It’s not that he’s not a good gm, it’s that he’s a horrible gm, who in their right minds would think I one year cap dump of even 6.25m costs a first rounder ! Jesus I’ve never seen anything like this. Like us Dubas planning on jumping ship to Carolina soon

I'll admit it...it was me...I saw 55 vs 0...I couldn't help myself.

What will it take for Leaf's fans to finally admit that Tavares was the problem? But, no, its everything else, but not Tavares, he scored so many goals LOL.
Marleau was supposed to come and give some leadership to the kids, perfect plan. They could have been in playoffs last year, without Tavares. They would have been really good next year without Tavares.
And in 2 years they would have been contenders. And BTW all kids, Mathews, Nylander and Marner would all be asking for less money if Tavares wasn't signed. Dubas is very impatient GM.

Also, with all those contracts, 3 of them at $11M+ assuming they sign Marner, why the hell, do you give up 1st rounder, why not trade an RFA? I mean TOR will have to heavily rely on ELCs for the next 5 years. Why give up picks? geeezzz

What's weird is that teams getting rid of bad contracts always take back a prospect or something so that it doesn't LOOK like they're paying to move the player, even if they obviously are. I would have expected them to take a prospect back instead of the 6th.

Leafs are getting desperate Cap wise.

To me, the real puzzle about this exchange is the timing: why did it have to happen so soon? There was no need to close this deal before the draft, because no 2019 draft picks were involved. And because it was done before July 1, that means that Carolina becomes responsible for paying the $3M signing bonus that Toronto would have had to pay on that date. I am sure that this factor was taken into consideration when agreeing on the compensation the Maple Leafs would have to pay the Hurricanes. I cannot help but think that this sum may have elevated that compensation from a second-round pick to a first-round pick. Can Toronto management be more concerned with financial considerations than on-ice success? @palhal @Jamiepo @Caniac555 @Caniac2000 I'd like you guys to weigh in.

Keep in mind that the buy-out window closes on June 30, so if Marleau is going to be bought out (which is almost certain) the trade had to be done in time for that to take place. In addition, with all the GMs together at the draft, it was only logical for it to happen when it did.

There is a path to getting all the key players signed, and it involves Marleau, Zaitsev, and Connor Brown. Leafs fans should be patient as Dubas might actually pull it off. However, he’s going to need to get moving on getting rid of NZ.

He has till the end of training camp to move NZ, I think he will look for a Dman coming back. He has certainly been talking with teams but I can’t see Zaitsev being moved before July 1st bonus is paid. Bucks will be talking to Myers. This may free up stecher or Tanev.

Are you sure that the buyout deadline is June 30? I thought it was July 15, for some reason.

Caniac555 may be right in the June 30 date, but I thought there was a second buyout period.
I'm surprised that Leafs had to pay a first rounder to be "Marleau free". Thought other teams would have wanted a good sweetener (but not a first) for taking the 6.25m cap hit, admitting it cost money.

Just to add to the Zaitsev thought. IMO the Leaf are going to have to keep him. It may not be cap efficient to trade him and not good on the ice to lose him either. I know so many Leaf fans think their forwards are untouchable and can't be traded, but that's where the Leaf can rid themselves of cap and get good value in a trade.
It's make sense to sign all your RFAs....and then if necessary trade one. Teams don't like trading for cap uncertainty, No reason why a signed Johnsson, Kapanen...or Nylander or whoever can't be traded this summer.

There are clauses where it can take place after June 30, but I feel like you need to be a lawyer to understand it. Has something to do with having 2 or more arbitration eligible players.

The problem seems to have started with considering only the Marleau-cap-relief aspect. If the trade is broadened to consider a player-prospect coming back to Toronto, the draft-pick sweetener can be increased by multiplication, not elevation. (Say, a second and a third.) The guy I have in mind is Kiefer Sherwood (RW). He's buried behind Rakell, Silfverberg, Kase, Sprong and Terry on Anaheim's depth chart, but his development is ahead of Jeremy Bracco's and I was impressed watching him during his audition this year.

. . . and players from at least two foreign countries, and a partridge in a pear tree.

It is actually if you have a qualified player in arbitration. You have a certain time limit after the arbitration hearing is complete to buy a player out. This rule is set up to make room for the contract which was settled in arbitration.

I think when it comes down to it you need to balance both. @palhal this is for you too. Dubas is very adamant about not subtracting from his current roster. The deal with zaitsev has to have a similar defencemen in return. That is a direct quote from dubas. If the right deal comes along and he can make the team “better” he will cease the opportunity. I don’t think he will scramble and make poor asset management moves to fill weak spots by trading roster players for temporary help. He has also stated that he does not want to rush prospects into rolls they are not ready for.

Who knows, maybe some prospects are ready. Maybe there are options to fill the defence in ufa and pto. Yes Dermott May be our at the beginning of the season. But when he is back we still have a top 4 of Rielly muzzin Dermott and zaitsev. Rosen and Borgman will be in the mix for bottom pair.

To me I would be fine if zaitsev stays. He has proven he can be a competent nhl Dman. He has some other great upsides and if he were to stay I think his deployment would be addressed and fixed.

If zaitsev is moved I hope it is with futures to lock down a decent rhd on a cheap contract.

Players like mayfield, stecher, demelo

In ufa there is still heed, mcquaid, petrovic, fedun

From what I have heard dubas is still in contact with the preds looking to make some sort of deal.

There are thousands of options. Yes one of them is to move a forward. And I think if the deal is right then dubas pulls the trigger. Either way the leafs will be who they are next year.


Let’s face it we could add pesce jones and Parayko to the right side and people are gonna be like “yeah but what about a back up goalie?... first round exit”

Toronto needed this to be now. Marner, Kapanen and Johnsson need resigning, and they needed the cap space. When you have a deal agreed, what's the point in waiting? With Matthews contract now making 11mil + there needed to be something like this, or a Zaitsev trade, and this was always the more likely outcome. Carolina have new ownership with Tom Dundon, and he wants to spend. This is just good use of some cap space we weren't gonna use. Allowing another team to give us a 1 year contract that we can either swallow, or buyout for no long term penalty because it's a 35+ contract. It would have been nice to see Aho was signed before this deal was pulled, but I'm okay with basically taking a 6.25 mil cap hit and getting a 1st and moving down a round in next years draft

But you haven't answered the question of Why Now? This deal could have been made anytime in July or until somebody offer-sheeted one of the players you mention. Unless the answer is that the buyout period ends on June 30, I can't see the urgency of making this trade. The order in which things occur is one thing, but irrelevant (it seems to me); it's the time at which this exchange occurred that puzzles me.

It was agreed, Toronto found somewhere to get rid of Marleau, where he would waive him NMC for, and somewhere that could take his whole cap hit. Toronto wanted this done now, because Carolina could have agreed this with someone else. It was a good weaponising of the cap space by Waddell and Dundon

Like Lucic or Eriksson? I don't think so, because both are on much longer-term contracts. And no one else meets the conditions of short-term cap anchor.

No, someone else with a 1 year contract that's pending to expire in desperate need of cap space. Johnathan Ericcson comes to mind

Ron Francis did a lot for this franchise to be in position like this... I hope Seattle is smart enough to hire him as their GM to show Vegas how to build a real team... I think Carolina should have forced him to play or retained salary over buying him out though... Judas Marleau will be back in California on Sharks probably like scum without any care for how he turned back on them... I'd like to see him on Kings to mock him or Ducks though . I'm still waiting for a player to be on all 3 California teams, though a few came close or might have been in the minor league systems like LaBarbara .

Would you make this trade:

Marner

FOR

Tavares
1st - 2020
1st - 2021
1st - 2022
1st - 2023

I would in a heartbeat ... and I definitely would have done it last summer when Marner's career high was 69 points.

LMAO ... brutal take.

Oof. 13th overall......

Bad trade still.

they got Seth Jarvis with the 1st big Oof