I could see the Sabres doing that
Not for Mrazek, we’d just bury him in the AHL
I think a 2nd & 3rd might be enough to get us to take him

with all due respect to everyone trading mrazek away
1mil in cap space is not worth a 2nd and a 3rd round pick
just buy him out and keep the picks build around 1 an 81.5 million cap

When the Leafs need every dollar to spend during their window, and it's $1.4m in third and fourth year, and you can't sell it off once it happens combined with not many teams willing to spend real money on it...I believe that's why teams are right to ask for it and why TOR is in the tough spot.

When Matthews and Nylander are up, Mrazeks buyout goes to 1.4 million. Not good.

They be better off to retain a million or so and dump him with no asset attached than buy him out. If he’s only making 2.5 or so it shouldn’t be hard to move a goalie when teams will need guys. Then it’s off the books in 2 years.

Why do the leafs have to trade 3 assets including a first round pick for 1 year of varlamov? Vegas got nothing for MAF but varlamov gets this. I get the salaries are different but no way a first is going for him.

I think you are making the false assessment that teams would need a bad goalie at $2.5m. They aren't looking to do TOR a favor. There are goalies teams can get for cheaper.

I agree a 1st+ is too much to ask, but also MAF had a NMC and could have been far more picky if he wanted to move at all at the deadline and be away from his family. Varlamov can limit his to just half the teams.

Don’t think it’s crazy that a team would take a chance on him to rebuild his value and trade him for a pick. He hasn’t always been a bad goalie.

It's a tough comp to make - MAF was coming off a much better season, but a)he had the full NMC so he controlled his destiny; b)he was making $7M opposed to Varly's $5M($2.5M retained); and c)Vegas had just signed Robin Lehner to a significant deal *and* was in cap hell and NEEDED to move him. MAF basically said "fine send me to Chicago" and the Blackhawks could basically name their price at that point.

Why would anyone take the risk to help the Leafs without getting paid to take on the risk? Think about it from anyone else's POV.

Isles really can't retain any salary if they can help it.

That trade doesn't make a ton of sense for the Islanders, beyond the 2023 1st. Holl is a $2M 7th D if you're trading him to a team that already has Ryan Pulock, Noah Dobson, & Scott Mayfield signed next year, and Woll strikes me as an iffy prospect if he couldn't hack it on a team as thirsty for good goaltending as Toronto is.

The package the Isles would most likely push for instead would be a 2nd rounder and someone from your second tier of prospects (Steeves/Abramov/everyone around there.) If you want full retention, I think it's fair to bump the 2nd up to a 1st, or include a 3rd, dealer's choice on that one. If you want the Isles to do you the favor of taking Holl and his $2M off your hands on top of all that, you bump the 2nd to a 1st *and* include the 3rd.

MAF had a 10 team no trade. Wasn’t the whole thing that he found out on Twitter he was traded? He didn’t need to approve the deal.
So it’s a pretty close comparison besides the money. I would say the leafs would just look to take on the full salary if he can be had for a mid pick.

My bad, honestly thought he would've had the full NMC again after having to waive it for the expansion draft in the first place. That sneaky Vegas front office!!

I still think the other points stand - you're talking $7M vs. $2.5M and a team motivated to move MAF vs. a team that can comfortably carry Varlamov. The last part is the real sticking point - there's no one else that the Isles could get to back up Sorokin that would be as good as Varlamov in UFA (MAF/Kuemper/Campbell aren't signing to be backups and the UFA market gets U-G-L-Y real quick after those three names) and they have the cap space to live with him for 2022-23. Gonna have to be a decent package to convince them to downgrade their backup spot at this point.