Around the NHL: PTO Season Becomes Waiver Season

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Matthews is gone…he goes to a US market…Toronto signs Aho or Dubois

Dumbas can hoist this as he walks out

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Aho?

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

I will say the Panthers are no fluke. They were one shot away from missing the playoffs but they did win the Presidents Trophy last year and they made a huge trade where they did end up with the best player - a legit MVP candidate in any other season. Bobrovsky has been a playoff star in the past.

How many times have we seen a Presidents Trophy winner falter in the playoffs, then come back the next season without as many points but much better in the post season? Look at the Lightning after they set records in the regular season then lost to the Blue Jackets. Took a step back but then won two Cups in a row.

Sometimes all what really matters is getting hot at the right time of the year.

And staying away from injuries.

But yes, Florida was very much the Crown Prince waiting quietly in the wings. Definitely legit.

Prediction: Gudas will never be a Buffalo Sabre.

Prior to this playoff run, I considered him to be just an ex-eastern block KGB/Stassi thug..... lol...

 

[zenthusiast]

idk, Marner just completely disappears in the playoffs. Plays way too soft/small of a game for the post-season. He has 10 goals in 50 career playoff games. For comparison, Matthews is only 1 shy of that total over the last 2 seasons (18 games). The fact that Matthews is on the brink of UFA definitely complicates things a bit, though. I don't envy whatever GM is charged with righting that ship.

He’s certainly got some stylistic differences but he increased his per game production from the regular season. If the leafs didn’t get goalied yet again he’d be up there in the overall scoring lead

I guess the ideal is that he’s in a Kucherov-like role but the leafs lack meaningful depth. I do wonder if Old Man Tavares is a real Stamkos analogue

 

[debaser66]

I’m totally cool with Canada extending their Stanley Cup less streak. That’s all I will say about that.

why is that?

 

[OkimLom]

Toronto is a top 5 team in the league. They are a rebuilt defense away from taking that next step. But if they feel the need to blow up a core that is the base of their offense, and weaken their team, who are we to convince them otherwise.

Change the makeup of their defense to make it more mobile and dangerous in transition and they’d be in a better spot.

 

[debaser66]

kinda classless

 

[OkimLom]

why is that?

Just a personal preference.

kinda classless

Seeing as he held the Defenseman’s stick to interfere on the play that created space for the OT, also a guy that got lucky.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

My thoughts so far in these playoffs -

Bruins are going downhill no matter what the front office decides to do...maybe not even a playoff team next season (so sad...Marchand can F off). Same for TB and half their roster.

Toronto will still be strong but they won't get better. Like Boston, half the roster will be UFA and their top-heavy cap structure limits options. Good luck finding a trade partner for any of their expensive players, if they so choose. Hopefully an implosion looms.

Florida finally got their crap together in April and turned into the team they should have been most of the season. Aside from dickhead, I like their team and am happy for them. They'll be mostly intact next season and still a tough team...minus a SC cup run hangover.

Carolina is in great shape now and for the next few seasons. If it's not them blocking Buffalo in a conference final, it might be NJ. As long as Brind'Amour is HC, they'll be strong...and very frustrating. Nobody else in that division will be good for a while.

I don't really care about any Central teams, and I don't expect anyone but Dallas to be good for a while. I can't ever like them though. 1999 will never go away.

In the Pacific, Edmonton is Canada's last hope and I feel they deserve to have a team in the finals. OTOH, as much as I enjoy some Eichel schadenfreude I always lean toward the underdog in a head-to-head. Eichel has had McDavid driven into his face as the better player since draft day, and to his credit Eichel has played well in this series. I wouldn't be too upset if Vegas pulls it off, and he can get a bit of relief from the constant comparison. Then again, a guy like Eichel is always looking for a reason to have a chip on his shoulder, so it will be something else for him to be snarky about later.

There really is nobody worth rooting for, except for the least hated team taking out the others...so that's FL. I will thank this TDL for further depleting the draft picks of our best division rivals. Bos, Tor, TB and FL have a total of 3 1sts and 3 2nds all the way through the 2025 draft. It's a three team race with Det and Ott to take over the division. Det is behind on talent, and Ott is behind on a couple draft picks this year. Advantage - Buffalo.

 

[Chainshot]

I wonder if the Leafs' top-heavy roster failures gives other GMs pause in future signings.

 

[Ehran]

Toronto is a top 5 team in the league. They are a rebuilt defense away from taking that next step. But if they feel the need to blow up a core that is the base of their offense, and weaken their team, who are we to convince them otherwise.

Change the makeup of their defense to make it more mobile and dangerous in transition and they’d be in a better spot.

Not really sure they have the cap space to rebuild that defense sufficiently without breaking something up in their top end roster and salaries.

Nor do they really have the draft capital to make moves. The 1st they have from Boston is 28th in the draft. Some value there but not a ton, and no 2nd, 3rd, or 4th round picks, either.

So they have to move someone to gain cap room to add, or they need to move someone to get draft picks to do any sort of rebuild.

At least, IMO. There may be other ways and I'm sure they'll try to be creative this offseason.

I do not, however, wish their fan base well in those efforts.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

Prior to this playoff run, I considered him to be just an ex-eastern block KGB/Stassi thug..... lol...

He still is in my book. What changed for you?

 

[Ace]

I wonder if the Leafs' top-heavy roster failures gives other GMs pause in future signings.

GMs aren’t going to choose to let star players walk or trade them for parts if they can help it. The failure has always been bringing in Tavares. They shut the window on themselves by giving all the depth money or fix the defense money to a redundant regular season star who doesn’t help you when it matters in the playoffs. Maybe it makes a team think twice about paying top dollar to a star skill forward when your identity is three star skilled forwards already. But not in paying your own. And that’s an extremely rare scenario anyway.

 

[Chainshot]

GMs aren’t going to choose to let star players walk or trade them for parts if they can help it. The failure has always been bringing in Tavares. They shut the window on themselves by giving all the depth money or fix the defense money to a redundant regular season star who doesn’t help you when it matters in the playoffs. Maybe it makes a team think twice about paying top dollar to a star skill forward when your identity is three star skilled forwards already. But not in paying your own. And that’s an extremely rare scenario anyway.

It very much will give teams pause when they look at what they will pay for outside help.

 

[Gras]

why is that?

Makes things much more entertaining, things were so much better in MLB when the Sox and Cubs curses still existed.

 

[Dingo44]

Toronto lose? That's a shame.....a damn shame I tell ya

Toronto lose? That's a shame.....a damn shame I tell ya

 

[Cirris]

There’s a reason big name players don’t move. You can’t trade Matthews, Eichel, Tkachuck unless you are trading the guy for another the guy or you’re forced to take lesser value. No team is going to gut themselves for 1 guy because then there’s no reason to pursue that guy anymore. So there’s this built in cap for how much a team can trade for a player before it no longer makes sense.

We were playing the what if game tonight and just kept coming back to, unless there’s a Tkachuck for Hubercanwehave easiernamestospellfortheaverageguy, Toronto is better off going into a rebuild than they are piecing off these players. Tavares is an anchor on their cap structure and Nylander + Marner is just allocating funds to the wrong positions. Nylander makes the best sense to move but you hit that age old problem here’s my worst good player I want your top nhl rdy prospect and the other gm goes no way. But Marner is also probably too good a player to get a team to make an acceptable package available.

Hate to say it for Toronto fans but it’s almost not worth trying anything until Tavares is gone in 2 years. Give Matthews a new contract and just kick the can until you can until that contract is gone. Deal Nylander for some great contracts and deal with the talent loss.

Honestly, even when Matthews signed his current contract, i was thinking "only 5 years? he must be already planning UFA to a more preferred destination".

As for Nylander, his current deal Toronto made him sit for almost half the season and leveraged the F out of him to get that cap hit. He might not even want to stick around either.

Toronto fans know this. Which is why after all the assets they've given up in draft capital, they think it's prudent to recoup some of it before these players hit UFA and they get Drury/Briere'd.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

Honestly, even when Matthews signed his current contract, i was thinking "only 5 years? he must be already planning UFA to a more preferred destination".

As for Nylander, his current deal Toronto made him sit for almost half the season and leveraged the F out of him to get that cap hit. He might not even want to stick around either.

Toronto fans know this. Which is why after all the assets they've given up in draft capital, they think it's prudent to recoup some of it before these players hit UFA and they get Drury/Briere'd.

They gotta fire Dubas just to protect themselves from that happening. Bring some unbiased eyes in to take a serious look at the next 3 years.

Personally I’d love them to trade everything for 1 last push, lose in 7 then get stripped bare for nothing. But I love to hate the leafs.

 

[SundherDome]

Toronto is a top 5 team in the league. They are a rebuilt defense away from taking that next step. But if they feel the need to blow up a core that is the base of their offense, and weaken their team, who are we to convince them otherwise.

Change the makeup of their defense to make it more mobile and dangerous in transition and they’d be in a better spot.

They still have a hole at goaltending too.

 

[BB79]

kinda classless

Must have made for an awkward handshake

 

[Chainshot]

Must have made for an awkward handshake

I don't know, seems like Keefe wanted to win the respect in the handshake line more than he wanted to win a series.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

kinda classless

It’s radko gudas he defines classless

 

[MOGlLNY]

Leafs fans talking about hiring Mike Yeo or Laviolette. Lol.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

I don't think Otter has been terrible, but he needed to make that last save. Stars though have been thoroughly outplayed.

 

[Zman5778]

I don't think Otter has been terrible, but he needed to make that last save. Stars though have been thoroughly outplayed.

I think it was game 3 where he had a couple of meh GA too.

 

[Chainshot]

Leafs fans talking about hiring Mike Yeo or Laviolette. Lol.

Please. Hire Yeo. Please.