Team: 2017-18 Toronto Maple Leafs

Initial Creation Date: Feb. 8, 2017

Published: Feb. 8, 2017

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Posted a team yesterday for the year 18/19 with signings for 19/20 describing gathering a core of players that would be joined by low priced prospects in 2019 to make a run for the cup. This made me review what I thought of the current core of six forwards and I realized that Kadri at 4.5M could not be part of that core, he has been great this year and is a great addition to any team but he is not that strong #1/2 center that we need alongside Matthews. For the same reason I cannot see Nylander, despite all his talent, being that dominating center, he is excellent on the wing
Part of that Post was to sign Tavares when he became a free-agent in 2018 to fill this position, instead of extending JVR and moving Nylander to LW, the problem being the only way to afford Tavares and all our RFAs was to trade Kadri, this led to a more immediate solution:
Trade for Tavares now

Toronto's view:
Tavares is an ideal addition at 26 years old and a dominant center that can be a 1-2 punch with Matthews for the next 5-10 years
Why not wait for Tavares to be a free-agent in 2018
Why use assets including Kadri who is doing so well
What assets will it take
Will Tavares sign an extension
Answers:
Tavares is very loyal to the Islander fans and ownership
It will be very hard for him to leave without the cooperation of the NYI
This way they gets assets for him and can start building with their prospects and young stars
Kadri needs to be included because you cannot have a 4.5M third line center in the cap era
The leafs have many wing prospects coming from 2017 to 2019, they can afford to trade a few to get a piece of their core, they can offer their top left wing and top right wing prospects and still be setup for the future
Tavares must realize the tremendous opportunity that presents itself to be part of a leaf championship, his loyalty would pass to the leafs and I am confident they could get him signed for 7 years at 9M per

NYI View:
The Islanders are not doing well and risk losing Tavares for little or nothing if the trend of uncertainty continues
The current core is aging and they seem very far away from competing for the cup
They have a host of young prospects that will join the club in 1-2 years, ie Barzal, Ho-Sang, Bellows and Del Colle
They can imagine adding Kadri along with three of the top forward prospects in the Leaf system rated in the top 5 in the NHL, ie. Bracco, Kapanen, Dzierkals or Korostelev
The deal can be expanded to add a conditional pick if and when Tavares resigns
This deal is significant but NYI must realize the current structure of their team will never compete for a cup, they are missing too many dominant core pieces

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