Rangers fans will see this trade and say “It doesn’t solve our salary cap problems.” First, no team is going to bend over backwards and give you an extra $10M in cap space. NYR is in cap hell this summer. What this trade does though is give you the most complete RW in the game (assuming Matthew Tkachuk is playing LW), a 2-time 1st Team All Star at RW, 100-point level the past two years, Selke nom this year. In return, you get rid of not one, but two albatross contracts that helps your cap long-term (though I wouldn’t take on all of that money for all of that term, Alexis isn’t worth that yet, hence the $1M retained on VT, which is a small price with the cap moving up repeatedly in the next few years for this overall package). You also turn Alexis into a player who is infinitely better today and will arguably have a better-to-far better career in Marner.
In Robertson and Giordano, you get very inexpensive NHL-caliber players to fill the bottom half of the roster with, though both have questions. Gio can still play in the regular season, however can he play a 3rd pair role in the playoffs next year? For Robertson, can he finally stay healthy and develop into the 2nd line scorer that he’s capable of becoming? For those cap hits though, they’re two fliers worth taking for a team that’s in serious cap trouble.
For Toronto, the Leafs have arguably the best development system in the game today (IFKYK). If any team can unlock Alexis, it’s this one. It’s a gamble worth taking.
Murray doesn’t need a 1st to be dealt. A team like SJ has no goalies, would take his Cup-winning experience to share with the group, and Murray would in turn get a no-pressure, warm-weather team to try and build off a solid overall year in Toronto (he had a couple of bad games before his last injuries, it wasn’t some awful year like people have made it sound like).
Arizona is getting 1/3 to ¼ of the normal fans buying tickets and ancillary purchases that other teams get. They have real money cash flow issues. McBain’s salary should double from last year, and with AZ nowhere near a playoff run, pushing that value AND cost down the road makes sense. Minten is a very good prospect with similar upside to McBain. Abruzzese has great vision and if he can adjust to NHL speed, could be more than a 4th line C. Mete has offensive upside and could have a similar comeback to what Ghost did if given a chance (he was a WJC player for Canada and has great offensive skill).
Jarnkrok had a career-best year and cost more than this when he was traded just over a year ago. He’s a huge upgrade on the Miles Woods of the world, and costs less. Gotta think he’d waive for a chance to play for NJ.
FLA will need bottom-6 depth. Lafferty woke up in the 2nd round vs Florida and would be a substantial improvement on the Eric Staals of the world, at a very reasonable price.
The people saying that Schenn is worth real money this offseason…you’re all correct. I’m guessing if he played in the regular season the way he played in the playoffs, his analytics-based cap value would be in the $4-6 million range. That said, he’s not asking for a ton of money, he’s made it clear he wants to come back to Toronto, and as I’ve said before, he unlocked Morgan Rielly. Schenn is worth every bit of the $1-2M that he asks for. I could see him signing for less, however he doesn’t have to.
Acciari and Hathaway are a mood that wins Cups, plain and simple.
Bert has defensive deficiencies that would absolutely need to be addressed. That said, he’s a great offensive power forward who would open up tons of space for whomever he plays with. Every bit as important, he buys Knies development time so that he’s not rushed.
Same as Schenn, ROR can absolutely get more on the open market. He is beyond wealthy though, so what’s it worth vs having the chance to play near his home town, for his childhood team, and be given a chance to still get paid well without being asked to carry the team? Players do take hometown discounts.
Gav showed up for LA, as I’ve said previously. Everyone is on the “Trade Brodie” bandwagon, however during the regular season he graded out as the 9th best defensive defenseman in the game today. We don’t know if he was hurt. If he was? Then sure, trade him if you can, which will be hard with his cap hit and M-NMC. Otherwise, give him a better version of Muzzin in Gav, and watch them shut down the league.
Not happening, not even getting into the values of all these players cause the cap doesn't work, and I don't see the Rangers being interested in retaining any salary. Retain salary on Marner and you might get Drury's interest.
Drury would like to know, if Marner is all that, why trade him at all?
Then he says no thanks because the salary cap is real and they can't concentrate so much of it in so few players. The ONLY way the Rangers trade for Marner is if Panarin is going the other way. if that doesn't work for the Leafs, then trade Marner to someone else.
McDavid, Connor
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