Keefe: "We're too top heavy with contracts. I need better guys in the bottom six."
Dubas: "I got you covered." *Signs another 8-figure contract*
Keefe: *Facepalm*

Toronto front office, probably.

Samsonov is needed more than Meier, even if Murray is good, he's injury prone. Just sign Meier to 8.5m, go cheapest on 4LW/4C as possible and give Samsonov another 1 or 2 year deal

I would sign Samsonov to a reasonable 2-3 year contract ($3.5 MIL??) and buy out Murray. Murray's cap hit on a buy out would only be $687,500 next year. $2 MIL the following year but the cap will be going up anyway.

https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout-calculator/matt-murray1

Darryl Sutter famously said while he was coaching the Kings during their heyday that top six players get you into the playoffs, but the bottom six wins you the Cup.

That would give us maybe around 4 million with 20 guys on the roster. It all depends on the playoff run. If Murray takes the net Samsonov’s next contract would be affordable

True the buyout seems like the best option

I hope Leafs management (and I hope Leafs fans) realize that trading away futures for TDL or even expensive RFAs is a losing proposition. Gee look at the track record (and just not for the Leafs), most TDLs don't help the "buyers" at all to succeed. . The Leafs really haven't had this in years as I result they try to get lucky in low priced UFAs .
Leafs have just Holmberg on a ELC, and three players on their first RFA contract Liljegren, Sandin and Engvall, besides the first cap first rounders Matthews/Nhylander,Marner/Reily.

The next years won't be as good for the Leafs without the cheap Knies, Niemelan and maybe young assets. Paying UFA cap for Meier for his new contract and then giving up assets to get him seems counter productive.

I think that would be best plan. One thing, let's say Samsonov dazzles in the playoffs then his price maybe by an offer sheet goes way up. And I wouldn't guarantee the cap goes up that much, That's been promise of Bettman for over 25 years, and the NHL has not been able to secure a meaningful US network $$$$$ yet.

I suspect Brandon Pridham knew this when they traded for Murray last summer.

Murray will not be bought out, Dubas will bribe a team to take him, The Hawks, Murray and Mrazek duo.

That would be epic.

Leafs can't afford that 2m cap hit really, best to keep him on the books, maybe he ends up on LTIR or someone wanta him. The following year they will face a bigger squeeze if they manage to sign Matthews and whoever else is still around from Nylander, Sandin and Liljegren.



Better yet would be if Meier signs 8mx8. The best option might be just to trade him, which is why giving up Knies is what they probably should avoid. Robertson probably needs to be shipped off since he needs a place where he can be valued as a skills player, the heavy style of play just causes him to get injured.

Another insane idea (depending on what the cost of acquisition was) is to convince Meier to sign a 7.5mx1 deal, maybe he bets on himself or perhaps he chooses security. Chances are that he would be walked into free agency this way/they trade him in the next offseason to his desired location so that he can get that 8th year or if the cap goes up enough they could sign him as well.

If I were him I’d be wary of that. He had a slow start to the season but now there’s teams willing to match his qualifying. I wouldn’t take anything less and walk

I would have to agree, considering that his career high was in a contract year, then he had two down years until he set a career-high last year. Reminds me a lot of Jeff Skinner, so would be best for him to get his 9mx8 or whatever he can get this off-season. He's only a PPG player though, so playing on a team like the Leafs he should be able to at least match that but perhaps he doesn't get sufficient PP time. Another thing to be wary about for him, is that the Leafs are playing more playoff-style hockey (at least this year) in the regular season in terms of focusing on defensive play. They may have done it out of necessity with the injuries they had on the backend or maybe they had a shift in perspective like Tampa Bay did once they got swept by Columbus.


Funny that Skinner matched his career high last season for the 4th time, he really loves 63 lol, this year he looks like he's back on track and about to get 80+.