006) who had been wasting away behind star goaltender Jonathan Quick in L.A. Bernier had been fantastic in his final year in the AHL, with a .936 SV% for the Manchester Monarchs, but that was in 2010, and he had been stuck behind Quick since. He is seen is having a lot of potential to be a star goalie, but the move seems very unnecessary, as the Leafs already seem to have a very good number 1 goalie in Reimer. They gave up a good young winger who can chip in from the bottom six, a backup goalie, and a second round draft pick for a backup goalie with potential to be star number 1 goalie. The trade seems like the Leafs gave up value for something they didn't need, which is just poor asset management, but if Bernier can become a star than the trade will pay off. Another down side to the trade is that it very likely pissed off Reimer, who is a restricted free agent at the end of the year, as this move tells him that they don't have much confidence that he can be a starting NHL goalie.
Then free agency began. On July 5th, the Leafs announced two signings. First, the resigning of center Tyler Bozak for 5 years, $21,000,000, at $4,200,000 a season. For the most part of the past 3 seasons, Bozak has been centering Phil Kessel. In those 3 seasons, Bozak has a 0.52 points per game average. Also in those past 3 seasons, Kessel has a 0.93 points per game average. So Bozak, who has been playing in a top line role with one of the league's most prolific and consistent point producers, has barely managed to put up a point every other game. Bozak had the most minutes out of any single Leafs forward last season, and yet was 5th on the team in points. He is decent defensively, and good on faceoffs, but his lack of offensive production makes his new $20,000,000 plus contract awful.
The other big free agency splash by the Leafs was the signing of 29 year-old winger David Clarkson for 7 years, $36,750,000, at $5,250,000 a season. Clarkson is a pretty good player. He plays well at both ends of the nice, doesn't allow a lot of shots on his own net, and produces a lot of shots on the opposition net. That said, never in his career has he produced the kind of numbers that would imply that he should get a contract anywhere in the same stratosphere as 7 years for $36,750,000. He has a career high of 46 points (46 points!!!). He has 170 points in 426 NHL games, totaling to just under .40 points per game. That's right, Dave Nonis gave 7 years to an almost 30 year old who averages well under half a point a game. This contract, money and term is really, really bad, and will likely come to severely bite the Leafs in the bottom in only a couple of years, and they'll still be on the hook until Clarkson is 36.
These moves, along with a couple other smaller ones, have left the Leafs with $4,895,333 to sign forward Nazem Kadri and defenseman Cody Franson. Under $5million to sign a 22 year old forward who just came 21st in NHL scoring, and a 26 year old defenseman who is entering his prime who just came 8th in NHL defenseman scoring? Good luck with that Dave Nonis. Good luck.
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