Philly says no

They'd be stupid to say no to that offer

Philly also has a ton of RFAs who need raises. That cap space is gonna disappear real quick

OTT passes, DeMelo cost kapanen

They'd be extremely stupid to take that offer. Zaitsevs contract is a joke, it's not worth replacing one of our top 4 defenseman with a worse player on an awful contract to get a 4th and a guy that wouldn't even be a top 3 forward prospect in our system

Ottawa says no, imo. Borgman isn't very exciting and Brown is not an attractive asset whatsoever. DeMelo, on the other hand, plays on their top pairing and is a perfect compliment to Chabot. Going to have to be a better prospect than Borgman to get Ottawa to move from a position of weakness to a position of "strength".

Philly isn’t paying Zatisev for the next 5 years to help the Leafs. We are a season away from removing our own version in MacDonald. Trade proposals should at least consider the other teams situation right?

Maybe they do... but Bracco is a legit offensive top prospect, and Zaitsev is a serviceable top 6 RD.
Zaitsev just has too high a cap hit for the Leafs, but Philly doesn't have cap issues.

As a package for a 28 year old who is 1 year away from UFA, I think Philly would think pretty hard about accepting that.

Zaitsev's contract is overblown in how bad it is. This playoffs have proven that he is a #4 if he has a good D partner and after the Lindell signing, the only problem with Zaitsev's deal is the term.
tl;dr Zaitsev is A LOT better than this site would lead you to believe.
Gudas is nothing to write home about
Bracco could be a fantastic playmaker at the nhl level
and you get a pick.

..

Then why does every single Leaf AGM on here include a Zaitsev trade? Keeping in mind that the TML right defensive side is extremely thin. He can't be that good

Is Ottawa, the definition of a rebuilding team, really going to hold onto a guy who is 1 year away from UFA tho?
DeMelo is likely gone by the deadline no matter what.
Brown is the type of "hard working, good Canadian Hockey boy" who "does things the right way" that GM's like to have around during rebuilds. He is definitely an attractive asset on a reasonable contract with RFA rights retained afterwards.

I could see maybe Borgman isn't the right sweetener for the deal to work, but he could easily be replaced by a draft pick or another non-roster prospect not named "Liljegren" or "Sandin"

They better not. It may look like we don't have cap issues right now, but down the line we very well could. There is no way we should be adding a contract like Zaitsev. If we add any dmen, which I think we should, they should bring veteran leadership qualities to the table. Someone like Edler would do nicely. I want zero to do with Zaitsev, and pray to God that Fletcher doesn't either.

Gudas was one of our top 2, if not best defense man last season, and even if he is a serviceable bottom pairing guy, there's 0 denying that Zaitsev contract is awful (believe me, we are STILL suffering from the Andrew MacDonald contract, we aren't making that mistake again). Philly already had TK, Patrick, Lindblom for a young forward core with Frost, Farabee, Ratcliffe, and Rubstov all knocking on the door of making the big club. This trade just makes 0 sense for the Flyers, it gives them nothing they need to add this offseason, ships away their only solid veteran defenseman and adds in a terrible contract

Because the Leafs are in a very tight cap crunch, and his contract makes sense for them to try and shed.
It's not a great contract, and will need a sweetener included to get rid of, but for a team with cap space it's definitely manageable.
He's still a very serviceable right handed NHL Dmen.

Leafs fans are saying (hoping) the same things we Flyers fans were all saying about Andrew McDonald 4 years ago.

Because the Leafs are in a cap crunch and Zaitsev is overpaid. He is a 3-3.5aav Dman getting paid 4.5aav. That isn't space we can afford to spend on him, so we move him.
The biggest problem with his contract is the term (5 years left). He is an NHL calibre RD and he successfully nullified the Bergeron line these playoffs (paired with Muzzin) which is something other teams wish they could say (I'm looking at Carolina here).

Yes there is lol.
He is a bit overpaid for way too long, but that isn't awful (like the Lucic deal is). He is always the top RD on the russian National team and he successfully shut down the Bergeron line this playoffs. He is a good Dman used in the right situation with the right D partner.
Especially now with the Lindell contract being signed, it is hard to say his contract is awful.

Now you're arguing semantics. Bad.. awful... whatever. If Zaitsev was as good as you're trying to sell him as, a team lacking good Dmen like Toronto would be searching for a way to keep him, not trade him.

Cap
Crunch

Even he wouldn't want to trade for Zaitzev.

Some of these takes a laughable. If Zatisev was indeed a top 6RD as stated wouldn’t the Leafs just move another contract to accommodate the million or so he’s overpaid? Especially a team in need of right handed defenders. ?. Seems Leafs management doesn’t even think he’s a top 6 guy or they’d just keep him and accommodate the salary. Does make you wonder

Ottawa declines. DeMelo is a top 4 guy, and a right hand shot to boot. That is worth way more than a 4th liner and a D prospect who will likely never play a signficant role on the NHL for Ottawa.

I get that the TML are in a cap crunch...

but Zaitsev is pretty much the only RHD in the organization right now (outside of Liljegren who's still a couple of years out). So you wanting to trade him (with picks and prospects attached) for anything goes to show how bad his contract really is.

There are other ways to get cap relief.. like trading away a forward. Something you have plenty of.

Brown is not a 4th liner.
4th liners don't score 0.4 ppg over their first three seasons by the age of 25.
He slot that way on the Leafs this year because they had arguably the best FWD depth in the NHL (along with Tampa).
Brown is solidly in the top 9 of 90% of NHL teams, with the ability to play up and down the lineup.

As for Borgman, replace him in the trade if you want with a draft pick or any other non-roster prospect not named Liljegren or Sandin.

DeMelo is a pending UFA on a rebuilding team. He'll be gone one way or another. It's just a matter of where and for what.