Freidman: don't expect Campbell to be back Leafs inital offer was 2.75 million per year

[HoweHullOrr]

I'm convinced a lot of you guys here don't watch the players you want to trade for. Gibson is not very good anymore and has a huge cap hit.

Lots of fans only watch the games that their team plays in, so yes, I would agree with that.

 

[justashadowof]

An elite goalie is more likely to deliver an outstanding performance in a critical game than any single $11M forward. Target the best goalie you can pry away from another organization and move one of the elite forwards if required to make it happen. It's about winning the Stanley Cup not keeping the band together at all costs. Who this goalie is I don't know.

 

[borjesalming]

The Leafs have improved this year, Matthews got better, Marner, well he didn't drop but he didn't improve much and Jt well he was staedy. What will get the leafs over the hump, I believe are 2 things. First they're defense needs to learn how to box out much better than they do. look at Tampa they box out great, Heck no leaf player was able to get close to Vasil. Yet Tampa players were all over Campbell when the puck was at the net, Hell the Leafs defense were on the ousside and the Lightening players were inside. Second, they need one or two big forwards that are not afraid to go hard to the front of the net and cause havic in front of the goaltender. The leafs play way too much perimeter play. This works good in the regular season but in the playoffs. Goaltenders want that puck coming to them from the outside primeter, thay can see the shot coming and will stop it 99 % of the time. Hell the leafs skated and passed around the perimter so much that they put themselves out scoring positions. They have to improve in those two areas if they want to take the next step.

 

[banks]

Call me crazy, but I think they find common ground with Campbell and they get an extension done. And I also think Mrazek will be back, since there'll be no takers for a trade.

I might be one of the only fans who would be ok with that. I think Campbell can be a legit starter for a contender, and I think Mrazek has more to give than we saw this season.

 

[Hoglund4MvP]

Who this goalie is I don't know.

Which makes it a systematic failure. Shouldn't have to break up the band without knowing for who after this many years. We should have some internal options ready.

Call me crazy, but I think they find common ground with Campbell and they get an extension done. And I also think Mrazek will be back, since there'll be no takers for a trade.

I might be one of the only fans who would be ok with that. I think Campbell can be a legit starter for a contender, and I think Mrazek has more to give than we saw this season.

Leafs don't have the personnel needed to support Campbell in a cup run. Our no.1 D can barely play defence. We need a goalie who can make a save consistently when the team is less than perfect. Campbell is a not a real no.1

 

[banks]

Which makes it a systematic failure. Shouldn't have to break up the band without knowing for who after this many years. We should have some internal options ready.


Leafs don't have the personnel needed to support Campbell in a cup run. Our no.1 D can barely play defence. We need a goalie who can make a save consistently when the team is less than perfect. Campbell is a not a real no.1

I mean, he did lose in a close game 7 against the defending back-to-back champions. I don't know how that translates to "can't win with Campbell."

I can't stand how this fanbase treats goalies. It was the same with Andersen. "Can't win a series" blah blah blah. Mike Smith won a series this year, should we be knocking down his door with a contract? Maybe we go find where Niemi ended up, and make him an offer? Sports are hard. Maybe the all-star goalie that was just as good as Vasilevskiy in a series is good enough?

 

[tokyoite]

dear soup haters,
who should the leafs sign ?
please name it period.

 

[ACC1224]

Call me crazy, but I think they find common ground with Campbell and they get an extension done. And I also think Mrazek will be back, since there'll be no takers for a trade.

I might be one of the only fans who would be ok with that. I think Campbell can be a legit starter for a contender, and I think Mrazek has more to give than we saw this season.

I could see it playing out that way as well but they cannot let it get past the deadline this year if the situation plays out the same as it did last season.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Call me crazy, but I think they find common ground with Campbell and they get an extension done. And I also think Mrazek will be back, since there'll be no takers for a trade.

I might be one of the only fans who would be ok with that. I think Campbell can be a legit starter for a contender, and I think Mrazek has more to give than we saw this season.

I could see this happening too and could work out well. Mrazek is way better than you'd think by reading this board and Campbell's been pretty good for us overall. I'd prefer a trade for someone better but I have a feeling Dubas isn't willing to move Nylander which is what it would porobably take.

Which makes it a systematic failure. Shouldn't have to break up the band without knowing for who after this many years. We should have some internal options ready.

Leafs don't have the personnel needed to support Campbell in a cup run. Our no.1 D can barely play defence. We need a goalie who can make a save consistently when the team is less than perfect. Campbell is a not a real no.1

Nonsense. We have some of the best "personnel" in the league, we almost beat TB, if we do, we probably beat FLA and I see no reason to fear our 3rd round opponent either.

 

[ShaneFalco]

dear soup haters,
who should the leafs sign ?
please name it period.

Dubas created the problem, noone hates soup, Dubas must fix it
Running it with Soup and Mrazek again - yeah what could go wrong.....

 

[Sypher04]

The 2.75m initial offer was before the season started. Aka when he was nearly 30 and had less than 80 career starts.

 

[ToneDog]

Dubas created the problem, noone hates soup, Dubas must fix it
Running it with Soup and Mrazek again - yeah what could go wrong.....

You can't run it with 35 and 36 after 36 gets his raises.

1. Sign Soup, dump Mrazek, sign DeSmith
2. Sign/trade 1A, sign DeSmith/Comrie/Holtby, dump Mrazek
3. Run with Mrazek and sign a backup (DeSmith) or two (Comrie, Lindgren)

 

[banks]

I could see this happening too and could work out well. Mrazek is way better than you'd think by reading this board and Campbell's been pretty good for us overall. I'd prefer a trade for someone better but I have a feeling Dubas isn't willing to move Nylander which is what it would porobably take.

[...]

Couldn't agree more with this. I never liked the Mrazek contract much, and it looks worse today than it did day-one. Plus the injury concerns are real. But Mrazek isn't a bad goalie. This board seems to be convinced that he isn't NHL quality, and that trading him is a foregone conclusion. He absolutely is NHL quality. He's incredibly talented, and a real fun athletic goalie. I'd describe him as a good platoon guy, which is what most teams in the league have to work with.

Posters here should get prepared to see him in the net again next season. He could very well be back.

 

[ACC1224]

Couldn't agree more with this. I never liked the Mrazek contract much, and it looks worse today than it did day-one. Plus the injury concerns are real. But Mrazek isn't a bad goalie. This board seems to be convinced that he isn't NHL quality, and that trading him is a foregone conclusion. He absolutely is NHL quality. He's incredibly talented, and a real fun athletic goalie. I'd describe him as a good platoon guy, which is what most teams in the league have to work with.

Posters here should get prepared to see him in the net again next season. He could very well be back.

Right now he's their #1 Goalie.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Bottom line you guys with a love affair for Soup really kill me .. he had 5 games over past 2 playoffs to close out a team (3 Mtl and 2 Tampa) and he could not get er done .. if a #1 tender can't have 1 game over 5 games where he steals it all my himself then to me he is NOT a #1 tender i want on my team .. TO is such a Liberal 6th chance type of city it makes me sick .. off with his head

I'll just ignore the stuff about TO, that's irrelevant. Other than that, you need a replacement in place before you chop anyone's head off.

 

[Ciao]

Campbell's agent is Kurt Overhardt, also of Detroit, Michigan, who seems to go over the top for his Michigan clients such as Jacob Trouba.

I'm not expecting an easy negotiation on Campbell's contract. It won't surprise me if he goes elsewhere.

Frankly, I would rather the Leafs walk away than overpay.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Campbell's agent is Kurt Overhardt, also of Detroit, Michigan, who seems to go over the top for his Michigan clients such as Jacob Trouba.

I'm not expecting an easy negotiation on Campbell's contract. It won't surprise me if he goes elsewhere.

Frankly, I would rather the Leafs walk away than overpay.

I think this almost always correct.

I said last summer that my #1 priority would be extending Campbell, I was pissed that it didn't happen, now it looks like it might be a good thing that it didn't happen though it's not 100% certain, I guess time will tell.

This summer though, I don't think there's any debate here - the goal is to have a quality #1 goalie in place when the season starts. If not Campbell, then someone better and if Dubas isn't able to make this happen, it's hard to be optimistic about next season. In fact this may be a case where overpayment is justified, not for Campbell but if we have to overpay in a trade for a goalie.

 

[LeafGrief]

I'm split on Campbell. He was good enough to win a series against the defending champs and he was astonishingly good for parts of the regular season. The conflict of course is how the rest of the regular season went. If we knew for a fact that the November numbers were what we could expect going forwards then it would be a no brainer to throw a blank check his way.

I don't really know what to do tbh. Paying him the big bucks carries a lot of risk, but even a slight overpay is probably a better deal than letting him walk and then following that up with trading Nylander for Gibson. I hope we pay the guy and then he plays amazing for the next five years, but oh boy am I gun shy to give him that kind of contract. I could live with a 5m x 4y kind of deal.

 

[Ciao]

@LeafGrief Without a change in representation, I can't imagine Campbell signing for 5x$4M.

PS I misread your post. 4x$5M might work, but I'm a bit jumpy about that kind of deal.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

I'll just ignore the stuff about TO, that's irrelevant. Other than that, you need a replacement in place before you chop anyone's head off.

You got 3 kids in da system and 1 of them almost guaranteed will be better in playoffs ..

 

[VanW27]

I like Campbell, but I just don't see him as having much leverage.

He's 30 with only 142 career games, this past season was his first as a "starter" smashing his career high in games but still only had 49.

Overall his career numbers are good, but not great (2.56GAA and .915Sv%) but most of that was as a backup.

His first year as a starter was good, but again not great (2.64GAA and .914Sv%)

Injury issues the last 2 years as well, I just don't see how he can demand a whole lot. He had a great stretch after arriving in Toronto, 2 years ago and into this season, but then he was absolute garbage returning his overall numbers to "average".

I'd compare him to Raanta who signed for 2x2 with Carolina. Raanta was coming off a down and injury plagued year which gives Campbell an edge there, but Raanta has more of a track record, better career numbers, both have had injury issues, and Raanta's best has been better than Campbell's, Raanta had no playoff record really before signing while Campbell has 2 series losses. Overall a pretty comparable players to me.

Their "starter" seasons had similar usage but Raata's numbers are quite a bit better:
Raanta 2017/18 - 47GP, 2.24GAA, .930 Sv%
Campbell 2021/22 - 49 GP, 2.64GAA, .914 Sv%

 

[Gary Nylund]

You got 3 kids in da system and 1 of them almost guaranteed will be better in playoffs ..

Which one? You don't get to try them all in the playoffs and then choose one.

 

[LeafGrief]

@LeafGrief Without a change in representation, I can't imagine Campbell signing for 5x$4M.

PS I misread your post. 4x$5M might work, but I'm a bit jumpy about that kind of deal.

I'm a bit jumpy about that $$$ too, but goalies always make me jumpy and at least that's a good contract if Campbell plays well again. I think whichever way we go, signing Campbell or trading for an established #1G, runs a substantial amount of risk. We must have good goaltending, so it comes down to what the most palatable risk option is. I lean towards Campbell and saving the trade assets because I want to believe in him, but the actual contract negotiation and the price of a trade will be the real decider.

 

[Voodoo Child]

You can sample size anyone but a goalie it seems, 77-51-14-9, 2.47, .917 7SO.

There are quite many people I’d blame for Montreal and Tampa before getting to his name. Freddy was appalling in that first series against Boston and let in badly timed fluke goals against CBJ, it’s not quite the same.

Darcy Kuempfer was almost the exact same thing at the same age, making roughly the same money, until he had some great seasons with Arizona, less wins but better GAA and SV.

He then got 4.5/2.

Jack is 30 and will be wanting his bag, and teams always need goaltending, he could probably get 5.5 on the market, but I hope he takes a longer term deal at 4.5 or less. If Jack can perform like an adequate #1, at least .650 points%, with the Leafs he’s .771 but I don’t think that sustains, then 4.5 is not a problem. If he was 27 I’d have no problem with 6, but he isn’t, I expect maybe 4 good years left in him.

I’d rather do that than gut an already thin farm and pick pipeline for Gibson.

 

[NewEraGM]

As a habs fan, I really don’t understand why leaf fans want to get rid of Jack.

You’re going to be a paying a goalie 4M (not including Mrazek) and I don’t see who else you can get for 4M who could be as good as Jack. If the leafs do not pay a goalie 4M (not including Mrazek), then there is a much bigger concern because you are probably rolling with a back up as your starter.

I’d do 4/4.5M for 4 years for Jack easily.