Ducks lose out on Patrick Marleau

Brief as it may have been, the Patrick Marleau sweepstakes is over and it was the Toronto Maple Leafs and not the Ducks who had the winning numbers for that lottery.

Marleau made his decision Sunday and the 500-goal scorer chose the Maple Leafs’ three-year bid worth $18.75 million over offers made by the Ducks and San Jose, the team he’s spent 19 years starring for after the Sharks took him with the No. 2 pick in the 1997 draft.

The Ducks went hard after the venerable Sharks winger but they, along with San Jose and reportedly Dallas, weren’t all that comfortable with handing out the three-year deal that Marleau, 37, was clearly seeking. It was the first time Marleau ever tested free agency, which opened Saturday.

The Ducks weren’t near the $6.25 million average annual value of that contract. Marleau also has significant signing bonuses in the Toronto deal and got a full no-movement clause after scoring 27 goals and adding 19 assists for San Jose last season.

Marleau has scored 20 or more goals on 14 occasions and the Ducks had hoped to add one of the most consistent scorers of this generation. Now he’ll be a veteran finisher for a high-skilled, young Maple Leafs team fronted by Auston Matthews that made the playoffs last season.

The Ducks do have a little less than $6 million available under the salary cap to address the desire for another winger who can score. Rickard Rakell is coming off a career-high 33-goal season but it isn’t clear if he’ll be left to stay on the wing. They did re-sign Patrick Eaves before free agency began.

Nick Ritchie will be entering his third season, while Ondrej Kase will begin his second but neither youngster is close to being as proven as Marleau, a two-time Olympic gold medalist with Team Canada. The Ducks could look at options via trade but they’d likely look more at a younger forward with upside under contract who’ll provide some cost certainty.

Toronto’s James van Riemsdyk has long been a rumored fit, and speculation on his future should ramp up as the Maple Leafs might need to shed salary to fit back under the salary cap to open the 2017-18 season after adding Marleau. However, van Riemsdyk, 28, is signed only through this coming season.

Colorado’s Matt Duchene is also on the market but is pricey ($6 million per season) and signed only through 2018-19. The Avalanche is also asking a lot for the 26-year-old, starting with a top-four defenseman.

Advertisement

Veteran free-agent wingers who could be more cost effective include future Hall of Famers Jaromir Jagr and Jarome Iginla, Shane Doan and proven scorers Thomas Vanek and Drew Stafford but it isn’t clear if there is much interest from the Ducks for any of them.

The Ducks did sign veteran defenseman Steve Oleksy to a two-year contract that will pay him a one-way NHL salary. Oleksy, 31, finished last season with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies but has 73 games of NHL experience with Washington and Pittsburgh.

Defenseman Mike Liambas and winger Scott Sabourin were signed to one-year contracts. Liambas, 28, comes from the Nashville organization while Sabourin, 24, played with the San Diego Gulls last season, scoring eight goals with nine assists and 147 penalty minutes.

sport world...