has joffrey lupul played his last game for the maple leafs?
Could be.
the belief around lupul is that when the leafs shut him down for the season the other day, they essentially shut him down for the final two years of his contract in toronto.
The leafs won’t, apparently, buy out the $9 million owing to lupul, but may end up making him disappear in the ‘nudge, nudge, wink’ manner in which stephane robidas remains on the leafs roster, but is nowhere to be found outside of minor hockey rinks in quebec this season.
(numerous calls to robidas of late have gone unreturned.)
this is what the leafs do now with lou lamoriello as general manager. Players suddenly are gone, the way the injured robidas was pushed out and jared cowen was waived before playing a single shift with the leafs. You’re here and then you’re not. Just like that. Lou the magician.
Lupul had been a terrific performer for the leafs, an all-star scoring 103 points in his first 110 games in toronto. But in his last 170 games, with so many lost to injury, he has scored at 38-point pace: This season struggling at 25-point pace.
The end is coming for a still-young 32-year-old lupul, if it wasn’t come already as a maple leaf.