By taking advantage of their fortunate cap situation this summer, the Leafs should be able to position themselves to acquire a few extra assets from cap-strapped teams. They can even afford to leave Horton off LTIR, at least for next year, and still have a couple million come trade deadline time. As for the trades...
A) Hainsey and Martin are not needed, and are essentially cap dumps - Oilers will overpay for a mediocre defender, and the Isles would likely be okay with bringing Martin back - it doesn't really matter what the Leafs get back.
B) The next two trades go to addressing the Leafs' two biggest current needs: a 3C and a top 4 RHD. Brown is expendable, as he's stuck behind Nylander, Marner, and now Kapanen imo, and Calgary desperately needs RWs. Also, given Mike Smith's age, they could use a younger G with starter experience, and Pickard fits the bill. As for Florida, they add a talented smaller winger with plenty of upside and a good pick in exchange for a good d-man, but ultimately one they can afford to part with given their current d-core (Ekblad, Yandle, Matheson, McCoshen, Petrovic, and Kislevich).
C) this is where the Leafs can put their cap space to use - by acquiring expensive players with only a year left, they can get other assets from the trade and not be in the way when Matthews and Marner's new deals kick in. This is similar to what Carolina did with Chicago, eating Brian Bickell's contract and getting Teuvo Teravainen too. Minnesota is close to the cap, and still have Zucker and Dumba to sign. By flipping Ennis' contract, they give themselves some more maneuverability, as well as adding Borgman, a youngish defender who would be a 5-6 on a team with little defensive depth, Leivo, an okay winger who can produce when actually given a chance, and a 3rd. The cost of this would be Eriksson Ek, who seems to have fallen out of favour, and is arguably the least valuable of their core four prospects (Kaprizov, Greenway, and Kunin are the others). The Washington trade is similar, but with a less notable prospect (and thus a lower value). Given their promotions, the Leafs lack serious winger prospects, and while Walker is not a serious prospect, he'd help provide depth, and at the very least could be a productive AHLer. Brooks Orpik could be a good veteran presence on the back end as a 7 or 8, and MacElhinney would replace Grubauer, who's likely out the door, allowing Samsonov to get a year in the AHL.
This, plus the signings (Czarnik is very underrated), should help give the Leafs four balanced lines, a better defence group than what they had previously, and two very competent goalies. Plus, by next year, the Ennis and Orpik contracts will be gone, and if they can find teams willing to absorb the Marleau and Zaitsev contracts, there should be enough to resign Matthews, Marner, Kapanen, and keep Gardiner, even with a raise. Grundstrom and Liljegren should be ready enough by then to slot into the lineup (Lilegren replacing Zaitsev, Johnsson moving up and Grundstrom taking his spot), thus extending their competitive window.
They have 26 million dollars to spend and they take cap dumps and improve depth? I think they should go all in and take advantage of this situation that they are in
They have 26 million dollars to spend and they take cap dumps and improve depth? I think they should go all in and take advantage of this situation that they are in
They really only have excess cap space for this coming season..hence the OP's trades to acquire big contracts with only 1yr left and getting a good young players for their troubles
They have 26 million dollars to spend and they take cap dumps and improve depth? I think they should go all in and take advantage of this situation that they are in
I understand where you're coming from, as many teams have their competitive windows close quickly. But doing that could lead to world of cap trouble, or would cost them assets that would drain them. First off, the Nylander contract will eat somewhere between 6-7 million, which drops their available cap to 20-19 million. Outside of Tavares and Carlson, there isn't anyone in this free agency class that I'd be willing to overpay for, and even if there was, I highly doubt most of these players would be willing to sign a one year deal, which they'd have to given the Leafs contractual obligations to Matthews/Marner/Kapanen. They key to their success will be bringing in effective players on cheap deals and young players they could theoretically improve/boost trade value of and then flip. Depth signings like Czarnik and acquiring guys like Eriksson Ek may seem like small moves but mean a lot in the grand scheme of things. Plus, if it ain't broke (fully), no need to fix it (or go all out, in this case)!
While I am a fan of his, I don't follow his podacasts - out of curiosity, what about the post was linked to something I'm assuming was mentioned on the podcast?
While I am a fan of his, I don't follow his podacasts - out of curiosity, what about the post was linked to something I'm assuming was mentioned on the podcast?
They also mentioned getting some assets back by taking back bad contracts.