Toronto Maple Leafs Must Find a Way to Get Rid of Patrick Marleau

The Toronto Maple Leafs have to get rid of Patrick Marleau.

Patrick Marleau is a potential Hall of Famer. He’s highly respected, and by all accounts, he’s a great guy.  But the Toronto Maple Leafs have to move on.

The $6.5 million cap hit was always a bad signing by Lou Lamoriello, but now that the Leafs are in a cap crunch, it’s one of, if not the very, worst contract in the NHL.

Patrick Marleau produced at a fourth line rate, was invisible in the playoffs, and sadly, he didn’t come close to earning his cap-hit this year.

The worst part though, is that due to his iron-man streak, and the respect he has from the coaching staff, they continued to skate him in high-leverage situations.  It was embarrassing for everyone and it probably cost the Leafs the series. (It was such a close series that any one of a dozen little things could have gone the Leafs way and they’d have won).

Patrick Marleau

Would Marleau waive his no-trade clause?  Would he retire?  Can the Leafs force him to by sending him to the Marlies?  No one seems to think so, but the Leafs obviously need to move him, Marleau doesn’t want to end his career as an albatross that holds back his team, and so I think it’s entirely possible.

Now retiring or demoting him won’t get him off the books, but there are always rebuilding teams who will take the cap hit in exchange for an asset.  In this case, most of Marleau’s actual money has been paid, and the team getting him would only be on the hook for a small portion of salary and the cap hit.  According to cap friendly, Marleau is owed just over $1 million bucks, after the Leafs pay his signing bonus this summer.

So it’s possible, if not likely.

But if the Leafs can get rid of Marleau, that’s about 65% of Marner’s estimated salary paid for right there.  If they get rid of Marleau, they might be able to keep Gardiner.

When this contract was signed, I wrote an article called First Big Mistake of Shanahan Era.  I don’t always get ’em right, but I think I nailed this one.

Marleau was fine in the first year, where salary didn’t really matter.  He scored 27 goals, which sounds good, but was propped up by the PP and his shooting percentage.  This season, however, was a different story.  The Leafs fell microscopically short of the second round, and a potential Stanley Cup.  The money they paid Marleau – who could have been easily replaced by Trevor Moore and his league minimum salary – could have been better spent on literally anyone.

I wrote this two years ago:

"The Toronto Maple Leafs should not have signed Patrick Marleau. He is old, his game is in decline and his main skills are the exact things the Leafs are already good at.The main reason for signing him (leadership) is, at best, a hail-Mary. There is no compelling reason to think that the Leafs needed leadership or that Marleau can provide it.The salary is exorbitant, the term abhorrent, and better players could have been had for cheaper. It is a move that makes little sense, and is bound to blow up in the team’s face."

This move has now blown up in the team’s face.

If the Toronto Maple Leafs can move Marleau, Kyle Dubas will have become a genius.  He’s in a tough position, but not one that is impossible to overcome.

Clearly getting Marleau’s $6.25 off the books is an absolute necessity.  If it can be done, well that remains to be seen.  But one thing is certain: It’s the biggest challenge that the Toronto Maple Leafs face this offseason.