Ima call him up right now see what he thinks of it

That Sens trade is beyond words bad.

why they're desperate for RD.

Not that desperate. Leafs will have to move an asset or two just for a team to take Zaitsev. Not a bad player just way overpaid.

I'm pretty confident that, considering the state of the franchise, they're not desperate for much in Ottawa...The reason you take on bad contracts is so that you can get bonus assets with those bad contracts. Instead, you have Ottawa giving up picks to get Zaitsev.

If the Sens were a Zaitsev away from being true contenders, sure, I'd say there's a chance that they make a desperation move, but considering they'll be at the bottom of the standings next year, if they want to add salary to their payroll, there'll be plenty of teams willing to give up assets to have the Sens eat their mistakes.

Not really. DeMelo is a solid top 4 guy in Ottawa, Jaros improved a lot this season, and it seems like they're moving Brannstrom to the Right side, so if he makes the team (assuming Ceci gets dealt), the right side is set. Not a particularly good right side, but it's full of young guys with room for improvement, and we're going to be dog **** anyway so it doesn't matter

Sens could use Zaitsev and need to hit the cap floor

Even Kyle would understand that NHL teams to not go with 20 man rosters and no cap space.

Two major problems 1) not enough players 2) Marner gets 10,750,000 to 11,500,000. What do you do when Islanders offer sheet him at 11.5?

That's actually pretty much what he said to me after he asked me who the frick I was

I'm sure if you had introduced yourself as a CapFriendly participant, you would have got a much warmer response. I kinda wish John Ferguson Jr, Brian The Brain Burke and Dave Nonis had access to CapFriendly when they were Leafs GMs. Maybe they could have learned something about the cap and trade values. Instead the Leafs were forced to go through the dark ages with those guys.

Yup, so pay them to take him. Again, they don't need to give up anything to take on salary, and there's 20+ teams that would like to shed a contract or two. Heck, one year of Ryan Callaghan could net them a solid prospect or two. Lots of other options, especially when they're not going to be competitive.

Off the top of my head, other guys that could bring them up and get assets are guys like Kulikov, who I'm sure Winnipeg would pay to get someone to take, Florida, if they're serious about Bob/Panarin, will have to look to move Reimer or Lou, which again should bring some sort of asset, The Pens will likely look to move someone. Vegas could be in the mix too.

Lots of other teams than just the Leafs that are out close to the cap and looking to shed a bit.