Leafs decline, they will want a first round pick at least

Trading for POJ to trade away Vaak doesnt really make much sense, we just offer sheet Sandin at 4.2M at that point and only give up a second

Id make that EDM trade every chance I get

Im not convinced POJ is even better than Mahura honestly, that PIT deal is really bad for us

Not sure how much leverage the Leafs really have. I personally wouldn’t hold my breath for a 1st

The PIT one I’m the least sure about. Tbh I’m all but out on Mahura. I’ve never seen him look like an NHLer when he’s played with the big club. Haven’t seen much of POJ at all but like his size and heard/read pretty good things. Is he really not materially better than Mahura?

I've always been high on Mahura, even with his struggles so far, im not convinced POJ is an upgrade on him.

Benoit and Vaak are a wash with POJ if not better

Zucker is gonna take at least a first to dump, there are only 5 teams that can take his AAV on without sending cap back. ANA, ARI, BUF, CHI, DET

I cant see him wanting to go to ARI or CHI, so that leaves best case 3 teams that can take him on. Us BUF and DET. he is going to cost a first to dump as much as pens fans wont like it

POJ isnt even enough for me to take Zucker, i would legitimately still want a first attached because I dont see much value in POJ for us, best case he gives us a guy on par with Benoit and Vaak, worst case hes worse than Mahura, and we took on a huge cap hit, and gave up a better player, and two draft picks for an AHLer

No upside to that for us

rather pay something to move foegele

Tons of leverage, Sandin is an RFA with no arb rights, no need to trade him unless they get exactly what they want

I mean there’s some loss of leverage when he won’t even sign until there’s an opening for him on the roster..

Lol fair. I guess that’s more just from the ANA perspective. Wouldn’t take Foegele for anything right now as ANA

Doesn’t mean much to the Leafs, he can sit if he wants. Better off offer sheeting him at a price you don’t think the leafs wouldnt match

I don't blame ya

I’m not understanding your POV. That’d be the same thing as the offer I just made minus Vaakanainen that you said wasn’t enough. How’s that better for TOR? ANA can easily afford $4.2M x2

I don't get your logic.

TOR doesn't have room for Sandin at LD, but they have room for Vaakanainen?

Sandin is holding out on contract negotiations until they make room for him at LD. Also, he’ll cost $1M more than Vaak and TOR is up against the cap.

Vaakanainen is signed to a low salary, and doesn’t have the contract issue to hold out from being the 7th man. He’ll likely get decent time considering injuries among the much older TOR LDs which should be fine by him. Also, I mentioned it could be for a younger LD who wouldn’t have roster ambitions this year like Lacombe

Toronto matches at 2 million though. The idea is that Toronto isn’t going to give him away. Toronto would want the offer sheeting team overpaying for what Sandin is worth, the outcome is still a 2nd round pick to Toronto (in this case) and the team offer sheeting him loses out on more cap space

I'd love to know where that rumour came from that he's holding out until they make room for him at LD. Gio and Holl will sit at times this year, Sandin will get his playing time. He also has to earn it.

It's really not as difficult as people are making it out to be to move money. Anderson and Clifford likely start in the AHL and now you have the cap space. Sign Sandin, move Holl or Kerfoot and you're fine.

I’ll be honest I don’t see how that makes any sense at all. If you compare the scenario of getting a 2nd and Vaak with ANA (not a competitor, also plenty of cap) signing for $2M vs TOR getting only a 2nd and ANA signing for $4.2M I don’t see any way the latter is better. All good though. Agree to disagree