Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

Here are some thoughts on the upcoming free agent deadline.

Beware of National Hockey League GMs bearing gifts.

Boston’s Peter Chiarelli wants to do Marc Savard a favour and deal him to Toronto, and he wants to do the Leafs a favour by giving them an 80- or 90-point centreman for a bunch of nothing -- just to get Savard off of Boston’s books.

So, in the end, the Leafs get a first-line centreman with a $4-million cap hit for nearly free? Why does that sound too good to be true?

Coming off a concussion as serious as the one Matt Cooke inflicted on Savard, both teams will obviously have access to all of Savard’s neurological data. We don’t care what Boston’s cap situation is, when a Stanley Cup contender looks to move a $4-million point producer, who is coming off a devastating concussion, we grow suspicious.

Just saying...

Kotalik flaming out

Ales Kotalik was a disastrous bit of work right from the beginning for the Calgary Flames.

After giving up a first-round pick for Olli Jokinen, they suffered through his presence for parts of two seasons. Then, when his contract was finally ready to expire after last season, Jokinen is traded for Kotalik -- who has two more years remaining at $3 million.

Whatever the opposite of cutting your losses is, that’s what GM Darryl Sutter managed with the Kotalik trade. Now Kotalik is on waivers -- as of Monday morning -- and could be bought out by the Flames at a cost of $1 million cap hit for the next four seasons.

Kotalik was waived by the Flames on Monday, but will they buy him out? They have waived others in the past -- Marcus Nilsson, Rhett Warrener, Anders Eriksson -- but have not followed through with the buy-out.

Cheech and gone

So, the Senators have put Jonathan Cheechoo on waives, no doubt intending to buy out the $3.5-million final year of his deal.

If you are wondering why GM Bryan Murray has not made any serious inroads at dealing Jason Spezza, look no further than Cheechoo -- an expensive result of the Dany Heatley trade last summer.

With a gun to his head, Murray set off to deal Heatley to Edmonton last year for a decent package -- Dustin Penner, Andrew Cogliano and Ladislav Smid. Heatley nixed that and eventually Murray settled for less from San Jose: Milan Michalek, Cheechoo and a second-rounder for Heatley and a fifth-round pick.

Heatley scored 39-43-82 in San Jose this year, while Michalek (22-12-34) and Cheechoo (5-9-14) combined to match less than 60 per cent of Heatley’s production.

When you’re trading the best player in the deal, and he has five more years with a $7-million cap hit like Spezza does, there is no chance you win the deal. No one knows that better than Murray, as he pays off Cheechoo to go away.

Either Spezza shuts up and gets happy in Ottawa, or it gets real ugly in Sens land. There will be no happy parting of the ways in Ottawa this summer.

Wrong French guy

In the first round at the 2003 draft, the Edmonton Oilers traded down with New Jersey.

With Edmonton’s 17th pick overall, New Jersey then selected Zach Parise. Edmonton fell to 22nd, and chose Marc-Antoine Pouliot.

Today, Parise wears a letter in New Jersey and is among the inner leadership core of the American national team. And Pouliot? He is set to become a UFA after the Oilers decided not to qualify him on Monday, cutting ties with a good kid who just never panned out for them.

That’s how you end up, seven years down the road, in 30th place. It’s never one decision, but a series of Parise-like gaffes, that gets you there.

Taking a Flyer

Watch closely, and you’ll see how the Flyers have always dug themselves a hole in goal at this time of year. The recipe goes like this:

They finish the season with below average goaltending, and head into July determined to solve the problem. But the free agent crop isn’t so great this year, with Evgeni Nabokov and Marty Turco headlining a weak offering.

The Flyers make noises about getting one of those two goalies for cheap -- they reportedly offered Turco three years, $6 million -- but as push comes to shove, they fear losing out altogether and eventually sign one to a three- or four-year deal, which they will ultimately regret.

If I’m GM Paul Holmgren, I take Dan Ellis or Chris Mason, jettison Mike Leighton, and keep Brian Boucher for his final year at $925,000. Start Johan Backlund in the minors, and if he’s not the answer, you’ve got short-term coverage in Philly and a chance to make another stab at a better UFA next year.