Grabovski Bought Out

[lamajama]

Why trade for a guy with a $5+ contract when there was a likelihood of him being bought out and then you could sign him to a lesser deal? No wonder
there was "no trade" possibilities.

When I heard this I thought immediately that Nonis has a deal in place with Weiss or maybe even Clarkson as well. Now that no offers can even be made we know that's true, barring a wink-wink.

I &&%$^$ well tell you there had better be a wink wink or two.

Or maybe we're trying for McDavid after all. 

 

[ZBBM]

And seriously -- you think there was NO trade market for this guy?  I can't believe that, not for a minute.

No, that much, I buy. Teams are looking to shed salary right now, not add to it, and, that makes Grabovski difficult to move even if he had a normal season of production last season. Combine the salary issues with poor production and a recurring digestive issue and I can definitely see how he might not have any value on the trade market right now for anything other than an equivalent contract for the Leafs to buyout - and, in that case, why not just cut out the middle man?

If you really believe this, then how do you think Nonis would "do better," as you said in your previous post? 

Let's say he's got a big fish on the line for tomorrow, and the new guy pushes us over the cap.  I would still move Liles to get space back before getting rid of a proven forward from a none-too-strong forward corps.

 

[bustaheims]

If you really believe this, then how do you think Nonis would "do better," as you said in your previous post? 

Well, if he can sign someone like Weiss for less than what Grabovski was set to earn, at the very least, he's bringing in an equivalent talent at less cost. I don't think he's going to knock this one out of the park or anything, but, there's certainly some potential for the team to come out slightly ahead at the end of all of this.

 

[ZBBM]

If you really believe this, then how do you think Nonis would "do better," as you said in your previous post? 

Well, if he can sign someone like Weiss for less than what Grabovski was set to earn, at the very least, he's bringing in an equivalent talent at less cost. I don't think he's going to knock this one out of the park or anything, but, there's certainly some potential for the team to come out slightly ahead at the end of all of this.

I fully expect/hope that he does do something like that.  But it still  doesn't explain why you don't hold onto an asset and see what develops tomorrow and beyond in terms of trade potential.

 

[mc]

Jonas Siegel ‏@jonasTSN1050 9s
Grabovski had some pretty blistering remarks toward Leafs coach Randy Carlyle. Called him a "stupid coach" among other things.

Sweet parting words....will surely attract many teams.

 

[gunnar36]

I really don't like this move at all.  You are not going to easily replace world class speed combined with fearlessness at the center position.
I am reserving my full judgement of Nonis until after the free agent frenzy but I certainly hope this wasn't done to free up room for a long term Bozak deal because that is a step in the wrong direction.
Grabbo is going to make them regret this!

 

[mr grieves]

Way to ruin my holiday, Nonis.

What a supremely stupid move.  Liles (who I happen to think is OK FWIW) would have been the guy to buy out because of Gardiner and Rielly coming on.

I just hope they aren't building the team according to whether or not Carlyle "likes" a player because you never know how long he'll be the coach.

You know that these are professionals right?  This is a performance based business, and Carlyle will be judged on his record.  Secondly, if Nonis was such a Grabbo proponent, he could have kept him and told Carlyle to "deal with it."

That's exactly my point.  Nonis should have told Carlyle just that, if indeed Carlyle was drumming to get rid of him.  And if Carlyle didn't get along with Grabovski or whatever, then the both of them should just deal with it. 

Grabovski was put into a checking role this year -- everybody knows that.  He did what he was asked to do, so in terms of performance he delivered, as far as I'm concerned, even though he wasn't being used to best advantage (IMO).

Let's see: played his heart out, did what he was asked, never complained in public (until today of course).  Yep, that's a buyout candidate for you.

I don't care who Nonis brings in to replace Grabs, the fact remains he gave up a valuable player for nothing.  At least he could have tried to trade him.

If nothing else, this is inexcusable.

I find it hard to believe Nonis wouldn't exercise a trade if one was clearly available.

I for one find it hard to believe that there wasn?t market for Grabbo. Whatever, 2nd round pick or prospect, just to get at least something.

Maybe there wasn't. But, it should be understood, there wasn't after Nonis and Carlyle put on a master class in devaluing an asset. They turned a 50-60 pt/yr guy into a checking a center, leaving him without the opportunity to get the sort of points that would make him a moveable asset.

Plenty of teams would've traded for a top-tier second liner who's young and on a slightly-overpaid contract.

 

[maplesyrup]

Jonas Siegel ‏@jonasTSN1050 9s
Grabovski had some pretty blistering remarks toward Leafs coach Randy Carlyle. Called him a "stupid coach" among other things.

Sweet parting words....will surely attract many teams.

He had sweet parting words for Montreal too IIRC. Some guys just handle these sort of things better than others.

 

[bustaheims]

I fully expect/hope that he does do something like that.  But it still  doesn't explain why you don't hold onto an asset and see what develops tomorrow and beyond in terms of trade potential.

Well, today was the last day for him to be able to make this move until next summer, and, as Nik pointed out earlier, that's running the risk Grabovski gets injured and can't be bought out. Without the context of what this move will mean for the team in the grander scheme of things, I can't judge Nonis too harshly for it. It's a curious move, and, on the surface, I'd agree that it's a poor one, but, it's not enough for me to start calling out Nonis as one of the worst GMs in the league. I have to believe he explored all possibilities of trading Grabovski, and, if there was even a hint of future interest, this move wouldn't have happened. He might have felt, from talking to other GMs, that the likelihood of a team circling back and making a trade for Grabovski that would have actually netted the Leafs an asset was virtually nil.

 

[Bender]

If you really believe this, then how do you think Nonis would "do better," as you said in your previous post? 

Well, if he can sign someone like Weiss for less than what Grabovski was set to earn, at the very least, he's bringing in an equivalent talent at less cost. I don't think he's going to knock this one out of the park or anything, but, there's certainly some potential for the team to come out slightly ahead at the end of all of this.

I fully expect/hope that he does do something like that.  But it still  doesn't explain why you don't hold onto an asset and see what develops tomorrow and beyond in terms of trade potential.

It depends on how you feel about the market and possibility for bounce back from the year previous. Potential can be a double edged sword: If you can get rid of a guy and replace him with someone better immediately then why not do that? And if the guy you covet becomes unavailable because you hung onto another player then how is that good asset management?

It's context specific and we won't know the effects this buyout has until later on during the free agency period.

 

[drummond]

Is Jake Gardiner next? He may have isues with Carlyle too... just saying

 

[Bender]

Is Jake Gardiner next? He may have isues with Carlyle too... just saying

The sky is... nevermind.

 

[ZBBM]

I fully expect/hope that he does do something like that.  But it still  doesn't explain why you don't hold onto an asset and see what develops tomorrow and beyond in terms of trade potential.

Well, today was the last day for him to be able to make this move until next summer, and, as Nik pointed out earlier, that's running the risk Grabovski gets injured and can't be bought out. Without the context of what this move will mean for the team in the grander scheme of things, I can't judge Nonis too harshly for it. It's a curious move, and, on the surface, I'd agree that it's a poor one, but, it's not enough for me to start calling out Nonis as one of the worst GMs in the league. I have to believe he explored all possibilities of trading Grabovski, and, if there was even a hint of future interest, this move wouldn't have happened. He might have felt, from talking to other GMs, that the likelihood of a team circling back and making a trade for Grabovski that would have actually netted the Leafs an asset was virtually nil.

That all may be true but burning your second compliance buyout on a player who, if given enough icetime, has shown to be a valuable forward -- i.e., there's a very reasonable chance that he could produce again -- is just bad management.

To be clear, I explicitly posted earlier that I don't think Nonis is among the worst in the league.  Far from it.  But this move, at this time, -- well, it's obviously not a "panic" move but it certainly wouldn't have hurt to keep him on the roster and see what develops in the next few days/weeks before the new season.

 

[caver]

Is Jake Gardiner next? He may have isues with Carlyle too... just saying

The sky is... nevermind.

LOL ! Really...

 

[drummond]

Is Jake Gardiner next? He may have isues with Carlyle too... just saying

The sky is... nevermind.

I think Nonis bought out Grabbo because he needed to keep Liles.  And he wanted to keep Liles because he has a deal for the 1C in the works that likely will include Gardiner.  It makes no sense to not buy out Liles unless you need him.

 

[Bender]

Is Jake Gardiner next? He may have isues with Carlyle too... just saying

The sky is... nevermind.

I think Nonis bought out Grabbo because he needed to keep Liles.  And he wanted to keep Liles because he has a deal for the 1C in the works that likely will include Gardiner.  It makes no sense to not buy out Liles unless you need him.

Isn't that true about at least a few players who have high contracts but are not performing up to that level?

 

[brothert]

Jonas Siegel ‏@jonasTSN1050 9s
Grabovski had some pretty blistering remarks toward Leafs coach Randy Carlyle. Called him a "stupid coach" among other things.

Sweet parting words....will surely attract many teams.

I sympathize with grabbo on this. He towed the line as the checking center and never complained publicly until he was cut loose for not playing like the 2nd line center that the leafs paid him to be. Yeah I'd be dropping a few fbombs too. BTW how does Bozak feel about being the leafs 3C?  Not bluddy likely is it.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Rob Vollman ‏@robvollmanNHL 16m
Grabovski's usage since 08-09. Used as typical offense-minded top-six fwd until last year's tough 5on5 minutes http://twitpic.com/d0u75n

 

[Bullfrog]

And seriously -- you think there was NO trade market for this guy?  I can't believe that, not for a minute.

No, that much, I buy. Teams are looking to shed salary right now, not add to it, and, that makes Grabovski difficult to move even if he had a normal season of production last season. Combine the salary issues with poor production and a recurring digestive issue and I can definitely see how he might not have any value on the trade market right now for anything other than an equivalent contract for the Leafs to buyout - and, in that case, why not just cut out the middle man?

Agreed. I'm sure there are a number of teams who want Grabovski, but didn't want to give up an asset for his salary/cap hit and Nonis probably didn't want to hang on to a portion of it. Knowing that, they probably took the chance that Nonis was going to buy him out and then they can pick him up as a UFA.

 

[Bullfrog]

I understand this move from Nonis's perspective, but I'm still angry about it. Given Carlyle's history with players like Lupul, Getzlaf, and now Grabovski, I'd take a close look at the coach.

McClement was more than capable of being that main shut down, defensive centre. I would have let Grabovski loose on offense. Play to your strengths.