Apr 12, 2014; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Ottawa Senators Pdefenseman Marc Methot (3) avoids a check from Toronto Maple Leafs right wing David Clarkson (71) in the first period at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
David Clarkson
Ladies and gentlemen, your DiPietro Award winner! It takes a special kind of player to be the recipient of this prestigious award, so let’s recap David’s “accomplishments:”
- Is signed for six more years at a $5,250,000 cap hit which would take him through age 36 if he isn’t bought out (HAHA, or as the kids say, “LOLZ”)
- In year one of his current contract, scored five goals and recorded six assists in 60 games. No need to break out the calculator for that total…it’s 11 points. Or $477,273 a point.
- Scored 30 goals once in a season. His next highest total was 17. Apparently the word “outlier” was foreign to Toronto management.
- In 44 playoff games has a total of 14 points. To be fair, this probably won’t be much of an issue in Toronto.
- Has a higher cap hit than James Neal, Mike Cammalleri, Valeri Filppula and Bobby Ryan, among others. Has the same cap hit as David Krejci, Yeah, I don’t get it either.
With new management in town, there’s a legitimate chance that Clarkson may be bought out next summer if his play doesn’t drastically improve (which would pay him through the 2024/25 season if bought out). Even with that he won’t survive the axe hanging over his head the next six years. His contract was mind-boggling when he signed it last summer and looks even more reprehensible now. There’s no doubt that this contract was the most egregious handed out by Toronto recently and a main reason why Brendan Shanahan is running the show now.
But for us on the award’s committee, none of that is relevant. For all the reasons above, David Clarkson is a worthy winner of the first annual DiPietro Award. So come get your award and take a bow David. And try not to trip on the way up.