Speculation: Chris Johnston "An atom bomb could drop"

[notDatsyuk]

He doesn't want a trade lol - what kind of stupid hypotheticals are we trying to get into here?

He's under contract for another 3 years. It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that. Even if he wants a trade, he's under obligation to see out his deal.

Nobody said he wanted a trade.

You made the statement that he's guaranteed to be here for three years. A couple of people have pointed out that it's not guaranteed, but you seem to be unwilling either to understand or to accept that simple fact.

Let's keep it really really really simple: if he gets run over by a truck tomorrow will we still 'have' him in any practical sense ?

 

[notDatsyuk]

The Atom bomb will be when they announce they signed Marner and are running it back.

That's a face plant, not an atom bomb.

 

[Tak7]

Nobody said he wanted a trade.

You made the statement that he's guaranteed to be here for three years. A couple of people have pointed out that it's not guaranteed, but you seem to be unwilling either to understand or to accept that simple fact.

Let's keep it really really really simple: if he gets run over by a truck tomorrow will we still 'have' him in any practical sense ?

I said he's guaranteed to be here for three years should they want him - post #1116 of this thread.

You base your winning window on the idea that he's going to be here for 3 years. You operate as if you have a 3 year window. There's absolutely 0 reason to assume he won't be here.

 

[notDatsyuk]

I said he's guaranteed to be here for three years should they want him - post #1116 of this thread.

You base your winning window on the idea that he's going to be here for 3 years. You operate as if you have a 3 year window. There's absolutely 0 reason to assume he won't be here.

You've been given several reasons why he may not be playing here for the next three years.

If you can't see that or are unwilling to acknowledge that, it's not my problem.

I won't waste any more time explaining the obvious to the oblivious.

 

[Gallagbi]

If it ends up just Mitch Marner when the dust settles im gonna lose it lol

I think the smart money is on Marner + fringe players out

We'll lose a handful of McMann, Robertson, Kampf, Benny, Jarn, Lorentz. Biggest move I see beyond that is a Woll or Stolarz trade.


Those Laughton and Carlo trades really restrict our options this summer for trades and JT will likely be too good of a deal to pass up

 

[stealth1]

I said he's guaranteed to be here for three years should they want him - post #1116 of this thread.

You base your winning window on the idea that he's going to be here for 3 years. You operate as if you have a 3 year window. There's absolutely 0 reason to assume he won't be here.

Yes he's here for 3 years but IMO he's not a winner. You can't win with Matthews. IMO you hope next season he bounces back and has a good regular season and work on trading him.

 

[Nineteen67]

And yet like Fraser’s non-call, I can’t help but wonder what if? had Bennett been appropriately disciplined for knocking our starting goalie out.

The Leafs won that game so a goalie interference penalty was irrelevant.

 

[Nineteen67]

Yes he's here for 3 years but IMO he's not a winner. You can't win with Matthews. IMO you hope next season he bounces back and has a good regular season and work on trading him.

I would have no issue trading him now, however, I think they’ll give him one more chance to prove that he’s an NHL player and if he doesn’t then they have to explore trading him next year.

I would have already sat down with him and discussed his priorities and if those priorities align with the team’s, then I would start the required reprogramming. If not, they should part ways this off-season.

 

[ITM]

The Leafs won that game so a goalie interference penalty was irrelevant.

Stolarz being out for the rest of the series and Bennett remaining in the series was irrelevant?

 

[Nineteen67]

Stolarz being out for the rest of the series and Bennett remaining in the series was irrelevant?

It was a two minute penalty if you wanted to stretch it.

That play wouldn’t have injured the average person which is very concerning for Stolarz.

 

[Maple Leaf]

It was a two minute penalty if you wanted to stretch it.

That play wouldn’t have injured the average person which is very concerning for Stolarz.

True it was a lil elbow

 

[Tak7]

Yes he's here for 3 years but IMO he's not a winner. You can't win with Matthews. IMO you hope next season he bounces back and has a good regular season and work on trading him.

That's a completely different discussion from the one I was having - but I do agree.

You don't win a cup with Auston Matthews as your 1C.

 

[Tak7]

You've been given several reasons why he may not be playing here for the next three years.

If you can't see that or are unwilling to acknowledge that, it's not my problem.

I won't waste any more time explaining the obvious to the oblivious.

You build your team around the idea that Auston Matthews is here for another 3 years - there's absolutely 0 reason, on June 14th 2025, to believe otherwise.

 

[Trapper]

That's a completely different discussion from the one I was having - but I do agree.

You don't win a cup with Auston Matthews as your 1C.

If Marner leaves the entire spotlight will be on Matthews. He will have a lot to prove.

 

[Stephen]

Those Laughton and Carlo trades really restrict our options this summer for trades and JT will likely be too good of a deal to pass up

Treliving needs to be dynamic with Laughton and Carlo:

I think Carlo is pretty good, but if we can cycle him out for a younger forward or something like a 1st round pick, and re-spend all of his money plus a kicker on Aaron Ekblad, we would have upgraded the D position and padded up some org. depth. Gotta keep churning assets in tandem with free agency buys with cap space to heal the depth chart. An alternative solution would be to trade McCabe in a similar scenario, grab a replacement on the UFA market, same concept.

The Laughton trade was a disaster and I would gladly flush him for any futures. However, the other thought process is if we build a more aggressive team and input guys like Bennett, Marchand, Jeannot, etc. I could see Laughton being activated to play a harder game and becoming more useful. His cap hit isn't very significant so it could go either way.

 

[Nineteen67]

True it was a lil elbow

Lil wrist

 

[stealth1]

You build your team around the idea that Auston Matthews is here for another 3 years - there's absolutely 0 reason, on June 14th 2025, to believe otherwise.

Why are you building around him at all. Sure he's here for 3 seasons. Personally I would start trying get more picks in the draft and start working on a new core with Cowan and Knies.

 

[keonsbitterness]

Why are you building around him at all. Sure he's here for 3 seasons. Personally I would start trying get more picks in the draft and start working on a new core with Cowan and Knies.

Knies, maybe, but Cowan has proven nothing at the NHL level.

Most of the guys we can realistically trade will fetch mid-round picks at best.

 

[Nineteen67]

Why are you building around him at all. Sure he's here for 3 seasons. Personally I would start trying get more picks in the draft and start working on a new core with Cowan and Knies.

Matthews has to be completely reprogrammed to be able to compete in the NHL playoffs. From everything he’s shown since he started skating it’s highly unlikely he has it in him.

Dubas and Shanny promised him the league would change, but it hasn’t, and won’t in the near future. He may look to retire after this contract expires.

 

[stealth1]

Knies, maybe, but Cowan has proven nothing at the NHL level.

Most of the guys we can realistically trade will fetch mid-round picks at best.

Neither has Matthews and Nylander. My point is more to stop wasting assets to build around those guys. Keep picks and let these flounder for the few years

 

[Confucius]

Neither has Matthews and Nylander. My point is more to stop wasting assets to build around those guys. Keep picks and let these flounder for the few years

Exactly keep the picks there was a strong possibility that over the last 9 years we stumbled onto another 2 or 3 knies type guys to augment the overpaid ones.

 

[Gallagbi]

Treliving needs to be dynamic with Laughton and Carlo:

I think Carlo is pretty good, but if we can cycle him out for a younger forward or something like a 1st round pick, and re-spend all of his money plus a kicker on Aaron Ekblad, we would have upgraded the D position and padded up some org. depth. Gotta keep churning assets in tandem with free agency buys with cap space to heal the depth chart. An alternative solution would be to trade McCabe in a similar scenario, grab a replacement on the UFA market, same concept.

The Laughton trade was a disaster and I would gladly flush him for any futures. However, the other thought process is if we build a more aggressive team and input guys like Bennett, Marchand, Jeannot, etc. I could see Laughton being activated to play a harder game and becoming more useful. His cap hit isn't very significant so it could go either way.

Carlo and Laughton are fine individual adds, we just paid too much for players that don't move the needle and didn't fill a necessary role.

It makes sense to move off both, but you're taking a bit hit in assets that I don't see.

I'm not opposed to moving McCabe or anyone really, but a shutdown LHD is going to cost you way more in UFA and there's no internal option to backfill. Moving off Mo or OEL makes a lot more sense because you're paying to upgrade or saving cap

I'm short options exist but are limited

 

[notbias]

Carlo and Laughton are fine individual adds, we just paid too much for players that don't move the needle and didn't fill a necessary role.

It makes sense to move off both, but you're taking a bit hit in assets that I don't see.

I'm not opposed to moving McCabe or anyone really, but a shutdown LHD is going to cost you way more in UFA and there's no internal option to backfill. Moving off Mo or OEL makes a lot more sense because you're paying to upgrade or saving cap

I'm short options exist but are limited

Both were terrible in the playoffs, not sure they are fine individually.

I have more faith in Carlo being valuable moving forward, but saw nothing in Laughton that says he is anything more than a 4th liner.

 

[Stephen]

Carlo and Laughton are fine individual adds, we just paid too much for players that don't move the needle and didn't fill a necessary role.

It makes sense to move off both, but you're taking a bit hit in assets that I don't see.

I'm not opposed to moving McCabe or anyone really, but a shutdown LHD is going to cost you way more in UFA and there's no internal option to backfill. Moving off Mo or OEL makes a lot more sense because you're paying to upgrade or saving cap

I'm short options exist but are limited

Morgan Rielly would be the first to go, but he's got protections. Yeah I could move on from OEL as well as there's a lot of mileage on him and who knows when the real fall off happens.

 

[Gallagbi]

Both were terrible in the playoffs, not sure they are fine individually.

I have more faith in Carlo being valuable moving forward, but saw nothing in Laughton that says he is anything more than a 4th liner.

I'm fine with both as something like UFAs, but tossing on a first for them becomes questionable

Laughton is a decent 4th line C, Carlo is fine as middle pairing support