Toronto Maple Leafs trade David Clarkson to Columbus Blue Jackets

By Cory Buck | Feb 27, 2015

Jan 29, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward David Clarkson (71) carries the puck past Arizona Coyotes defenseman Andrew Campbell (45) at the Air Canada Centre. Arizona defeated Toronto 3-1. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

The Toronto Maple Leafs traded forward David Clarkson to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for forward Nathan Horton.

In one of the most surprising NHL trades in years, the Toronto Maple Leafs actually found a suitor for David Clarkson and his behemoth contract. The kicker? Toronto had to take on a weighted albatross of a contract of their own. In exchange for Clarkson, the Columbus Blue Jackets offered up Nathan Horton, who will likely retire due to degenerative back issues. The Blue Jackets announced the move via their website.

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This trade represents a huge sigh of relief for Toronto GM Dave Nonis, who had originally spearheaded Toronto’s mad dash to sign David Clarkson as a free agent. In so doing, Nonis offered a mind-numbing seven-year contract with an annual cap hit of $5.25 million. In Nonis’ defense — oh, never mind. There is literally no way to defend that contract. We thought there was no way to trade that contract either. We were wrong.

The Blue Jackets had a big contract of their own with forward Nathan Horton, who has yet to play this season and who may never play in the NHL again. The team could receive cap relief in regards to Horton by placing him on the long-term injured reserve list, but this organization isn’t exactly as flush as that which sits in the center of the hockey universe.

So were born the schematics of a trade that includes two of the worst contracts in the NHL. Now the Blue Jackets will get a warm body to ice for their money in David Clarkson and the Maple Leafs receive more long-term cap flexibility as they look to rebuild their roster with a youth movement that won’t include Clarkson or likely even forward Phil Kessel or defenseman Dion Phaneuf, both of whom are also signed to big long-term contracts.

While it’s hard to imagine the Blue Jackets won’t regret this deal at some point or another, it improves them in the short term by replacing Horton’s vacant spot with someone who can play right now. Of course, ‘someone who can play’ is probably as generous as we can get to describe David Clarkson’s play since his arrival in Toronto. In two seasons that saw 118 appearances on his part, Clarkson tallied just 15 goals and 26 points.

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