How the Blue Jackets and Maple Leafs found a match in Clarkson for Horton.

On February 26^th, the near impossible happened; the Toronto Maple Leafs found a taker for their "immovable" contract belonging to David Clarkson. Also, the Columbus Blue Jackets found someone who was willing to trade for the likely permanently injured Nathan Horton. It was like a perfect storm, two massive free agent mistakes coming together to create one sunny day for two teams looking for help. In this weeks Capped, we will take a look at the Leafs-Blue Jackets trade that had the hockey world buzzing on one crazy day and the cap circumvention that took place to make both sides happy.

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David Clarkson signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2013. At the time, he was probably one of the most desirable free agents available. He chose to sign with the team he grew up idolizing and his father couldn't have been more proud. At the time of his signing, his father was quoted as saying:

"Like a dream come true.  When he first signed with the New Jersey Devils, I was waiting for the day he'd come back here."

Clarkson got a seven-year contract from the Leafs for a total of $36.75M, an annual cap hit of $5.25M. Leafs Nation was jumping for joy on that day. That day would be short lived.

Coincidentally, earlier on the exact same day that David Clarkson was signing his mega deal with the Leafs, Nathan Horton signed his big free agent contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, leaving the Boston Bruins. Horton had played three years in Boston and was a key contributor in their Stanley Cup winning playoff run in 2011. Shortly after the deal was announced, it was released that Horton would require offseason shoulder surgery and that he probably wouldn't be ready to play for Columbus until late in the calendar year. At the time, Horton was quoted as saying about his pending surgery:

“I’ve just been kind of waiting to get it done. I’m definitely going to have surgery. Hopefully in the next week, early week, we can figure that out and get something done, and the sooner the better. I think the recovery is four to six months. I’m hoping four, and I think everyone else would in my situation. I just want to be 100 percent and come back and never have a problem with it again.”

Horton signed a seven year contract for $37.1M, an annual cap hit of $5.3M with Columbus and GM Jarmo Kekelainen thought he just found his new power forward with offensive skills. That thought would be short lived.

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