Curtis Joseph will return home this afternoon from a Cuban holiday to discover that the Toronto Maple Leafs traded him to the Calgary Flames last night for a conditional 2004 eighth-round draft pick.
But before Maple Leafs fans cancel plans to celebrate Canada Day because of disappointment that Joseph is no longer in Toronto, they should know that the Flames have as much chance at signing Joseph to a contract as the sad-sack Florida Panthers.
All this means is that Joseph, as of midnight last night, became an unrestricted free agent and is free to negotiate with any of the 30 National Hockey League clubs.
Toronto traded Joseph's rights to Calgary to cover itself if Joseph signs with the Detroit Red Wings or New York Rangers today. When Joseph signs a new contract, the Flames will receive a compensatory second-round pick.
Teams like the Maple Leafs, Rangers and Red Wings do not receive compensatory draft picks for losing unrestricted free agents because of their large payrolls. The Flames do.
The burning question when Joseph returns home today to answer is whether the standout netminder will re-sign with the Maple Leafs for another three seasons or bolt to a contender such as the Red Wings for a lesser contract.
Joseph and his agent, Don Meehan, will attend to the matter when they meet this evening at the goaltender's home in King City, Ont.
"It's still 50-50 as to whether Curtis remains with the Maple Leafs," Meehan said. "I talked to [Maple Leafs coach and general manager]Pat [Quinn]and told him we would get back to him either late [today]or first thing [tomorrow]morning. He said that was fine with him."
The Maple Leafs tabled a three-year offer worth more than $8-million (all figures U.S.) a season two weeks ago.
"It was clear that we were unable to make a deal with Curtis and his representatives before the July 1 deadline," Quinn said in a statement. "So we proceeded to do what was best for the organization."
The Maple Leafs also dealt Tie Domi's rights to the Nashville Predators last night for a conditional pick. The same happened with Ed Belfour on Saturday (the Dallas Stars to Nashville) and Theo Fleury on Friday (the Rangers to San Jose Sharks).
It all meant nothing because all those players became unrestricted free agents at midnight last night. Once Joseph signs, the bidding will begin for other big-name, free-agent goaltenders: Byron Dafoe, Ed Belfour and Mike Richter, whose rights were traded last night to the Edmonton Oilers.
Joseph, Belfour, Richter and Dafoe are four of the many high-profile players who became unrestricted free agents today.
The Stars, Red Wings, Rangers, Colorado Avalanche and the Maple Leafs will be in bidding wars for forwards Bill Guerin, Teemu Selanne, Bobby Holik, Tony Amonte, Theoren Fluery, Robert Lang, Adam Oates, Andrew Cassels, Scott Young, Randy McKay, Martin Gelinas and Domi.
Desirable defencemen in the free-agent pool include Chris Chelios, Darius Kasparaitis, Philippe Boucher, Igor Kravchuk, Nathan Dempsey, Scott Lachance, Jiri Slegr, Richard Smehlik, Gary Suter and Luke Richardson. Hurricanes sign Francis, Hedican The Carolina Hurricanes re-signed two key players from their drive to the Stanley Cup final. Captain Ron Francis agreed to a two-year, $11-million contract and defenceman Bret Hedican signed a six-year, $19.5-million contract. Both were scheduled to become unrestricted free agents today. Francis, who made $5-million a year the past four seasons, turned down a one-year $5-million offer last week. Canadiens ship Berezin, Senators trade McEachern The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators traded away high-scoring forwards over the weekend. The Canadiens shipped Sergei Berezin to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2004 fourth-round pick. The Senators dealt Shawn McEachern to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick and defenceman Brian Pothier.