Post Deadline Transactions and Signings

[ToneDog]

Yeah, hard to be upset with what Dubas did, except for the people that irrationally hate everything he does.

May have been too little too late and probably there was not enough he could do to beat Boston although a couple of key Bruins injuries could tilt the ice in our favour. I just hope we can take another run with this lineup with a couple of more changes.

 

[rocketman588]

They are counted. No it is not counred if it is a goal or whatever bad means.

They are extremely undercounted that is my point. For example our entire D had 3 total giveaways last game

 

[Jojalu]

They are extremely undercounted that is my point. For example our entire D had 3 total giveaways last game

I guess it just depends on what your definition of a turnover is compared to what the NHL's.

 

[stickty111]

Listening to 32 thoughts and learning that Leafs used Minny in the O’Reilly trade so Kerfoot could stay smh.

Not really surprising. They clearly value him. Overvalue him is a fair question to ask but he does offer versatality. He does perform in the playoffs so you have to give that to him. It's interesting if the opinion on Kerfoot changes if he doesn't have those 2-3 major errors against Tampa? Aside from that he was good.
Kerfoot also has struggled to finish. He's not a great finisher but he's certainly better then what he's been this season. His SH% is about 5% down then usual.
I was actually curious so took a deeper dive on him.
The metrics suggest he's actually playing better this season. His play driving is much improved even though his minutes have gotten tougher this season. His OZ% has decreased by a sizeable amount. To put it simply, he's playing well but getting unlucky. Kind of the opposite of last year.

 

[LeafSteel]

Listening to 32 thoughts and learning that Leafs used Minny in the O’Reilly trade so Kerfoot could stay smh.

So we have given up McCann and now a 4th round pick in 2025 in order to continue to pay Kerfoot $3.5 million to do whatever it is that he does, only to watch him walk away for nothing as a UFA this summer?

Excellent!

 

[Dekes For Days]

So we have given up McCann and now a 4th round pick in 2025 in order to continue to pay Kerfoot $3.5 million to do whatever it is that he does, only to watch him walk away for nothing as a UFA this summer? Excellent!

We didn't give up McCann for Kerfoot, and the O'Rielly retention gave us more options for the deadline. Without the retention, we would have had to move out more than just one depth player to make the moves we did.

 

[ACC1224]

So we have given up McCann and now a 4th round pick in 2025 in order to continue to pay Kerfoot $3.5 million to do whatever it is that he does, only to watch him walk away for nothing as a UFA this summer?

Excellent!

Trust the process

 

[Zybalto]

Could it be that Justin Holl brings nothing else to the NHL and if he is unable to read and react in the defensive zone that there is 0 reason for him to every step foot in the NHL? His skating, on ice decision making/vision, and puck skills are average in the AHL.

I think you may be selling him a bit short.

Here are his stats this season mostly as a 2nd pairing guy in tough minutes:

5v5 (He's played the most 5v5 minutes of any D on the Leafs this year):

Ozone start%: 38.74% (lowest on the team among regular D)
Shot differential: 52.58
xGF%: 52.79
Goal differential: 53.87
+/-: +14

Good on the PK.


Here are his stats the last 3 years, mostly as a 2nd pairing guy in tough minutes:

5v5: (One of 78 dmen in the league with 3000+ 5v5 minutes over this stretch):

Ozone start%: 43.89%
Shot differential: 52.25
xGF%: 54.62
Goal differential: 53.39
+/-: +44

Good on the PK.

He's more a solidish defensive #4 on a really good team than a bottom pairing guy over this stretch but is getting older and is probably a good time to get a guy like...say....McCabe to take over much of the tough minutes. Holl also doesnt work well with all other Dmen and you have to match him up with someone who can bring out his best qualities.

I mean, stats-wise, either Holl is the luckiest player in NHL history or you may be completely offbase with your description of him. You can argue his place in the lineup I guess but a guy with positive numbers across the board who actually ranks 57th for TOI for overall icetime in the NHL over the last 3 years just may be an NHL player. Can we at least bridge that gap?

 

[smitty10]

We didn't give up McCann for Kerfoot, and the O'Rielly retention gave us more options for the deadline. Without the retention, we would have had to move out more than just one depth player to make the moves we did.

You're right. Holl was the one protected over McCann. Kerfoot was available and Seattle chose McCann.

As much as I wanted an upgrade on Kerfoot it appears there wasn't a trade available. I think once we lost out on Bertuzzi to Boston, there wasn't much left so they decided to keep the picks.

Maybe they view Knies as an upgrade and Kerfoot as middle 6 depth in case of injury? I'm not sure.

 

[TheShape]

The undervalueing of McCann from management still irks me to this day. What an oversight, McCann locked in through his prime at 5 million. Another 30 goal scorer added to the roster, or you know Kerfoot and Holl at higher cap hit doing whatever it is they do.

 

[ICBM]

After all the trades... Probably one good shutdown dman, McCabe. ROR gonna take one more job. And that's it.

 

[weems]

I think you may be selling him a bit short.

Here are his stats this season mostly as a 2nd pairing guy in tough minutes:

5v5 (He's played the most 5v5 minutes of any D on the Leafs this year):

Ozone start%: 38.74% (lowest on the team among regular D)
Shot differential: 52.58
xGF%: 52.79
Goal differential: 53.87
+/-: +14

Good on the PK.


Here are his stats the last 3 years, mostly as a 2nd pairing guy in tough minutes:

5v5: (One of 78 dmen in the league with 3000+ 5v5 minutes over this stretch):

Ozone start%: 43.89%
Shot differential: 52.25
xGF%: 54.62
Goal differential: 53.39
+/-: +44

Good on the PK.

He's more a solidish defensive #4 on a really good team than a bottom pairing guy over this stretch but is getting older and is probably a good time to get a guy like...say....McCabe to take over much of the tough minutes. Holl also doesnt work well with all other Dmen and you have to match him up with someone who can bring out his best qualities.

I mean, stats-wise, either Holl is the luckiest player in NHL history or you may be completely offbase with your description of him. You can argue his place in the lineup I guess but a guy with positive numbers across the board who actually ranks 57th for TOI for overall icetime in the NHL over the last 3 years just may be an NHL player. Can we at least bridge that gap?

Good post and I think bridging the gap would be acknowledging that Holl is a useful player and can be part of a good defensive squad but also has the propensity to also make some pretty glaring mistakes that cost the team. Almost similar in the way that Gardiner was also a player who was very polarizing that would play good hockey and be a positive player but then make some huge error and all the previous good play sometimes gets lost or forgotten.

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[kb]

The undervalueing of McCann from management still irks me to this day. What an oversight, McCann locked in through his prime at 5 million. Another 30 goal scorer added to the roster, or you know Kerfoot and Holl at higher cap hit doing whatever it is they do.

OK......now show me where $5 million AAV fits in this lineup.

Go ahead.

 

[ACC1224]

The undervalueing of McCann from management still irks me to this day. What an oversight, McCann locked in through his prime at 5 million. Another 30 goal scorer added to the roster, or you know Kerfoot and Holl at higher cap hit doing whatever it is they do.

Trust the process.

 

[TheShape]

OK......now show me where $5 million AAV fits in this lineup.

Go ahead.

Kerfoot and Holl combined take up 5.5m in cap.

 

[1specter]

Kerfoot and Holl combined take up 5.5m in cap.

It's incredible that people are still dying on this hill. Not everything Dubas does is a home run, this move was bad. McCann in a vacuum is a better player than either Justin Holl or Alex Kerfoot, and the latter two will be off the team this summer. Unless the Leafs win a cup with those two involved, we should've just kept McCann.

Now I'm just gonna wait until someone brings up Alex Kerfoot's god like 5v5 pts/60 once again and how McCann is apparently a power play fraud

 

[Martin Skoula]

It's incredible that people are still dying on this hill. Not everything Dubas does is a home run, this move was bad. McCann in a vacuum is a better player than either Justin Holl or Alex Kerfoot, and the latter two will be off the team this summer. Unless the Leafs win a cup with those two involved, we should've just kept McCann.

Now I'm just gonna wait until someone brings up Alex Kerfoot's god like 5v5 pts/60 once again and how McCann is apparently a power play fraud

I mean if getting top tier offensive usage on a bad team doesn’t matter to you then you should be thrilled we got a 60 point D-man + 1st for Sandin right?

 

[showtime8]

It's too bad that Kerfoot makes the cap hit that he's got because I think he's a really valuable player.

The problem is, his scoring is non-existent.

If he made 1.5mill and played 3rd line minutes, he'd be a perfect complimentary player.

 

[kb]

I mean if getting top tier offensive usage on a bad team doesn’t matter to you then you should be thrilled we got a 60 point D-man + 1st for Sandin right?

Well said....

 

[showtime8]

The undervalueing of McCann from management still irks me to this day. What an oversight, McCann locked in through his prime at 5 million. Another 30 goal scorer added to the roster, or you know Kerfoot and Holl at higher cap hit doing whatever it is they do.

I'm not sure if it was as much about undervaluing McCann, as it was about overvaluing Holl.

There was a clip from the behind the scenes with the Leafs and the expansion draft and they were talking about how it was good to have such a good shutdown pair with Muzzin & Holl. Keep in mind this was after the 1 season that they did well together.

The following season, Muzzin was never 100% and it was clear who the dominant force in that pairing was. Hindsight, they should have paired Muzzin with Liljegren, but tough to forsee that.

 

[-DeMo-]

Kerfoot and Holl combined take up 5.5m in cap.

this wouldn't have worked at the beginning of the season we had less then 100k in cap space with 20 players so if you replace Kerfoot with McCann it would then require another league min player to hit the 20 man roster and therefore wouldn't have been cap compliant. just saying.

 

[Machinae]

I'm not sure if it was as much about undervaluing McCann, as it was about overvaluing Holl.

There was a clip from the behind the scenes with the Leafs and the expansion draft and they were talking about how it was good to have such a good shutdown pair with Muzzin & Holl. Keep in mind this was after the 1 season that they did well together.

The following season, Muzzin was never 100% and it was clear who the dominant force in that pairing was. Hindsight, they should have paired Muzzin with Liljegren, but tough to forsee that.

The year they protected Holl, they literally had no one else to play RD other than Brodie. Liljegren was still a project playing in the AHL. A right handed top 4 RD was an absolute unicorn in the NHL back then, the Leafs were trying to find good ones for YEARS and failed with the likes of Zaitsev and Barrie. A top 4 D is and always will be worth more than a top 6 forward.

McCann was a similar player to Kerfoot at the time. Leafs fans need to let it go. The same people lamenting for McCann are going to cry just as hard when Holl and Kerfoot are succeeding on the shitty teams that sign them for more than they are making now and put them in bigger roles.

 

[TheShape]

I'm not sure if it was as much about undervaluing McCann, as it was about overvaluing Holl.

There was a clip from the behind the scenes with the Leafs and the expansion draft and they were talking about how it was good to have such a good shutdown pair with Muzzin & Holl. Keep in mind this was after the 1 season that they did well together.

The following season, Muzzin was never 100% and it was clear who the dominant force in that pairing was. Hindsight, they should have paired Muzzin with Liljegren, but tough to forsee that.

Holl was never a top 4 D-man a day in his life, all canadian division didn't change that. Keefe/Dubas just really, really overvalue Holl and Kerfoot. It is what it is. And for the record, I don't think Justin Holl is as bad of a player as people say. But when you get the calculator out and start adding up some of these salaries in comparison to placement on the roster, the production doesn't add up, Kerfoot included.

this wouldn't have worked at the beginning of the season we had less then 100k in cap space with 20 players so if you replace Kerfoot with McCann it would then require another league min player to hit the 20 man roster and therefore wouldn't have been cap compliant. just saying.

Dubas would've had all summer to figure that out, I think he could manage.

 

[Dekes For Days]

The year they protected Holl, they literally had no one else to play RD other than Brodie. Liljegren was still a project playing in the AHL. A right handed top 4 RD was an absolute unicorn in the NHL back then, the Leafs were trying to find good ones for YEARS and failed with the likes of Zaitsev and Barrie. A top 4 D is and always will be worth more than a top 6 forward.

McCann was a similar player to Kerfoot at the time. Leafs fans need to let it go. The same people lamenting for McCann are going to cry just as hard when Holl and Kerfoot are succeeding on the shitty teams that sign them for more than they are making now and put them in bigger roles.

Yep.
McCann had 66 career goals in 353 career games at the time, for the record. If he was this amazing asset, why didn't anybody else acquire him to protect him?
Muzzin-Holl was our shutdown pairing that year, and they did well. Holl was coming off a great year playing in tough situations for 21+ minutes a night. We had finally, after years and years, become a top-tier defensive team, and Holl was on a very good contract for what he was bringing.
Sandin and Liljegren were not established in the NHL. The only guy we had outside of the top 3 was Dermott, coming off a season playing a sheltered 13 minutes a night.
That was also the offseason where every mediocre defenseman capable of playing minutes like Holl (never mind actually doing well in them) was getting super inflated contracts.
McCann wasn't on our team initially. He was acquired for Hallander and a 7th round pick to protect our depth from the expansion draft. He was selected in the expansion draft, and our depth was protected. The objective was fulfilled, and you move on.