Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a prediction, just an attempt at what I think could be possible. Please let me know what you think.
After making nothing but a few satire post containing stories, as well as trying a couple of challenges, I thought I would give the real thing a try.
Signings:
- Marner: I am of the belief that Marner won't be OS. I think he will want 4 first rounders level money and I'm not sure their is a team willing to do that. I could be wrong, of course. When the dust settles, I believe 10.5 will likely be the end point. Not sure about term, however. It has been reported that he won't take 8, so I went with 7. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- Kapanen/Johnsson: Using the numbers and term that has been reported.
- The rest: I feel these are fair.
Trades:
- Pesce/Nylander: Honestly, I'm not up to date on how either team would value this trade or if they would do it. If I remember correctly, Dreger was saying Carolina was prepared to do it near the beginning of last season, but Toronto wanted Slavin instead, which was a deal breaker for them. I don't know if I remember this correctly or not.
- Zaitsev/4th round pick (2020): A lot of people believe that the Leafs need to add for Zaitsev to be moved, but I disagree. Dubas has acknowledged that he wants a defenseman back. And that's the problem. No team that needs a defenseman is going to give up a defenseman unless they have an equally bad or worse contract to give back. And I really don't see that happening. I believe he will either be traded for a pick or spend the year playing with Muzzin. The contract is not great, but I don't think it's a deal breaker for some teams looking for a top 4 Dman. If Vancouver doesn't acquire Myers and Dubas gives up on trying a D for D trade, then I think this works, as opposed to a team paying someone like Gardiner 6-7 mil per year.
- Sparks/Conditional 7th round pick (2020): I feel this is fair. With Carolina potentially losing both goalies and leaning towards buying out Scott Darling, they are going to need to replace at least the starting and backup roles. May even want a third guy. Sparks can be that 2/3. It's a low risk trade as they don't give up the pick unless Sparks provides decent numbers or playes a quarter amount of the schedule.
- Miller/4th round pick (2020), 3rd round pick (2021), 2nd round pick (2022): Honestly, I'm not sure what the value on Miller would be. If Vegas moves him, I'd imagine it wouldn't be for a roster player as they're tight enough as is. This seems right to me, but I would like to here what everyone else thinks. Whether too high, not enough or just right.
- Brown/Benning: Everyone and their Mother seems to be suggesting this one, so why not? Toronto needs a D that can play on the right as well as not paying 2.1 for someone on the 4th line and Edmonton can use a 3rd line, hardworking winger such as Brown.
Line configurations and scratches: Assuming Babcock won't seperate Hyman/Tavares/Marner, I feel this is the best lineup configuration. On forward, I suppose you can swap Kapanen/Bracco or Bracco/Moore. On defense, I could also swap Pesce/Miller? Either way, that's what I went with. For scratches, I've listed Petan as the extra forward and Rosen and Holl as the extra defense. I also considered Engvall, Carcone, Korshkov, Timashov and Brooks as the extra forward. I thought about Rosen spending more times with the Marlies and just removing Holl altogether, but that's what I went with. I also considered Kivihalme and Borgman as the extra defense. And while the thought crossed my mind, their was no way Sandin or Liljegren were going to serve time as a healthy scratch.
Power Play/Penalty Kill: Honestly, I didn't put much thought into this, but simply filled it out for the sake of filling it out. If it bothers you, feel free to suggest what I should have done differently.
The draft pick is conditional. Sparks plays at least 20 games with Hurricanes or has a Save Percentage/Goals Against Average of .900/2.99 or better while playing in at least 10 games.
I think this would be a decent team for next year and makes a lot of sense. I think you can do Nylander and Sparks for Pesce and just get rid of the 7th. I'm not sure if Carolina values Nylander as much now but the trade makes sense if they extend Faulk. This trade won't happen until Marner signs for sure and Nylander is paid his huge bonus on July 1st. But after that Nylander actual cash salary is less then his cap hit, so makes sense for Carolina.
You might have to give McElhinney a little bit more after his year last year. Elliott just got $2m from the Flyers to be their backup.
Agree with your lines and that Bracco could get some playing time with Matthews.
Pesce is currently the most overrated player in hockey. He's a fine defensive defenseman but he isn't a star. He may be 4th on the depth chart in Carolina and he certainly isn't worth a high value 23 year old offensive player with a sky's the limit potential.
The last rumoured trade for Pesce was Kap and Brown for Pesce and Carolina strongly considered it. Nylander is far better than Brown and Kap combined. He isn't being moved.
Pesce is currently the most overrated player in hockey. He's a fine defensive defenseman but he isn't a star. He may be 4th on the depth chart in Carolina and he certainly isn't worth a high value 23 year old offensive player with a sky's the limit potential.
The last rumoured trade for Pesce was Kap and Brown for Pesce and Carolina strongly considered it. Nylander is far better than Brown and Kap combined. He isn't being moved.
Brown and Kap combined for 73 points last year and were both on the leafs PK … Nylanders last full season he got 61 points when give all the powerplay time in the world. I don't think Nylander is far better than Brown or Kap… I am all for giving Nylander a shot a redeeming himself next season but if he doesn't turn it around they need to move him for a defenseman. Especially if Bracco starts the season well, if Matthews has that guy feeding him the puck he will get 50 next year
Brown and Kap combined for 73 points last year and were both on the leafs PK … Nylanders last full season he got 61 points when give all the powerplay time in the world. I don't think Nylander is far better than Brown or Kap… I am all for giving Nylander a shot a redeeming himself next season but if he doesn't turn it around they need to move him for a defenseman. Especially if Bracco starts the season well, if Matthews has that guy feeding him the puck he will get 50 next year
Okay a few things to unload here.
1) Brown and Kap were on the PK that was okay in the regular season and terrible in the playoffs. Not a strong selling point.
2) Kapanen surprised early in the season with his speed, once teams realized all you have to do is keep him in front of you he had 3 goals in the 2nd half of the season. He is the most overrated player on the Leafs, trade him while his value is so high.
3) Brown is a good player but he's 4th line on this team and makes too much for that.
4) Bracco has played a total of zero NHL games, perhaps is a tad premature to assume he can step in and feed Matthews 50 goals.
5) One thing we all know, or should know because it happened for 2 straight seasons, Nylander with Matthews was the best 5v5 line in hockey.
6) All of this really can't be argued apart from calling Kap the most overrated player on the Leafs. I am sure there are other contenders. Bracco for one is being billed as a replacement for Nylander despite never having played an NHL game.
Pesce is currently the most overrated player in hockey. He's a fine defensive defenseman but he isn't a star. He may be 4th on the depth chart in Carolina and he certainly isn't worth a high value 23 year old offensive player with a sky's the limit potential.
The last rumoured trade for Pesce was Kap and Brown for Pesce and Carolina strongly considered it. Nylander is far better than Brown and Kap combined. He isn't being moved.
At least some people can see through the RHD goggles. Pesce is a GREAT second line D, and is paid as such. He is not as overrated in league circles I don't feel as he is on this site. On this site because he shoots right he is compared to Rob Blake in his prime or something.
Really any D that shoots right on this site is way overvalued, because of the way they shoot, they don't even have to be that good. I seen a comment a couple days ago saying that the Wild wouldn't trade Dumba for Marner 1 for 1, smdh, pure insanity.
1) Brown and Kap were on the PK that was okay in the regular season and terrible in the playoffs. Not a strong selling point.
2) Kapanen surprised early in the season with his speed, once teams realized all you have to do is keep him in front of you he had 3 goals in the 2nd half of the season. He is the most overrated player on the Leafs, trade him while his value is so high.
3) Brown is a good player but he's 4th line on this team and makes too much for that.
4) Bracco has played a total of zero NHL games, perhaps is a tad premature to assume he can step in and feed Matthews 50 goals.
5) One thing we all know, or should know because it happened for 2 straight seasons, Nylander with Matthews was the best 5v5 line in hockey.
6) All of this really can't be argued apart from calling Kap the most overrated player on the Leafs. I am sure there are other contenders. Bracco for one is being billed as a replacement for Nylander despite never having played an NHL game.
Nylander with Matthews being the best line in hockey can also be argued
Nylander with Matthews being the best line in hockey can also be argued
Not really, Matthews was the best 5v5 goal scorer by a fair margin in his first two years. This past year, he was still really good but his numbers were down a lot. Matthews with Kapanen and Johnsson wasn't a really good line at 5v5. They got scored on a lot and there was zero rebound offense, Kapanen doesn't even try to go to the net and Johnsson is a tad small to do so. What I'd like to see is Nylander with Matthews and either one of the new Russians or maybe even Marchment. Create more space for Matthews and Nylander and that line will be utterly dominant.
Not really, Matthews was the best 5v5 goal scorer by a fair margin in his first two years. This past year, he was still really good but his numbers were down a lot. Matthews with Kapanen and Johnsson wasn't a really good line at 5v5. They got scored on a lot and there was zero rebound offense, Kapanen doesn't even try to go to the net and Johnsson is a tad small to do so. What I'd like to see is Nylander with Matthews and either one of the new Russians or maybe even Marchment. Create more space for Matthews and Nylander and that line will be utterly dominant.
I would personally like to see Hyman back on that line, Tavares was a lot better in the corners and at retrieving pucks then I originally thought. But Moor and Johnsson on that wing and have Hyman back with Auston-Nylander, because of the cap crunch the leafs depth is somewhat lost. If they are going to pay these top guys this kind of money they need to run the top 2 lines a minimum of 20 minutes a night
I would personally like to see Hyman back on that line, Tavares was a lot better in the corners and at retrieving pucks then I originally thought. But Moor and Johnsson on that wing and have Hyman back with Auston-Nylander, because of the cap crunch the leafs depth is somewhat lost. If they are going to pay these top guys this kind of money they need to run the top 2 lines a minimum of 20 minutes a night
I'd like to see a 3rd line of Kadri, Kapanen and Marchment. Just go out and piss people off. The 4th line should be cheap PK guys. Hopefully Babs can change his way of thinking, if not he's not going to last another year.
I'd like to see a 3rd line of Kadri, Kapanen and Marchment. Just go out and piss people off. The 4th line should be cheap PK guys. Hopefully Babs can change his way of thinking, if not he's not going to last another year.
leafs do need to add one heavy forward. There clearly is a disconnect between the type of players Dubas is acquiring and the style Babcock seems to want to play, something has to change.
leafs do need to add one heavy forward. There clearly is a disconnect between the type of players Dubas is acquiring and the style Babcock seems to want to play, something has to change.
Babs is a bigger problem than Dubas. I think Dubas is smart by drafting talent. Heavy players are easier to find and generally cheaper. As awesome as it would be to have a Corey Perry in his prime on the team, I am happy if we can find a Hyman for every line. Keep drafting skilled forwards and when there is a surplus we can move those skilled guys for a premium to fill holes. Babs on the other hand, doesn't seem to be able to coach talented guys into crashing the net. Kapanen almost never goes to the net, same for a lot of other players on the team, Matthews could get a net crasher 25 goals just off rebounds but no one does that for him.
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