Is Nick Ritchie the biggest Toronto Maple Leafs bust since David Clarkson?
In July, 2013 the Toronto Maple Leafs signed power-forward David Clarkson to a seven-year contract, worth $36.5M total. The hometown kid played 118 total games in the blue-and-white and was promptly traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets halfway through the second year of that seven year contract.
The fact that the Leafs found a loophole in the system by absorbing Nathan Horton’s LTIR money straight-up for Clarkson is still unbelievable. It’s crazy that they didn’t even need to give up an asset to get rid of David Clarkson, while a few years later they lost a first-round pick to trade Patrick Marleau’s contract.