Stecher's not that good to pay Zaitsev, Johnsson and a pick. Stecher is good at generating offence, but his defensive game is average at best. For that price, it's much more worth it to keep Zaitsev and Johnsson

Actually it's a lot of cap savings.

I didn't mention the cap savings?

It doesn't make sense to move Zaitsev and Marleau and not re-sign Kapanen and Johnsson. They have enough cap space right now for Marner. If they can move Marleau and Zaitsev the whole intention is to re-sign Kapanen and Johnsson, not make them a part of the deal to move those players. Just doesn't make sense for Toronto

We don't have enough right off the bat to pay for marner as we just under 9 in cap space currently. Zaitsev wants out of Toronto, Our defense is in dire need of upgrading. If they keep Johnsson(who I do quite like) they can't get Ellis. I'd rather deal away one of them at that point. If you have a better suggestion besides trading away Marleau and Z and holding pat on the team as it is, I'm all ears but the current team needs fixing, specifically on the back end.

VAN is not trading away Stecher, he is there best RHD dman. They are trying to improve there blueline not make it worse.

The $9M in cap space is before Horton is placed on LTIR when the season starts. So currently they actually have over $14M in cap space which is enough to sign Marner and one of Kapanen or Johnsson. Yes moving Marleau and Zaitsev is the beat option to keep both of Kapanen and Johnsson, but they're trading those players to be able to keep the 2 younger ones, not making them apart of the package to move the big contracts. It's more likely that picks and prospects are involved in moving Marleau and Zaitsev and Toronto taking back either neutral or negative value in a deal. But Kapanen and Johnsson are most likely not involved in a trade with Zaitsev or Marleau