The Leafs Need To Shake Up The Core

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Created by: Angry_Canucklehead

Team: 2020-21 Toronto Maple Leafs

Initial Creation Date: Feb. 25, 2020

Published: Feb. 27, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

This is not a rebuild, this is more like a re-design of the core and something like this would only happen if they don't get to, like, the third round.

That being said I think this is somewhat reasonable, although unrealistic. It could be argued the Leafs have too many high end skill players and no enough grittier two-way guys. Matthews Marner Nylander Kapanen and Johnsson are all players who I'd consider highly skilled but soft and weak defensively.

This is a team with far too much skill to have this little success. These ideas - bringing in two proven star defencemen in Pietrangelo and Ellis, as well as a veteran 2 way forward in Bonino as well as Alex Iafallo who I'd consider one of the league's best defensive forwards - create a large enough shake-up in the core that it should motivate and rejuvenate the whole team, and be a totally new Leafs team that is still very good now, but also is set up well for the future (I honestly think Reilly can become expendable by the time his contract is up as Rasmus Sandin will be very good and can fill his role on this theoretical second pairing for sure, Bonino would hit free agency giving enough money to sign both Hyman and Iafallo. The cap is expected to increase quite nicely after next season too which really helps). This team would be so good defensively, and would be extremely capable of creating offence from their defensive play and/or forecheck. If all else fails they have an outstanding goaltender capable of stealing games and a great defence to support him.

Ideally we're looking at a ton of minutes for this first line (20+ a game) which would be capable of not only scoring a ton of goals but also shutting down any other line. The second line is the skill line that I think would be counted on the most for goals and could see 1st-line minutes most nights. Bottom six will be relied on for energy and secondary scoring, as that top line is the shutdown line.

As for the defence I put Muzzin with Ellis and Rielly with Pietrangelo to balance size. I could see both pairs playing 22+ minutes a night - I'd trust the two pairs splitting the whole game but the third pair is quite good too. In the event of an injury on the blueline either Sandin or Holl could fill in no issue.

Free Agent Signings

RFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Mikheyev, Ilya	3	$3,500,000
Malgin, Denis	2	$1,750,000
Gauthier, Frédérik	2	$1,000,000
Åberg, Pontus	3	$925,000
Bracco, Jeremy	3	$925,000
Brooks, Adam	3	$925,000
Kaskisuo, Kasimir	3	$850,000
Kivihalme, Teemu	3	$850,000
Veronneau, Max	3	$850,000

UFA		YEARS	CAP HIT
Pietrangelo, Alex		5	$9,000,000
Lehner, Robin		4	$7,000,000

Trades

TOR

Bonino, Nick
Ellis, Ryan
2020 1st round pick (NSH)
2021 2nd round pick (NSH)

Additional Details:

Ellis gives them a true top pair defenceman, which they need so badly. Ellis is absolutely fantastic in his own end and would be perfect with Jake Muzzin in my opinion. Ellis can also log both power play and penalty kill minutes. He would fit about twenty times better than Tyson Barrie did.
Nick Bonino gives the Leafs an experienced, well respected two-way depth piece with a lot of playoff experience which includes winning the Cup with Pittsburgh.

NSH

Dermott, Travis [RFA Rights]
Marner, Mitchell

Additional Details:

Nashville is underrated as a perennial playoff choker (minus 2017), and they need change. They also need an offensive superstar as they don't have a single player on pace for 30 goals, and the power play is abysmal. Marner gives them a top end superstar playmaker who would provide a massive lift to the offence, especially Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene on the theoretical top line.
Travis Dermott gives them a possible top-four defenceman.

TOR

2020 1st round pick (DAL)
2021 1st round pick (DAL)

Additional Details:

More or less a way to shed salary for a big signing in free agency (Alex Pietrangelo). Dallas seemingly always needs forwards, Nylander has been very good but I believe he's one of the major reasons Toronto has struggled - I hate his defensive game and he seems so soft.
Kerfoot is good depth for Dallas.

DAL

TOR

2020 1st round pick (TOR)

CAR

Andersen, Frederik

Additional Details:

As good as Freddy is, Lehner is a significant upgrade. That being said Andersen is far better than Petr Mrazek.
I don't know if this is a fair return, but remember even Barclay Goodrow is worth a first round pick if it's a late pick.

TOR

Iafallo, Alex

Additional Details:

again, probably bad value (overpay) but this is just an idea. I really really think Iafallo would be loved in toronto because of his defensive game and versatility. I hate Kapanen and I think he's like nylander in the sense his effort level, tenacity, grit and aggressiveness are way too low. Iafallo is the opposite but rebuilding LA has little reason to keep him.

LAK

Kapanen, Kasperi
2020 1st round pick (TOR)

Buyouts

Mikhail Grabovski: $0

Retained Salary Transactions

Phil Kessel: $1,200,000 (15%)

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2020
2021
2022

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
22	$84,500,000	$84,409,417	$0	$0	$90,583

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Iafallo, Alex $2,425,000$2,425,000 LW, RW UFA - 1	Matthews, Auston $11,640,250$11,640,250 C UFA - 4	Hyman, Zach $2,250,000$2,250,000 RW, LW M-NTC UFA - 1
Mikheyev, Ilya $3,500,000$3,500,000 LW, RW UFA - 2	Tavares, John $11,000,000$11,000,000 C, LW NMC UFA - 5	Bracco, Jeremy $925,000$925,000 RW UFA - 1
Johnsson, Andreas $3,400,000$3,400,000 LW, RW UFA - 3	Bonino, Nick $4,100,000$4,100,000 C, LW UFA - 1	Malgin, Denis $1,750,000$1,750,000 LW, RW UFA - 1
Engvall, Pierre $1,250,000$1,250,000 RW, LW UFA - 2	Gauthier, Frédérik $1,000,000$1,000,000 C UFA - 1	Brooks, Adam $925,000$925,000 C UFA - 2

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Muzzin, Jake $5,625,000$5,625,000 LD NMC UFA - 4	Ellis, Ryan $6,250,000$6,250,000 RD UFA - 7	Lehner, Robin $7,000,000$7,000,000 G UFA - 5
Rielly, Morgan $5,000,000$5,000,000 LD M-NTC UFA - 2	Pietrangelo, Alex $9,000,000$9,000,000 RD UFA - 7
Sandin, Rasmus $894,167$894,167 LD UFA - 2	Holl, Justin $2,000,000$2,000,000 RD M-NTC UFA - 3	Campbell, Jack $1,650,000$1,650,000 G UFA - 2

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
Marincin, Martin $700,000$700,000 LD UFA - 1
Åberg, Pontus $925,000$925,000 RW, LW UFA

Feb. 27, 2020 at 1:39 p.m.

PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood

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I love how so many idiots on here keep saying the Leafs need to shake up their core because they can't win. Yeah lets just ignore that the two guys you are trading are 23 and under. The Leafs are still a super young team, they need adversity to grow and become winners. You and people like you treat these kids like they are all 30 year old vets who are going to be on the decline. They are not. You are being silly.

Feb. 27, 2020 at 1:41 p.m.

vr1995

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prime example of why leaf fans get a bad rap, when its going good its unreal but its the end of the world when its going bad, if you think this team hant had success this year becasue of lack of"grit" you are way off. this team lacks consitency from the net out and which is why they are where they are. lack of defensive play as well. but to say its lack of grit is stupid. to call thos guys soft defenively is a boost, marner kills penalties and matthews d game has improved this year quite. nylander could backcheck some more for sure. its clear you are regurgitateing what you see on the internet. this team is a good team that cant saty consistent but consistnecy is what makes all these good teams great teams and they need to find it in order to be in that category

Feb. 27, 2020 at 1:43 p.m.

vr1995

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ur trades suck as well

PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood liked this.

Feb. 27, 2020 at 1:44 p.m.

PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood

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Quoting: vr1995

Don't lump us all into this nonsense. Fans like these are just idiots who don't understand anything about hockey. They just panic, listen to speculation and have no idea what they are doing because their whole understanding of hockey comes from playing video games.

Feb. 27, 2020 at 1:48 p.m.

PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood

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Quoting: vr1995

ur trades suck as well

I didn't even get far enough down to see the Kapanen trade. This is 100% a troll post this is not a Leaf fan. What a joke.

Feb. 27, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.

Angry_Canucklehead

Thread Starter

Wishin I Was Fishin

Joined: Nov. 2017

Posts: 115

Likes: 9

Quoting: PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood

look at this team though. They have looked disinterested, disgruntled and they're flat out terrible defensively and play with no consistency.
It can be argued they're already flaming out, they're on the fringe of a playoff spot now and the cap issues will get worse and worse each year.
How have teams like Calgary, Florida, Nashville, Philadelphia done by not changing their core? Now that two of them have they're looking much better, as for Calgary and Nashville they've got issues.
St. Louis was getting nowhere before they added O'Reilly or before guys like Parayko became major pieces.
The Penguins won Cups with defence and by surrounding their star centers with versatile players, of which most were very good defensively.
The Kings won with defence, goaltending and hard working defensive forwards. Kopitar Muzzin Doughty Brown Pearson etc are all defensive players who also excelled physically.
The Hawks won with great defence and two way forwards (Saad, Toews, Shaw, etc) as well as Patrick Kane.
The Capitals won because they played fantastic defensively. Ovi was a two way forward in the playoffs.
NONE of the Leafs' forwards outside of Zach Hyman fit the criteria for the type of support Matthews/Tavares need. One is not enough. The defence is super suspect, Jake Muzzin is the only one who can eat minutes and that's an issue. Ceci sucks, Rielly is soft and very weak defensively, same deal for Barrie. If you won Cups like that then I think San Jose would have three or four right now. They had Vlasic and Pavelski and that was about it for good defensive forwards.
You can't win when you have too many soft skill guys like Johnsson Kapanen Marner and Nylander on your wings and then Rielly and Barrie in the top 4. It just doesn't work. Caps don't win without defensive Ovi or guys like Wilson Kempny or Niskanen. Hawks don't win without guys like Saad Toews Keith Seabrook or Hjalamarsson. Pens had Crosby (who's defensive game is unmatched by anyone on the Leafs' roster and almost everyone in the league) but also without guys like Dumoulin Daley Rust or Kunitz.

Feb. 27, 2020 at 2:26 p.m.

ngikas

Joined: Aug. 2017

Posts: 1,511

Likes: 255

Quoting: PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood

I think some of the premise of this mock is in the right direction as a bruins fan. It’s a little blown out of proportion by giving away a bunch of the core. Giving away a corner stone piece like marner seems somewhat irrational but there are defensive struggles on the leafs. I made an unposted mock that included marner going to the wild for dumba greenway and a 1st. Dumba might not be the piece that the leafs are looking for but I was just kind of throwing it together. And another move for palmieri (with extension) that included Dermott and KK. I think adding greenway and maybe a guy like reaves would do the leafs a lot. The only tough part about playing the leafs is having to keep up with them scoring wise and the way the team plays more often than not doesn’t make it too tough. Adding some grit would help imo. Wouldn’t completely overhaul the core. Just a rivals outsiders perspective.

Feb. 27, 2020 at 2:41 p.m.

PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood

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Quoting: Anthony_Bruhvillier

Too long didn't read, you are a troll and I don't care what you have to say. Its ridiculous.

Feb. 27, 2020 at 2:46 p.m.

PleaseBanMeForMyOwnGood

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Joined: May 2018

Posts: 24,997

Likes: 7,855

Quoting: ngikas

Its completely fair to say the Leafs need to find another higher end defenceman who shoots right. That is fair, to suggest any of the under 24 year old players need to be moved because they can't win is ****ing stupid. Boston has a bunch of vets who have learned all the lessons needed to get through the tough times. TO has 2 guys on their roster over 30. They are a super young team that has lessons to learn. Only in TO does their youth mean nothing, Leaf fans are too crazy and Leaf haters (Of which there are as many Leaf fans or likely far more) only want them to fail.

Also I am not directing this at you. More at this troll post and any other troll out here that just wants to fire people up to feed their own desire to feel big and important.

ngikas liked this.

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