Speculation: Chris Johnston "An atom bomb could drop"

[Trapper]

The last time anyone was that narrow minded, we had the Burke years.

Burke was all over the place. He spouted truculence but gave up plenty to get Kessel. Completely different.
I like skill with blue collar. Do you like guys like Bergeron and Marchand? I do, and that’s the kind of players you win with. Are they skilled? Absolutely. Are they 100 point guys 50 goal scorers? Nope but I’d rather have them prime over Matthew’s/Marner. That’s my identity. Blue collar, hard work, skill.

 

[Leaf Fans]

What are they willing to pay to have someone take Rielly. I mean seriously Matthews is a soft but EXTREMELY talented regular season #1 C. Nylander is a top line wing on nearly every team.
But Rielly (if you are honest) is an average (offensively) 2nd pairing Dman who put up numbers because he plays will them (and Marner and Tavares). Defensively Rielly is a #6 or #7 Dman. He’s not bad, he’s terrible. Nobody is giving anything worth while to take on his contract.

They are willing to pay Brady Tkachuk to themselves. I just don't think Ottawa would agree to it.

 

[stealth1]

The last time anyone was that narrow minded, we had the Burke years.

It doesn't have to be that narrow minded. You find guys that hate to lose.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Burke was all over the place. He spouted truculence but gave up plenty to get Kessel. Completely different.
I like skill with blue collar. Do you like guys like Bergeron and Marchand? I do, and that’s the kind of players you win with. Are they skilled? Absolutely. Are they 100 point guys 50 goal scorers? Nope but I’d rather have them prime over Matthew’s/Marner. That’s my identity. Blue collar, hard work, skill.

"We're gonna play physical and North American"

Look at all of Burke's drafts

I'd love a team full of Matt Knies...the player is rare as hell.

You know how hard it is to pull 1-2 players out of an NHL draft? It's hard and that's without any other biases/preferences in place, if you limit the scope to "above 6'2, fast, physical, 2-way"....well shit, how many of those are in the draft? How do they project, do they have enough skill/talent ability to play that way in the NHL? The answer is usually no.

 

[TheGreatOne11]

Some sort of trade centered around Matthews for Celebrini ++.

A man can dream lol.

Matthews for Makar.

These are my hopes and dreams, I'm putting them out there for the universe to provide lol.

 

[Trapper]

"We're gonna play physical and North American"

Look at all of Burke's drafts

I'd love a team full of Matt Knies...the player is rare as hell.

You know how hard it is to pull 1-2 players out of an NHL draft? It's hard and that's without any other biases/preferences in place, if you limit the scope to "above 6'2, fast, physical, 2-way"....well shit, how many of those are in the draft? How do they project, do they have enough skill/talent ability to play that way in the NHL? The answer is usually no.

This is why you have scouts that are employed 365 days.

That still doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have drafted Marner or Nylander years ago, if that is the best skill available, because you don’t always know in junior who that guy will be, it just means I wouldn’t have waited 9 years to trade one. Boston still drafted Kessel, then he didn’t fit.

 

[stealth1]

Okay and we have no 1st round picks for this year or the 2 following.

You'll be a lottery team without 1st round picks.

I can't take this plan seriously.

I can't take seriously take the thinking that keeping Matthews and using the money from Marner's contract to upgrade the bottom 6 is going to change the outcome

The bottom 6 isn't why they fail year in and year out. Matthews isn't the answer.

 

[WTFMAN99]

I can't take seriously take the thinking that keeping Matthews and using the money from Marner's contract to upgrade the bottom 6 is going to change the outcome

The bottom 6 isn't why they fail year in and year out. Matthews isn't the answer.

Okay so use it to upgrade the top 6? Why are you only limiting the team to using it for bottom 6 changes?

This is why you have scouts that are employed 365 days.

That still doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have drafted Marner or Nylander years ago, if that is the best skill available, because you don’t always know in junior who that guy will be, it just means I wouldn’t have waited 9 years to trade one. Boston still drafted Kessel, then he didn’t fit.

I agree with this. The team's biggest issue in the past decade is they never had the ability or imagination to pivot off their initial vision of the team.

 

[Canada4Gold]

Let Marner walk. Bring back Tavares short term for hopefully a good discount. Go long term with Knies. Don't need to be painted into a corner having to pay him 12 million 3 years from now after a bridge. Get it done 8x8 now if you can. See if you can get a reasonably good deal in the high end FA market with someone like Ehlers or Boeser, if not go short term and hope McDavid is an option next offseason. If that fails we trade off Matthews summer of 27 and go full rebuild when we finally have our 1st rounders again.

Not a fan of moving on from Rielly yet. I get that he didn't play all that well this past year and could be in a decline but has been one of the few guys who steps up in the playoffs with production. He's the only real offense first guy we have on a backend that IMO struggled to consistently move the puck out of the D zone with possession in the Florida series, and often failed to exit the zone altogether. Tanev, McCabe, Carlo, OEL just isn't enough puck moving capability from the backend and it's going to lead to continued problems with controlled breakouts under pressure. I fail to see how you're going to do much better for the 7.5 million to replace him in a FA world with a huge cap jump.

Most importantly don't trade another 1st rounder again unless you're getting a huge upgrade. They McCabe and Carlo trades were reasonable because we got a couple longer term pieces we needed but we've wasted a ton of 1sts on some really useless assets over the years. Dallas didn't get where they are by trading all their picks. Instead they used mid/late 1st rounders on Johnston, Harley, Bourque and Bichsel while making some solid 2nd round picks in Hintz and Stankoven. It allowed them to continue to compete while their expensive core of Benn and Seguin aged and now that Benn's expiring they were able to finally move a couple picks and Stankoven for a legit star in Rantanen and extend him. Sure would be nice to have done it their way.

 

[stealth1]

Okay so use it to upgrade the top 6? Why are you only limiting the team to using it for bottom 6 changes?

You could do that too. My point still is it's time to move on from Matthews and Marner. Neither one has what it takes to lead this team to a Stanley Cup.

 

[Menzinger]

It would be a very good move not to blow all the money this summer and keep the powder dry.

But if they want to be competitive next season, they've likely got to go for someone fairly big this summer, too.

Fair, but I don't see a lot of value in this years big fish.

I can see Tre signing a bunch of mid level guys to 1 year deals, like he did with Domi and Bert during his first free agency.

The issue with the big fish this year is few are.worth chasing after with big money. Bennet won't be as effective here due to DPS, maybe Boeser if he was willing to sign for under 8.5 per, but he likely goes elsewhere

 

[PanniniClaus]

Let Marner walk. Bring back Tavares short term for hopefully a good discount. Go long term with Knies. Don't need to be painted into a corner having to pay him 12 million 3 years from now after a bridge. Get it done 8x8 now if you can. See if you can get a reasonably good deal in the high end FA market with someone like Ehlers or Boeser, if not go short term and hope McDavid is an option next offseason. If that fails we trade off Matthews summer of 27 and go full rebuild when we finally have our 1st rounders again.

Not a fan of moving on from Rielly yet. I get that he didn't play all that well this past year and could be in a decline but has been one of the few guys who steps up in the playoffs with production. He's the only real offense first guy we have on a backend that IMO struggled to consistently move the puck out of the D zone with possession in the Florida series, and often failed to exit the zone altogether. Tanev, McCabe, Carlo, OEL just isn't enough puck moving capability from the backend and it's going to lead to continued problems with controlled breakouts under pressure. I fail to see how you're going to do much better for the 7.5 million to replace him in a FA world with a huge cap jump.

If the decision is between Ehlers and Boeser... I am 100 times out of 100 going for Ehlers. Passion..desire. Boeser is pretty much a carbon copy of what we already have. He needs to be in a quiet market and a secondary piece.

 

[WTFMAN99]

You could do that too. My point still is it's time to move on from Matthews and Marner. Neither one has what it takes to lead this team to a Stanley Cup.

They're not trading Matthews, basically they're gonna go for it with Matthews until his deal expires.

I'd mandate that we're not trading anymore 1st round picks going forward.

Once the Matthews contract is done, we rebuild

 

[stealth1]

They're not trading Matthews, basically they're gonna go for it with Matthews until his deal expires.

I'd mandate that we're not trading anymore 1st round picks going forward.

Once the Matthews contract is done, we rebuild

I know they aren't trading Matthews. IMO they should. He is not a leader nor is a guy who will carry a team to wins in the playoffs.

I know many don't want to rebuild and start over. To continue with the hope that adding a different supporting cast around Matthews that the outcome will be different is insanity.

 

[Menzinger]

I know they aren't trading Matthews. IMO they should. He is not a leader nor is a guy who will carry a team to wins in the playoffs.

I know many don't want to rebuild and start over. To continue with the hope that adding a different supporting cast around Matthews that the outcome will be different is insanity.

Next year the team only has a 3rd 5th and 6th and no 1st in 2027. And the fact that the currently traded 1sts are technically protected just punts them down the line if the team crashes.

Unless the team is willing to trade Cowan (or Cowan +) for one of those picks back, the team is stuck trying to be competitive until 2028

 

[rumman]

The first step is putting a management in place that decides how THEY want the Leafs to play. Then you only draft those players that demonstrate those qualities.

And trade existing players who can’t/won’t play that brand of hockey……..

 

[PhantomLeaf]

The locker room is about to become very uncomfortable for everyone. I expect a poor season next year and a mid-year locker-room disaster.

Entitlement is going to be challenged via big names leaving due to failures. The worst guys (Matthews) are not going to react to the accountability favorably.

 

[stealth1]

Next year the team only has a 3rd 5th and 6th and no 1st in 2027. And the fact that the currently traded 1sts are technically protected just punts them down the line if the team crashes.

Unless the team is willing to trade Cowan (or Cowan +) for one of those picks back, the team is stuck trying to be competitive until 2028

They can still be competitive with moving the 2 bubbleheads of M&M. A team with Knies and Nylander as the top players will still be competitive.

 

[rumman]

The last time anyone was that narrow minded, we had the Burke years.

Another false God who ruined the team via his arrogance, after him I stopped blindly drinking the Kool-Ade. Chief’s about the same, came here with a certain reputation and didn’t live up to expectations. Ditto for Shanahan, Phaneuf, Clarkson, and on and on it goes…….

 

[rumman]

Okay and we have no 1st round picks for this year or the 2 following.

You'll be a lottery team without 1st round picks.

I can't take this plan seriously.

Would first rounders be part of trade packages?

 

[Rare Jewel]

Fair, but I don't see a lot of value in this years big fish.

I can see Tre signing a bunch of mid level guys to 1 year deals, like he did with Domi and Bert during his first free agency.

The issue with the big fish this year is few are.worth chasing after with big money. Bennet won't be as effective here due to DPS, maybe Boeser if he was willing to sign for under 8.5 per, but he likely goes elsewhere

Ehlers is the one guy I might splurge on, and Gavrikov is the one D I'd go big on.

Other than that, no one at more than $5m over 3 years.

Bennett, no chance. For me, anyway.

 

[sunstersun]

r

Ehlers is the one guy I might splurge on, and Gavrikov is the one D I'd go big on.

Other than that, no one at more than $5m over 3 years.

Bennett, no chance. For me, anyway.

Why Ehlers god damn.

No to Bennett? Really? We need a 2C.

 

[Rare Jewel]

r

Why Ehlers god damn.

No to Bennett? Really? We need a 2C.

Bennett will be grossly overpaid. I compared it earlier to the Clarkson signing, and I still stand by it. If he's in the $9m range, it'll be one of the worst contracts in the league.

Ehlers will be in that range, too, but he should give you around 75% of Mitch's offence. His style of play would be a welcome addition to Matthews' wing IMO.

 

[TheGreatOne11]

Bennett will be grossly overpaid. I compared it earlier to the Clarkson signing, and I still stand by it. If he's in the $9m range, it'll be one of the worst contracts in the league.

Ehlers will be in that range, too, but he should give you around 75% of Mitch's offence. His style of play would be a welcome addition to Matthews' wing IMO.

I love the idea of Bennett. And he's the kind of player you win with, but man. 9 million for a guy whose been over 50 points once? Never hit 30 goals.

That's just too steep for me. He'll get 8+ if the talking heads are correct.

It's hard because he's a winner and has that raise your game ability come playoff time.

 

[Rare Jewel]

I love the idea of Bennett. And he's the kind of player you win with, but man. 9 million for a guy whose been over 50 points once? Never hit 30 goals.

That's just too steep for me. He'll get 8+ if the talking heads are correct.

It's hard because he's a winner and has that raise your game ability come playoff time.

Find your own Bennett like Florida did.

That kind of trade is going to be key to building this team for the next while. Hitting on a few reclamation projects like they did.