Lyubushkin is the perfect guy for the leafs. He could start on the 3rd pair and work his way up but he wont cost that much at all. If they got him there would be no need for demelo.

This is pretty good overall but I think Sandin will be on team.


Some minor changes.
Sign Mikheyev to same deal as Engvall.
Bennett would be on 3rd line and Engvall on 4th.
Dermott is probably 2 million AAV.

Not sure on parting with SDA right now either.

Who do you will prove to be better NHLer?
Lehtonen or Lybushkin?

I agree he's a great fit for the Leafs, I just don't want to bank on him climbing the ladder. Demelo is more of a sure thing, imo and depth never hurts.

Doubt Mikheyev would take the same deal as Engvall (I hope he would but I doubt it)
Lines are pretty interchangeable - nothing is set in stone in terms of lines.
Dermott's weird one - I don't see him making what Holl makes on a 2 year term considering no UFA years are purchased, but you never know.

SDA is more a matter of opinion - I'm sure the deal could be made to work with someone else if it works with SDA

Kings would probably go for that. I really like Lizotte, but if they don't trade him now, they'll likely lose him in the expansion draft next summer. Better to take the younger expansion draft exempt player and the draft pick.

Yeah, I put that deal in there after your comments yesterday. Thanks again for the feedback!

I have no idea what Lehtonen is really. Some say hes good enough to be a top 4 defenseman on almost all teams but I wont believe it until I see it or see some sort of proof that his skillset can translate to the nhl. Even if I dont believe he can step into a top 4 right now he still is phenomenal offensively and that does make me think he'll be better overall. The problem with him is that the leafs dont need a guy of his skillset that badly unless their philosophy is to just put out the 5 best skaters at a time like it was with barrie.

Lyubushkin is very good defensively and provides exactly what the leafs need. He reminds me a bit of hainsey where hes good at retrieving the puck, winning battles and defending in transition. Hainsey was able to do that and was very effective with rielly. Where hainsey fell off was towards the end of the season where he'd get overused with his age (something that wont happen to lyubushkin) and his puck moving ability killed the leafs. If you go back and watch the series against boston, the bruins targeted the leafs LD on the forecheck and forced the leafs RD to move the puck up the ice. Those RD were Hainsey, Zaitsev and Polak so they couldn't do anything with the puck and it would result in an endless cycle against. Lyubushkin is able to do all the things hainsey did except he is still a good puck mover. The leafs are committed to playing Muzzin and holl against top competition as a shut down pair. I have no doubt in my mind that rielly and lyubushkin will be able to do extremely well against 2nd and 3rd lines. Once lyubushkin gets adjusted to the leafs system I dont even mind them playing the odd shift against top lines either.

Overall i think Lehtonen will be better but based off the leafs needs Lyubushkin will be better for them. I still believe that the leafs should get both and dress 7d so Lehtonen is able to play with rielly mostly in the oz and lyub can take the defensive zone minutes

Absolutely it would be nice but I just dont see the leafs making a big move like that this offseason. I'm a believer in what Lyubushkin can do and I'm also not as high on demelo. Hes an alright complimentary piece on a pair (kind of like Holl) but at that price is expect to get a bit of a better guy. This season he was good but I just dont see him pairing well with rielly. It wouldnt surprise me if I'm wrong but I've just got this weird feeling about him and I dont really know why

I get that. I think he's maybe being a bit overhyped heading into FA, but if they could get him on a reasonable deal (which, you never know - he's from London ON, played junior in Mississauga and has played in Canada the last two seasons, it might be an attractive destination for him) I'd be pretty optimistic.

I like the moves, it’s very good. You improved the team without trading any of the key players. One thing that I would suggest is DeMelo probably gets closer to 4 million at least on the open market. You still have cap available.

Thanks. I wasn't sure on Demelo - I've seen AGM's with his number much higher and lower than this so I split the difference and just tried to leave a bit of wiggle room.

Yes. That opinion is did SDA make Robertson, or did Robertson make SDA, or is this a Hull and Oates sideshow that you don't break up?

Think I would want to find thatvout before moving him.

You think Lizotte is a 3C, but you gave the Kings nothing.

I gave them what was recommended to me by Kings a couple of Kings fans - and of course no couple of voices can speak for an entire fanbase, but I figured they could gauge their own players value better than I could.

My Anaheim GM is going to offer De Melo $4 million for 4 or 5 years if he knows what's good for him.

He's an undrafted bottom-six forward that performed significantly above expectations in his rookie campaign. He requires protection in the expansion draft next summer, and the Kings don't have a slot to protect him. I like him on the Kings, but I'm not going to be unrealistic on the expected return in a trade. He's one of those players that is more valuable to a team than his trade value suggests that you would normally recommend keeping instead of trading, but if the Kings are going to lose him next summer anyway, they might as well get something for him.

A B-prospect in SDA and a 3rd round pick in the upcoming draft is a fair price. The Kings could probably get more if they held onto him and traded him at the deadline, but at that point there's the risk that he has a sophomore slump and doesn't really warrant any return. Assuming the Kings do move him this summer, i think SDA and a 3rd is a reasonable return.

Lol. I'm hoping maybe Demelo wants to stay in Canada and play close to his hometown for a discount. It's pipe dream but I'm holding on to hope.

@OldNYIfan

What do you think of the team/moves?

In isolation, this might not be the optimal return for Lizotte -- Travis Dermott plus or minus might be closer -- but under the loom of the approaching expansion draft, I'd rather he were the 8th forward on your protection list than ours.

I love the Bennett and Lyubushkin acquisitions. I love the signing of De Melo even more.

In a couple of my recent efforts (not all published) I've sent Kerfoot to Edmonton for the same two thirds (!!), bearing in mind that the 2020 one might turn into a 2022 depending upon the ruling about the Lucic/Neal transaction. Just think: A top-4 left side of Draisaitl, Kerfoot, McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins is an unlimited "mix-and-match" depending upon circumstances (i.e., any one can play with any one of the other three).

If Dermott can be signed for that, this really IS an ideal off-season.

Technically he's the 5th forward on the protection list. There's no way that the Kings are going the 7/3/1 route. They will protect Kopitar, Kempe, Iafallo, and one of Grundstrom or Wagner (assuming they don't acquire anyone else before the draft). On defense, they're going to protect Doughty, Clague, Walker, and Roy. Petersen obviously in goal.

Removing Lizotte from the list of available forwards nudges Seattle towards taking Brown or Quick. They could just as easily take Wagner or MacDermid, but those guys have a significantly lower ceiling. If Lizotte was on the table, that would be a no-brainer for them and veteran guys wouldn't even be considered.

Awesome! Thanks for the kind words. I had the exact same thinking with the Kerfoot trade. I wasn't specific to EDM but I chose them for the example trade because I think it's an ideal location for him. It offers a great deal of versatility as you said, and it also gives them another C option should they choose to move on from RNH.

I think the ruling would probably be that the pick doesn't transfer, but that's just me.

I may have been a tad optimistic with the Dermott signing, but I definitely don't see him making over $2m on a two year deal.

I think that the reason why Bettman has made statements to the effect that the play-in round ISN'T a playoff round is to resolve the operation of all of the conditional picks, including what happens if Neal does or doesn't score a goal in one of the first-round games.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Martin Frk and homeboy Trevor Moore, so that's what my preliminary protect list looks like, but you're probably right about the importance of protecting Matt Roy (whom I have left off so far).