2019: Offloading Lou’s Angels
People criticize or respect Lou Lamiorello’s willingness to stick to his instincts regardless of what others say. If he wants someone or wants to give someone money, he will do so with no questions asked.
While that way of thinking made his former teams successful, it did not work so well in Toronto. It resulted in a horrendous seven-year contract paying Nikita Zaitsev $4.5 million per season. Kyle Dubas desperately needed to get the contract off the books.
He looked to the Ottawa Senators and added in Connor Brown and the rights to Michael Carcone. Despite the offload, the Maple Leafs acquired a third-round pick, Ben Harpur, and the contract rights to Cody Ceci and Aaron Luchuk.
Zaitsev played well in his first season coming from Russia. While he was a -22, he managed to put up 36 points. That was enough convincing for Lamiorello to give him that huge contract.
Unfortunately for Lou, Zaitsev would pick up only 27 points in his next 141 games with the Leafs. While Lou has had his great moments, this wasn’t one of them. Connor Brown was a sixth-round pick from the 2012 NHL draft. He burst into the NHL, putting up six points in seven games as a rookie and 36 points in 82 games the following season. He would put up 28 and 29 points respectively the next two seasons.
Carcone was an undrafted free agent who has been a solid AHL player that has yet to play in the NHL. Overall the Leafs saved $5.875 million for the following season and $4.5 million for the next five seasons. Freeing up cap space was the priority of the trade for Kyle Dubas.
The 2020 third-rounder sent to Toronto was one of two draft picks traded away for Jake Muzzin. Harpur played one season with the Marlies before being traded to the Nashville Predators for Miikka Salomäki.
Ceci signed a one-year deal worth $4.5 million and left in free agency the following year. Luchuk failed to earn a spot on an AHL roster and played in the ECHL for the past three seasons.
The Sens got Brown, who has been a solid piece for them, but Zaitsev is still playing underwhelming for his contract. The Leafs traded for a top-notch second-pairing defenseman and freed up a lot of space, but the Ceci experiment did not work out.
Overall, Toronto surpassed their goal of the trade, and that was to free up cap space. For that, you need to give Dubas credit. While the Ceci experiment panning out would make this a perfect situation, not everything always works out. It was still worth a one-year trial.