Quoting: palhal
Really still 20 man roster may not work. None of the young Marlies Dmen seem to be NHL ready.
Quoting: BeautifulIdiot
I think that Mrazek could be traded for future considerations, cap sucks but so does the oilers goaltending
Quoting: Tj_gm
Amirov has struggled this year in the KHL.
Steeves is more NHL ready than him.
On the first two, a 20-man roster would not be ideal. I have Anderson, Steeves, and Kral on the taxi squad here as those 3 (and Rubins) would be my call-up candidates. Niemela will also sign his ELC and be given a shot I would think to show how he handles preseason, but he will likely spend 1 more year in Liiga. Also, $1,375,000 is currently on the cap thanks to Ritchie in the minors. If they moved him entirely, you could run a 21 man roster at the least, maybe find a way to do a 22 man roster if they save 150K somewhere in my salary projections. Mrazec trade I probably overpaid to move him, but as much as we blame media, every team does pay attention to Toronto. They know the Leafs are in a cap crunch, and need to re-sign Campbell. I don't imagine it'll be easy to move him if he doesn't play to at least a .915 in the second half.
I wouldn't say Amirov has struggled with the KHL (I've followed his season very closely) so much as he has struggled with health and ice time. He broke his collarbone in the preseason after 6 points in 5 games, and then missed the first month of the season. He played 3 games, with 13 min twice and 10 once, before missing another two months for undisclosed injury (likely re-injured the broken collarbone). He came back, played 1:02 and got an assist. Healthy scratched next two games. Since then he's been on the 3rd line getting between 10-14 minutes a night, but no special teams. When he gets ice time, he's produced. The issue has been getting ice time. His team is trying to compete and their top 7 forwards make up most of the ice time, and the youngest player of those 7 is 28 years old. His team is also currently shutdown with a COVID outbreak. I think getting him over to North America ASAP and away from that coach should be a priority for the Leafs. He's got tremendous puck skill and skating, but he plays a lot like a Marner in his defensive awareness and using his stick to steal pucks in the neutral zone. I think playing with Kampf and Kase early will help him grow on the defensive side, while being the primary playmaker on his line, and getting some PP2 and PK2 time. If he's not ready, I'd bring up Steeves and move Engvall to L3. I nearly had Steeves in over Robertson anyways.