The Cleveland Monsters are your 2023 Calder Cup champions.

He definitely ain’t signing here sadly. I would be overjoyed if he did tho. Also that top line is gonna score 500 goals. And allow 450.

CBJ might be the only team to offer Johnny hockey that much money, so there's a chance you'd get him.

We've got Voracek playmaking for Laine already, and Johnson getting ready to take over that role once Father Time brings Jake down. Gaudreau would be nice to have but I wouldn't want to spend that much money on him; I'd rather be able to keep the kids we're developing when they develop.

The problem with Voracek is older and would be better suited to play second line minutes. I also think it is very possible that Texier could still be viewed as a center and if surrounded by high offensive talent he might be able to push through. The team is going to need solid center depth but elite wings. I think Jarmo could be a dark horse for him.

#1) Second line minutes? Based on what? Prejudice?
#2) Did I or did I not already cite Johnson as the up and coming replacement for when he actually does start to show signs of age?


This has literally nothing to do with anything I said. We've already GOT "solid" center depth and at least one elite wing, and others are in development.

Johnson has to prove it first. I believe he will but Jarmo’s job is to put the best team he can on the ice.

His job is to put together the best roster on the ice long-term as well as short-term. Gaudreau would be a major short-term improvement, but that contract would be a severe impediment to keeping any of the benefits of our long-term investments. We would be losing all those developing kids right when Gaudreau is starting to fade and we therefore need them the most. It is therefore, more than likely, Not A Good Idea.

I don’t see it that way at all. In fact, it is expected that in the summer of 2024 the cap will skyrocket up. Cap space would not be an issue with this signing. And Gaudreau is not fading. He just had a career year. That is a bad take.

That's the kind of speculation that got Toronto into the situation they're in. I'd prefer they avoid signing massive contracts until the cap actually does go up. That way if they end up with Sillinger, Johnson, Roslovic and Marchenko all being worth a whole lot of money they can afford to re-sign their guys.

He turns 29 in August. He'll have several good years yet, but Father Time remains undefeated. Likely within a half-decade - by the time our kids are entering their primes and going for big new contracts - you'll see the effects of age catching up.

Now, if you can get him to that contract without nearly as much term, then we'll be both on the same page. But I think we both know he's not going for that.

Like if all of your young promising prospects will hit their ceiling and they’ll all want 6M+ lol

They don't have to hit their ceilings for it to be an issue. They have Gavrikov, Sillinger, Johnson, Marchenko, Chinkhov, Texier, Roslovic and Peeke all coming off either ELCs or bridge contracts in the next 2 years. The pure volume is the issue which would become a nightmare in this Gaudreau scenario if just 2 or 3 of those guys earn 5+ mil and the rest fall in the $2-4 mil range. Plus now they have Jiricek and Mateychuk to consider a few years down the line with Boqvist and Tarasov's new deals too. Johnny and any other high profile UFA/Trade target just isn't a fit in Columbus at the moment.

In two years you’ll have free up 5.5M Nyquist, 8.25M Voracek and 4M Roslovic … if Toronto can do it with 11.6M Matthews 11M Tavares 10.9M Marner 7.5M Reilly 7M Nylander pretty sure Columbus can figured it out with Gaudreau making 10M Werenski making 9.5M and Laine 9.25M. After everything will be under 6M

Are the Leafs figuring it out though? Seems like they had to give up a whole lot of players since those deals were signed that could have provided them with championship or at least 2nd round level depth.

I just like the Jackets cap future way more without Gaudreau at $10 mil. I'd also say there's zero certainty that Sillinger, Johnson and Marchenko will be under $6 mil/year. The team needs one more year to be able to project these things out more clearly before they go big game hunting on players like Gaudreau.

The Leafs are just cursed they are a good team tho

But can you wait one more year? The problem here is the need to sign Laine. If Jarmo is not aggressive in FA then it could cause Laine not to sign and then trade him. I imagine Werenski wouldn’t be happy either and would demand a trade. Then this team will have serious issues to deal with not only internally but from a player perspective. Getting Gaudreau and dealing with those issues in the future maybe better than have to deal away two core pieces now because Jarmo failed to make this team better. As for the cap, it is going to rise. We know this and it will also likely rise by a lot in two years. Why worry about it now considering most of these young guys haven’t even proved their worth yet.

Go watch exit interviews. Everyone in the organization, including Werenski and Laine, sees what they are building. They all know it's a couple years away and are prepared to work through the growing pains to get there. The best way forward is to give it a year and see how the kids project. Then if there is no emergence of a potential top line addition from within then you go out and get a guy in free agency or with a trade next year.

The biggest weapon we have is our cap space. It should be weaponized.

Signing a massive contract is the opposite of weaponizing cap space. That's committing cap space for the duration of their current competition window. Gaudreau isn't the guy and right now isn't the time.

The idea of bringing Gaudreau in is great, but they probably do not want to be that close to the cap when the dust settles.
DeBrincat would have been the perfect target for secondary LW scoring though, and he probably could have been had for the package he ended up returning from Ottawa.

Also, Laine prefers LW, and Bjorkstrand prefers RW. They would probably be better served switching, and Gaudreau and Laine playing on different lines.
Voracek is every bit as good a playmaker as Gaudreau, and still hasn't lost any speed.
So it would be a win-win to have Voracek set up Laine and Gaudreau to set up Bjorkstrand, since he is more of a finisher.

Also, the D is the same D as last year, and was very porous.
So you seem to be counting on the development of this 6 to improve drastically this upcoming year with no changes?

How about now?😁

I and clearly everyone in the hockey world is shocked haha. I was looking for this post to happily take some **** over what I said. Had I known he had such strong ties to Eric Robinson I would have given this far more consideration. Things are suddenly moving in a way different direction than just 24 hours ago for the CBJ's future.