Sepaking as a Caps fan who has driven through Arizona, Phoenix accepts.

Gardiner had a rough playoffs but i'm pretty sure he has more value then Hjalmarsson straight up. I do like the idea though. My wife told many many times this year that she has never heard me swear and cuss about any player as much as Gardiner in the 22 years we've been together and I watch a lot of hockey.

Gardiner you never who is going to show up on game night, unfortunately he had his worse game of the year in game 7. Babcock was badly outcoached too, by not playing Dermot more in game 7. Of course my pet peeve is that Babcock didn't have a centre on the ice, when the Leafs lost the face off when lead to the the tying goal by Krug. Babcock for Hjalmarsson might benefit the Leafs more.

Really like your comment. Not many fans criticize Babcock, but I think he too needs to be held accountable. I wonder, does the media turn on him if next season TOR has another early exit?

If I can see Babcock' poor bench management, for sure the players do. Babcock who think he's a master of line matching has cost the line point and maybe the Bruins with his inane and poor line matching.
Believe Matthews played 4 minutes in period two in game 7. Dermot who scored a goal, played 8 minutes the whole game.
I'm sure in the players exit interview, Matthews and maybe others are so frustrated that their year of hard work is thrown away cause Babcock wants to show he's the boss and so smart behind the behind on game day.
Matthews might have even said "I'm not signing an extension with this coach. I'll take my UFA status as soon as possible."

Your media comment. The Toronto media is generally so soft on the coaches, players , management of all the teams. Reason, they don't want to shunned by the sports teams. And who really needs the media, if you can watch the game, you know as much as the media does.
It was Brian "The Brain" Burke who started the rumour about the Toronto media being tough on players, coaches etc. Not true, Burke just blamed the media for his own incompetence as GM/President for the Leafs. I just think he neglected his duties and he hired a bunch of incompetents to run the Leafs while he did his "personal" business instead of doing his job. Even now on SportsNet he blames the media for any failings of the Leafs. He's really pathetic as a hockey executive and person. Hey, he made a lot of money accomplishing so little, which probably was his original goal in the first place. So from that perspective, he's brilliant.

7.5 for willy? wow. that means marner gets 8+ easily and matthews 12. dubas would get hosed
Barkov (28g/59pts) got 5.9
Ehlers (25g/64pts) got 6
Forsberg (33g/64pts) got 6
Schiefele (29g.61pts) got 6.125
Pastrnak (34g/70pts) got 6.67

so many great comparables....good teams lock up their stars at reasonable amounts. leafs cant afford to be paying players like nylander a mil les than crosby

while i think 7.5m is too high for willy, you have to look at what the cap was when the players signed. if the cap has gone up 15%, players can argue their percentage of the total cap should be the same, and therefore a higher cap hit. the only real power players have in negotiations is to threaten to be ufas as soon as possible unless they receive big money and big term. doesn't work for everyone,