It's not as if he's going anywhere foreign though.Does he even want to move with three little twins?
Fans always forget these players are people too. It's not only about money and logo on your jersey.
It's not as if he's going anywhere foreign though.Does he even want to move with three little twins?
Fans always forget these players are people too. It's not only about money and logo on your jersey.
You arent going to find sympathy from this fanbase if you're Marner or Nylander at this point. Both of them squeezed out every single penny that they could and now they're feeling the wrath of playing here. When you come across as selfish and greedy, nobody cares about your humanity.Fans always forget these players are people too. It's not only about money and logo on your jersey.
Not exactly easy to do with Marner's contract.Deal Marner for a boatload of futures. Sign Pietrangelo.
dubas is paid the big bucks to do the hard thingsNot exactly easy to do with Marner's contract.
shea weber is 35 and leading the habs into the playoffsPlease be patient with Marner. He has over 10 more years and already had great point producing season and he is also on the PK. I know some say he is 'soft' and so on but it's not only his fault we lost. This team is mentally weak and has clearly issues in that category. Sure we should upgrade the D and we could trade away Marner but not at this point please, when his value looks the lowest. Maybe he has a 100+ point season next year again? If you retain 1-2 mil or maybe even nothing he could net us a top 2 D-Men. Marner at 9 mil has a TON of value.
Signing Pietrangelo for 11 mil would not be good move since his value will only go down (who wants him in 4 years when he declines and will still make 11 mil for 3 more years? I for sure not). If you sign him the only player you should get rid of is JT which is unfortunately not going to happen.
Deal Marner for a boatload of futures.
Ironically, most "shlubs" would do a better job than Dubas has.dubas is paid the big bucks to do the hard things
if not any shlub could take that job
And here’s how I get him.
I take Cody Ceci’s $4.5 million — he’s a free agent — and add it with Tyson Barrie’s $2.5 million. Both should be leaving. Now you take $3 million from either Alex Kerfoot, Kasperi Kapanen or Andreas Johnsson and you’ve got $10 million to play with in a soft free-agent class, considering the economics of all of professional sport.
If Pietrangelo has an inclination to come home, you can probably sign him somewhere between $8-$9 million a year.
This a well thought-out post.There is this thing called armchair GM of capfriendly that Simmons really should check out. Yes, make one for next year it won't have Ceci or Barrie and you can remove one of KKJ - I removed Kerfoot because he has the highest cap. When I do that I have 10.4M to work with! Victory!
Unfortunately, that is with a roster of only 8 forwards, 3Ds and 2Gs. Adding Piet would bring them up to 4Ds, but I still think they would probably want to play games with a couple more players.
If you take away all three of Kerfoot, Kapanen and Johnsson and fill up the roster with much cheaper replacements so you have 12Fs, 5Ds and 2Ds you are still only looking at having a little more than 9M for Pietro - and that is while carrying no spares.
And, as I have said repeatedly, the cap is not going up for at least 3 years - and at that point it will probably be going up very slowly for the next couple years after that. With Tavares, Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Pietro, any other player on your roster who is an RFA or UFA is gone because you can't give them a raise. It would be those 5 surrounded by 13 AHL level players for the duration of Matthews' contract.
This isn't a fairy tale. The big-4 contracts cause massive problems. Big-5 would cause even bigger problems.
What about the rest of the roster? Still need to fit in some forwards and D with now no money.I take Cody Ceci’s $4.5 million — he’s a free agent — and add it with Tyson Barrie’s $2.5 million. Both should be leaving. Now you take $3 million from either Alex Kerfoot, Kasperi Kapanen or Andreas Johnsson and you’ve got $10 million to play with in a soft free-agent class, considering the economics of all of professional sport.
It's this for me. We don't need to add yet another massive contract for someone headed into the downside of their career. Might not be this year or next, but the contract will end up looking bad at some point. Not to mention you're for sure saying bye to Rielly if you do that, or being forced to unload one of the "big 4". Move one of Johnsson,Kerfoot, Kapanen for Adam Larsson and be done with it. Sign a Gudas, Borowiecki,Demelo to go along with him and that's that. I'll be shocked if Dubas' does anything huge with a big 4 piece.Tavares is 29 and his contract already looks very suspect. Pietrangelo is already 30 (almost 31). I don't think the Leafs will have fun navigating one 30+ player making 11 million long term, let alone adding another
SIMMONS: Why can’t the Leafs be more like the Raptors?
HOW LEAFS CAN LAND PIETRANGELO
How do you get an A-grade defenceman?
Kyle Dubas was asked the question at the Maple Leafs combative year-end availability.
He could have started by saying there aren’t many of them in the NHL. Probably less than 10 in all.
But one, Alex Pietrangelo, is a pending free agent. That’s Pietrangelo from just outside Toronto. He’s top five on my list.
And here’s how I get him.
I take Cody Ceci’s $4.5 million — he’s a free agent — and add it with Tyson Barrie’s $2.5 million. Both should be leaving. Now you take $3 million from either Alex Kerfoot, Kasperi Kapanen or Andreas Johnsson and you’ve got $10 million to play with in a soft free-agent class, considering the economics of all of professional sport.
If Pietrangelo has an inclination to come home, you can probably sign him somewhere between $8-$9 million a year. If the Leafs have Pietrangelo on one pair, perhaps with Jake Muzzin and Morgan Rielly on the second pair, that changes everything about the team.
Does Pietrangelo want to leave St. Louis? We don’t know.
Does he want to come to Toronto? We don’t know.
We do know this: Free agents won’t be getting the kind of money they would have received under regular circumstances. It makes Pietrangelo possible. One signing could change everything for the Leafs.
And didn’t we think that once before?
That's moving those players for no money back either. Teams usually don't take 7 mil contracts and give no salary backIt's doable.
Move Nylander and one of Kapanen/Johnsson (preferably Kap) and there's enough space for Pietrangelo.
Where it gets tricky is filling out the forward corps. I wonder if Corey Perry and Joe Thornton would take league minimum to play bottom-6. I'm also assuming Robertson will crack the roster next season.
You completely forgot that Engvall will make 1.25 mil this year. Not 925k. Campbell will count for 1.65 mil this year on his new contract. Muzzin will cost us an extra 1.65 million (4mil to his shiny new 5.65mil contract). Just Holl will start counting for 2 mil this coming year, a 1.325 mil raise from his 675k he counted for this season. Then you have Dermott and Mikheyev extensions to consider. So that 10 mil you just magically made appear with moving a 3mil guy for no salary...you instantly lost 4.275 million just in pay raises. So quick math now..you realistically, with moving a third liner for nothing but picks or a prospect back, have 5.725million to play with. You have to give pay raises out to Dermott or Mikheyev unless you want to just also let them go or try and move them for whatever you can get. You have Kyle Clifford who I guess you'll just be letting walk. And roster spots that still need filled out. Every player you add chips at that. Robertson in on the third line, money saved, but now you have to take 850k off of that figure you're working with. There's a lot more to it than just "boom, look at this 10 million I found guys!"SIMMONS: Why can’t the Leafs be more like the Raptors?
HOW LEAFS CAN LAND PIETRANGELO
And here’s how I get him.
I take Cody Ceci’s $4.5 million — he’s a free agent — and add it with Tyson Barrie’s $2.5 million. Both should be leaving. Now you take $3 million from either Alex Kerfoot, Kasperi Kapanen or Andreas Johnsson and you’ve got $10 million to play with in a soft free-agent class, considering the economics of all of professional sport.
If Pietrangelo has an inclination to come home, you can probably sign him somewhere between $8-$9 million a year. If the Leafs have Pietrangelo on one pair, perhaps with Jake Muzzin and Morgan Rielly on the second pair, that changes everything about the team.
Does Pietrangelo want to leave St. Louis? We don’t know.
Does he want to come to Toronto? We don’t know.
We do know this: Free agents won’t be getting the kind of money they would have received under regular circumstances. It makes Pietrangelo possible. One signing could change everything for the Leafs.
And didn’t we think that once before?
It’s a pipe dream to get Pietrangelo and keep the team competent long term.
whatever you think Pietrangelo would sign with the Leafs for, the Blues have probably already offered that. You are going to have to pay a massive amount to get him to leave.
Staying competitive with 2 guys making $10+ mil is tough, the Leafs have 3 and if they want Pietrangelo, they will have 4.
The exact reasons people want to trade Marner or Nylander away are the exact reasons why teams will not offer a fair trade for them.
As an example: If you think Marner is a soft winger who is not worth his contract and that trading him will create cap flexibility for the Leafs, then why would another team offer a good trade for someone who could ruin their cap flexibility and is a soft winger not worth his contract?
It's this for me. We don't need to add yet another massive contract for someone headed into the downside of their career. Might not be this year or next, but the contract will end up looking bad at some point. Not to mention you're for sure saying bye to Rielly if you do that, or being forced to unload one of the "big 4". Move one of Johnsson,Kerfoot, Kapanen for Adam Larsson and be done with it. Sign a Gudas, Borowiecki,Demelo to go along with him and that's that. I'll be shocked if Dubas' does anything huge with a big 4 piece.