With all due respect, that Hart deal is exceptionally bad. Trade Murray with a 1st for a 2nd and run with Samsonov and Woll. That simple.

Wait... I forgot the 1st coming back to Toronto

The only “splash” the flyers are looking to make is trading out some bigger names like Hayes, TK, Provy and Sanheim. Only time it will be a splash coming back is if they are getting a highly touted prospect. They don’t want to bring in anyone 25 or older because they won’t fit the timeline. They want prospects to build from the ground up

Any better now?

Lmao dude I was like this has to be a troll job. That’s better, but if I’m TOR’s manager I’d just rock with Samsonov and Woll. They can get a better and more useful haul for Nylander if they were to move him imo.

With respect: I think it depends on Couturier's health.

Seems like Frost is working out as a potential 2C/3C and between Nylander, Konecny, Tippett, and Farabee... The Flyers could do some damage next year with a center line of Couturier, Hayes, Frost, Laughton

I like Hart a lot. I think there is a desire amongst certain Toronto fans to see them embrace a less top-heavy/more balanced team.

Bobrovsky, Vasilevskiy, Price... Leafs need to stop going up against these goalies without a 1A goalie

Columbus isn't trading all that for 1 year of Matthews.

Sign & Trades are not a thing with pending UFA's

Why do you say that? They are allowed to re-sign with their own teams as of July 1st and Matthews can accept a sign & trade if he wants to.

Regardless of where they finished CBJ have a good young team and they need a #1 Center but have a lot of other pieces.

Maybe Matthews would be happy to go somewhere quieter where he's not under the spotlight and still play with some awesome linemates like Gaudreau & Laine

But why would Columbus do that, whats the incentive to paying premium to have Toronto sign him beforehand?

Because they would NEVER do this trade unless they knew they were getting him under team control for 8-9 years...

Thats stupid, if Toronto gives them permission to talk then they can find out if he's willing to sign an 8 year extension without having him come pre-signed. If Toronto doesn't give them permission to talk then they are just a-holes like Vancouver was this year with Horvat.

Either way since Matthews has a full NMC, if he's not willing to sign with Columbus they would know because he would simply just block the trade

First off, we've always had a respectful discussion in the past, can we please keep it clean going forward?

I think it's equally silly to expect the Leafs to just let Matthews walk in 1 year. If they don't have a deal in place July 2nd, they need to go and ask him where he would be willing to sign long term and use the offseason to maximize the return.

If he just wants to walk to UFA, it is what it is, but I think the Leafs have always treated him well, and I don't think he would block a trade if he doesn't want to sign.

A sign & trade makes sense in this circumstance, even if it's rarely used.

I didn't call you stupid. I called that line of thinking by Columbus stupid. But sure ill refrain from using that language all together in our conversations.

They won't let Matthews walk in 1 year. Thats why Friedman thinks Treliving is the frontrunner for the GM job. He had this exact same issue in the last 2 years ago and has learned his lesson. (Along with other reasons he would be a good GM in Toronto). Friedman has also talked in lengths about how even if Dubas stayed he is quite confident Matthews was not going to have a deal done right away. Take MacKinnon for example, he didn't sign his extension until September 20th. Not having a deal done by July 2nd is not a reason to panic, a deal that big takes time to finalize so it won't be done in just 2 days.

The problem with a Sign & Trade is there have only been 2 in NHL history
1st was Marian Hossa right after the cap was introduced, he was signed by Ottawa then immediately traded without warning to Atlanta. He had no idea he was being traded when he signed that deal.
2nd was Matthew Tkachuk, last summer. That deal happened that was because of the covid CBA changes. Since Tlachuk's previous contract was over but Calgary still held his rights Calgary was the only team in the league that could offer him an 8 year deal. So Florida paid premium for him to be on an 8 year, pre-signed deal to bri g down his AAV and have him longer.

With Auston Matthews, as long as a team holds his rights before next years Trade Deadline then they are able to sign him to an 8 year extension. There is no incentive for a buying team to pay extra for him to come pre-signed

It's not about the extra year, it's about getting the chance to be the only team pitching him.

At the cost of Fantilli/Carlsson +++? Both of those prospects alone absolutely have the potential to be just as good as Matthews. There is no world where I would ever consider moving that pick for a pending UFA. Look how bad the Jones trade backfired for Chicago, and that was a Trade & Sign. There is no guarantee Columbus is even a playoff team next year even with Matthews

Carlsson/Fantilli as good as Matthews... I know he had a down year, but give me a break... He's a 100 point player who has scored 40+ goals 4 times in 4 years and who is just hitting his prime.

Is this really that hard to see? Adam Fantilli went into the NCAA at the same age as Jack Eichel (who is proving these playoffs he is absolutely still a top 10 center in the league, maybe even push back into top 5) and had a similar to even better year than Eichel did. He is only the 3rd Freshmen in history to with the Hobey-Baker. One I mentioned above and one is in the HoF

Im not sure if you watched the IIHF world Championships but Leo Carlsson looked pretty close to just as good as Fantilli out there. I would say Fantilli is more likely of the 2 to reach that Matthews level but Carlsson certainly has that potential. Look at Jack Hughes. People were calling him a bust after his first 2 seasons and now he is one of the best players in the league

I'm not saying any of Fantilli, Carlsson, Hughes are not top line players, but I fully expect Matthews to score 40-60 goals in each of the next 5 years, from the Center position, against the best competition the other team has to offer.

Essentially he's on another level.

Also, and with respect, if you base your player analysis on the IIHF WC, then I propose we trade Sam Montembeau for Rasmus Anderson straight up!

Currently yes he is, there are only 2 centers who are currently better than Matthews, McDavid and MacKinnon. Jack Hughes will probably be pretty close to on par with him or at least in the same league within the next 2 years though. Eichel was just as good as Matthews before he got hurt and even though it has taken some time he is absolutely returning to form, as this playoffs is showing. The point is Fantilli is very much a direct comparable to Eichel in terms of skill due to similar results in the same league.

I think you are getting a bit confused here with my mention of the WC. I am not proposing a some silly trade, based on results of the tournament. I am saying that these 2 undrafted prospects of age 18 have only performed head to head a couple times so far in their early careers, twice this season (at the WJC and the WC). In both instances both players both players looked exceptionally close in skill and potential. I would not be surprised if Anaheim takes Carlsson at #2 now, I don't think it will happen but I won't be completely bewildered like some of the choices in the top 4 last year.

Flyers decline

They have literally said they are rebuilding and building the team the right way. Even if Couturier comes back to 100% next year they cannot go into the season expecting that. They are not going to make the playoffs next year. They have already said as much. The plan is to shed long term contracts and get younger. Couturier is the exception because even if they wanted to trade for him, no team would trade for him. But everyone else is on the table. Torts wants to subtract players that don’t fit what he’s doing. And hitting the reset button.

I'm all for a "sign and trade". But no way is Matthews signing long term in Columbus. Flyers shouldn't be the team giving up in effect a first for Nylander....though it looks like a pretty fair trade. But as suggested above, Leafs should be good with Samsonov and Woll in net.