Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nonis was centre stage in the summer of 2013 with the acquisitions of David Bolland (from Chicago),Jonathan Bernier (from Los Angeles) and the signing of big-ticket free agent David Clarkson ($5.25-million per season for seven years).
Nonis also signed Mason Raymond to an “oh by the way” one-year, $1-million contract. The idea was to provide Raymond with an opportunity to get back to the higher salary bracket he could have commanded before he struggled through a few years of injury and substandard play. The hunch paid big dividends as Raymond had 45 points (19 goals, 26 assists) in 82 games. Although Raymond out-priced himself from Toronto’s salary cap structure in 2014, his departure freed up the Maple Leafs to acquire some other low-cost quality.
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Tight to the cap in the summer of 2014, Nonis tripled his Raymond-type investments from a year earlier. Mike Santorelli ($1.5 million), Daniel Winnik ($1.3 million) and David Booth ($1.1 million) were all signed to one-year contracts. Nonis and the Leafs seem to be on the verge of tripling their return, too. Both Santorelli and Winnik have provided welcome depth for coach Randy Carlyle and Booth looks to do the same as he returns from injury.
Already these four one-year situations are showing more on-ice contribution to the Leafs than richer and longer-term free agent contracts such as Jason Blake, Tim Connolly, Jeff Finger and Mike Komisarek.
The new “one year and out” contractual reality doesn’t exactly have a rich history with the Leafs. A few examples that I can remember:
• Pierre Pilote came from the Chicago Black Hawks in a trade for Jim Pappin in May 1968. He had played 13 seasons for Chicago and won three Norris Trophies along with five first-team all-star selections and three second team all-star selections. Though Pilote had a decent statistical season for the rebuilding Leafs in 1968-69 with 21 points (three goals, 18 assists) and a plus-five in 69 games, he retired from the NHL at the end of that one season at the age of 38.
“I just never felt comfortable in the Toronto system and decided that the one season would be my last,” Pilote told me.
He has since made his home in the Toronto area and his plaque hangs in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
In the 1980s, three different players signed what was called a “one year termination contract” with the Leafs which basically was a “one year and out” deal. Not really remembered for their brief Leaf careers, all three actually had a decent season in the Blue and White:
• Defenceman Bob Manno was actually the Leafs lone representative in the 1982 NHL All-Star Game as he recorded 50 points (nine goals, 41 assists) in 72 games and was a plus-five on a woeful Leafs team in 1981-82. Though only 26 years old at the time, Manno had locked horns with Leaf management enough to make that his only season in Toronto. He spent most of the rest of his hockey career in Italy though he did play two years with the Detroit Red Wings.
• Former first-overall draft pick Dale McCourt was given his outright release from the Buffalo Sabres early in the 1983-84 season and Toronto picked him up. With the Leafs, McCourt scored 43 points (19 goals, 24 assists) in 72 games. He left the NHL after that season at the age of 27 for more lucrative hockey opportunities in Switzerland.
• Marian Statsny also had a decent year in his one season as a Leaf in 1985-86 with 53 points (23 goals, 30 assists) in 70 games. Used sparingly in the 1986 playoffs, he went to Switzerland for one season and then retired at 34.
• A more current story is that of Robert Svehla. Acquired by the Leafs from the Florida Panthers in 2002 (for Dmitri Yushkevich), Svehla even wore the number 67 – a cursed one in Leaf Land. He had a very solid season on the Leaf blue-line with 45 points (seven goals, 38 assists) and a plus-13 rating in 82 games. At the end of the season, he decided he wanted to retire from hockey and return to the Czech Republic at the age of 34. He left millions in future hockey earnings on the table.
Santorelli, Winnik and Booth could likely be three more Leaf players with a solid single season in a Leaf jersey. The trick for Nonis and company will be to try and find a way to keep one (or more) of them in the fold and not just see them cash in elsewhere like Raymond did.
