Making sense of the Clarkson to Columbus trade

Making sense of the Clarkson to Columbus trade

Somehow the Toronto Maple Leafs have managed to remove the contract of David Clarkson and gained cap space, in a way. The full deal was David Clarkson to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for the permanently injured Nathan Horton. Nathan Horton has a series back injury and it is highly doubtful that he will ever play again which does beg the question as to why the Leafs traded for him.

The Blue Jackets signed Nathan Horton to a 7 year, $37.1m contract in July 2013 without taking insurance out on his back injuries, which are bad. Clarkson signed for the Leafs on the exact day and whilst the term was the same the money was slightly less at $36.75m. To say that Clarkson failed to perform at Toronto would be understated.  His disappointing performances are superbly highlighted by  Jeffler at Toronto's fan run Leaf's Nation; David Clarkson and his performance woes.

So, without the insurance the Columbus Blue Jackets were looking at paying Horton $26m without him playing. The Toronto Maple Leafs have more money through their ownership group, MLSE, so they have the capacity to take his hit. With Horton traded the Columbus Blue Jackets are paying Clarkson $4.75m in total money compared to the $6m that Horton is on. So Columbus save $1.25m in real money but Clarkson only has a cap hit of $250k less than Horton. 

On the other side the Leafs gain cap space during the season of $5.5m by putting Horton on LTIR, the cap hit of Nathan Horton. This means that they have the space available to bring someone else in. They also get rid of David Clarkson who wasn't worth the $5.25m he was on. If Nathan Horton returns then the Leafs get a potentially better player but it is highly unlikely he will return. The only problem with this for the Leafs is during the offseason. The cap goes up 10% and it makes it harder for the Leafs to do deals and get their roster ready for day one. However, as the Leafs are rebuilding this should be of little concern.

In all, I think this benefits both sides and no-one can really say that they have lost it. I think most fans hope that Clarkson will rebound. No doubt people also hope that Horton returns to play as it is a shame that someone who was that talented has been sidelined by a terrible injury.