Salary Cap: 24-25 Salary Thread Crosbicles Volume MXVI: End of season wrap up

[Gurglesons]

The Leafs are so going to blow this team up this summer. Even if the Penguins aren't directly involved, the resulting impact around the league is going to give the Pens some opportunities on young players who either need a change of scenery or who are being blocked.

What young players do the Leafs have? Lol

 

[Turin]

I maintain that Crosby can fix whatever is wrong with Marner. But it's not gonna fit the timeline and Dubas was gonna trade his ass anyway.

 

[farscape1]

Better not touch Mitch Marner. Kid is a no show in the playoffs. The exact opposite of the type of player you win playoff games with (not that we will be seeing them for a long time)

Hey if he helps us get there and Sid gets a few playoff points then im game.

 

[SomeDude]

The Leafs idea of blowing it up will be taking Jarry for free and letting Marner walk to sign Ehlers. Same poop, different corn.

 

[wheelz87]

Almost kinda feel bad for the Leaf fans.

Almost.

In a continued effort to get passed "was Hornqvist a good player" discussion that we are for some reason on...

IF we are able acquire a young wing prospect like Howard AND we end up taking a wing like Eklund in the draft, how would everyone feel about using Koivunen to get a center prospect of equal value?

Like, I don't know if it's realistic or if Boston does it but Matthew Poitras would be a good example of a player for player swap. Obviously they are light on centers but...so are we.

100% I’d be down for a deal like that.

 

[Turin]

The Leafs idea of blowing it up will be taking Jarry for free and letting Marner walk to sign Ehlers. Same poop, different corn.

Wouldn't be terrible. Ehlers has 10x the balls Marner has. But Ehlers aint signing there

 

[DesertedPenguin]

In a continued effort to get passed "was Hornqvist a good player" discussion that we are for some reason on...

IF we are able acquire a young wing prospect like Howard AND we end up taking a wing like Eklund in the draft, how would everyone feel about using Koivunen to get a center prospect of equal value?

Like, I don't know if it's realistic or if Boston does it but Matthew Poitras would be a good example of a player for player swap. Obviously they are light on centers but...so are we.

Or, you use Karlsson/Rust/Rakell to acquire assets to acquire centers and other pieces over the next couple of years, giving you wing depth that includes Koivunen, McGroarty, Howard, and Eklund, among others.

Not everything needs to be done this summer. You can parlay assets over the next couple of years to continue to build as necessary.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

What young players do the Leafs have? Lol

No, the Leafs blow it up, Tavares and Marner go elsewhere. That shakes up the free agency/trade dynamics, which may shake someone loose from another team that isn't currently available.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

Better not touch Mitch Marner. Kid is a no show in the playoffs. The exact opposite of the type of player you win playoff games with (not that we will be seeing them for a long time)

Marner was over a point per game in the playoffs this year. Could he have been better? Sure. But I wouldn't call him a no-show.

Toronto got crushed in their own zone against Florida and that ultimately deflated the offense. They couldn't escape their zone.

 

[Gurglesons]

No, the Leafs blow it up, Tavares and Marner go elsewhere. That shakes up the free agency/trade dynamics, which may shake someone loose from another team that isn't currently available.

I don't really follow this.

 

[Gurglesons]

Better not touch Mitch Marner. Kid is a no show in the playoffs. The exact opposite of the type of player you win playoff games with (not that we will be seeing them for a long time)

Had a big performance at 4 Nations with Sid and McDavid.

Matthews seemes like the big no show up there.

 

[SEALBound]

Or, you use Karlsson/Rust/Rakell to acquire assets to acquire centers and other pieces over the next couple of years, giving you wing depth that includes Koivunen, McGroarty, Howard, and Eklund, among others.

Not everything needs to be done this summer. You can parlay assets over the next couple of years to continue to build as necessary.

I don't disagree. That's certainly a viable and reasonable strategy. Mine was just more of "for discussion sake".

I was just pondering how do we deal from a position of strength for a position of weakness if we score some good solid wings in this off-season and in the draft.

Like just spitballin and freewheeling here:

EK to CAR for 1st+Walker
Rakell to LA for 1st
2nd+Pono to TBL for Howard
Koivunen for Poitras
2025 Draft: Eklund
2026 Draft: Roobroeck

Top 6 centers are Roobroeck and Poitras; Top 6 wings are McG, Eklund, Howard, and a FA/Draft/Existing guy

 

[Pancakes]

What young players do the Leafs have? Lol

Knies

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Nobody on the Leafs does anything for this team now or moving forward, and there's no way anybody from that team wants to go from a decade of losing to a team in the Pens' position; two years out from a Sid retirement and probably like half a decade of rebuild. Meanwhile, they're already seven years removed from a playoff round win themselves, and have missed three times in a row. Yeah, match made in heaven.

 

[Gurglesons]

Knies

Why would we want to spend 9 million dollars on a bigger version of Bryan Rust?

 

[Lustaf]

Knies

They aren't letting him go.

Tavares, Marner, yea I can see that but not Knies.

The perception is that he's got that dog in him and doesn't stop trying.

 

[SEALBound]

They aren't letting him go.

Tavares, Marner, yea I can see that but not Knies.

The perception is that he's got that dog in him and doesn't stop trying.

Doesn't sound like he wants to leave either.

 

[Turin]

Hire Mitch Love, sign Mitch Marner f*** mitches get money we ball again for Geno's last year

 

[Pancakes]

Why would we want to spend 9 million dollars on a bigger version of Bryan Rust?

I was just answering your question. It's pretty much Knies.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

I don't really follow this.

Marner and Tavares leave Toronto, amidst other changes there. Two pieces that weren't necessarily guaranteed to be available in free agency. Now they are. It creates a potential arms race. If Carolina, for example, grabs Marner, it may force other teams in the East to be more aggressive to respond.

It may make the market for Rakell or Karlsson richer. It may lead to a team grabbing Ehlers instead of relying on a young player to make their mark in their top six.

This isn't a great free agent class. There is the potential that some teams will try to avoid big contract mistakes with the rising cap and try to play it safe. So if a big piece or two is suddenly available, it may ratchet up the pressure.

 

[Turin]

Fr tho screw it. Get a defenseman, get Marner, play the kids, have a coach that's actually saying something new. They will make the playoffs.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Yeah, I kinda agree with DP. Though I don't think anything's really changed. It's been common knowledge that Marner was probably hitting FA regardless, but this cements it. Odds were decent Tavares would as well.

Still think it bodes well for the Pens to fleece some teams who miss out on big signings. But the hurdle remains; the team's gonna need to pick a lane and actually commit to moving EK, Rakell, and their beloved Rust.

 

[DesertPenguin]

In a continued effort to get passed "was Hornqvist a good player" discussion that we are for some reason on...

IF we are able acquire a young wing prospect like Howard AND we end up taking a wing like Eklund in the draft, how would everyone feel about using Koivunen to get a center prospect of equal value?

Like, I don't know if it's realistic or if Boston does it but Matthew Poitras would be a good example of a player for player swap. Obviously they are light on centers but...so are we.

I'd feel the same way I did when we sent out Yager for McGroarty. Concerned we let a good player out the door but intrigued by the prospect of an even better one coming back. It just has to work out.

 

[DesertPenguin]

Better not touch Mitch Marner. Kid is a no show in the playoffs. The exact opposite of the type of player you win playoff games with (not that we will be seeing them for a long time)

Sounds like Phil Kessel circa 2015. Same team too. That worked out.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

How about instead of doing the dumbest possible shit imaginable that'll continue to set this team back years from relevance, for the sake of getting a 4-1 or 4-0 playoff showing, the team just trades EK and Rakell this summer and gets a haul for Rust at the TDL next season, and commits to actually building a team worth a damn for the foreseeable future.