@HawkIsles this was fun to work on, still think we need to add a significant piece though

Why would you give away assets to move ladd when you could buy him out or just keep him because you have over 15 million in cap space

just curious but what kind of defenseman is Scott Mayfield. I'm a leafs fan and see a lot of people on here trade for him. What type of player is he? I really don't know much about him

I would go for Connor from WPG and look to trade Bailey. He prob comes in at $8m which costs a 1,2,3. Bailey just doesnt work in Trotz system - give 3LW to Beau and bring back Martin on cheap deal. Trade Bellows along with Clutter to dump his salary.

I want to get him off the books permanently, LTIR isn't a realistic solution past this year. And his contract is almost buyout proof (it's all bonuses). If we were to buy him out next season he's still on the books for $4.8M for 3 years. Basically pointless to do so. I'd rather swallow my pride and give up the picks I just acquired to dump Ladd into another country lol

Very good in the defensive zone. Big body - clears guys out in front of the net with ease and is on one hell of a contract. Right handed shot needs some work (did show nice improvement last season - at one point was our leading defenseman in points). I think he can be a Johnny Boychuk clone in the defensive zone and Boychuk-LITE in the offensive zone. Not sure if he'll ever have a booming slapper but he's responsible and gets the job done.

I like the first half of your comment a lot. $8M could get matched though. Maybe find a way to trade for him outright and put Bailey in the package going the other way.

At this point Clutterbuck would only have $3.5x2 left on his deal. I'd rather hold onto Bellows and either A) buyout Clutterbuck next season ($1.8M hit) or B) move him with a pick attached.

Same can be said about Leo (scratched at a $3x2) - move one of those and the other plays out the contract at 4 RW for 2 more seasons

But you have 16 million in cap space
Horrible asset management

And you're either going to A) sign a significant free agent or B) use that space to sign the SEVEN guys on ELCs in the next two seasons. It's so far from horrible management. Why delay the inevitable? Give yourself flexibility

And EDIT: I just did the math - I shed over $20M in salary and still have a 1-7 round pick in every single draft year. How that is considered poor asset management is beyond me

There are other ways to do this. One thing I think we should do is trade guys like Hickey and Leddy for picks and guys with one year left on their contracts. I think the only guaranteed players to make it in 2020-21 are Koivula and Dobson. Wahlstrom is likely. Bellows I'm not sure considering our LW depth.

Yup - did the first half. Then used those picks to shed Ladd. Wouldn't rule out those other kids.

I just don't think trading Boychuk and Ladd in that way is going to work. Unfortunately, we're stuck with Ladd. Boychuk doesn't have negative value depending on the team he'd be sent to, so giving up MDC with him isn't worth it.

To shed his $6M I think it's well worth it. We can reevaluate after this season because he's clearly not going anywhere, but JB is on the decline. And where is MDC playing in this lineup? I don't think it's much to give up at all.

A 1-2-3 should be enough for a team to take Ladd. That's a lot of assets. Luckily not really "costing" us anything as we still have our own

I’ve always advocated for a Wilde-for-Sergachev type trade (add if you have to). I see our biggest hole on LHD once Leddy’s gone. I’m excited to see how good Toews will get but I think we’ll need an LHD that’s a legitimate top pairing prospect like Dobson.

I think we can keep Boychuk for now and maybe find a way to move him at the expansion draft. He can still play, even if he isn't what he was in 2014-15. I think he needs to be moved more to make room for Dobson and Wilde than his salary and playing ability.

Ladd is tough to move but he does need to go sooner than later. I think he's definitely gone by expansion or amnesty buyout after the next CBA negotiation.



I don't really agree with that. We have Toews and Pelech who are top-4 (although Pelech is somewhat limited), and Aho coming up. I think Sergachev is a stud but I'd rather give up Wilde for a scorer than LHD. Eventually Toews will be our stud top pairing LHD in my opinion, so trading for one right now isn't worth it.