So what exactly is your plan for being cap compliant when Georgiev, Pietrangelo, Montour, Mikheyev all ask for raises, then Muzzin and Campbell's raises kick in. Furthermore, what is your plan for functioning with a 21/23 man roster?

You really think a cup contending team is going to have spezza as their 3rd line centre?...

The answer to this is in acquiring LTIR contracts, just like they did this previous year with David Clarkson and Nathan Hornton. Depending on how well Georgiev plays we could make him the starter and trade Anderson which would also free up 5 mill.

LTIR does not give you cap space

Spezza wasn’t a eye catching forward for them this year, but I believe he has potential considering he is a seasoned veteran and was decent in his prime. Given more playing time and a slight change in line mates, I think he could be a huge asset to the team. I also kept him in the lineup with consideration of a flat cap next season and his low cap hit which in my opinion is a steal for what he is paid.

If their team is at the cap ceiling those LTIR contracts give you those additional funds. So for example if we get Kesler and Zetterberg that would give us an additional 12.9 mill to use.

I agree he's a steal for his cap hit but I wouldn't feel comfortable going into the playoffs as a 3C. He's a great seasoned vet but he's declining, he's nothing like he was in his prime. What happens if Matthews or Tavares gets hurt, you're comfortable with him moving into 2C? Who's gonna be your third and fourth line centres in the playoffs if that happens?

Nope thats not qt all how that works. In simple terms those contracts dont count against the cap. They dont allow you to go over.

I completely agree! You make a valid point, I just don’t see any other way around their current cap situation without trading one of their core 4. If they trade one of them they could definitely get a upgrade.

I’m not really that educated when it comes to how those contracts work, but isn’t that how they were able to pay for marner’s horrendous contract? Because they definitely didn’t have enough money for him when they were paying him up until they accquired David Clarkson.

I like the idea of radek faksa. He doesn't have much offensive upside but he's super reliable defensively and he'd be great on the pk. I think if we move Johnsson, Kerfoot, and kapanen for cheaper options, there's definitely room for improvement. There's tons of cheap options that could help on the backend. We also have liljegren we could use as a package deal to bring in a bigger d man for immediate help.

I agree with everything you said beside trading Johnsson. Before he got injured he was showing a lot of upside and believe is also a pretty cheap top 6F. I think we should for sure trade Kerfoot and Kapanen. Both of them are good players but I don’t really think they performed to be paid as much as they’re getting. Toronto put themselves in a really tough spot this year with no money or picks to give up.

They actuall did. If you go make qn acgm on here for 2019 then move both off LTIR they are clearly over the cap but when you put them back on LTIR their cap dissappears

I really like Johnsson as a player but I value Kerfoot more because he can play centre if it's needed. I wouldn't mind keeping Johnsson if the cap worked. I do think we could find someone else that performs like him for a little cheaper