Thursday evening, the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager, Dave Nonis, shocked the hockey world by doing the unthinkable: he traded Clarkson left the bench to take part in a line-brawl during the infamous diagnosed with “degeneration†of the entire lumbar region of his spine, and there is genuine concern that he will never play hockey again.
| Year | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | Points/Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-10 | FLA | 65 | 20 | 37 | 57 | 0.88 |
| 2010-11 | BOS | 80 | 26 | 27 | 53 | 0.66 |
| 2011-12 | BOS | 46 | 17 | 15 | 32 | 0.70 |
| 2012-13 | BOS | 43 | 13 | 9 | 22 | 0.51 |
| 2013-14 | CLS | 36 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 0.53 |
It's All About the $
So we have one overpaid player and one long-term injury. Why was this trade made?
Essentially it all comes down to money. According to Forbes, the Toronto Maple Leafs are the league's most valuable franchise, boasting a $1.3 billion valuation. Conversely, Columbus is worth "only" $200 million, placing behind everyone except the Florida Panthers.
While Horton and Clarkson's salaries come out close to the same, their cap hit differs greatly. Since Horton is on the long-term injury reserve, his cap hit is $0 until he plays again but is still owed the money on his contract. This is advantageous to the resource-rich Maple Leafs; they can afford to pay Horton for the remainder of his contract, but in so doing, they receive salary cap relief to help them rebuild. For Columbus, they get a warm body that can lace up the skates, and they will hope that Clarkson will have a resurgence of sorts and get back to the player he was in New Jersey.
| Season | Clarkson Salary | Clarkson Cap Hit | Horton Salary | Horton Cap Hit** |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15* | - | $1.27 million | - | 1.282 |
| 2015-16 | 5.5 | 5.25 | 6 | 5.3 |
| 2016-17 | 7 | 5.25 | 6 | 5.3 |
| 2017-18 | 7 | 5.25 | 6 | 5.3 |
| 2018-19 | 4.75 | 5.25 | 4.5 | 5.3 |
| 2019-20 | 3.25 | 5.25 | 3.6 | 5.3 |
| Remaining | 27.5 | 26.25 | 26.1 | 26.5 |
**If Horton doesn't play, the Cap Hit is $0
All salary numbers courtesy of NHLnumbers.com
CBJ initiated trade proposal with TOR. They wanted to lose Horton's financial commitment for player who couldn't play. CBJ wanted Clarkson.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 27, 2015Should point out TOR's cap relief from Horton's LTIR only there if TOR is at or near cap. If TOR is ever $5.3M or more below cap, no relief.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 27, 2015In the end, this is costing Columbus approximately $1.4 million to upgrade from an injured Horton to a healthy, but overpaid, Clarkson. For a cash conscious club, that is a good deal. They cannot afford to pay a player not to play.
As for Toronto, if Horton never plays again, they essentially bought out Clarkson without taking the salary cap penalty and saved some cash and cap room to use this offseason. At very worst, they got themselves out of the albatross of a contract for the next five years, and their fans, players, and management team can forget about the past and pretend it never happened.
It's a pretty good deal for both clubs.