Are you having a feeling of déjà vu? Does this all seem terribly familiar, only maybe twice as dumb?

Well, last year on February 16, we discussed the reported Leafs interest in one Luke Glendening:

Maple Leafs reported to be in on Luke Glendening - Pension Plan Puppets
Bad idea? Good idea? Or just the only idea anyone could come up with?

The story then was:

It’s the trade deadline and the Leafs want a 4C

The Leafs do seem to want a 4C again, or perhaps still is a better word. They are still looking. Moore is competent — relative to Gauthier, he’s a star. Fehr is in California in the AHL, and Smith is the captain of the Marlies.

So who do they get as, at minimum, an insurance policy on Moore, or at best, a solution for a few years while they hopefully start drafting some guys who aren’t defencemen?

Okay, now Moore is in Europe with Smith, Gauthier seems to be in the lineup every night, Par Lindholm is, uh, not as good as he looked for the first month, and the Leafs next-best centre is Josh Jooris. They absolutely drafted a centre last summer though.

Last year, the problem with Glendening as we saw it was that considering his lousy results on the bad Red Wings, his term was too long, and that if he’d been only signed at his $1.8 million AAV for last year and this, he’d have been worth investing a second-round pick in.  He’s actually signed for two more years after this one, which is just too much for a guy like him. A second rounder was the rumoured asking price then, and Lou Lamoriello looked at him, thought it over, and got the Habs to retain on Toman Plekanec instead.

Now the term is too long and the AAV is way too high. Not for this year. For this season, that’s easily affordable without causing the dreaded rollover of bonuses to next season. But next year, that’s, as TSN mentions in their story, twice what the Leafs would be willing to pay for a depth guy.

So maybe Kyle Dubas called up Ken Holland and talked about Glendening, but we have to hope, even if he could talk the Red Wings into retaining half his salary, that Dubas ultimately said no, because if the term was too long last year, it’s way too long now. And you don’t want to clog up the roster with barely over replacement depth when you have to pay good players like Andreas Johnsson next summer.

We took this rumour very seriously last year and asked your opinion. You said this:

So what do you think of the reprise of this idea, where the price, by the way, still seems to be a second round pick:

Is there any reason why a Luke Glendening deal makes any sense?

If the Red Wings retain the full 50% on his salary, then it gets Gauthier off my TV screen, so sure.274
If the Red Wings retain and the cost is a conditional seventh, I still say no.328
Who was Dubas really calling Ken Holland about?721
Get Ben Smith back or Moore or Aaltonen, anyone!274