Baby Steps Towards Contending (Read Description)

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Created by: MG1986

Team: 2017-18 Toronto Maple Leafs

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 20, 2017

Published: Jun. 20, 2017

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

My main goals were: (1) to keep the forward group as intact as possible - they scored a lot of goals so why mess with a good thing; (2) upgrade defense ground; and (3) upgrade specialty areas, such as face-off winning percentage, possession, etc.

I think I've accomplished all 3 goals, while trying to be as realistic in my offseason acquisitions possible. As a bonus, I have added some much needed post-season experience and I have not hindered the Leafs long-term cap situation in their ability to resign players over the next 2 season, specifically Matthews, Marner and Nylander.

Trade #1: pretty straight forward. Cole adds toughness and shot blocking ability and his skating is pretty good as well. Pens receive some young talent to offset veteran presence and save a bit of money. I honestly believe both Leivo and Carrick would strive in Pittsburgh.

Trade #2: the tag-line of this deal is offense for defense. Hurricane would acquire a 30-goal scoring young center on a great long-term contract, as well as big center prospect and the Leafs top offensive prospect in Bracco. Leafs receive that young right-handed blueliner that has the potential to be top-pairing, as well as take on the ugly contract of Jordan Staal. Staal is just still 28 years old and offers the Leafs a better match up center than Kadri. Staal also had a fantastic FOW% last year of 59% and career FOW% of 51.5%, both considerably better than Kadri. I feel this deal is a win-win for both teams.

Trade #3: Instead of taking just young winger from the Leafs unprotected list, Vegas gets 2, plus our 1st rounder (all young/future assets, which they are looking for) and take on Joffrey Lupul's remaining contract for a right-handed defenseman the Leafs need. As a bonus, Dumba played with Rielly on Team Canada at the IIHF World Championships last summer, or 2 summers ago. They were phenomenal together, especially on the power play.

Big Free Agent Signing - Patrick Marleau: a short term deal for an aging veteran that can still score. He will add experience to the Leafs, and be an effective weapon on Matthews' left side.

Free Agent Signings

RFA		YEARS	CAP HIT
Brown, Connor		3	$2,850,000
Hyman, Zach		3	$2,000,000

UFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Kuemper, Darcy	2	$1,250,000
Ryan, Derek	3	$1,250,000
Marleau, Patrick	2	$4,500,000

Trades

TOR

Cole, Ian
2018 3rd round pick (PIT)

PIT

Carrick, Connor
Leivo, Josh
2018 7th round pick (ANA)

Additional Details:

*Conditional draft pick: the 2018 7th round draft pick becomes the Leafs' 2018 3rd round pick (SJS), if Ian Cole re-signs. It becomes the Leafs' 2018 2nd round draft pick (SJS), if Ian Cole re-signs and the Leafs make the Semi Finals in the 2017-18 playoffs.

TOR

CAR

TOR

Rights to Wild D Matt Dumba

VGK

Lupul, Joffrey
Rychel, Kerby
2017 1st round pick (TOR)

Additional Details:

Rights to Brendan Leipsic

TOR

Dumba, Matt

Additional Details:

Acquired by Vegas via Expansion Draft

MIN

Buyouts

Tim Gleason: $1,333,333
Jared Cowen: $750,000
Mikhail Grabovski: $0

Retained Salary Transactions

Phil Kessel: $1,200,000 (15%)

Buried

Alexey Marchenko: $425,000 ($1,450,000)
Eric Fehr: $975,000 ($2,000,000)

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2017
2018
2019

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
22	$75,000,000	$70,512,500	$5,370,000	$4,707,500	$4,487,500

Roster

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Marleau, Patrick $4,500,000$4,500,000 LW, C UFA - 3	Matthews, Auston $925,000$925,000 ($2,850,000$3M) C UFA - 2	Nylander, William $894,167$894,167 ($850,000$850K) RW UFA - 1
van Riemsdyk, James $4,250,000$4,250,000 LW, RW M-NTC UFA - 1	Bozak, Tyler $4,200,000$4,200,000 C, RW M-NTC UFA - 1	Marner, Mitchell $894,167$894,167 ($850,000$850K) RW UFA - 2
Komarov, Leo $2,950,000$2,950,000 RW, LW, C UFA - 1		Brown, Connor $2,850,000$2,850,000 RW, LW UFA - 3
Martin, Matt $2,500,000$2,500,000 LW, RW UFA - 3		Hyman, Zach $2,000,000$2,000,000 RW, LW UFA - 4
Soshnikov, Nikita $736,666$736,666 ($125,000$125K) RW UFA - 1	Staal, Jordan $6,000,000$6,000,000 C, LW NMC UFA - 6
	Ryan, Derek $1,250,000$1,250,000 C, RW UFA - 1

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Rielly, Morgan $5,000,000$5,000,000 LD UFA - 5	Pesce, Brett $809,167$809,167 ($32,500$32K) RD UFA - 1	Andersen, Frederik $5,000,000$5,000,000 G M-NTC UFA - 4
Gardiner, Jake $4,050,000$4,050,000 LD UFA - 2	Zaitsev, Nikita $4,500,000$4,500,000 RD UFA - 7
Cole, Ian $2,100,000$2,100,000 LD/RD UFA - 1	Dumba, Matt $2,550,000$2,550,000 RD UFA - 1	Kuemper, Darcy $1,250,000$1,250,000 G UFA - 1
Marincin, Martin $1,250,000$1,250,000 LD UFA - 1

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
		Horton, Nathan $5,300,000$5,300,000 RW M-NTC, NMC UFA - 3

Special Teams

Power Play 1
Marleau, P.		Matthews, A.		Nylander, W.
	Rielly, M.		Dumba, M.

Power Play 2
van Riemsdyk, J.		Bozak, T.		Marner, M.
	Gardiner, J.		Zaitsev, N.

Penalty Kill 1
	Hyman, Z.	Staal, J.
	Cole, I.	Pesce, B.

Penalty Kill 2
	Komarov, L.	Ryan, D.
	Rielly, M.	Zaitsev, N.

Jun. 20, 2017 at 11:49 a.m.

JuniorGM

Joined: Sep. 2016

Posts: 679

Likes: 12

You make it sound like Staal is a cap dump. Canes need to hit the cap floor and he is one of the best possession/defensive centers in the league. You have to pay big for those guys. The Canes deal is just so lopsided for the leafs.

Jun. 20, 2017 at 11:56 a.m.

MG1986

Thread Starter

#LeafsFever

Joined: May 2017

Posts: 3,787

Likes: 932

Quoting: JuniorGM

He is being paid top center dollars on a long term deal for what a third line center should be doing, so yes, in some ways, it relieves the Canes of a bad contract, not to say Jordan Staal is a bad player. Nazem Kadri on the other hand is being paid #2 center dollars on a long term deal and producing, specifically with goals, what is expected of a #1 center, plus he has improved his defensive game, matches up quite well, too. Canes could certainly make use of the cap space relief this deal would provide, not to mention their long term outlook of resigning a whole bunch of their upcoming RFAs over the next couple of seasons. I believe the deal works for both teams. If you felt the deal needed to include, say Kasperi Kapanen going to the Canes, as well, I'd be possibly open to that, if the Canes included a reasonable draft pick.

Jun. 20, 2017 at 11:59 a.m.

JuniorGM

Joined: Sep. 2016

Posts: 679

Likes: 12

Quoting: MG1986

Quoting: JuniorGM

Like I said Staal is the 3rd best defensive center in the league and is in no way a 3rd line center.

Jun. 20, 2017 at 12:37 p.m.

MG1986

Thread Starter

#LeafsFever

Joined: May 2017

Posts: 3,787

Likes: 932

Quoting: JuniorGM

Quoting: MG1986

Like I said Staal is the 3rd best defensive center in the league and is in no way a 3rd line center.

Right, the Leafs would like Staal because of his defensiveness. Jordan Staal is a 1st line center on a terrible team. On each playoff team this season, excluding perhaps Montreal and maybe Nashville, Jordan Staal would be a third line center. He's not paid like a third line center, but his game is very much in the form of what a third line center is generally asked to do. Maybe his value maxes out as a 2nd line center, but between his contract AAV and term, he is considerably overpriced for what you are getting.

Jun. 20, 2017 at 1:54 p.m.

JuniorGM

Joined: Sep. 2016

Posts: 679

Likes: 12

Quoting: MG1986

Quoting: JuniorGM

Like I said Staal is the 3rd best defensive center in the league and is in no way a 3rd line center.

Hes the 2nd center on:
Hawks
wild
St.Blues
Sens
Habs
Leafs (yes hes better than Kadri)
Preds
The oiler if they play Drai on wing
Boston
CBJ

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