Michael Grabner acquired by Maple Leafs in six-player deal

If the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking for a quick rebuild, best to have one of the fastest skaters in the world on the roster, right?

The Leafs snagged Austrian winger Michael Grabner from the New York Islanders on Thursday, as NHL training camps opened. In exchange, the Leafs sent five (!) players back to Brooklyn: Forwards Taylor Beck and Carter Verhaeghe, defensemen Matt Finn and Tom Nilsson, and goaltender Christopher Gibson.

It's a blockbuster! In quantity, if not quality!

Grabner, 27, has skated in 317 NHL games between the Islanders and Vancouver Canucks, with 95 goals and 60 assists for 155 career points. He managed just 13 points last season 34 games, his campaign interrupted by hernia surgeries.

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With one year left on a five-year, $15 million contract, the Islanders had tried to move Grabner for most of the summer, according to Newsday. But he arrived at camp this week with the expectation that he would be a part of the Islanders this season.

And now he’s a Leaf.

What’s interesting about this match is that while his cap hit is $3 million, his actual salary this season is $5 million, making the cash-rich Leafs an ideal trading partner. The Islanders promptly signed veteran winger Steve Bernier to a one-year deal after shipping out Grabner.

As far as the haul going back to the Islanders, Beck was traded by the Predators to the Leafs for Jamie Devane, as Nashville didn’t want to ink the RFA. Verhaeghe is 20 and has played in the OHL for the last four years, including two games in the AHL. (Read an interview with him here.) Finn is, like Verhaeghe, a Guelph Storm alum who played for the Marlies and the Orland Solar Bears last season. He’s a former second-round pick. Nilsson played 44 games for the Marlies last season after playing professionally in Sweden. Gibson, from Finland, has two years with the Marlies to his credit.

So the Islanders get warm bodies and shed $5 million from their payroll, and the Leafs get an NHL asset (and clear contracts).

Good move for both teams. Not so much for Grabner, who goes from being on a playoff team with super cool black jerseys to a non-playoff team staring into the black abyss of rebuilding.

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