Speculation: Ok Leaf Fans. Let's Re-tool!

JT AM da real deal

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Oct 4, 2018
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We got our annual gut punch and somehow survived.

So this team is deeply flawed and not close. The goal is to be a lot better than 1 playoff series win in 20 years.

What are your suggestions? How many years will this take? 2 steps back in order to finally move forward?

I can see that we need defense in the worst way. Goaltending is also a priority. Depth forwards too.

So what do you do?
It starts with trades of Mitch and Rielly, 2 rovers, to enhance our D core and shift CAP to D .. G we need to sign back Jones and rotate Woll and Hildeby to see what we got next year .. let them fight it out for top job and earn it for playoff run .. Cowan and Minten need to play a full season with us .. get a coach who plays a traditional game who can teach team how to grind out wins so we can be prepared for a playoff type game style .. can't keep playing skill hockey and win hih scoring regular season games .. might be good for corporate types in seats for excitement but it does not translate to playoffs
 

jiggy35

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Jun 26, 2012
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Trade 1:

Marner (extended 8 years), Liljegren, and 23rd OA to NJ for Meier (8.8 for 7 more years) and 10th OA

Trade 2:
10th OA to Vegas for Shea Theodore (1 year left, extend him 8x8)

Trade 3:
Tavares after july first bonus is paid + Niemela to Chicago
Toronto 2025 first(via Hawks from McCabe trade) to Boston
Ullmark to Toronto

Trade 4:
Kampf to the blue jackets for a 5th

Re-sign Domi 4x4
Sign Zadorov 4.5x4
Sign Mayfield to 6x6


Knies - Matthews - Meier
McMann - Domi - Nylander
Robertson - Holmberg - Jarnkrok
XXX - Minten - Reaves

Lots of potential for the bottom 6 to look different with Cowan, that Russian kid they signed who was playing unreal, etc.

Rielly - Mayfield
McCabe - Benoit
xxxx - Zadorov

Get a puck mover on LD on the bottom pair. Either a prospect or signing. D is a good. mix of physical with puck moving ability.

Woll / Ullmark


Team is built from the net out, core is retooled and made bigger up front. Weakness of the roster is likely bottom 6 scoring depth, something they can try to address at the TDL if no prospects take the steps they want.
Why isn’t Theodore in the lineup?
 

hockeywiz542

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May 26, 2008
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Asked directly if he still believed in this particular core and its ability to win, Shanahan wouldn’t answer definitively one way or the other. Which said a lot in itself.

“It’s not our intention here today to single any one individual out or any one small group of this team out. We’re talking about the whole team,” he said. “And what we are saying is that it has certainly become evident that we have to assess all of those things, and assess whether or not we have to make some very difficult decisions this summer to make the team better.”

The Leafs simply believed for too long in their ability to do so without a major tweak along the way.

And now the challenges are immense.


Think of all that Treliving and Shanahan must accomplish this offseason:

• Find the right coach to replace Sheldon Keefe.

• Land the right goaltender to tag-team with Joseph Woll.

• Execute franchise-changing trades, potentially, involving Marner and/or Tavares.

• Upgrade the top of the defence.

• Locate the right supporting cast members at forward, including more help at centre (and more help still if Tavares moves).


• It’s also probably time, maybe even past time, to hand the captaincy to Matthews, if only for symbolic reasons.

None of that will be easy.
 

LEAFANFORLIFE23

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Jun 17, 2010
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It starts with trades of Mitch and Rielly, 2 rovers, to enhance our D core and shift CAP to D .. G we need to sign back Jones and rotate Woll and Hildeby to see what we got next year .. let them fight it out for top job and earn it for playoff run .. Cowan and Minten need to play a full season with us .. get a coach who plays a traditional game who can teach team how to grind out wins so we can be prepared for a playoff type game style .. can't keep playing skill hockey and win hih scoring regular season games .. might be good for corporate types in seats for excitement but it does not translate to playoffs
Rielly doesn't need to be traded, Rielly needs a partner.

LIke Pesce, Paraykp, Seth Jones, Rasmus Andersson etc. somebody that can pull the defense together.

They have 3 solid pieces on defense those are Rielly, McCabe and Benoit.

If you can get Rielly are partner that's the big piece needed the rest of the defense would fall into place at that point
 

JT AM da real deal

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Oct 4, 2018
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Rielly doesn't need to be traded, Rielly needs a partner.

LIke Pesce, Paraykp, Seth Jones, Rasmus Andersson etc. somebody that can pull the defense together.

They have 3 solid pieces on defense those are Rielly, McCabe and Benoit.

If you can get Rielly are partner that's the big piece needed the rest of the defense would fall into place at that point
You could be right he just really really really sucks against a bruins/cats style of dump and forecheck and then cycle game .. he just has no ability at all to play that style of game .. maybe we should just sit him against da Bruins and da cats .. against Tampa/Montreal he looks great as they don't play that style
 

GQS

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Aug 2, 2005
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Rielly doesn't need to be traded, Rielly needs a partner.

LIke Pesce, Paraykp, Seth Jones, Rasmus Andersson etc. somebody that can pull the defense together.

They have 3 solid pieces on defense those are Rielly, McCabe and Benoit.

If you can get Rielly are partner that's the big piece needed the rest of the defense would fall into place at that point
A better partner might help Rielly, but even a better partner might not be enough. I've said for years it was better to move on from him than re-sign him. Good player but not good enough defensively to play as many minutes as he does and as long as he's on this team he'll be a top pairing guy. The team has pretty much always done fine without him in the lineup so I don't know why we have to keep him if there's someone out there willing to trade for him.

Time to move on from him and get a couple of Dmen who play some good defense consistently for 20+ mins a night and let Timmins and Niemela get more games and see what they can do on the bottom pairing and if he's willing re-sign Liljegren on a cheap 2-3 year deal to see what he can do. I don't think the Leafs are that far off from having a decent/good defensive group.
 

LEAFANFORLIFE23

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Jun 17, 2010
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A better partner might help Rielly, but even a better partner might not be enough. I've said for years it was better to move on from him than re-sign him. Good player but not good enough defensively to play as many minutes as he does and as long as he's on this team he'll be a top pairing guy. The team has pretty much always done fine without him in the lineup so I don't know why we have to keep him if there's someone out there willing to trade for him.

Time to move on from him and get a couple of Dmen who play some good defense consistently for 20+ mins a night and let Timmins and Niemela get more games and see what they can do on the bottom pairing and if he's willing re-sign Liljegren on a cheap 2-3 year deal to see what he can do. I don't think the Leafs are that far off from having a decent/good defensive group.

It's been 7 years with Lilly he shows flashes but It's never been anything more than that and it will never be anything more than that because it already would be more than flashes by now.

Timmins is completely useless and if you can move him for ANYTHING you should, get rid of his 1.1 million even if It's just for a 7th, because that 7th could turn into a gem, as unlikely as that is.

Timmins is what he is, and what he is, is worthless
 

GQS

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It's been 7 years with Lilly he shows flashes but It's never been anything more than that and it will never be anything more than that because it already would be more than flashes by now.

Timmins is completely useless and if you can move him for ANYTHING you should, get rid of his 1.1 million even if It's just for a 7th, because that 7th could turn into a gem, as unlikely as that is.

Timmins is what he is, and what he is, is worthless
This is only Liljegren's 3rd full season with the Leafs and his first season having regular offensive responsibility and powerplay time because the previous 2 years Keefe always favored giving Sandin the PP time and offensive assignments.

I would like to see what he can do under a new coach that hopefully will utilize him better and even if this is all that he tops out to be it isn't even all that bad. Sure he may not have become the top pairing RHD that we were all hoping, but he's still a solid Dman as he is right now. If you can sign him for relatively cheaply then I don't see why you wouldn't do so rather than let him walk. We saw him rise to the occasion last season when the Leafs Dmen had a bunch of injuries so we know he's capable. Why not sign him cheap and see if he can't still improve?

As for Timmins minus will let him play and see if he can't get better too and play like when he was first traded here and looked like a steal of a pickup.
 

LEAFANFORLIFE23

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Jun 17, 2010
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This is only Liljegren's 3rd full season with the Leafs and his first season having regular offensive responsibility and powerplay time because the previous 2 years Keefe always favored giving Sandin the PP time and offensive assignments.

I would like to see what he can do under a new coach that hopefully will utilize him better and even if this is all that he tops out to be it isn't even all that bad. Sure he may not have become the top pairing RHD that we were all hoping, but he's still a solid Dman as he is right now. If you can sign him for relatively cheaply then I don't see why you wouldn't do so rather than let him walk. We saw him rise to the occasion last season when the Leafs Dmen had a bunch of injuries so we know he's capable. Why not sign him cheap and see if he can't still improve?

As for Timmins minus will let him play and see if he can't get better too and play like when he was first traded here and looked like a steal of a pickup.

Like I said Lilly shows flashes but then he gets either hurt or scratched right around playoff every year It's time to move the guy was drafted in 2017 It's been 7 years and this is all he is.

Not good enough.
 
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TMLBlueandWhite

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Feb 2, 2023
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You're at the bottom of a pit.

Looking up your first thought shouldn't be "how am I gonna get out of this hole?" You're first thought should be "how am I gonna get rid of the tool that brought me here?" That's Tanenbaum's predicament in a nutshell.

That tool, of course, is Shanahan.

If you want a mediocre team he's the guy for you. It seems like the only time Shanahan isn't digging a hole for himself is when he's piling it high and deep instead. Being as Shanahan is 6'3" I'm impressed.

I didn't even know they could pile crap that high.

The way to quit digging holes is to get rid of the shovel and stop playing with dirt. Instead the tool that brought the Leafs to this point just keeps digging that hole deeper and deeper. At the rate Shanahan's going the pit will soon be six feet.

Just deep enough to bury the tool that dug it.
 

keonsbitterness

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Sep 14, 2010
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You're at the bottom of a pit.

Looking up your first thought shouldn't be "how am I gonna get out of this hole?" You're first thought should be "how am I gonna get rid of the tool that brought me here?" That's Tanenbaum's predicament in a nutshell.

That tool, of course, is Shanahan.

If you want a mediocre team he's the guy for you. It seems like the only time Shanahan isn't digging a hole for himself is when he's piling it high and deep instead. Being as Shanahan is 6'3" I'm impressed.

I didn't even know they could pile crap that high.

The way to quit digging holes is to get rid of the shovel and stop playing with dirt. Instead the tool that brought the Leafs to this point just keeps digging that hole deeper and deeper. At the rate Shanahan's going the pit will soon be six feet.

Just deep enough to bury the tool that dug it.
Tanenbaum has no predicament. He will be fully cashed out of MLSE in the near future and Bell-Rogers will be the sole owner.
 

Racer88

Registered User
Sep 29, 2020
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Posts like this give me a headache.

All they need to do is grab a mobile D for the top 4 as the missing piece. The cap room will be there to be leaders in goals and hits while adding this missing piece.

You guys don't know hockey. This place is hard to come to.
So you are happy with their goaltending and overall Dman depth that only picking up 1 Dman will fix things.
 

GQS

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Aug 2, 2005
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Like I said Lilly shows flashes but then he gets either hurt or scratched right around playoff every year It's time to move the guy was drafted in 2017 It's been 7 years and this is all he is.

Not good enough.
Except this season he's played 6 of 7 games in the Boston series and I think he played decent throughout most of the series. Its not like he played horrible or something and like I said even if this was really all that he's going to be, its still not bad at all. No reason to move on from him unless you have Dmen that are much better than him which at this point we don't. Sign him for relatively cheap and if you want to move him later then at least you get something for him.

I find it interesting that some people were talking about how nice it would be if we still had Dakota Joshua, Mason Marchment and Carter Verhaeghe and these guys just show that some players take longer to develop than others especially when you have coaches that jerk you around and don't give you a legit shot to get better.

For so many years Keefe had Timmy on a short leash and gave him inconsistent playing time. I want to see how he performs under a new coach before we give up on him.
 

thewave

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Jun 17, 2011
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To me, this is a two year plan...

Year #1....

Fire Keefe
Fire Shanahan
Trade Marner ($10.9 million)
Trade Kampf ($2.4 million)
Trade Timmins ($1.1 million)
Let Brodie Walk ($5.0 million)
Let Giordano Walk ($800 thousand)
Let Klingberg Walk ($4.0 million)
Let Samsonov Walk ($3.55 million)

Extend Domi ($4.25 million x 5)
Extend Bertuzzi ($5.75 million x 6)
Extend Robertson ($1.5 million x 3)
Extend Liljegren ($2.8 million x 2)
Extend Dewar ($1.2 million x 2)
Extend Edmundson ($3.5 million x 4)
Add a 1RHD ($6.0 million x whatever)
Add a 2C ($5.0 million x whatever)
Add a 1B Goalie ($3.0 x whatever)

Bertuzzi / Matthews / Domi
Knies / 5.0 Addition / Nylander
McMann / Tavares / Jarnkrok
Robertson / Holmberg / Dewar
Reaves

Rielly / 6.0 Addition
Edmundson / Liljegren
Benoit /McCabe
800k Addition

Woll
3.0 Addition

Total Cap Hit: $87.7 million

Year #2....

Cap goes up $4.4 million (projection)
Extend Tavares ($5.0 million x 2)
Extend Woll
Extend Knies
Extend McCabe
Start to integrate Cowan
Start to integrate Grebenkin
Start to integrate Minten
Start to integrate Niemela

Its pretty good.

Not sure about Lil or Bert and I am not a big fan of Jarn.

While I understand the sentiment, I think its unrealistic for people to expect to turnover so many key players.

The Leafs are a player turnover machine. Its part of paying 4 players 40+m lol
 

LeafGrief

Shambles in my brain
Apr 10, 2015
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Marner and Tavares are fired. Pink slip. Do not work here any more. They have every right to not waive their NTC's, but if this team wants to have any sort of "winning culture" they need to have some sort of accountability from the captain, alternate, and pair of 11m players who just cannot get it done when the season is on the line. Marner is the prime culprit and cannot play on the Leafs next year, JT can simply be stripped of the C and allowed to walk next summer.

If we trot this batch out with the same leadership structure, it is explicit acceptance of failure. Trade value doesn't matter, if we get a bag of pucks for either of Marner or JT that's one more bag of pucks than we'll have when they walk as UFA's next summer. Accountability in the lockerroom is far and away the most important part of moving on from them. This team is obviously a country club and no player who is serious about winning a cup is going to sign where we let 11m bozos continue to fail and fail. We're the kind of team right now where the players who want to sign with us are the ones we don't want, and the ones we want will avoid us like the plague.

Retool next year. Playoffs aren't the goal, putting a team back together takes a year or two. If we make the dance, great, otherwise it's worth taking a few steps back if we can get onto a winning path.
 

13pacheco31

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Jan 17, 2014
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You saved me a lot of writing here, because I agree with this plan almost across the board. Here are my tweaks:

I would say that we should expect the return for Marner to be integrated into our roster and that return in addition to some draft and/or prospect capital should also include a couple of useful roster pieces on good contacts. For example, the recent Sportsnet article with a few ideas, suggested Marner for Larsson and Wright. That would add a C and RD at less than $5M. That helps. I have been toying around with

Marner
Kampf
Liljegren

-for-

Larsson
Wright
Oleksiak

You also are paying a bit more for Edmundson than I think (hope) we have to. I would also keep Lyubushkin, hoping for both combined at $4.5M. We also should integrate Cowan in right away, we have to. He can't go to the Marlies and I don't know what he gets from another year in the O. So, with Wright and Cowan added to your line up I would rather not tie us into a $5M 2C. I would put that money into more D, say Tanev

Knies Matthews Domi
Tavares Cowan Bertuzzi
Jarnkrok Holmberg Nylander
Minten Wright Dewar
Robertson Reaves

Rielly Tanev
Oleksiak Larsson
Benoit McCabe
Edmundson Lyubushkin

Woll
Goalie

I don't have the lines right and it's a long season so they will get worked out. But that is forward depth (even without Marner), the best D we have had in decades, and solid goaltending...I would sign a Jones or Murray or bothe as depth too. Give Hildeby another year to develop.

Cap compliant, no youth traded...spots for young players to integrate and depth that will save us assets at the TDL.
No way Seattle makes that trade. I can see them trading wright in a marner trade, but trading Larson and oleksiak? They're gutting their D, makes no sense for them
 

IrishInOntario

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May 18, 2013
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No way Seattle makes that trade. I can see them trading wright in a marner trade, but trading Larson and oleksiak? They're gutting their D, makes no sense for them
No chance they trade both, IMO.

I think the deal would be something like

To Seattle
Mitch Marner

To Toronto
Adam Larsson
Shayne Wright

I HIGHLY doubt that Toronto gets more than that out of Seattle given how much cap they would have to take on. The good news as both Larsson and Wright would be plug-n-play.
 

13pacheco31

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Jan 17, 2014
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No chance they trade both, IMO.

I think the deal would be something like

To Seattle
Mitch Marner

To Toronto
Adam Larsson
Shayne Wright

I HIGHLY doubt that Toronto gets more than that out of Seattle given how much cap they would have to take on. The good news as both Larsson and Wright would be plug-n-play.
I'd be good with that
 

conFABulator

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Apr 11, 2021
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No way Seattle makes that trade. I can see them trading wright in a marner trade, but trading Larson and oleksiak? They're gutting their D, makes no sense for them
I can't say what Seattle would or would do so I won't argue that point. I will say they Sportsnet ran an article where they presented Marner for Larsson/Wright as a fair trade. I simple expanded it to include Liljegren and Kampf for Oleksiak.

It's about windows of opportunity and lining them up. Larsson has one year to UFA, is Seattle a contender next year? No. Do they have any other way of acquiring a top player for nine years? That's what they are building towards. Oleksiak is more valuable now and Liljegren might have more long term value. Swap Robertson for Kampf if that tips the scales...I would still do it.
 

13pacheco31

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Jan 17, 2014
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I can't say what Seattle would or would do so I won't argue that point. I will say they Sportsnet ran an article where they presented Marner for Larsson/Wright as a fair trade. I simple expanded it to include Liljegren and Kampf for Oleksiak.

It's about windows of opportunity and lining them up. Larsson has one year to UFA, is Seattle a contender next year? No. Do they have any other way of acquiring a top player for nine years? That's what they are building towards. Oleksiak is more valuable now and Liljegren might have more long term value. Swap Robertson for Kampf if that tips the scales...I would still do it.
You know it's a garbage proposal if they just pulled it out their ass in Sportsnet... I'd say Seattle is probably one of the more ideal trade partners, but I don't see them doing it at the expense of their best defenseman as that would kind of defeat the point of acquiring him
 

francis246

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Nov 16, 2007
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What, people aren't looking forward to the Leafs moving Marner for an overpaid overrated Seth Jones and declaring the defense "fixed"? Not to mention the likely inevitable overpay we make to get Markstrom out of Calgary...

I don’t think Marner gets moved for Seth Jones.

There’s a few teams I think Marner looks at, CBJ has to be one of them, he was willing to sign an offersheet there. I think he’d take a trade to anywhere in western Canada and probably LA or Dallas. Ideally Calgary or Dallas would be the top two places. I think those two could make a trade work with the assets they have.
 

conFABulator

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Apr 11, 2021
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You know it's a garbage proposal if they just pulled it out their ass in Sportsnet... I'd say Seattle is probably one of the more ideal trade partners, but I don't see them doing it at the expense of their best defenseman as that would kind of defeat the point of acquiring him
Which one of Larsson or Oleksiak is their best dman? I would be just as happy with Borgen or Dunn swapped in. Again, Larsson has one year left on his deal. I think Marner, Liljegren and Robertson (if Kampf doesn't get it done) is not as far off as people make it out to be. Marner is by far the best player in this deal (and you could argue Liljegren is second when age/contract are considered). You don't win a trade when you flip a quarter for two dimes and a nickel. That's what this is for us. Seattle wins.
 

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