Hyman is a top 6 skilled playmaker. I'm not saying it has to be Marner just that you need a skilled player to go with them because hockey is a team sport. Other people are wrong because Matthews has gotten better at goal scoring every year since his draft so it's impossible to say that.

Lol you reported me? Okay man. Good for you. I don’t understand why you’ve been so defensive through all this.

You’ve said that moving nylander means there needs to be a “top skilled playmaker,” as a replacement, and you’ve attached some weird 3.5M dollar figure to it. I’ve just asked why.

I don’t think you need either the top skilled playmaker (that’s where your centers come in), or that price tag. Don’t understand why you can’t just answer that question instead of reporting people and getting defensive.

How many cups did the Islanders win during those years with JT playing with sub-par players and struggling to do everything on his own?

I said he needs a top 6 forward and you said he doesn't. Then I said sticking a 3rd line winger with superstars doesn't work and you said, "who suggested a 3rd line winger." so either you have no knowledge of hockey or you are just a troll. I was giving you the benefit of the doubt but your right it's entirely possible you have no idea what top 6 bottom 6 forward means.

I just asked for an explanation as to why you thought that and you basically said, “because i said so.” I even listed examples of non, “top skilled playmakers,” that have really worked out well with high end centers. Guess i just don’t see why you’re so angry.

But it’s okay. We all have bad days every now and again. Cheer up, tomorrows a new one.

1st line
LW C RW
3 positions
2nd line
LW C RW
3 more which are top 6
3rd line
LW C RW
3 more
4th line
LW C RW
last 3 which are the bottom 6.

Matthews scored at a rate of 1.55 G/60 at 5v5 during his rookie year and 1.56 G/60 at 5v5 last year. The main thing that has increased for Matthews over the years is his ice time.

If you need good wingers then you are not worth 10M AAV.

Not bad, but I prefer Tavares still.

Lol yes probably.

They won a round in the Island with Tavares being surrounded by sub-par wingers, which is more than this cast of superstars has managed in Toronto.

Oh my bad forgot about Drais.

And you called me a troll.

Riiiiiight.

And I responded and asked what's the exact player you would replace him with. You responded "why" Playing with those players clearly and obviously affected his game at the time. I don't know if you don't watch the Leafs or if you are just going off what others told you but it did. His numbers went down, the rest of the team struggled, and it affected the play of the whole team other than the Marleau Kadri Marner line. Building a hockey team isn't as simple as, "this guy makes this and he's ok as a lower roster player, Let's give him a position beside the best player on our team." The farther up the lineup a player plays the more skill and knowledge of the game they need to have. It's basic hockey. Putting any old Bottom 6 (3rd and fourth line) players with league-leading players because you think they can do it all on their own as well as they can with top 6 players isn't going to work.
It makes zero sense to boot 30-40 points off the team to save 1m so they have to have near Nylander skill and save a significant amount of money or it's stupid. Simple.

So that's your end goal for a hockey team? Hey make it to the second round, I don't care if my team ever sniffs the Stanley Cup, I'm cool with the second round."

Well you didn't understand top 6 bottom 6, it's an explanation.

Sorry but the JT islanders team roster isn't my measure of success.

A team with 4 forwards making half the cap won't come close to winning the cup. You may not have noticed but this team went from a 105 point team to a 95 point pace team that missed the playoffs.

That's a fair position. My point is that if you think that's the case then the only reasonable position to take would be a Marner trade. Not because I don't like the guy. I actually think they can make it work. Because you need a 5-7m winger. You don't need an 11m one. If anything you trade Marner for a Nylander AAV player and save 5-6m.

Not even debatable lol (although the second option is cheaper).

That isn’t necessarily true. Different players mesh together differently.

The objection i have, and i think basically every living breathing hockey fan would have, is you saying that the replacement for nylander needs to be, “a top skilled playmaker.” That just isn’t the way teams are built when they have two elite centers that are among the highest paid players in the league. This isn’t NHL21 with the cap turned off. Choices have to be made and the leafs decided to pay their top two centers 22.634 mill per season. Luckily, theres a reference point of another team that had two elite centers (albeit, both better at the time than either of the leafs centers). The penguins paid Crosby and malkin, and in 15-16 when they won the cup, their four wingers were Kunitz, Horqvist, Sheary, and Rust before he was a high scorer. Any of those guys match your, “top skilled playmaker,” description? Guess what? They actually won. When the bruins won the cup (in case my name didn’t clue you in, that’s my team, not the oilers), they hard recchi and lucic playing in the top six. Recchi was about 50.

So to answer your foolish question of asking me to pick the exact player to put there, my answer would be simply, “whoever works.” Maybe its a heavy player that forces a lot of turnovers and gets the puck to Matthews. Maybe its some speedy rookie that pushes the Ds gap control into oblivion giving Matthews or JT lots of room on blue line entries to get shots off.

The notion that it has to be player type x, getting paid salary y, is a stupid one in my opinion.

I agree. I greatly prefer trading Marner over Nylander.

Apples meet oranges.

Obviously those 4 fwds were the main reason, Andersen's save % tanked, and Babcock decided dump and chase, and point shots was the most effective ways to win games.

A top 6 skilled playmaker not a top skilled playmaker. Those are two different things. I'm saying a skilled playmaker that can play in the top 6. The problem with people's thinking is that they think in their proposed scenario that it's Nylander that has to go. In that situation if the money won't work it's Marner you have to trade. Trading Marner you still have a 6-7m playmaker but you save 5-6 million.

To be fair, I like them both, they are great players. Marner just has more AAV you have to work with. Trading Nylander saves you nothing.