Would Bear be enough

Created by: swinny

Team: 2023-24 Toronto Maple Leafs

Initial Creation Date: Nov. 13, 2023

Published: Dec. 7, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Legend

Left Handed

Original Team

Waivers Exempt

Right Handed

Position

Trade Clause

Max Perf. Bonus

Expiry Status

Term Remaining

McDavid, Connor

$12,500,000 ( Performance Bonus

$250,000)

NMC

UFA - 5

Description

I don't think it will come as a secret the Leafs will be in on Bear..... as he could upgrade Timmins, or at the very least give the Leafs much better D depth.

But looking at the pairings with him in the line up, is pause for thought..... is it really necessary to spend additional assets (the ones the Leafs really don't have) on another D?

Laggeson has been surprisingly solid playing 3rd pair minutes. Benoit hasn't been a train wreck in his small sample size. Giordano is everything you could ask. McCabe could be better, but has he been so bad to necessitate upgrading that position? Can we really say the same thing for Liligren?

No one is going to claim the Leafs are fine defensively. But adding Bear does something, and the Leafs are ine of the few contenders with cap space (shocking I know) that could ante up - and in a way that leaves cap space to address the defensive woes in the bottom 6 forwards.

Something to noodle, discuss and debate

Free Agent Signings

UFA		YEARS	CAP HIT
Bear, Ethan		1	$1,750,000

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2024
2025
2026

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
22	$83,500,000	$81,993,950	$0	$0	$1,506,050

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Knies, Matthew $925,000$925,000 LW, RW RFA - 2	Matthews, Auston $11,640,250$11,640,250 C NMC UFA - 1	Marner, Mitchell $10,903,000$10,903,000 RW NMC UFA - 2
Bertuzzi, Tyler $5,500,000$5,500,000 LW, RW NMC UFA - 1	Tavares, John $11,000,000$11,000,000 C, LW NMC UFA - 2	Nylander, William $6,962,366$6,962,366 RW NMC UFA - 1
Robertson, Nicholas $796,667$796,667 LW, RW RFA - 1	Domi, Max $3,000,000$3,000,000 C, RW M-NTC UFA - 1	Järnkrok, Calle $2,100,000$2,100,000 RW, C, LW M-NTC UFA - 3
Gregor, Noah $775,000$775,000 LW, RW RFA - 1	Kämpf, David $2,400,000$2,400,000 C M-NTC UFA - 4	Reaves, Ryan $1,350,000$1,350,000 RW UFA - 3

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Rielly, Morgan $7,500,000$7,500,000 LD NMC UFA - 7	Brodie, TJ $5,000,000$5,000,000 LD/RD M-NTC UFA - 1	Woll, Joseph $766,667$766,667 G RFA - 2
McCabe, Jake $2,000,000$2,000,000 LD/RD M-NTC UFA - 2	Liljegren, Timothy $1,400,000$1,400,000 RD RFA - 1	Samsonov, Ilya $3,550,000$3,550,000 G UFA - 1
Giordano, Mark $800,000$800,000 LD UFA - 1	Bear, Ethan $1,750,000$1,750,000 RD UFA - 2
Lagesson, William $775,000$775,000 LD/RD UFA - 1	Timmins, Conor $1,100,000$1,100,000 RD RFA - 2

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
		Murray, Matt $4,687,500$4,687,500 G M-NTC UFA - 1
		Klingberg, John $4,150,000$4,150,000 RD M-NTC UFA - 1
		Muzzin, Jake $5,625,000$5,625,000 LD M-NTC UFA - 1

Top Comments

Dec. 7, 2023 at 11:34 a.m.

Caniac555

Hurricane Waddell

Joined: May 2018

Posts: 8,734

Likes: 3,601

No, Bear is a 5/6 on a decent team…ideally a 6/7.

He could part of something at a low number but he isn’t enough

Joronto and SomeonesOffended liked this.

Dec. 7, 2023 at 11:35 a.m.

Joronto

Joined: Jun. 2021

Posts: 578

Likes: 162

No , it wouldn't. This team needs minimum 2 more D. And a top 4 - actually a top 2 who can play with Rielly.

SomeonesOffended liked this.

Dec. 7, 2023 at 11:37 a.m.

SomeonesOffended

FKA Bigtittielarper

Joined: Jun. 2020

Posts: 7,728

Likes: 2,226

Maybe if they add tanev too but solely no hes not enough

Dec. 7, 2023 at 11:40 a.m.

swinny

Joined: Mar. 2017

Posts: 4,801

Likes: 2,012

Quoting: Caniac555

No, Bear is a 5/6 on a decent team…ideally a 6/7.

He could part of something at a low number but he isn’t enough

Well, I get Bear as a Cane was a big fail.... never worked out.

But as an Oiler and Canuck he was above average imo.

Why I think as a #5/6 that could work.

I guess what I have to ask - as a knowledgeable outsider (your posts are generally quite good), what is it about the healthy top 4 you see lacking - aside from the physicality..... I have to concede that.

BrockChoy liked this.

Dec. 7, 2023 at 11:43 a.m.

swinny

Joined: Mar. 2017

Posts: 4,801

Likes: 2,012

Quoting: Joronto

No , it wouldn't. This team needs minimum 2 more D. And a top 4 - actually a top 2 who can play with Rielly.

Brodie has been just fine with Reilly.

Seems that most have issues with McCabe and Liligren.....

I question this as if an upgrade were to be made, who big an upgrade would a Tanev type bring? Certainly upgrades the physicality of the D unit, but would it be a significant upgrade defensively overall?

This is the piece I am debating.

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Would Bear be enough

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