Trade Values Slowly Slipping Away
Imagine you are a General Manager of an NHL franchise. You have just finished watching the Leafs lose 8-0 to the Florida Panthers.
The phone rings.
“Hey, [you], how are you, it’s Cliff Fletcher. Listen I’m calling to see if you have any interest in Hal Gill, what can you give us for him?”
What’s your answer? Maybe the last overall draft pick. A couple sticks and a puck? Maybe an empty soup can?
While guys like Sundin and Kaberle will always have solid value on the market because of years of proven play, the rest of the team doesn’t quite have that luxury.
At this point, what is Darcy Tucker worth? What are guys like Gill, Kubina, Raycroft and Toskala worth? These are guys who are almost certainly worth significantly less on the trade block now then they were when they came to the Laughs. The question is, if this team continues to embarrass itself, will they be worth anything at all?
If the Leafs had’ve traded Darcy Tucker a year or two ago, they likely would’ve been able to get some very decent value out him. Now? Maybe a few rolls of one-ply toilet paper? When Toskala came to this team he was viewed by many around the league as a hot-shot who never got his full chance playing along side Nabakov. At this point he looks like an average starter at best. Raycroft was an unknown quantity when he came to T.O, he’d had a great year and a not so great year. Now he’s a known quantity, and he’s known as worthless.
We all want the Leafs to tank so they can start fresh, but it’s one thing to be in last place because of injuries, poor team chemistry, whatever. But to be in last place AND have the players that you plan to use as trade bait making themselves look like they don’t even belong in the NHL is a whole different story.
This team is going to be very desperate at the trade deadline and in the off-season. Other teams know this and they’re already going to squeeze the Leafs bad enough without the added help of the players diminishing their own value by playing like a bunch of tykes.
Stumble it!
