Unfortunately that's not the way it works. If Marleau "retires" then the Leafs are still hit with the full cap hit, but if he says he doesn't feel like he's fit enough to compete then I believe we can put him on reserve and save some cap.

I ment it to be that way with "these"

Why would Kapanen take less than Johnsson

Because Johnsson is better...

Well it’s a bit more than just markeau saying he doesn’t feel fit. To me this is the most unlikely scenario.

I kinda agree with your lineup....except, getting a competent RHD to play on the 3rd pairing for 700,000 seems unlikely. You have shown that the the Leafs have to shed about 6.5m in cap, but a LTIR is hardly a probable scenario for Marleau. It's either a retired Marleau or trade some big cap is needed. OR....Maybe tell Nylander to stay in Sweden for a year, don't get fit, a go on LTIR. Now I think Nylander and the Leafs would be quite willing, but not the NHL unfortunately.

signing fringe pieces to a team to big contracts is always the downfall of a team. Honestly they should trade Kap and Johnnson and not get caught up in that.

Marleau isn't going anywhere. Maybe they can bribe him under the table to get him off the roster. But I don't see him giving up his chance to get his name on the cup. If you wanted to get rid of him by next year, you should have won the cup by now.

Well this is a whole lot of wishful thinking.

And i think he has arb rights, too

This is a good point as well. I think the short and skinny for both players is if they are looking for their big payday.... it will be with a different team. Replacing Johnsson and kappy with a 800k elc and a 5m rhd might not be the worst move the leafs could make.

More than that, he would have to "fail" a physical and be deemed unfit to play. No player is going to agree to that hit to his reputation/legacy and the league and insurance would be all over it.

Yeah, unfortunately I agree with you.. any leaf rfas that want to make hay this offseason might run into a wall, for no other reason than we can't afford to be over accommodating.. at least i hope that's the position that Dubas takes.

Lol kapanen had 44 points in 78 games, Johnsson had 43 in 73. Not a huge difference, they should ask for the same amount of money imo.

Now look at the totals. Not a huge difference. But you will notice that most people give kappy more and send out more offer sheets on him. Based purely on a first half season reputation.

How many first rounders are you giving up for Cap circumvention?