The Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals made a trade late Sunday night: Daniel Winnik and a 2016 fifth-round pick are heading to the U.S. capital for Brooks Laich, Connor Carrick, and a second-round pick this year.
Here's what we learned:
Still feels wrong
The Maple Leafs made a smart move in accumulating another draft pick, giving them 12 in the coming draft. That's a lot. And after every trade, you're almost left shaking your head, because you're so used to Toronto getting it wrong - so very wrong - not right.
But Toronto's sticking to its word. Head coach Mike Babcock wasn't lying about pain, because it's possible the Maple Leafs lose 18 of their final 22 games. This teardown had to be done, though, and it's possible - although still too early to say - that the Maple Leafs have actually figured it out. The team is finally flexing its only muscle: money. Teams can't afford to make bad decisions in the salary-cap NHL. Except Toronto.
At some point, a smart move made by Toronto won't feel like an anomaly. That day may be coming, and many probably thought it would never arrive.
A cruel business
There has never been a wider gap between two teams than the one separating the Capitals and Maple Leafs. Washington is elite. Toronto is trotting out an AHL lineup. At this point, watching the Maple Leafs play the Toronto Marlies is something people would probably pay to watch.
Laich has played 742 of his 743 regular-season games in the NHL with the Capitals, and another 65 playoff games with Washington. He's been on fifth-place Capitals teams and first-place Capitals teams. And now, with his 33rd year on the horizon, he's a Maple Leaf. Not only for the rest of this season, but next, too.
Washington has 94 points, Toronto 52. The Capitals are a Stanley Cup contender - the favorite. You can't even say "Stanley Cup" within a few blocks of the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. This is awful for Laich. Unfair.
You play to win. And Laich gave his heart and soul, his best years, his prime, to the Capitals. He played a game that didn't make it so surprising when the injuries came, when the decline began. And the decline was ruthless.
It's a business. Toronto's proving that best. Laich's learning it firsthand. Laich can't possibly watch the Capitals in the playoffs on television. That'll be too difficult.
New reality
It's been 10 years since the NHL implemented a salary cap. Teams are finally figuring it out. And the new reality is that there are ramifications for signing players to bad contracts.
And the Maple Leafs, to their credit, are finding a role for themselves in this new league landscape. Because Toronto is the only team that can afford to make its own mistakes and take on other teams' mistakes - for a price.
Even in a hard-cap league, teams like the Maple Leafs can spend others into the ground, by pouring money into their front office, and an analytics team, by figuring out creative ways to absorb money, and bury money, and in the case of Stephane Robidas, make players disappear.
Toronto's money is endless. And even a team like Washington, a playoff team in seven of the past eight seasons, employing one of the best players in the world in Alex Ovechkin, has no chance of ever playing on the same monetary level.
The Capitals' window is open for only another two years. If Toronto keeps this up, it can prop open its window for a long time, maybe even a Detroit Red Wings-like long time. And for Brendan Shanahan and Babcock, that has to be the goal.
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