Don't think it'd be a good trade. Ekblad is making too much $ for a guy with a big concussion history while actually not being that good.

In my opinion, Nylander + Carrick seems right. Brown is whatever, 1st is excessive....

This is certainly not a trade we even need to consider...

Hey! How come you didn't comment in my "Dynasty" post?

You had me right up until you said "Nylander."

Oh my ******* god...
OH MY ******* GOD

No. Toronto is very lucky to have a GM who laughs in the face of that trade.

Aaron Ekblad is a pure scoring D, and the Leafs already have at least 2, possibly 3 defenceman who are better at that than him. (P/60 last season: Rielly: 1.08, Dermott 1.19, Gardiner: 1.21, Ekblad 0.83. Andreas Borgman's 0.85 also beat him)
I'm also here only counting dmen with a decent amount of gp.
TOR dmen with better xGF% than Ekblad last season: Gardiner, Rielly, Dermott, Carrick, Zaitsev, Hainsey, ROMAN ******* POLAK
TOR dmen with better CF% than Ekblad last season: Dermott, Carrick, Rielly, Gardiner, Polak
TOR dmen with better GAR/82 (CMhockey metric) than Ekblad last season: Gardiner, Rielly, Dermott, Carrick
TOR dmen with better WAR than Ekblad last season: Rielly, Dermott, Hainsey, Gardiner, Zaitsev, Carrick
TOR dmen with better GAA (EvolvingWild metric)/82 than Ekblad last season: Gardiner, Dermott, Rielly, Carrick, Zaitsev, Hainsey
Rel stats were not used because EVERYBODY is grading out better than Ekblad and so suppress each other's stats.
Realistically, there's a strong argument to be made that Ekblad wouldn't even be Toronto's best RD, and he sure as hell would not be Toronto's best Dman. Giving up an elite winger, a decent depth piece, a pick and arguably a better player for a guy who's your 3rd best D at best and your 7D at worst is not a good idea by any means.


Oh yeah, the deal also fucks the Leafs cap. Good catch!

Dealing Nylander for Carrick for a guy who isn't even a big upgrade over Carrick is not right at all.

smh all these leaf fans screaming but the moment they acquire ekblad he becomes a franchise defenseman and their final piece

Lol Panther would never do this. Leafs would have to tremendously overpay to get him

Gardiner and Rielly are both already better than Ekblad. Dermott probably is too. Carrick might be.



This is overpaying tremendously. The notion that Tallon wouldn't do this says more about Tallon than it does about the trade.

bro if you'd actually take gardiner or rielly over ekblad then your lost. Ekblad had the worst season of his career last season and he was still better than both. No chance I'd take either over him.

Ekblad's possession metrics have declined every year he's been in the league. Last year was the 2nd-most points he's had in a season.

As for Gardiner and Rielly over Ekblad, here's a little addition:


Ekblad's with/without heatmaps


Gardiner's


And Rielly's

Gardiner and Rielly performed better (see my previous post) and improved their teams by as much or more as Ekblad. The biggest thing that hurts their with/without is each other. Ekblad is worth both offensively and defensively than those 2. He wouldn't be Toronto's #1D at all.

Just my opinion but ekblad would be the leafs best dman. He might have had a down year buts he’s elite level and would help them out a lot again it’s just my opinion but to say he’s not very good is just dumb. Ha just saying


Also ekblad isn’t a major upgrade over carrick is the dumbest thing I read today. Thank you. He can’t make the roster for the leafs and he’s better than a top 10-15 dman?

Crosby is a major upgrade over cullens hahaha that’s

I'm assuming the Carrick lol Brown double lol stuff is the part that is actually you talking.

TOR dmen with better xGF% than Ekblad last season: Gardiner, Rielly, Dermott, Carrick, Zaitsev, Hainsey, ROMAN ******* POLAK
TOR dmen with better CF% than Ekblad last season: Dermott, Carrick, Rielly, Gardiner, Polak
TOR dmen with better GAR/82 (CMhockey metric) than Ekblad last season: Gardiner, Rielly, Dermott, Carrick
TOR dmen with better WAR than Ekblad last season: Rielly, Dermott, Hainsey, Gardiner, Zaitsev, Carrick
TOR dmen with better GAA (EvolvingWild metric)/82 than Ekblad last season: Gardiner, Dermott, Rielly, Carrick, Zaitsev, Hainsey
Carrick shows up on all of these lists. There's an argument to be made that he's better, and it's a pretty solid one.

Brown I don't think is better than Ekblad, my analysis of this trade is basically analysis of a Nylander + Carrick for Ekblad trade, which IMO is a bad deal for TOR. Brown, or even Brown + a 1st would be good for the Leafs if they could get 50% retention on Ekblad, though that deal would be a big L for Florida and Tallon says no.

Carrick is actually good.

Please do not put everything you say in the quote box.

Do you have any actual defense for that statement other than draft position?

Besides me clearly stating he had a down year last year?

Just common sense I guess?

He’s clearly better than every player you named. Reilly might be equivalent to him but he’s rhd so I’d say he’s more valueable imo.

You also need to factor Toronto is a much better team and has a much better goaltending?

But again agree to disagree. Pointing out stats from a players down year seems pointless unless you’re desperate to make a point that clearly isn’t already in your favor

Like hey players who had a better stats gf% blah blah than Austin Matthews in the playoffs. Or how did your boys gf% look in the playoffs ? ESP gard

But yeah if you’re tying to tell me ekblad wouldn’t be the #1 rhd on this team that’s very funny to me and I disagree

"down year" -2nd highest points total of his career. Yes, his possession numbers were the lowest of his career. They have declined every year he has been in the league.
How is it common sense that the player who scores less and has worse results defensively is better?
Toronto is a much better team, yes. I would normally have used Relative to team stats, except nearly every defenseman on the Leafs roster is arguably better than Ekblad and they suppress each other's rel stats.
Goaltending affects literally none of the stats I used.
Matthews in the playoffs is what happens when you get hard-matched against the best 2-way line in the NHL.
The "down year" argument (which holds little to no merit, considering scoringwise this was one of his best years and possessionwise it's right on his trajectory) is the only actual argument with evidence you have put forward.

Imo this argument would be me arguing why Ovechkin is a top tier winger after the 16-17 season. It’s common sense that ekblad is better. Tml have a better team and their players all had career years and played well so yeah last season is ideal for stats. Also chill with the Nylander is elite. He’s not a top 25 player that’s not elite. He’s very good but not at that elite tag you have him at. Advanced stats are cool and all but they rarely tell the entire story. Again you can ask 100 people who’s better ekblad or Reilly and I bet 70% go Ekblad. There no point in agrueing I bet oel advanced stats are terrible but he’s a top 10 dman in the nhl. But no point imo when you said ekblad is barely better than carrick. You lost me their it seriously was the dumbest thing I heard on this site in awhile

I’ve also read elite winger (Nylander) he was 70th in points last year played all 82games......

Guess no point in arguing with you. Everyone that knows hockey knows that the Leafs D is their weak point. Always looking to upgrade. Keep your and enjoy a 1st rounder exit if they make the playoffs seeing it isn’t a guarantee

Carrick is actually good he said ?

He’s 24 played 167 games and has 30 points?

But imo tml isn’t nearly as bad as some people think. Of course that’s if the young players play up to potential

But that said saying ekblad isn’t better than every dman on this team is just stupid. MAYBE REILLY

Top 25 is really restrictive for elite and IMO not really how the term is generally used. You're right he's not top-25, but that sentence would indicate that barely over half the teams in the league have a single elite player. (some teams, like the Flyers or Pens, have multiple top-25 players)

Again, Ekblad had worse results in every way than Gardiner/Rielly

Leafs were missing their franchise C for 1/4 of last season. Nylander had exactly the same number of points as the year prior. Gardiner had his worst CF% in 3 years. Rielly had a career year, but there's not a lot to suggest that it was down to anything other than a) Gardiner taking a bigger share of the tough minutes for him and b) him improving (the guy's still only just entering his prime). You're right Toronto is better than Florida. One of the reasons they are better than Florida is because Aaron Ekblad is on Florida's top pair, and he's worse than Toronto's main dmen.

"Again you can ask 100 people who’s better ekblad or Reilly and I bet 70% go Ekblad.", Well Spector wrote that if you conduct a poll of 200 hockey men they'd tell you Edmonton won Hall for Larsson. How'd that work out again?

Yes, QoT matters, but I doubt you can say with a straight face that Hainsey/Zaitsev > Keith Yandle.

OEL's advanced stats are pretty solid. in the 20s in GAR, but QoT does hold him back a bit compared to some of the players above him. Top-20 I'd give you, maybe top-15. Top-10 is a stretch IMO.

Nylander managed a 1.41 P1/60 at 5v5 last year, same as Leon Draisaitl and more than Mitch Marner. I'd call that elite, though I definitely have a broader definition than you.


Carrick isn't a scoring D: his greatest strength last year was his defence. Dermott had better results with Carrick than he did with any other partner last year. He led the team's D core in Even Strength Defence Goals Above Average and was 2nd only to Gardiner in 5v5 defence GAR. Last year's 52.6 was the worst CF% he's posted with the Leafs. He's legitimately quite good defensively. Offensively he's a wash.

Gardiner beats Rielly by most metrics. Both beat Ekblad by nearly all. Again, the evidence is there, and it does not support Ekblad.

Different argument but elite to me is top 25 talent and generational is like Crosby Ovechkin mcdavid. But I guess everyone uses it differently. Just don’t like using elite loosely

No yandle is okay I mean he wasn’t ever great imo but he’s better than Hainsey offensively. Hainsey isnt terrible tbh. He’s old but in an orpik type way. Like when he’s on he’s extremely impactful and when he’s off Jesus it’s very noticeable.

And I think oel Is very good. I’m a big believer in the team helps make the player. Like Carlson imo isn’t elite but on the caps he looked like an elite talent. I’m not saying he’s bad he’s very good but swap him and ekblad and I wouldn’t be upset

Oh Trust me I no carrick we dumped him to dump laich he’s solid but I wouldn’t say good. He has potential and I hope he can finally get a chance to show it.