CFN – T
he Leafs have been very quiet this off season. No major trades or free agent buys.
A lot of talk of trading Captain Dion Phaneuf and his new long term contract, and of course the usual drama surrounding D man CodyFranson.
Let’s compare the two.
Dion is 29. He stands 6’3 and is about 215 pounds.
He shoots left and added 227 hits to his numbers in 2013/14 His cap hit is $7M per with his salary $8M this year and slowly edging its way down over the next seven seasons.
Last season he had his best +/- as a Leaf with +2 and his biggest season in penalty minutes with 144 and he averaged nearly 24 minutes of ice time per game.
Cody Franson is 26, 6’5 about also about 215 pounds. He led the Leafs in D man scoring with 33 points and had 282 hits. He was a -20 with only 30 PIMS. He’s a right handed shot who had nearly 21 minutes per night of ice time.
Both have fared moderately well in the limited play off exposure they’ve had.
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Cody is RFA and is heading to arbitration with the Leafs low balling him at $2M, his salary of last season, and he asking for $4.2M which he probably will get as it’s all or nothing in arbitration.
The dilemma the Leafs have is their relationship with their player, and of course asset management. At this point Franson is cruising for Unrestricted Free Agency unless the Leafs sign him up long term like they did Phaneuf or trade him. Toronto can let him go for nothing which would be silly if the award goes against them.
His trade value is limited because of his contract status. He is not at this stage of his career as valuable as Dion Phaneuf. Both are tradeable and as the salary cap goes up Phaneuf’s contract doesn’t look as bad is it might to some in 2014. He would only be 36 at the end of it.
Both eat up big minutes and both offer offense and grit. I’m sure former GM Brian Burke would like to have either both with him in Calgary.
So Leaf Nation; what would you do? You can post your comments below.
UPDATED
10:46 AM
Cody Franson has signed a one year $3.3m deal with the Leafs!
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With the moves and signings the Leafs have made this far, Franson is now redundant. He is by far the most defensive liability on the team, yet he still has trade value. The team doesn’t really need more prospects right now, but to replenish draft picks would be great, should be a decent draft in 2015. Phaneuf’s value has just increased because of the legitimate help he will receive in this upcoming season. It would be wise to keep him this season to at least see it out.