The management should force Marleau and Hainsey to retire at the end of the season because then that would help with cap troubles

Hainsey probably will, and is a UFA.

Marleau will not IMO, but there could be an option of trading him to be bought out, and then signing him (See: Orpik, Brooks).

This would likely cost someone like Brown to get done, but all things considered could be a great option.

Reilly with zaitsev muzzin or Dermott works for me. Best case scenario is hainsey goes to the press box and Ozzy comes back in.

Because management can? The reality is their hands are tied with Marleau. He's not waiving as he's moved his entire family and the Leafs need to work around it. Contracts have meaning as the Leafs know.

And why would Marleau agree to that? Marleau has the power, not the Leafs.

The same reason that Orpik did, makes more money, gets to play with this team, makes this team Better so he has a chance at winning a cup before he retires, the leafs can then afford to sign his “son” Mitchy

As a 35+ contract, buying our Marleau does nothing as his full cap hit is still assumed against the Leaf's cap. So not sure what you're suggesting.

http://www.startribune.com/confirmation-on-the-wild-s-niklas-backstrom-no-cap-benefit-for-35-year-old-signed-nhlers/309050701/

I'd like to see Holl get a 5 game test but yeah right idea

Muzzin is better served as a stablizer on a good pairing than "the man" on a secondary pairing. His simple game needs to be put in the position to do just that

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The only cap relief the Leafs can get from Marleau is if Marleau decides to retire because "he is done". And that might happen. His cap hit then could be traded. But certainly if he decides to play next season, it's only as a Leaf.

Marleau is going to retire and become a "coach" with the team, so his friendship, leadership and the young stars "dad" can still pal around on the ice.

I know that's highly unlikely but it's a good idea. He retires, the Leafs trade his cap hit and than "hire" him as a coach for the rest of the season so he can re coup the money lost from his retirement.

Actually nevermind, Marleau will sign a 3 yr contract extension, the guy is still one of the faster skaters in the NHL and he is a true iron man having never been injured. He is Canada's modern version of Jagr (Gordie Howe is the original).

I think this is a real possibility..

Traded to a cap floor team, not a lot of real dollars, they buy him out, Toronto signs him for 1mil, Marleau makes an extra mil, TOR gets cap relief, ARZ or OTT get assets from the leafs for their troubles..... are you a hawks fan? If so I shouldn’t have to explain cap circumvention to you

Well, I liked it up til the point that you editted it and added the third paragraph. This no longer makes sense to me..

Arizona isn't taking on cap dumps these days. I'd love to see this happen, seems realistic.

Than there is hope.

Get rid of Patty? He just tied it up!

in all seriousness I think there are far better ways to create cap space. If we keep Kapanen and Johnsson (I HOPE SO) Connor Brown becomes expendable as a 2mil 4th liner. Like him, but tough times call for tough decisions. If that isn't enough of a change, I would find a suitor for Zaitsev and find a replacement. Preferably someone making around 2 mil. It will probably have to be a veteran (and hope he's still got enough gas in the tank) or someone Dubas believes has been miscast (sort of like everyone on Vegas last year lol)

Hope is a fleeting thing at best, but its good to have it And to think, 20 mins ago I was getting ready to lash out at Babcock again. . I have hope

Doesn’t have to be Arizona, last year it happened with Colorado, maybe this year it’s with OTT, it’s happened before, it’ll happen again, it is actually really realistic and it was probably the plan from the start hence structuring the contract to pay like $1 mil next year

Rielly doesn't prefer playing the right. He's much more comfortable and productive on the left. Same with Muzzin. Muzzin and Zaitsev together have been pretty good, I like that pair alot. I'd say probably put Dermott on the right side with Rielly. Dermott is much more comfortable there than Rielly is, and it's not a bad pairing. But that being said, Babcock is stubborn and it'll be Hainsey until Dubas decides to get rid of him so he can't be there

That's almost certainly true. And if Dubas trades off Hyman and Brown for a 2nd and 3rd on the draft floor, plus Hainsey riding off into the sunset and Gards moving onto greener pastures, that almost solves the cap crunch with marlies filling in. Taking away Babcock's favorite toys might prove to be a philosophical difference msker in how Dubas and co and Babcock and co view how a team should be built. Its all good drama...

Scout the Swedish League for unsigned, undrafted players, over the years the Leafs have discovered at least half a dozen players that way.