the leafs make it to the cup with ovechkin but they lose to mackinnon's avalanche. matthews, mackinnon, kadri, marner, and rielly excel in the series, with mack taking the smythe. ovechkin was good, but he wants to go back to his capitals on a 5M deal over the next 2 years, and then leaves for russia at age 39.
rodion amirov, the much anticipated 2020 1st round pick, makes his entrance to the leafs in this season. he slides into a 2nd line role, bumping hyman down to the 3rd line, and pushes nick robertson up to the 1st.
the leafs make an offer for evgeni malkin but he chooses to take about 1M less to stay in pittsburgh; he wants to spend his whole career there. andersen took a one year deal in colorado, and after winning the cup - as the better half of a tandem with francouz - against his old team, dubas makes an offer to him that is equal to colorado's - 3.9M for the better half of a tandem, but andersen's bond with matthews is strong. he comes back for 3 years until akhtyamov is ready to take over for him. they bolster their already solid defense with the signing of colton parayko.
liljegren and brodie are packaged together in a trade for a young defenseman for the 3rd pairing. the leafs resign rielly, and give dermott his long term, well paying deal for him after he shows he can be a top-pairing defender with rielly, developing healthy competition as the number 2 option with parayko. sandin competes with muzzin and brodie for the other 2nd pairing slot. midway through the season, sandin excels and beats out brodie and muzzin to play alongside dermott or parayko. cole sillinger makes he awaited appearance on the 4th line to begin the season, but beats out abramov to the 3rd line halfway through it. the leafs sign spezza again, in his last year of his career, to play on the 4th line or possibly sit out certain games.
4th line spots are opened for multiple players: anderson, spezza, der-arguchinstev, hallander, abramov/sillinger, abruzze, and hirvonen to compete there. the others stay in the ahl for now.
andersen and either crawford or MAF or another goalie at 825k will also aid in the development of the leafs 3 future goalies, akhtyamov (1A), scott (1Ba), woll (1Bb).
sandin, next offseason, signs the deal that parayko took this year. muzzin is shipped out. robertson takes a 2.5M bridge deal, as does abramov. guhle takes a bridge, 1.25M deal. hallander takes a 800k contract. and the cap will raise by then, which is where sandin's contract comes in.
in the 24-25 season, sandin will play on the second pairing with parayko, while niemela, the leafs 2020 3rd round pick, enters alongside guhle on the 3rd pairing.
side note* LTIR is players that can and will compete for roster spots.
at the draft
guhle slots in on the third pairing with muzzin for now, when muzz is gone in 2024, guhle and niemela will play together on the third pairing.
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