Grit Defense and Penalty Kill for playoffs

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Created by: Gag1

Team: 2023-24 Toronto Maple Leafs

Initial Creation Date: Feb. 5, 2024

Published: Feb. 5, 2024

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

These trades address 3 key needs for the Leafs
1) A physical winger to play with Matthews/Marner (ex. Similar to Hyman/Bunting) who can play along the boards, turn pucks of with physical play and mix it up when Florida brings it.
2) Defense who can play the right side and kill penalties.
3) A versatile 4th line checker who can kill penalties.

Anderson has a bad contract and the Habs would likely have to pay to move him. This is a Hughes type of trade that brings in a 1st, 3rd (and they can likely flip Brodie for a 2nd too). If the Leafs are giving up their 1st, at least they will get Anderson for 3 more years at a contract that is more aligned to his actual value. This is also a player that Trelving tried to acquire previously in Calgary.

McCabe and Savard are the shut down pair. Benoit and Dumba can also help to kill penalties, freeing up Reilly and Liljegren to support the Power play.

Sundqvist is a versatile grinder who can play 4th line. He can also play Center if needed and is a decent penalty killer.

The leafs most likely 1st round opponent is Florida. Bennett, Tkachuk, Cousins etc. will be mixing it up and Reaves will only play 6-8 minutes (if he plays at all). These acquisitions provide more grit, improve the defense and help the Leafs with their lousy penalty kill.

I have to admit Treliving has his work cut out for him. No cap space, few picks and prospects. What do you think?

Trades

TOR

Anderson, Josh ($2,750,000 retained)
Savard, David

Additional Details:

Leafs give up their first but get Anderson at a contract that is more aligned to his actual value. He uses his speed and toughness in a role similar to Hyman/Bunting.

MTL

Brodie, TJ
Timmins, Conor
2024 1st round pick (TOR)
2024 3rd round pick (NYI)

Additional Details:

Hughes does what he does best and flips Brodie to a contender before the deadline for another 2nd (ex. 1st, 2nd and 3rd).

TOR

Dumba, Matt ($1,950,000 retained)

ARI

Abruzzese, Nick
Robertson, Nicholas
2024 5th round pick (CGY)
2025 5th round pick (CHI)

TOR

Sundqvist, Oskar

Additional Details:

Leafs get a helpful 4th line checker and support on the penalty kill.

STL

McMann, Bobby
2024 4th round pick (TOR)
2024 5th round pick (VAN)

Additional Details:

Blues get a younger version of Sunqvist and two mid-round picks.

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2024
2025
2026

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
22	$83,500,000	$82,822,283	$0	$0	$677,717

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Anderson, Josh $2,750,000$2,750,000 RW, LW M-NTC UFA - 4	Matthews, Auston $11,640,250$11,640,250 C NMC UFA - 1	Marner, Mitchell $10,903,000$10,903,000 RW NMC UFA - 2
Bertuzzi, Tyler $5,500,000$5,500,000 LW, RW NMC UFA - 1	Tavares, John $11,000,000$11,000,000 C, LW NMC UFA - 2	Nylander, William $6,962,366$6,962,366 RW NMC UFA - 1
Knies, Matthew $925,000$925,000 LW, RW RFA - 2	Domi, Max $3,000,000$3,000,000 C, RW M-NTC UFA - 1	Järnkrok, Calle $2,100,000$2,100,000 RW, C, LW M-NTC UFA - 3
Gregor, Noah $775,000$775,000 LW, RW RFA - 1	Kämpf, David $2,400,000$2,400,000 C M-NTC UFA - 4	Sundqvist, Oskar $775,000$775,000 RW, C UFA - 1

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Rielly, Morgan $7,500,000$7,500,000 LD NMC UFA - 7	Dumba, Matt $1,950,000$1,950,000 RD UFA - 1	Samsonov, Ilya $3,550,000$3,550,000 G UFA - 1
McCabe, Jake $2,000,000$2,000,000 LD/RD M-NTC UFA - 2	Savard, David $3,500,000$3,500,000 RD UFA - 2	Jones, Martin $875,000$875,000 G UFA - 1
Benoit, Simon $775,000$775,000 LD UFA - 1	Liljegren, Timothy $1,400,000$1,400,000 RD RFA - 1
Giordano, Mark $800,000$800,000 LD UFA - 1	Lagesson, William $775,000$775,000 LD/RD UFA - 1

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
	Woll, Joseph $766,667$766,667 G RFA - 2	Muzzin, Jake $5,625,000$5,625,000 LD M-NTC UFA - 1
		Murray, Matt $4,687,500$4,687,500 G M-NTC UFA - 1
		Klingberg, John $4,150,000$4,150,000 RD M-NTC UFA - 1

Taxi Squad
Reaves, Ryan $1,350,000$1,350,000 ($200,000$200K$200,000$200K) RW UFA - 3

Feb. 5 at 9:01 p.m.

JMSTL2019

Joined: May 2023

Posts: 240

Likes: 64

Blues pass, Sunny isn’t getting moved unless he wants to and he loves STL.

Feb. 5 at 9:01 p.m.

Bee

Joined: Jul. 2023

Posts: 893

Likes: 123

Edited Feb. 11 at 11:07 a.m.

Feb. 5 at 9:03 p.m.

JaredOfLondon

Joined: May 2019

Posts: 19,705

Likes: 7,376

Josh anderson is absolutly nothing like Bunting or Hyman. He's a rush scorer, not a net front guy. He doesnt grind pucks out of corners half as well as either of them and he doesnt work a cycle well, he's also abysmal defensively.
Not to mention Savard's contract is awful and kills any value Anderson's retention gets you, because he's a 7th defender who cant defend.
Dumba also sucks pretty bad defensively.
this is not a better defensive team or PK team, but sure, the leafs will get a lot more penalties from all that toughness

Feb. 5 at 9:20 p.m.

Gag1

Thread Starter

Grumpy Gorilla

Joined: Jul. 2021

Posts: 116

Likes: 49

Quoting: JaredOfLondon

Anderson is a Power Forward (or a poor man's power forward). I agree that his speed helps him on the rush, but he is 2nd on the Habs in hits and his physical play will create space for Mathews/Marner. He is bad defensively and he is prone to to taking penalties... But the Leafs need a player with some toughness who can actually play (ex. Reeves will be in the press box). I would normally target Tavev and Laughton but I think the price will be too high on both players - hence I was trying to be creative.

What would you do then?

Feb. 5 at 9:22 p.m.

STLBlues17

Sam

Joined: Jan. 2018

Posts: 5,240

Likes: 2,188

Quoting: JMSTL2019

Blues pass, Sunny isn’t getting moved unless he wants to and he loves STL.

Could always just sign him again

Feb. 5 at 9:26 p.m.

JaredOfLondon

Joined: May 2019

Posts: 19,705

Likes: 7,376

Quoting: Gag1

hits is a garbage stat and measures nothing because it isnt counted with any consistency, plus when a guy who has a lot of hits it simply means he never has the puck. He doesnt create space for habs players and he's not gonna do it for the leafs either. He's a speedy one way 3rd liner and shouldnt be in any teams top 6 if they are trying to go anywhere.

Feb. 5 at 10:50 p.m.

Campabee

Joined: Nov. 2018

Posts: 15,504

Likes: 6,437

Habs aren't hurting for cap space so retaining 50% on Anderson is likely off the table, maybe we would retain 1 mil but highly unlikely we would retain half especially when his buyout is a better option.

Feb. 5 at 11:07 p.m.

LuckyMoneyPuck

SkateOrDie

Joined: Feb. 2024

Posts: 1,914

Likes: 333

Quoting: JaredOfLondon

Hits is not a garbage stat and it does measure something..... the more hits you have the more likely you didn't have possession of the puck

Feb. 5 at 11:08 p.m.

LuckyMoneyPuck

SkateOrDie

Joined: Feb. 2024

Posts: 1,914

Likes: 333

Quoting: Gag1

another "needs toughness"

why not just focus more on you know.... playing hockey.

Feb. 5 at 11:24 p.m.

#10

What_Are_you_Drouin

Joined: Nov. 2018

Posts: 887

Likes: 500

Habs arent retaining 50% of anderson for the next 3 seasons

Feb. 5 at 11:42 p.m.

#11

dannibalcorpse

we miss leo k

Joined: Feb. 2018

Posts: 5,973

Likes: 5,107

Both teams decline that first trade. There are honestly better options out there to fit both the archetypes you're trying to fill here: instead of 3x$2.75M of Josh Anderson, why not call up the Capitals and see how much Anthony Mantha fully retained ($2.85M AAV with 50% retention) would cost? I feel pretty confident you're not going to be parting with a 1st rounder in that kinda deal. And if you're looking for two playoff runs out of a burly RHD, why not see what the Habs want for Jonathan Kovacevic (6'5", 223 lbs)? Savard is definitely the less-awful player coming back, I just think he's going to give you production similar to what you got out of Luke Schenn last season, except the cap hit is going to come in much higher.

On the other side, Montreal probably wants the farm for trading Anderson & retaining for the next 3 seasons. I also agree that TJ Brodie on an expiring deal has minimal value for a team mid-rebuild - I'd be shocked if he finished the year on Montreal in this situation. If I'm the Habs, just give me the actual 2nd rounder you think he's worth and then feel free to do the legwork yourself.

Feb. 6 at 2:10 a.m.

#12

bwhsocal

Joined: Jun. 2023

Posts: 2,844

Likes: 834

Quoting: JaredOfLondon

dumba sucks beyond blue line, most all his issues are getting caught up ice and doesnt have speed to recover, in the d zone and pk he has been pretty good. still overall woefully disappointing. he has physical game still, AZ does this trade, robertson might be what he shows flashs of and dumba is TDL

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