That TO trade would not happen. Granlund is nothing and Kapanen is worth more than a 2nd rounder to the Leafs.

Panthers pass, Heponiemi is special

The Canucks (or any other team) could just offersheet Kapanen for around 4 million a year and the Leafs would only get the 2nd. This way the Leafs get a cheap replacement and the Canucks get a more favourable contract.

And they'd match the offer sheet.

You'll have to go into the range where a 1st + is the compensation before the Leafs move on from Kap. They could also offer him a 1 year deal and let him cash in even more after Marleau retires. Granlund would be a 4th liner in TO, he isn't a replacement.

This is not a certainty by any means. The RFA compensation will adjust this offseason...so somewhere a little north of $4.1m on an offer sheet will still only cost a 2nd rounder.

Can the leafs match $4.5m? Better yet...are they willing to trade away other players in order to fit Kapanen at $4.5m?




It's not right for any team to say 'well we'll just offer sheet him then"....because the world of hockey doesn't work that way. More than half the teams would take Kapanen at $4.5m for the cost of a 2nd round pick....and because of that...I would like to think there would be better offers on the table for toronto than a 2nd + Granlund if they aren't able to sign Kapanen themselves

Re-signing Kapanen at a 4 million cap hit leaves around 12 million in cap space and 8 open roster spots. That's not ideal, especially considering that doesn't include Marner's next contract. It would be next to impossible unless they can make some move, but Marleau has a NTC and the Zaitsev contract would require a payment (and weaken an already weak blue line).

Kapanen would likely be behind Marner and Nylander on RW anyway so paying that much for a RW instead of improving the defense or LW wouldn't be that effective.

Brown can be traded for futures, that is savings. Despite what everyone on here thinks, you won't have to pay to move Zaitsev, but you won't get much in return. You just can't play 22 minutes a night and have the success he's had without having talent. Its not like he's being paid like an allstar and should be in the press box. He's a good player but he's a little overpriced. However, a team that needs help on the blueline can get him for almost free and that is worth it to a lot of teams. There is about 5 million in savings already.

Perhaps they do trade Kapanen, and I wouldn't be against it but that would likely be for a defensive upgrade.

With all that in mind, if Kapanen wants to stay in TO, where he is happy, getting a chance to succeed and also lives with his self proclaimed best friend (Nylander) he could be convinced to take a 1 year low end deal to earn a good long term deal the year after. Why wouldn't he be interested in that?

The answer to all of those questions, for the legions of people on here who hate the leafs, is "Because that is beneficial to the Leafs, and I don't want that to be the case."

In theory it makes sense that Kapanen would get a better return, but everyone in the hockey world knows that Toronto has cap problems this summer. When Chicago's cap problems were well known, they had to part with Teravainen to unload Bickell. Toronto might find themselves in a similar situation this summer unless they can move out some contracts or the GM's of the league don't properly take advantage.

I don't disagree...I just think they'll be something more enticing than Granlund to choose from

Kapanen at a 4 million cap hit and Marner at a (conservative) 9.5 million cap hit leaves around 2 million in cap space for 7 roster spots. Moving Brown and Zaitsev for purely futures brings that number up to around 8.5 million for 9 roster spots, which is impossible to fill unless you are using league minimum contracts. That's a significant downgrade, especially on the blue line as Gardiner is gone and if you don't consider Zaitsev to be that bad.

Even if Kapanen wanted to take a conservative contract with a cap hit between 2-3 million, it wouldn't make a significant difference. The Leafs might be able to add a Hainsey level defenseman instead of a league minimum level one.

Trades will have to be made, whether it's moving out the bloated contracts or the players who need to be paid.

It's not about hating the Leafs (because I don't), it's about what's likely going to happen in the summer.

Fair enough.

If I replaced Granlund with a young AHL defenseman (Brisebois) would that be better?

Not really, TBH. But it will come down to economics and it's hard for me to truly predict the landscape this offseason.

Can the leafs afford to sign Kapanen? If not, what will the demand be for him from other GM's? I think they can do better than a 2nd and an AHL d-man (they have lots of AHL d-men)...but who knows....does a 2nd and Stecher bring their offer to the top of the list? Who knows?

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/1037454

This is an entirely plausible off season for TO. And could result in as good of a team and possibly an even better team than this year.

That teams defense core is worse than Toronto's this year. Gardiner and Zaitsev have been replaced by Engelland and Girardi, which is considerable downgrade. There's 3 NHL caliber defensemen and then a bunch of borderline players. I don't think that team could go deep into the Playoffs with that defense core unless their centers (Matthews in particular) can transcend to Crosby/Malkin heights, which is not something a young team should be banking on.

That team succeeds in keeping all the players with expiring contracts, but at the price of destroying their defense core. At that point it would probably be better to move someone who's stuck on the 3rd line to open space to improve the defense.

Or, they take a year to reboot and come back strong after Marleau retires. Why sacrifice the best years of good young players just to shorten the cores contention window. Take one step back next year to make huge steps forward after 1 season.

Does moving Kapanen shorten that window more than a terrible defense?

I think so, especially considering Liljegren and Sandin I think are high end prospects who are about a year away.

I mean, if you think a 3RW is more important to a teams success than a couple of top-4 defensemen, then that makes sense. Just seems unusual.

I also don't think banking on Liljegren and Sandin being immediate difference makers is a recipe for success either, but that's just me. Your point of view makes more sense now.

The beautiful thing is they don't need to be difference makers right away. They'll need to be like Dermott last year. Serviceable with upside.

Serviceable isn't going to push that team over the top. By the time they'll be reaching their potential, there will be a whole new set of contracts expiring.

Not likely, the Leafs have time and really the losses on the Blueline aren't going to be that big. Hainsey sucks, and Gardiner is the worst in his own end. It could be argued that next year or the year after the defence could be better with the additions of young players with upside. Stranger things have happened and if things don't work out that way, plans can be altered.