Just a short day after receiving a qualifying offer Luca Caputi is officially still a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. His salary last year was $585K in the NHL and $55K in the AHL. I am not quite sure how they managed to sign him to a deal worth less than last year but Caputi signed a one-year deal for $525K in the NHL and $85K in the AHL. Caputi had an awful season last year as he battled a groin injury and lost the vast majority of his year. It was a tough road for Caputi last year but he's made it through so far. Hopefully he'll be able to make Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette who has already written him off.
But what do we have in Caputi? Well, Chemmy took a look at him earlier this month and It's not a bright picture:
Caputi is an RFA on July 1st and missed most of this season with an injury. His current ELC pays him $833,000 a year and I'm not sure he's worth much more than the +5% qualifying offer the Leafs would extend to him. Thinking about how Burke handled the John Mitchell situation, not qualifying him and signing him below his QO, made me realize that John Mitchell is probably a pretty good comparable for Caputi.
The NHL Equivalency table on that post paints a picture of a guy that will peak offensively as a third liner. Last year he had an excellent pre-season but was unable to turn the momentum into an extended run with the Maple Leafs. There is no doubt that there is an opportunity for Caputi to make the Leafs if the team is willing to run him out as a 3rd/4th liner. It'll be interesting to see if they start him out on the Marlies to try to give him more offensive opportunities.
Will Luca Caputi play a significant (25 games +) amount of time with the Leafs this season?
| Yes | 127 |
| No | 284 |
| Furious hand motions | 155 |