Anyone paying attention at the time would've heard about how his preference was to stay in Toronto, and the first contract he signed with Ottawa was for 2 years, $3.25M AAV.Why did we let Clarke MacArthur walk?
Just a reminder about UFA means. Unrestricted Free Agent. Leafs had no hold on him. Players can sign with any team that want. This "we let CM walk" is so non sensical.
Plus Ottawa paid too much and had too much term.
The whole KLM line -- which was one of the best in the NHL -- was let go.
In 2010-11, he had the highest P1/60 on the Leafs -- and good enough to beat Duchene, Pat Kane, Sharp, Jeff Carter... And Grabovski wasn't far behind. I really enjoyed watching the KLM line play.
Burke traded Francois Beauchemin into Jake Gardiner. I guess you can also include Joffrey Lupul as being good when he was not hurt, since he was also included in that trade.How does Burke get off the hook with his terrible UFA signings and trades. Hard to believe a rich organization could hire three incompetent in a row ....the Dark Ages in LeafLand.
The fact the Leafs didn’t get a single long term asset to show for essentially getting rid of the KGM line for nothing was simply disasterous from a managerial POV. Infuriating.
By the time the KGM line was gotten rid of, they weren't really worth much to anyone. 2010-2011 they were great, and never came close again to those heights.
I thought it was Grabovski who was bought out to make room for Clarkson? Since MacArthur was a UFA they simply choose not to re-sign him.MacArthur signed a 2 year X 3.25M contract in Ottawa and put up 55 points the next season.
Had to dump him to make room for 7 years X 5.25M David Clarkson who managed 11 points in his first season here, and to trade for Bolland who managed to stay healthy for 23 games that year (big surprise).
Nonis was an idiot. Almost everything he did was dumb. Lupul/Kessel/Phaneuf extensions rather than selling high on three guys after a clearly failed core. Trading for Bolland, signing Clarkson, letting MacArthur/Kulemin walk for nothing, buying out 1 year of Komisarek on a compliance buyout rather than I think 3 years of Liles at the time, etc.
I thought it was Grabovski who was bought out to make room for Clarkson? Since MacArthur was a UFA they simply choose not to re-sign him.
When they traded for Bolland they had no idea Clarkson would agree to sign with them, because the Bolland trade was done before at the 2013 draft.Exactly. They didn't have capspace to keep MacArthur if they were bringing in Clarkson + Bolland, so they let him walk. They also bought out Grabovski + Komi, and specifically did Komi instead of Liles to save an extra ~1M for one season, but be stuck with Liles' contract for several more seasons afterwards.
I say John Ferguson Jr ranks above him in that category. Yes Nonis did dumb things like signing David Clarkson, however JFJ did the Rask for Raycroft trade.
The fact the Leafs didn’t get a single long term asset to show for essentially getting rid of the KGM line for nothing was simply disasterous from a managerial POV. Infuriating.
I say John Ferguson Jr ranks above him in that category. Yes Nonis did dumb things like signing David Clarkson, however JFJ did the Rask for Raycroft trade.
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Brian Burke once say he could have got first round picks for them and he choose not to trade them?The fact the Leafs didn’t get a single long term asset to show for essentially getting rid of the KGM line for nothing was simply disasterous from a managerial POV. Infuriating.
The KGM line was a funny little blip in leafs' history.
Hard to believe that people still think about them when we have Marleau, Kadri, Nylander, Marner, Matthews, Johnsson...
I liked MacArthur too, but I wasn't kicking and screaming when OTT signed him.
I feel sorry for him now. His health is probably at the level of "very concerning" status.
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Brian Burke once say he could have got first round picks for them and he choose not to trade them?