I really like Motte but he is not better than Simmonds, Engvall, Spezza, or Mikheyev. Not sure where he fits

injuries to first pairing defenders and top line centers were an issue for the leafs. 6th defenders and 4th liners arnt going to help that

He’s better than Simmonds, but the whole point is just adding depth so we don’t have to call up someone like Joey Anderson when injuries inevitably happen

how does tyler motte help if a guy like John tavares gets injured?

Not true. Kerfoot was excellent as the second line center last year, but we were rolling out guys like Riley Nash, Joe Thornton, and Alex Galchenyuk who aren’t NHL players in the top nine. On defence, Sandin can cover Muzzin or Reilly just fine, the glaring hole is clearly a defensemen who can be trusted at any moment on the right side

change the 3rd to a 2nd in the ritchie trade and i think it gets done.

very true. Kerfoot was good, but he did not replace tavares, and in this case you'd get kerfoot being worse than tavares and motte being worse than Kerfoot both too high up the lineup.
The leafs do not need bottom roster players, they need guys who can push ones they have down. This has been the issue for years, Gardiner, Kadri, tavares, muzzin etc. they need higher end players for insulation and bottom roster players do not help shield you near enough.

VAN can get something for Schenn and Motte separately.

Leafs should bring back Ron Hainsey, he was great with Reilly.

Love to hear what you get then in the cap situation the Leafs are. Your always quick to rip on others, but would love to hear what you think the Leafs should do to improve.

like i said, they should be looking for guys that create depth, not who are depth. If you cant find those guys then you shouldnt spend assets on low range guys who dont push the needle at all.
Every single year the leafs spend assets on 'depth' like schenn or motte and every year it hasnt worked. Like how many more times do you and others need to see that spending picks and prospects on low end guys does nothing?

Well there is a thing called a salary cap which Toronto has been hard up against for years adding anything more than depth guys require moving out core parts of the roster which I’m not sure any leafs fan should think as a good idea so adding depth guys is the only and best option they have it really does come down to being that simple.

Looking for who you think?
They are strapped with the cap. So curious who you think they should go after and giving up what?

As the 13th forward. I am fine with that. Schenn as the 7/8 defenceman is good as well.

Simmonds has one of the best expected goals for per 60 in the NHL. Simmonds has been great. Motte is the 13th forward.

woah really!?!?!?! crazy! So maybe instead of doing the same thing over and over again that never works, the leafs can keep the picks and prospects and not waste them on pieces that dont actually make them better and then either get more creative with the cap in the off season or draft and develop cheap talent.
It really is that simple, and if you look at 99.9% of deadline moves, they are generally just throwing away futures for guys that dont help and the ones that do work are for guys that actually create depth on a team.

He doesn't but who do you pickup to fix that? Giroux I guess but the cost will be high. However getting a better 13th forward isn't a bad idea. Clifford sucks

well it depends what is available and for how much. Cap strapped is not exactly something that is impossible to move around, especially when you have guys with salary who can go the other way and have banked deadline space you can use up, and it's weird to point out 'cap strapped' when part of this trade is adding over 2 million in cap for bottom roster players.
players i'd target that would actually move the needle include, giroux, Hertle, Rackell, Demelo, Severson etc etc, so basically the good players everyone here posts every day about, just without the insane over pays that generally go along with them.
what would i give up? For Hertle it's basically a 1st, Amirov like prospect player like Mikheyev and more, a guy like demelo would be considerably less.

well by definition most 13th forwards suck. and if you can get a good 4th liner like Motte for what he's worth to your team (IE a 4th) then that's fine too. but the issue is giving up 2nds or more for guys that dont make the team noticably better

There really are only 2 options available to upgrade RD. Klingberg and Severson. All other options are either not better than Holl or not much of an improvement where the cost is way too much for the marginal upgrade.

I am not sure that's entirely true. Sometimes adding a depth guy can pay off in a big way. Especially if you go deeper. I think having a better guy than Clifford for the 13th forward is a great idea. I also really want to see a better 8th defenceman because when injuries happen having better decent players helps. Obviously you can't replace a Matthews or any of the core 4 but you can't really replace them anyways. Hope for good health and prepare the best you can.

Yeah I agree completely. Most of the trades on here are massive overpays