1. You need at least $700k in capspace for a 20 man roster. Otherwise you can't call up a player if someone has a day 2 day injury. So, that cap doesn't work for 21/22 or going forward.

2.Hyman is a way better hockey player than Kappy and AJ, plays a very important role for the team, and is a UFA compared to those 2 being RFAs. So he'll be getting a bigger contract then they did. Apples meet oranges.

3. Lehtonen has played 1 half decent game in his NHL career, against a team that might have trouble beating a decent AHL team right now, so yeah he's replaced Dermott and has earned $2m.

That's a big hope that Amirov, Robertson, Anderson and Hallander are NHL. good to be in the top 12. I'm doubting that want to and can't afford a goalie with such a high cap as 5.8m

Canucks are not a decent AHL team right now, they're actually quite talented, but they're going through a funk that alot of people can't explain. I disagree on Lehtonen, Bob Hartley is a coach in the KHL, a veteran Stanley Cup winning coach, and says Lehtonen is an NHL dman, so I trust his judgement. If Lehtonen isn't full time by this time next year, you can call me out on it. But I think he will be.

Re: Canucks - that's pretty well what I was getting at. I know they have some talent, but those 2 games leading up to my comment, they did not look NHL calibre, something was very off. Therefore Lehtonen having a decent game against them on that night does not give me confidence he's ready to overtake Dermott going forward.

Keefe said himself he still doesn't trust him at 5v5. He's obviously decent on PP2, but the PP has been clicking with or without him, so he's not having a major impact there.

I think he's an NHLer, but to this point, he's certainly not shown he's anything more than a 6/7. Could he be - probably.

Do I want the Leafs to stick with 27 yo Lehtonen, who projects to be a decent off dman going forward (not really a need for the Leafs) instead of 24 yo Dermott, who still has Top 4 all around upside? Not a chance.

Agreed on the majority of what you've said with the exception of Dermott being top 4 potential. I think he's an NHL dman, but a bottom pairing guy. He might still have some upside, but I'd rather see Lehtonen or even Sandin get more playing time.

Sandin certainly has the highest ceiling of the 3. It seems clear now that Dermott's offensive upside is pretty limited (not much poise on the OZ), but what his strengths are (skating, gap control, moving the puck) are all attributes that fit into the Leafs system very well. His upside at this point is 18-20 min per night (2nd pairing) of safe hockey, moving the puck in the right direction to our talented forwards, and to be a bit of a pest now and then. With the odd hiccup in his own end.

It was behind a paywall on EP so I didn't get to read it, but that JFresh twitter guy (his info was referenced on SN the other day I believe) just did a deep dive on Dermott, and per the title says something along the lines of Dermott has to be in a top 4 with the Leafs or some other team.

That probably doesn't mean a whole lot, but I think it's somewhat noteworthy as the guy isn't "just another Leaf fanboy", I believe he's American and Pens are his team.