Toronto is clearly not punting anything. That trade with the Avs shows that very clearly to me. Barrie seems to be a rental. Dubas could have went cheap and punted. Spezza army 3c sign mcquaid or Trade Kadri for picks or a cheaper Dman.

Problem with Spurgeon is his current cap is over 5 and Barrie just over 4

How do you feel about Barrie vs Spurgeon?
At this point both seem like rentals. Our buddy @TanSor did say something about retention with Spurgeon too.
Since the trade Barrie is being said to be a higher skilled Gardiner basically.
I was hoping for better defense.

Ummm. Pre retention, Barrie had a higher cap hit than spurgeon. But spurgeon is much better than Barrie and Minnesota was looking for right handed right wingers and I doubt dubas was interested in my bing any of our young right wingers. Dubas seems to have a very good grasp on keeping this young core together and using the older or depth players to tinker around with to finde the right chemistry. I like the idea that yes you put out the most competitive team you can but it has a feel that dubas is doing a gradual build. Barrie is younger than spurgeon and in my opinion will not be re signed anyway but dubas knows we have the stable of young D prospects and that 1 year contracts like barrie and ceci will open things up in ufa.

You can read what I said above. Spurgeon to me would be a rental in the scheme of things. Don’t get me wrong... I do not think there is a better pound for pound Dman, left or right handed. At spurgeon size he is doing things in the modern nhl that people his size just can’t do. I have mdiscussed and negotiated at least a dozen trades with @TanSor ( although I think most of them were under his far superior name of arousedcat...) I think they only work when spurgeon had 1.5- 2 years of term left. I truly believe that if we made the move for spurgeon over Muzzin n (although we had some serious lhd injuries) leafs make it pat Boston and eventually to the finals against St. Louis and then you role the dice from there. I think the issue always was the price. Dubas is very careful to try and keep roster players together an build towards the future. I can get behind that.

One other special note. I do believe under Babcock that Barrie will be held responsible. I mean if Babs can turn zaitsev into a defensive mule... I’m sure he can make Barrie think two way hockey.

Not any more

I was saying we will need to suck it till Marleau on the payroll, cause he was hindering TML for getting D rebuilt with knowing Gardiner and Hainsey are out and their money will go to Marner. Then he was dumped together with 1st. Could be better, B+

Then Zaitsev was swapped for Ceci, which is slight stepdown from my point of view, Brown got out for 3rd ( which many of you were saying here, i was humble again with 4th ) so its actually 1 for 1 with giving both players new start. Could be better ? I dont know, its patching and not upgrading ( or maybe just getting another asset to swap at TDL )....B

And finally Kadri ( that i was trading from last summer and was flaked as hell from all sides cause he will stay Leaf for lifetime ), where the trade looks like win on paper, Kadri for Kerfoot which is again slightly stepdown at first sight but kid is younger and can come like 1M cheaper ( also read kid is two-way efficient as Kadri was ) and 3y of Kadri + Rosen + 3rd for Barries rental also seems, well, with Kadri-has-to-go in my books its not that hard to swallow. Barrie again isnt upgrading but patching cause we just got another Gardiner with him, this time RHded. Also he will command 8M at least next year, which i think isnt doable.....B

3#C in Spezza for 700k, 27 Points Agostino for 700k, not sure about 4#C Shore ( pun intended ) but still ...nothing to add here......A- ( some veteran RHD for 700k could be fished also )

So all in all, Zaitsev = Ceci ( slight loss + 1y vs 5y contract ), Kadri = Kerfoot ( slight loss short term tho kid can pan out better in 4 years ) and Barrie = Gardiner is just putting TML where they were in 2018/2019. Contenders but again without shutdown RHDs in top Pairs ( which i think is a must, as i already said, i may be biased after 25 years between pipes, but i never really enjoyed to be a sitting duck and i think Andersen neither )



Punt year should be 2017/2018, but i nagged you guys enough already with that theory.

Next summer, I'd love try to sign Spurgeon over Muzzin

So you didn't want to trade for him but are okay with potentially giving him 8+ million? Hmm..
My thoughts all along have been that because Spurgeon is better defensively, he is what the Leafs needed more.

It's too bad Kadri had Calgary on his no trade list because Hamonic is a better defensive D then Barrie.

Barrie was kind of a last resort solution imo if you even want to admit Barrie solves things in the back end.

I'd love Barrie back next season if its possible as well.