CBJ of the Day: David Clarkson

By William Espy

Near the trade deadline of the 2014-2015 season, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced the plan for a rebuild. This meant that nearly all of their core players would be shipped out if they could find the right deal for prospects and picks. Phil Kessel was the most wanted player on the team; however he would not be moved until July 1, 2015. There were two players who appeared to have unmovable contracts, captain Dion Phaneuf’s $7M cap hit which lasts until 2021, and David Clarkson’s $5.25M cap hit until 2020. Phaneuf almost got moved to Detroit at the deadline, but would end up staying there and will likely start the new season with Toronto. David Clarkson however, would be dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for injured player Nathan Horton in one of the oddest trades in recent memory. Horton was on the long term injured reserve due to his failing back and repeated other injuries but did not count against the salary cap. His contract was very similar to that of Clarkson who had formerly been somewhat of a star (key word there is somewhat) with the New Jersey Devils but had faded to obscurity in Toronto and was forced to be one of the faces for failure in Toronto. Clarkson waived his NTC and officially became a man on a mission, he wanted to go back to his level of play from New Jersey and he may do just that.

The acquisition of Clarkson seemed to be a very bad move on the surface. Toronto fans were glad that the “waste of cap” had moved on to another team. Clarkson however, can and in my opinion will, be much more than that. Clarkson seemingly could not keep up with the speed of the Maple Leafs which left him at a massive disadvantage. He is now coming to a high paced, yet gritty team in the Blue Jackets which will likely fit into his play style a lot better. Will he go back to scoring thirty goals again? Probably not, nevertheless twenty to twenty-five goals seem very possible. In his three games as a Blue Jacket (all of which he played injured), Clarkson got various scoring chances that he may have capitalized on if he was healthy. He also seemed to have a jump in his step that was missing when he was in Toronto and he during the 4 on 4 prospect tournament that he had coached in, he said that he felt better than he has in years.

STATUS: ???

Clarkson is a difficult player to give a status, he is seemingly unmovable at the current state and he may change that this season. If he performs, Jarmo Kekalainen would probably prefer to keep him in Columbus but with cap issues on the horizon it would seemingly be hard to keep him. Clarkson will likely be a third liner to start the year but could move up the lineup and will quickly become a fan favorite thanks to his great personality and work in the community. His future in Columbus is nearly impossible to predict.