Team: 2018-19 Toronto Maple Leafs

Initial Creation Date: Mar. 11, 2018

Published: Mar. 11, 2018

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Reason for each move:

Domi trade- Posted this earlier with some scrutiny about offering up too much given his stats this year. Essentially the break down is a second, pickard and Leivo for Domi and a swap of Nielson for Macinnis. Domi's value is at an all time low right now and I do believe he is much better than what he is producing. I think he is capable of 40 or more points each season, just need the right system and he would give us the young talent on LW to run Nylander, Marner and Matthews on three different lines and maintain one of the best forward groups long term. At 3 million for 4 years he may turn out to be a steal. In terms of the price, the pick will probably be 50-60 overall, where it is unlikely you draft someone of Domi's potential. Leivo is expendable as this season has shown. And with sparks in the AHL and Pickard being a free pick up off waivers, we don't really lose much. Macinnis is trading for centre depth as he has played with Bracco and Nielson seems unlikely to crack the leafs with our sudden influx of talent on defence.

Thornton signing- We essentially need someone to play centre for one year before we can transition Nylander there full time. Thornton was a generational player and while he is not that anymore, he would be better than most if not all other team's 3rd line centre. He would be joining Marleau on the team and he has a real chance at a cup so it seems realistic in my opinion. As for the cost, even if it is a million higher for the year, the leafs can afford to pay him just as long as the term is only one year.

Rielly Sheahan- Pittsburgh Brough him in as a 3rd line centre but I think he would thrive in a 4th line role especially given he is defensively capable and has skill to compliment an already strong 4th line. Realistically, if Moore can put up decent points and not be a liability due to kapanen and komarov's speed and defence, I don't think Sheahan will be bad. In addition he is young so it may solve our 4th line centre problems long term.

I resigned Komarov knowing very well the Johnsson and Aaltonen are capable of stepping up. This is because while they are capable, I would rather have them alternate and slowly integrate into the lineup than just gamble and put them in and "see how it goes." Also, I don't think there will ever be a time where a player like komarov doesn't have a trade market. Playoff teams like to acquire guys like him so worst case scenario, Johnsson and Aaltonen develop really quickly and we have to offload Komarov for maybe a 3rd or 4th round pick. Kind of a win-win imo.

Defence is more or less the same, just with added depth. Not to many UFA's that fit our needs aside from Carlson. Why not just wait one year and depending on the contracts to Marner and Matthews, as well as how Liljegren develops, we can move forward.

Long term, I think the lines look something like

Domi-Matthews-Brown
Johnsson-Nylander-Kapenen
Hyman-Kadri-Marner
Aaltonen/Grundstrom-Sheahan/Macinnis-Bracco

Rielly-X
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Dermott-Liljegren
Brogman/Carrick/Rosen

Anderson
Sparks/Woll/Scott

Only hole is the partner for Rielly. Depending on contract situations and internal development, we could find someone from within (like Liljegren who was touted as at minimum a 2nd pairing guy) or a UFA (like Doughty or Karlsson or someone like that in 2019). We also have a crazy amount of assets incase we want to acquire that X through trade.

1.

2.