Quoting: Price_is_the_goat
no body is going to take marleaus contract. leafs made a mistake signing him to 3 years. if u buy him out, other ufa's who are vets are gonna see that and avoid signing there. u just gotta live with him. Also matthews contract will be a minimum 11.5m but that number could rise considering what eichels cap number is. also the cap number won't be able to keep up with the amount of contracts u give up. ur defense is still average, and ur gonna get wrecked with those 3 big contracts. u cant live off elc's
Idiotic post to say the least.
1. His contract in the final year is ~$1million, although his cap hit is 6.5. A team that is looking to hit the cap floor and save money during a rebuild would gladly take someone like that on.
2. Hes on a 35+ contract which means his Buyout cost would result in the same cap hit, so they would never/ can't buy him out.
3. Saying Matthews contract will be over $11.5 is premature, no one has any idea how he will perform in the next 2 seasons and he would need to contend with McDavid for points to get 12+. I think 10.5-11.5 is where he realistically falls.
4. I know from previous posts that you live in your "Habs are the best and the leafs suck" bubble and don't really look to much into in this instance, the prospect pool. 5/8 D-men on that roster are, or are touted to be at a minimum Top-4 D-men (Gardiner, Zaitsev, Rielly, Dermott, Liljegren). The other 3 are unproven, but look to at least establish themselves as bonafide NHLers eventually. They will be good cheap depth guys if anything.
@ OP, I don't really think a then 33 year old James Neal will help the roster all too much on the back end of his career. I feel like that $5m could be used more efficiently for depth or saving for Dermott/Liljegrens bridge deals.