Get your money for nothing

Jeff Finger was placed on waivers today.

If he clears – and by "if," I mean "when" – the pricey defenceman will be sent to the Marlies, where he'll undoubtedly spend a considerable amount of time teaching the youngsters about the importance of finding a brilliant agent.

The deal he signed with the Leafs in 2008, $14 million over four years, remains as inexplicable as Stonehenge. Here was a 28-year-old with one full season of NHL hockey under his belt, a player who only dressed for half of Colorado's 10 postseason games before coming to Toronto.

Or consider this: Finger played 39 games for the Leafs last season and was a healthy scratch 38 times. Somewhere, even Tom Kurvers must be shaking his head.

So by demoting Finger to the AHL, is the team freeing up salary room in advance of a possible deal? Or as Ron Wilson said today, is this simply a case of Finger being the odd-man-out on a squad that currently has seven defencemen? And if that's the case, will he be called up at some point this season?

Finger says his favourite movie is The Shawshank Redemption. When his agent sent the contract offer from then interim GM Cliff Fletcher, Finger must have felt just like Morgan Freeman after the ex-con dug up that envelope of cash Tim Robbins buried in the middle of nowhere: The luckiest man alive.

But these are strange times and yesterday's luck can start to feel like tomorrow's albatross when it comes to NHL contracts.

I think Finger, Sheldon Souray and Wade Redden should go on some kind of cross-continent speaking tour, where they talk about the possible downside of signing wildly inflated deals under a cap-system. How can the richest contract always be seen as the best deal if you eventually price yourself out of the league and shorten your career?

PHOTO: RICK EGLINTON/TORONTO STAR

 

Comments

[Pyramid Power]

Another golden blog Vinay! "..... remains as inexplicable as Stonehenge." LOL "The luckiest man alive." Hilarious. Outstanding work sir.

The hockey world was certainly stunned when Fletch signed this guy to that horrendous deal back when. But it had the blessing of Wilson who said he thought it was a good deal because he had been impressed by Finger while Wilson was still coaching the Sharks. Ouch Ronnie! Blame has to be shouldered by Wilson for this move too. Not only Fletch gawd love him.

I think wily Mr. Brian Burke, IN BURKE WE TRUST, is indeed planning on a move. I can't see why the Leafs would need Finger or WANT Finger to ever play another MINUTE for us. We have Aulie, Blacker and Lebda. We do not need Finger. Am tempted to make a Finger/finger joke here, but do not think it would pass in this family newspaper. lol And it has been done to death already.

Happy trails Jeff. Is there a GM dumb enough to take him at that price? Murray in Anaheim for example? They are badly badly hurting on defence with Visnovsky going down to injury the other day. Bet they wish they had held on to Eminger and The Wiz now! Dumb.

[Luke Weagant]

Actually the Leafs were about 3.5 million over the cap, however due to tagging room (unearned bonuses in contracts) the leafs could carry additional salary this year, with it affecting the cap next year.

If they kept finger it would lower toronto's cap room next year if Bozak, Monster, and others hit their bonuses.

[tom]

Why is everything focussed on getting rid of Kaberly? Lets enjoy the fact that he is playing well and contributing. Isn't it time the press got off his back?

Finger is overpriced and not one of the guys who will be playing a lot....38 scratches last year. Could this be an issue of his own making and not some hidden agenda item?

[Pyramid Power]

@Luke Weagant Excellent points. I see you are a fan of capgeek.com which of course is an invaluable asset to any fan of hockey these days. A bummer that we hockey fans have to keep such an eye on the economics of the league as much as personnel moves and just the pure hockey.

It is as Burke noted recently - he can't even figure it out and he has a degree in law from Harvard. Somehow Loiselle keeps all of it in his head, or so Burkie said. Mind boggling for me.

For example, I had to read your post four times to even begin to understand your message/meaning. Whew! Early over here near Shanghai on that note. Need a coffee.

[Pyramid Power]

Nice headline to this post. I guess Jeff Finger will certainly not be in dire straits anytime soon.

[Richard Bridgman]

I think Burke has spoken about the need to be able to "move salary" and by that I think he meant moving a player but having to pay part of the salary. Re-entry waivers seldom work and guys like the 3 mentioned here are being wasted in the AHL when they could help some teams. Theoretically, the Leafs could make a deal with another team whereby the other team pays a certain amount of the salary (in Finger's case say $1 million for each of the last 2 years but they can't go over the cap) and the Leafs pay the rest. A half decent but overpaid player gets to stay in the NHL. The Leafs get a bit of cap relief and players don't get banished to the minors. I know that doesn't provide full cap relief like shipping to the minors does but the NHLPA looks weak here and you know they'll be hitting this hard in the next round of negotiations. Couldn't a move like this be made today couldn't it with agreement from both sides?

[Brendon]

This is a pure hockey move, we all know Finger was not going out-play Toronto's current D corps and was destined for the Marlies. Do this free up cap space somehow bizzarely taken by Fletcher? Yes! But it will be used by Burkie next year.

[chuck micallef]

Fletcher.....made one good move in his lifetime but screwed up a zillion more, and yet nobody calls him what he really is, a hockey buffon.

[Arthur Bailey]

Glad you have a daily comment unlike that other Hockey Blog (with football and Tennis thrown in for some reason), you know, the one with the stench of Hamilton steel factories?

Keep up the great work. What was Cliff Fletcher thinking giving us all the Finger, anyway? I hope when he retires from Hockey, and undoubtedly writes some memoirs, he explains what was running through his head when he signed that deal!

[Geoff Read]

This move was inevitable. What I can't figure out is why Burke and Wilson pretended a week or two ago that "it wasn't fair" to Finger to point that out.