Salary Cap: 2021/22 Season 81.5M AAV CAP Leafs

[Leaftors]

This thread is about next season, and the premise of any major change is that this group as built doesn't get it done in the post season. Obviously the hope is that they do.

Right, so we’re putting the cart before the horse and assuming they suck in the post season

 

[4thline]

fair enough. But I don't think that makes the Leafs a better team. Nylander imo is a better player than either of those guys moving forward

He is definitely a better player. But I think the "after" lines each beat their "before" counterparts in a head to head matchup, and it's at worst a push in terms of overall on ice impact. And then again, there's a huge trade haul on the side

 

[kb]

Right, so we’re putting the cart before the horse and assuming they suck in the post season

Exactly. I don't get this whole trade Nylander line heading into the deadline. This year it's not a question....you don't trade away from, you add to....and next year you have Andersen money to give towards Hyman, and Kerfoot is the other wild card.

The whole Nylander trade thing is stupid on every level without getting a better player than him back.

And for those who need it spelled out.....the Leafs had a 1 and 6 stretch where the only healthy goalie they had was the pre-season 4th stringer, Matthews playing injured, Muzzin playing injured, and Simmonds/Thornton out injured.

When they iced a mostly full roster, they are 23-4-3.

Let's pump the brakes on moves. Only a fool would trade away from the core. Thank god that's posters, and not management.

 

[Dreakmur]

The thing is, you can do most of these depth moves without trading Nylander so you can fit in an older, lesser ufa at 90% of his cost. Move out Kerfoot via trade or expansion plus savings from Andersen gives Dubas' some room to get creative.

Your plan is essentially trading Nylander to save literally less than 1 million in actual cap space I just don't see this making much sense.

No reason to trade Nylander.

If we go with a platoon in net and move out Kerfoot, we can add quite a bit next season.

Hoping Casey Czikas hits UFA. He would be exactly what we need at 3C.

 

[seanlinden]

I think it's become obvious that this team in their current form can win in the regular season, and likely compete with Tampa atop the (old) Division. They have great depth on D... and they have enough firepower up front to carry them as one of the leagues top offensive teams. They've shown the defensive discipline as well to basically (example being what they did to the Oilers a few weeks back). The question for me is -- how will they fair when "The going gets tough"?

It didn't go very well last time against Columbus (a team who they are substantially more skilled than); and Toronto's games against Winnipeg this year have for the most part been very close.

I have concerns that their bottom 6 on most nights seems to be almost a random collection of guys that just don't fit in the top 6; rather than containing a group that's built to shut down, play phyiscal, or be a substantial tertiary scoring threat. I have concerns in the top 6, that they're heavily reliant on their skill, and not necessarily adaptable to a dump & chase game if another team forces them into that. They don't have great size in that top 6 either.

Does that mean I'd trade William Nylander at the deadline? You don't subtract a core piece from a 1st place team mid-season. If they need cap space, you drop a Kerfoot or maybe Freddy Andersen. That being said, I do believe consideration should be given to that come the offseason.

Nick Robertson is going to be joining this team full time next year; and realistically, he's a top 6 player that should probably be playing with Matthews or Tavares. I don't think Nylander or Marner are the ideal wingers to be opposite Robertson. I think they need some size in that mix. Somebody that makes them more conducive to a dump & chase game that they may get forced into. There was a main boards post about Anthony Mantha. If you can get him, maybe this year, trade Nylander in the offseason.... you create that ideal "spot" for Nick Robertson; you save $1.3m on the cap to use towards building a "purposeful" 3rd line. You get a lot bigger and tougher to "sit back against".

maybe you end up with something like:

Hyman-Matthews-Marner
Robertson-Tavares-Mantha
Galchenyuk-Laughton-Mikheyev
Engvall-Spezza-Simmonds

And that's without considering what you might get for William Nylander.