Where is Karel Pilar?

It didn’t take long for Pavel Kubina’s absence to register an effect on the defense of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

One game after Kubina was knocked out of the lineup with a strained MCL, Paul Maurice was forced to pencil in Wade Belak and Jay Harrison as his third pairing for last night’s embarrassment against the Devils, a roster change that frightens nobody except Leaf fans.

Unfortunately, Maurice had no choice. If you believe Leaf management, Kubina will be gone for a month. Andy Wozniewski is out indefinitely as he recovers from surgery to repair a separated shoulder. Staffan Kronwall is day-to-day with a sprained ankle, Brendan Bell has been day–to-day with a fractured ankle, and Carlo Colaiacovo is – well, no time frame for his return has been contemplated as he recovers from a concussion he sustained ten months ago. His latest setback is listed as “headaches”, but no player is helped off the ice after one game of training camp in need of a little Ibuprofen. He won’t be saving the day anytime soon.

The sad part is, other than Kubina, none of the above players are anything more than depth players on any other team, and Toronto is relying on them to be pillars of their defense core.

So last night, that left the Leafs with Belak and Harrison to bring up the rear, and Maurice was suffering from no delusions that these guys can play a regular shift. Against the Devils, they skated for 7:26 and 8:14 of ice-time, respectively.

This created a ripple-down effect in the lineup, forcing Maurice to overuse Kaberle (29:48), McCabe (32:51), Gill (26:17) and White (24:56).

Should anyone be surprised that these four exhibited noticeable fatigue by the end of the game, resulting in key miscues that enabled the Devils to turn a 6-3 deficit into a 7-6(SO) win?

With a lineup like this, the only place the Toronto Maple Leafs are headed is to the podium to make the first overall selection in next year’s amateur draft. And after all the upgrades this off-season, it’s back to the same old tune in Toronto: the team needs defensemen.

But – forget the rumour of bringing Brian Leetch back to town, or of obtaining anybody else who would either a.) want too much money to sign, or b.) cost the team talent in a trade.

What about Karel Pilar?

Pilar last played for Toronto during the 2003-2004 season, when he scored 2 goals and 19 points in 50 games. After that, he was sidelined not once, but twice with a freak heart virus. Given the recent spate of career-threatening heart trouble in the NHL (Jiri Fischer, Mario Lemieux, Steve Konowalchuk, Greg Johnson), it’s understandable that the Leafs might be hesitant to bring Pilar back.

But in the most recent reporting I could find on Pilar were John Ferguson’s comments in the Toronto Star, April 27, 2006:

“Leafs' general manager John Ferguson said his expectation is that Pilar, who remains a restricted free agent, will be signed and at camp in the fall.

"In due course, we'll get him over here, make sure he is fit and ready to play and go from there," said the GM. "Obviously he is playing. He's recovered and the reports have been good."

So Ferguson believed Pilar was healthy. And Pilar had to believe that he was, because…

“...the 28-year-old signed with HC Sparta Prague in mid-February and helped the team wrap up the league championship in the Czech Republic this week (April, 2006). In 14 playoff games for Sparta, Pilar had three goals and three assists and was a plus-6. His North American agent Mark Stowe said Pilar's health concerns are no longer an issue.”

And finally, Pilar indicated at the time of this article that he wanted to return to Toronto.

"He wants to come back (to the Leafs) if he can work out a deal," said Stowe. "He's always said the people in the Toronto organization treated him right." Stowe said Pilar declined an opportunity to play for the Czechs at the upcoming world championship at Riga, Latvia, "just to make sure he's ready for next year."

So – health, check. Desire to play in Toronto, check. Toronto has publicly indicated interest, check. Pilar’s level of play? His work with HC Sparta last spring proved he can still put up the numbers, and at age 28, he’s far from finished as a player - unlike a guy like Leetch might be, for instance. And besides, the last time Belak scored a goal – the NHL regular Pilar would be replacing in the lineup – was three years ago. No, Pilar can play, and would be an upgrade. He’s got some size (6’3”, 207), and is known as a strong skater with a hard shot.


Look how confident I am.
Sign me, and I will bring
you the Cup.

What about money? In the summer of 2005, Toronto extended a qualifying offer to Pilar of $550,000, which was turned down because Pilar wanted a guaranteed one-way contract. Negotiations never really got off the ground after that, since shortly afterward, Pilar had a relapse of heart troubles that kept him off the ice past the December 1, 2005 deadline for signing restricted free agents.

But since Ferguson gave one-way contracts to career minor-leaguers like John Pohl or Erik Westrum this summer, why should this be an issue at all? Pilar has proven to be capable at the NHL level, and besides, the reasoning behind signing him would be to play on the Leafs anyway. Westrum is currently earning $450,000 to play for the AHL Marlies, and it won’t be long before Mikael Tellqvist joins him. The Leafs are no strangers to paying NHL salaries to players in the minors, if needs be.

Even if Kubina were healthy and in the lineup, a $550,000 contract is affordable to the Leafs. Assuming Pilar signs for a one-way agreement tomorrow, the "cap buffer" they've budgeted for later roster additions gives the Leafs enough room, with some walking-around money left over.

And besides, the Leafs wouldn't need to be concerned with their budgeted cap cushion at all, really - once Kubina is placed on the Injured Reserve list (and he will be), his $5,000,000 salary won’t count against the salary cap limit for the time that he is off the active roster, which roughly amounts $60,975 per game.

So let’s say Pilar is inked for $550,000. The Leafs would be facing the same cap hit as they originally planned for, so long as Kubina misses at least 10 games (10 x $60,975 = $609,750), which seems probable at this point.

Where’s the downside in bringing over Pilar? He'd be a cheap signing, the Leafs wouldn't have to trade any prospects to add him to the lineup, and he'd be an upgrade in talent. He couldn't be any worse than Belak. Is there is more to the story we don’t know about?

But maybe this entire plan can be scrapped after all. The Star is reporting today that the only thing holding Brendan Bell back from returning to the lineup is medical approval from those pesky doctors. “I feel really good...I’m champing at the bit,” he told the breathless media. Brendan Bell, he of the one career NHL game.

But I shouldn’t complain. Even with Bell’s lone game of experience, he’s still the owner of the 9th position on Toronto’s depth chart – right above Wade Belak.