By HOWARD BERGER
TORONTO (July 4) — When the NHLPA hired former Maple Leafs’ goalie Glenn Healy as director of player affairs last month, it knew it was getting a man that would fervently defend the rights of its membership. That became more than evident earlier today, when Healy spoke in direct terms about the increasing conflict between the Leafs and veteran defenseman Bryan McCabe. Though Healy is confident the people involved are capable of reaching an affable agreement, he warned that the P.A. will not stand by and allow the Leafs to desecrate McCabe.
“I think this situation can be resolved amicably, and there is plenty of time for that to happen,” Healy told me in a phone conversation. “The Leafs have a summer to look at all the options and come up with a solution that is viable to both sides. They do not have the right to destroy Bryan McCabe’s career. They gave him as restrictive a contract as there is in the NHL today. If they want to go to the most extreme of situations and tell him they will pay him to stay at home, the artillery will be released from our end. The P.A. will back Bryan to the grave, I guarantee it.”
McCabe and the Leafs are embroiled in a dispute that has no easy resolution. At least, not one that is apparent right now. The hockey club clearly wishes to move forward without the long-time defenseman, but is bound by a contract that has three years of term remaining, and an inflexible no-movement clause. McCabe cannot be traded, or placed on waivers. The Maple Leafs have only the option of buying out the balance of his contract — a move they chose not to exercise in the initial window of opportunity. There is a second window that relates to the arbitration process, but it’s unlikely the hockey club will relent.
Which lends itself to the possibility the Leafs will inform McCabe he is not welcomed at training camp in September; that they will honour his contract and all its variables [such as a $5.75-million salary cap hit in each of the next three seasons], but will instruct him to stay away from the team. Given that McCabe will be 36 when his deal expires, that isn’t a pleasing alternative. And, it’s one that Healy says the NHLPA vehemently opposes.
“Bryan McCabe has lots of hockey left, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are not going to tell him to stay at home… not a chance,” said the goalie that wore the Blue & White jersey from 1997 to 2001. “You can’t destroy a player’s craft by sitting him at home and basically telling him, ‘your career is over.’ That type of action would be something for the legal minds at the P.A. to deal with. And, if it goes there, it will come down to an arbitrator deciding the issue. But, there will be absolutely no limit to what the Players’ Association will try to throw at [the Leafs]. We’ll go at it hard. Bryan is a solid guy who’s been around a long time. He negotiated his contract in good faith, without a gun being pointed at his or the Leafs’ head. Both parties should abide by it. I don’t see how the Leafs can take this player’s career and denounce it to the point where they call it over.”
Healy also cannot fathom why Maple Leafs’ GM Cliff Fletcher appears to be damaging McCabe’s value on the trade market — should the blueliner ultimately choose to waive his contract privileges. “It does [Fletcher] no good to diminish the skills of Bryan McCabe,” Healy said, “especially when you look at contracts that are being handed out around the league to players that aren’t even close to Bryan in ability. If you diminish this player by telling the entire hockey world that you will leave him at home, you are making an enormous mistake. You will not be able to trade that asset. No chance. You’re basically telling everyone he is so lousy that you’re going to pay him this kind of money to stay away. How does that reach out to 29 other general managers and tell them, ‘come get my asset?’”
It is widely believed the New York Islanders would be willing to assume the remaining $14.5 million of McCabe’s contract in a transaction with the Leafs. But, a source in New York claims that Isles’ GM Garth Snow has played hardball with Fletcher in prospective trade discussions — asking him for a draft pick to go along with McCabe, as a “favour” for taking the defenseman’s contract off his hands. Healy cannot figure out why any of this is happening. “I don’t see the ‘win’ here,” he said. “How can the Leafs trade Bryan if they’re telling everyone else he’s no good? And, it’s not like they have much ground to stand on. I mean, the Leafs aren’t exactly the Detroit Red Wings. They didn’t just win the Cup.
“If I’m the GM and you can’t work out an agreement right away, you bring the player back and welcome him with open arms. And, at the appropriate moment — it might be this year or next year — that player understands the situation and a move is made. But, if the Leafs tell Bryan to stay at home, it won’t work. We’ll support him in every way possible.”
As for the concept of the Maple Leafs “bringing McCabe to his knees”, so to speak, Healy becomes sardonic. “With that type of a welcome mat, I can’t see why there isn’t a rush for all the free agents in the world to come and sign with the hockey club. I mean, that’s just a wonderful way to treat a player. The hockey world is a small community, and word spreads fast. You look at some teams that get it, and you find guys like Marian Hossa who will turn down long deals and much bigger money to have a chance at winning a Cup [in Detroit].
“There’s no chance players will want to come to Toronto under these circumstances. When a team gives a player a no-movement clause then turns around and basically says, ‘Well, I know we signed that, but we don’t care,’ it doesn’t do much for reputation.”
Through all of this, Healy does, however, believe that Fletcher and McCabe can come to a solution. “Like I said, there’s time to do that, and I have respect for both parties. But, it cannot be done the way it seems to be playing out right now.”
That blue scarf Healy used to tie around his head under his helmet was clearly too tight. You’ve been in the PA for 5 minutes. How about you yourself call McCabe and tell him to waive his NTC in order to avoid this “conflict” that winning players like Dan Boyle (took 30 seconds to accept) accepted in a heartbeat.
- LCI have a lot of respect for Glenn Healy, but from an ordinary person’s perspective I just don’t get it. Its all about greed - both McCabe and the Leafs. Healy says there was “no gun” but we all know there was - it was called free agency and media pressure that led to Ferguson’s deal with McCabe. I am sure a more experienced GM might have gotten McCabe to sign without the no-move clause or let him go.
Its a mess - pure and simple and hopefully cooler heads will prevail.
- Bob H“healthy scratch”
- vinmanHey Howard….this article from Healy breaks me up.
Isn’t he the guy who tried to protect Cujo and didn’t accept Eddie Belford when he 1st came to Toronto. His commentary towards Eddie during his 1st year here as a rookie TV spokesperson were pretty damaging as he constantly would knock Eddie for letting in the 1st shot for his 1st few games….it wasn’t till Eddie started to stand on his head for a few games that Healy turned the corner and started to accept the fact that Eddie was a pretty good replacement for Cujo.
Amazing how the tune changes when your on the other side of the fence.
Not saying what Tampa did to Boyle (he had a no-trade clause and accepted a trade to San Jose) was right but clearly Dan Boyle could see the writing on the wall.
McCabe needs to face the facts and do the same…the sooner the better.
It’s unfortunate that this had to happen, but nothing is definite in life and the deal McCabe signed was under the Ferguson regime, not Fletcher.
Fletcher or his instructions from Burke are clearly to clear salary, play young players and give us our best shot at landing Tavares.
It’s not to often that the fans in Leafland will accept losing but this year may be that year where an exception is in order…so don’t blow it and hope that most if not all the ping pong balls have a Leaf logo on it.
Mark
- Mark FeeleyCorrect me if im wrong , but doesnt the GM have the right to choose if a player is a valuable part of a team or not. The GM could choose whether or not they want a player to play. I admit they have to pay him , but its up to Flethcher which people he wants to put on the ice.
- RomanWhat about when players break their contracts? What does the PA think then????
- ArthurSomeone needs to stop Healy from ever doing another interview. All he has done is made this worse and more public.
If Fletcher can’t get McCabe to budge, he’s playing for us next season - simple. He is not a bad defense man, just pricey. Who cares if we keep him next season, we are going to suck anyways; why not have someone of his talent level there to shoulder the load?
Having said that, if I were McCabe I would not be hanging around Leafs land, this team has been like watching a car accident in slow motion.
- BobI wish Healy would just shut up for a change. He was a crappy back-up and we had to listen to him when he was with the leafs, then he took his angry old man “in my day” act to TSN. Now he’s an NHLPA mouthpiece. I think it’s time to move on to watching another sport.
- BrentThe Leaf’s seem to have a problem with there top player’s. Even way back in the day’s of Keon and the rest of there top player’s. Sign them to a long contract and them treat them like yesterday’s breakfast. Even a great player like Salming in the end they got rid of him. As a Leaf fan of 50 year’s they just keep on shooting themselve’s in the foot. Management has to change. They’re the one’s who make these deal’s not the player’s.
- Steve ThorntonIf its obvious that the two parties are at loggerheads why would McCabe not want to be moved to a team that covets him. I think there’s somthing more going on here. The Leafs are the only team where absolutly no player has been willing wave a contract clause!
- MikeIt’s so obvious that Glen Healy hates MLSE.
- doublebluejayJust play him as a seventh defencemen(like his ability dictates) and give him very limited ice time.
- Gary OsborneThis is typical Healy double-talk. “He (Bryan) negotiated his contract in good faith, without a gun being pointed at his or the Leafs’ head.” Yes, and Bryan has the right to refuse all trades/moves. The Leafs also have rights, to play Bryan or not.
- Hugh CaldwellIf Bryan refuses all trades, there is no trade value for the Leafs to diminish. If Bryan is open to a possible trade, that’s very different! So far I haven’t heard anything to indicate that Bryan would consider any trade, so there is no trade value to diminish.
Hugh =8-{)
gimme a break Healy. Healy has been an outspoken member of the media and now that he has a new job with the PA watch out. The man thinks he’s right every time, all the time. I don’t remember him sticking up for McCabe while a memeber of the media covering the Leafs.
- joArrogant.
Healy is wrong. The Leafs have every right not to play McCabe if they don’t want to, as long as they pay him they are not violating his contract. They can allow him in training camp if they have to, but when the season starts they can simply make him a “healthy scratch” for all their games. The PA can’t do anything about that. If they could bring a grievance every time a player is a healthy scratch then they’d be in court 30 times a day. So, McCabe can sit in the press box until he agrees to a trade. He might as well agree now, so that Fletcher can at least spend the summer getting a trade done, rather than have McCabe endure the embarrassment of being a “healthy scratch” for every game once the season starts.
- andyThe leafs signed the player to a contract in good faith.They believed at the time that this player would always be good enough to make the lineup,things changed and they don’t believe this anymore.It is their right to not have a player in the lineup no matter who it is.The leafs are under contract to Mccabe to pay him which they will,I dont think this contract stipulates that they gaurantee him a spot on the roster.Glen Healy is an arrogant “know it all” and that came through when he was a t.v. analyst.If they don’t believe Mccabe can make the team then they dont have to play him even though they have to pay him.
- dinoHealy should keep his pie-hole shut tight. McFade’s career has already been destroyed and it is self inflicted by incompetent on ice performance.
- HeatonPEveryone knows Healy is a big mouth full of hot air; he should keep quiet until he has some official standing in this situation. When McCabe involves the PA then Healy can do his song and dance. Will Healy ever learn that a bird that sings constantly just becomes background noise? The real problem for McCabe is the change of the emblem on his jersey from a Maple Leaf to a bulls-eye. For his own sanity he must go to a team that wants him for the same money. If not, soon enough he too will be seeking employment in Omsk. There is a curve in this game and the older and more demanding one becomes the more marginal one becomes. McCabe’s situation is not unlike that of Jagr; backing up towards the brink.
- Bob WhoneThe talk should be about Kubina, not McCabe. You can do something legally with Kubina. Who is better anyway? I think we know Bryan is. Leafs want character, keep McCabe.
- Jim“allow the Leafs to desecrate McCabe”
I knew it. He didn’t trip over the net himself, he was pushed.
I’ve neither read hor heard ANYONE from the leafs organization denigrating McCabe or anything close to disprespecting him, even in the juvinile sense of the word that most atheletes ascribe to.
Regardless what GH says I believe if the leafs make the appropriate payments to McCabe over the term of the contract they are abiding by the terms. I don’t think they would be under any obligation to actually play him, otherwise there would never be any healthy scratches.
- JoelI also expect a resolution will be found. McCabe will realize that it will be very unpleasant for him to play in Toronto (he looked pretty miserable last year at times) and will aquiese to a trade and all will live happily or bitterly after ever depending on who “wins”.
With the fans booing his every move and every time he touches the puck, McCabe will begging to be traded. Let him ride the pine for a few games and playing 6 or 7 minutes a game. He’ll be done like dinner.
- pass_the_kegHi Howard!
- FredI’m not a big Healy fan but he’s absolutely right. The much talked about hockey Mecca Toronto is a media myth. The scrutiny of the team is legend, but the quality on and off the ice is pretty bush league. People look at the way Sundin is treated, how contracts are expected to be do-overs at the club’s whim and now this crap with McCabe. They should show some class, work with a bit of quiet diplomacy and maybe take a million a year of his salary and ship him off to the Islanders. No draft picks. Out in Leaf Land there isn’t a soul who would put up with their employers reneging on promise, so why should Bryan be the bad guy here? It’s the Leafs who are breaking their word.
I don’t see how the PA has a leg to stand on here. The no movement clause is not a must play clause. If the coach wants to sit Bryan or make him a healthy scratch, even permanently, this is not a breach of the no movement as long as he remains on the roster and continues to receive his rather healthy stipend.
- Norman StahlbrandI think the real problem here is that MLSE just can not stomach signing any more cheques to make McCabe go away and
Bryan is expecting some sort of a parting gift like his departed Muskoka brethren did to break their deals.
So they’ll try to shame him out of town.
No one likes being told they’re not wanted, a la Dan Boyle, but McCabe is not idiot, and he must see when he’s not wanted. No one wants to force themselves into a party when no one wants them there.
The NHLPA seems dangerously close to telling the teams how much time a player has to play in a game. Certainly, if they want to fight the sending of a player home then the team would have him fill a spot and either be a healthy scratch or put him on spot duty. If he gets a shift a game then he is playing. Strip him of the A and rip down his playing time to a shift a game and see how fast he flips on his no trade. I like McCabe but he needs to see he is in a no win situation here. Thanks,
- Darryl MWhen did Healy become such a big shot? He was a two bit goalie , broadcaster and now an employee of the players association. Thank God he is out of the running for Leafs general manager.
- JimIf I was Glenn Healy I would shut my mouth it is not to the point where he needs to be involved in any way once again in my opinion he is another crybaby ex employee that has taken shots at the leafs at every chance he has gotten and it is getting very tiresome to listen to.
- DanHealy is full of hot air, as he always was. The contract says the Leafs have to pay McCabe certain money, but nowhere does it say that they have to let him play. If that was the case would he go after every team that relegated players to the press box in the past? I don’t think so!
- Blue MaxSo shut the heck up Healy, and use your hot air for your bagpipes.
Thanks for the input Glenn.
I guess as glorified shop steward you have to defend and support all brothers equally.
It will be interesting to hear you have to defend players who you criticized in your commentator job.
- CarlHealy is always entertaining. This is more of his blow harding that makes him the excellent bag piper that he is.
- LexFunny how at one time Mr. Healy openly pointed out the poor play of Mr. McCabe, I do agree that both parties signed the contract in good faith, however Mr. McCabe has not met his part of the deal on the ice, The consistant give aways, even my 9 year old cringes ever power play when Brian drills another puck in to the defenseman’s pads and which result in another scoring. Lets see if I have it right the Leafs locked up a contract for a front line defenseman and since that time have received reduced goal output, poor defensive play and an increase penalties as a result of being caught out of position, all areas of concern which Mr. Healy has pointed out on many occasions, You wear your union hat well Glen, Careful, it may just stop you from wearing a management jacket …Brian needs to move for his sake, for sake of the leafs, the fans, and now for the sake of Mr. Healy credibility
- DougRather than buy out the entire contract, can’t the Leafs pay McCabe a sum to just waive his no-movement clause so he can be traded? Or would that violate some NHL rule? If that does violate some rule could they donate $ to a charity on Bryan’s behalf? Are there middle ground options?
- SteveHealy says”And,at the appropriate moment- it might be this year or next-the player understands the situation and a move is made.” What is to understand and why does it take a year or two to figure out? The team is rebuilding and doesn’t want the restrictive cap hit associated with the buyout.The team is asking McCabe to waive his no trade, thereby giving a bit back to the fans who have made him a multi-millionaire over the past number of seasons(by way of not encumbering the organization with the cap hit associated with his potential buy out, thus freeing up funds to improve the team).
- Graham RogersYou sure can tell as each day goes by how bitter a little man glen healy is if he can find anyway to trash the leafs he will he knows nothing as a player rep he knows nothing as a hockey analyis when he was on TSN he found every reason to trash the leafs hes a bum he has a hatred maybe because he didnt get the leaf gm job who knows him and that pierre maguire clown know nothing how they ever got jobs on tv who knows there must be a shortage of good hockey people.But seriously McCabe should just waive his trade clause he can see that even the fans dont want him here maybe he could rejuvenate his career with a trade where the fans might cheer him not boo him come on Brian do it for yourself and your family ease the pressure that u are under from all the booing u get choose your team and go to them and have fun again u might actually regain your confidence
- mikeThis guy does backflips all the time. Wasn’t it Healey that said as insider with Don and Gord that he wouldn’t hire Ron Wilson with a ten foot pole and how he is caustic two weeks before he was hired and turns around a week after Wilson’s hiring and says oh he’s a good hire?
Give me a break Healy. Glad I only have to hear you once a month now rather than every other night on telecasts and the morning show weekly.
As for McCabe, well see #3 above by vinman, ‘healthy scratch’ is the way to go and don’t let the door hit you on the way out - Healy or McCabe.
- Brendan