Leafs Acquire Franson & Lombardi

			2010-2011 NHL Statistics				July 1st Status
To Toronto	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Cody Franson	D	23	80	8	21	29	1	$800,000
Matthew Lombardi	F	29	2	0	0	0	2	$3.5 million
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To Nashville	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Brett Lebda	D	29	41	1	3	4	1	$1.45 million
Robert Slaney	F	22	0	0	0	0	1	$575,000
Conditional 4th Round Draft Pick

On Sunday morning, news of a trade had dropped, as the Toronto Maple Leafs made a deal with the Nashville Predators, one that sent defenseman Cody Franson and forward Matthew Lombardi to Toronto for defenseman Brett Lebda and forward Robert Slaney.

From a hockey perspective, this one is a real head-scratcher, because clearly, Franson and Lombardi are actual full-time NHLers, while Lebda is a seventh defenseman and Slaney is still just a prospect. Clearly, there is more to the story on this one.

The real key to this deal is Lombardi, who is still reportedly suffering from a major concussion, which he suffered in the second game of the 2011 season.  Reports after this trade were made say that Lombardi is still suffering from his ailment and now questions arise about whether or not he will be able to start the season.  Despite being injured, Lombardi's $3.5 million cap hit does work against the Predators in some of their off-season cap numbers and it is somewhat of a burden to hang onto without the knowledge of whether he is playing or not.  This risk is what the deal is mainly about, from the outside looking in.

In taking on this kind of risk, the Maple Leafs were able to get a player that has long since been coveted by a number of teams in defenseman Cody Franson.  Franson is a bigger defenseman with offensive upside and will put up some reasonable points for the Leafs, making them just a little bit deeper on the blueline, something we all know that GM Brian Burke strives for.

Going the other way, two cheap depth players and a conditional pick (on the number of games Lombardi actually plays in 2012), which is to help the Predators open up some more budget space for names like Shea Weber and possibly another free agent forward.  The Predators obviously didn't want too much in return for a player they did not want on their books and a player that is in a position where there is plenty of organizational depth.

In this deal, the Predators get a good salary cap dump on the Leafs, dropping them down to last place for projected figures, opening up all kinds of room and flexibility for the rest of the Summer. I now have the Predators at $34.4 million for 14 players and a buyout, leaving them $13.9 million to reach the cap floor for nine players, including Weber.

The Leafs, on the other hand, don't have their hands tied with a player like Brad Richards, so they still had plenty of room to take on a player like Lombardi for the off-season.  They now stand at $51.8 million for 18 players (including Lombardi) and a buyout, leaving $12.5 million to the cap ceiling today.

I don't think there is any doubting that this deal could be a massive steal for the Leafs, if Lombardi could somehow get healthy again and be able to play at his full capacity. The likelihood of this happening does look awfully grim though, which makes this deal far more even than it really looks.  The Predators didn't want the risk any more, so they made a move to get rid of it.  I don't think the Predators would necessarily regret this decision, if Lombardi did happen to come back either.