Roster Building/Team Building/Future Trade/Drafting thread.

[Legion34]

Right now.

Knies. Matthews. ———-
———- —————. Nylander
Domi. Laughton. Mcmann
———- —————. —————

If we trade Jarnkrok. Kampf. Robertson for mid round picks (3-6ths) in 2026 that will recoup some capital.
If we give knies 8 (that’s high) then we will have 23 million to spend

If Mitch goes I would try to get players for 1 year. Spend higher on JT/duchene/benn/kane. And keep your powder dry for next ufa

 

[Legion34]

Kings say no.

Kings would never say no to that

 

[SprDaVE]

Tavares is a 40-50 pt player in the playoffs that is slow, can't play defense, has poor intangibles.

He fits maybe at 2M as a guy chasing a cup in a vet role with some personal bonuses for teams playoff success. He doesn't fit in a top 6 role with PP1 time.

He has 31 pts in 51 playoff games as a pure offensive center. Disastrous and not worth 5M when he'll be 35+ on his next deal

139 points in his last 155 games. That's easily a top line center on most teams, but a perfect fit for the 2nd line. The idea that he can't play on the 2nd line or something is absurd. I get that the playoffs are blurring a lot of opinions, people are upset and frustrated, but that's pretty insane to think he isn't well worth 5M to play in the mid-lines.

Thinking that we can easily replace a PPG level center who was a huge part of this teams regular season success just easily or find ultimate playoff warriors easily is going to make people go insane.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Only reasonable thing to do is to trade Rielly, Willy, Marner, Matthews and Tavares. They have big value on the market so the return will be good. Leafs need a fresh start.

 

[Puckstuff]

Right now.

Knies. Matthews. ———-
———- —————. Nylander
Domi. Laughton. Mcmann
———- —————. —————

If we trade Jarnkrok. Kampf. Robertson for mid round picks (3-6ths) in 2026 that will recoup some capital.
If we give knies 8 (that’s high) then we will have 23 million to spend

If Mitch goes I would try to get players for 1 year. Spend higher on JT/duchene/benn/kane. And keep your powder dry for next ufa

Whatever the Leafs do this offseason, it would be refreshing to see them target forwards based on building actual chemistry rather than just throwing top guys together and praying it works.

For example, instead of pairing Nylander with a slower, cycle-heavy center like Tavares, go out and get a fast, transition-style center who can actually keep up with Nylander on the rush. Likewise, if they're going to build a fourth line with Laughton, find a gritty, hard-nosed winger who thrives in the cycle game to play with Laughton. Start building lines with intention where each player's style complements the others.

I'd love to see someone like Matt Duchene brought in to play with Nylander which would be an extremely fast duo on the rush and build a 3rd line with chemistry with one another.

I'd be happy to move on from Marner and Tavares and bring in some secondary scoring.

• Knies – Matthews – Domi → skill and power combo
• McMann – Duchene – Nylander → fast-paced rush line
• Coleman – Granlund – Steeves → reliable secondary scoring
• Lorentz – Laughton – Mantha → physical, grinding cycle line

 

[The Shadow]

Whatever the Leafs do this offseason, it would be refreshing to see them target forwards based on building actual chemistry rather than just throwing top guys together and praying it works.

For example, instead of pairing Nylander with a slower, cycle-heavy center like Tavares, go out and get a fast, transition-style center who can actually keep up with Nylander on the rush. Likewise, if they're going to build a fourth line with Laughton, find a gritty, hard-nosed winger who thrives in the cycle game to play with Laughton. Start building lines with intention where each player's style complements the others.

I'd love to see someone like Matt Duchene brought in to play with Nylander which would be an extremely fast duo on the rush and build a 3rd line with chemistry with one another.

I'd be happy to move on from Marner and Tavares and bring in some secondary scoring.

• Knies – Matthews – Domi → skill and power combo
• McMann – Duchene – Nylander → fast-paced rush line
• Coleman – Granlund – Steeves → reliable secondary scoring
• Lorentz – Laughton – Mantha → physical, grinding cycle line

That team has zero chance of playoff success. They don’t need to get softer. They need to get faster and tougher to play against

 

[kinghock]

Kings would never say no to that

Kings would never say Yes to that.

 

[LeafGrief]

The core 5 are all fired. FIRED. Pink slips, do not play here any more, the Leafs no longer sell jerseys with their name on them.

JT and Marner go as UFA's. Nylander, Matthews, and Rielly all presumably have massive signing bonuses due on July 1st that we might as well pay out, but then we trade them for the best package. If the best deal on the table for Matthews is a 4th round pick from Utah, then you take the 4th round pick from Utah. These guys simply cannot play in Toronto any more. If you think Knies is our hope, do you want them around him, infecting him with the stink?

Treliving's job this summer is to perform an exorcism.

Nylander and Tavares are less of a problem than the other three, but I just don't care about throwing the baby out with the bathwater any more. Asset management, player value, trading Matthews and Nylander at their lowest valuations? NMC's? Irrelevant, these guys are FIRED, figure out the details after the fact. Keeping guys around because we won't get good value in a trade is the exact same scared line of thinking that has kept us knee-deep in this mess for years.

Knies is fantastic.
Domi does his job at the price he's paid. He's probably the guy on that team for whom the logo means the most. He's not a great player, but I'm so down bad for players to praise that this is where I'm at.

Well, I'm all out of forwards that are worth keeping.

The defence is pretty good. Benoit is fantastic. Tanev was nearly enough to turn this team around. OEL and McCabe do their jobs and do them well. Carlo had an absolutely putrid game 7, but he was playing next to the real culprit in Rielly. We'll need a new PP guy with Marner leaving, but the other five are worth keeping around.

Woll shit his pants. Probably best to just throw him out as a cost of the exorcism. Stolarz survives.

We've got a goalie and the good fundamentals of a blueline. Building from the net out was always a good idea. We've got one good forward, and we can throw together a ragtag group of outcasts who can't possibly be any worse than what we've trotted out the last decade.

I don't want to read any posts worrying about whether or not we make the playoffs if we trade the big guns. I don't want to make the playoffs if this is what we do in them every single year. No, far more important now is the accountability, made manifest in the purge. Time to pay the piper, time to read the writing on the wall, time to see the heads roll.

 

[Americanadian]

I don't want it to happen but I'm assuming the biggest UFA they sign (by AAV) is going to be Roslovic. Roslovic played on Matthews wing at the USNTDP. He can play C but I imagine he'll play RW with Knies-Matthews.

Besides Roslovic I don't see them bringing in any other bigger name UFA's. Bennett and Ekblad will both re-sign in Florida. Marchand is going to VGK. Granlund I foresee going back to SJ on a relative overpay. Duchene and Benn are re-signing in Dallas when they clear cap space. Ehlers probably gets 9M in Chicago or Detroit. Boeser 8Mx7 is Minnesota. Nelson also goes to Minnesota. Donato is a scary contract waiting to happen but I don't see why Chicago doesn't re-sign him around 6Mx3.

I think Toronto picks up Bastian as their only other UFA to fill 4RW. Maybe Reilly Smith for 3RW.

The Leafs will have to fill out their cap sheet by making trades with cap strapped teams. McMann for Marchment makes a ton of sense for both teams.

Edmonton might need to make room to bring back Bouchard. Do the Leafs take a chance on Arvidsson at 4Mx1?

NJ will probably need to make room - does Haula make sense at 3.15Mx1?

Colorado will be tight for space - do they move Colton at 4Mx2? (I think he goes back to TBL for Isaac Howard though)

 

[Malachi Crunch]

I'm not that worried, to be honest. I think Tre can now rebuild the forward group to what he desires.

For me, personally, it's attitude first. I want always reliable, mentally tough, playoff warriors, net crashers, and greaseballs. Of course, I'm looking for skill too. However, I'd take a 50 point prick over a 65 point perimeter player.

What I would do, personally? Trade Rielly. If it's only to Vancouver that he accepts, so be it. I'd target Jake Debrusk. Now there's a prick! An aggressive forechecker with some speed and finish. He also performed pretty well (28 goals) in a disastrous Canucks season. He's also improved his playoff performance with a great showing in 2024. I know he signed a big contract with Vancouver so it may not be likely, but if Vancouver decides to rebuild, it may be possible. If not, Pius Suter would be awesome. Dirt cheap, super low caphit, 3C who can play 2C at times. If Vancouver loses Hughes they may get desperate for a Rielly type and make a trade.

I'd replace Rielly with Provorov. Provorov was heavily scouted by the Leafs in the past. I think it's a good fit. Provorov and Carlo.

I'd keep/resign Domi, Patches, and Lorentz. Domi, in particular, has playoff drive. I'd like to see him back with Matthews on the first line.

For FA's, I'd definitely look at Marchand and Bennet (although I hate him). Also, Connor Brown. A cheap clutch guy. Maybe he wants to return home.

If Skinner costs the Oilers some upcoming games, I'd maybe consider trading Woll to the Oilers. I'd want Evander Kane back. Yeah, he's a prick. Good. Tired of these nice guys. I want to see people losing it in the dressing room like McDavid. Kane is awesome in the playoffs. Trading Woll would depend on whether they can find a decent backup for Stolarz. Not sure who's out there.

I'd make sure Matthews gets surgery or treatment for whatever is ailing him. If it's long-term and incurable, a trade may be in order. Everyone talks about LA, but I prefer the Rangers. Lots of gritty, skilled guys on that team. Anaheim also has good C's to target (McTavish, Carlsson).

Tavares? I'd keep him. Too hard to find Cs.

I also cross my fingers that Cowen is going to be as awesome as he looks.

 

[weems]

The core 5 are all fired. FIRED. Pink slips, do not play here any more, the Leafs no longer sell jerseys with their name on them.

JT and Marner go as UFA's. Nylander, Matthews, and Rielly all presumably have massive signing bonuses due on July 1st that we might as well pay out, but then we trade them for the best package. If the best deal on the table for Matthews is a 4th round pick from Utah, then you take the 4th round pick from Utah. These guys simply cannot play in Toronto any more. If you think Knies is our hope, do you want them around him, infecting him with the stink?

Treliving's job this summer is to perform an exorcism.

Nylander and Tavares are less of a problem than the other three, but I just don't care about throwing the baby out with the bathwater any more. Asset management, player value, trading Matthews and Nylander at their lowest valuations? NMC's? Irrelevant, these guys are FIRED, figure out the details after the fact. Keeping guys around because we won't get good value in a trade is the exact same scared line of thinking that has kept us knee-deep in this mess for years.

Knies is fantastic.
Domi does his job at the price he's paid. He's probably the guy on that team for whom the logo means the most. He's not a great player, but I'm so down bad for players to praise that this is where I'm at.

Well, I'm all out of forwards that are worth keeping.

The defence is pretty good. Benoit is fantastic. Tanev was nearly enough to turn this team around. OEL and McCabe do their jobs and do them well. Carlo had an absolutely putrid game 7, but he was playing next to the real culprit in Rielly. We'll need a new PP guy with Marner leaving, but the other five are worth keeping around.

Woll shit his pants. Probably best to just throw him out as a cost of the exorcism. Stolarz survives.

We've got a goalie and the good fundamentals of a blueline. Building from the net out was always a good idea. We've got one good forward, and we can throw together a ragtag group of outcasts who can't possibly be any worse than what we've trotted out the last decade.

I don't want to read any posts worrying about whether or not we make the playoffs if we trade the big guns. I don't want to make the playoffs if this is what we do in them every single year. No, far more important now is the accountability, made manifest in the purge. Time to pay the piper, time to read the writing on the wall, time to see the heads roll.

Now this is scorched earth.
It is pretty extreme but I kind of like it.
Matthews is the one who bothers me the most and this is coming from someone that was a huge fan from day 1.
I think it was you who made a post a few weeks ago saying you don't see any qualities in the guy that you respect from leaders.

 

[Malachi Crunch]

I don't want it to happen but I'm assuming the biggest UFA they sign (by AAV) is going to be Roslovic. Roslovic played on Matthews wing at the USNTDP. He can play C but I imagine he'll play RW with Knies-Matthews.

Besides Roslovic I don't see them bringing in any other bigger name UFA's. Bennett and Ekblad will both re-sign in Florida. Marchand is going to VGK. Granlund I foresee going back to SJ on a relative overpay. Duchene and Benn are re-signing in Dallas when they clear cap space. Ehlers probably gets 9M in Chicago or Detroit. Boeser 8Mx7 is Minnesota. Nelson also goes to Minnesota. Donato is a scary contract waiting to happen but I don't see why Chicago doesn't re-sign him around 6Mx3.

I think Toronto picks up Bastian as their only other UFA to fill 4RW. Maybe Reilly Smith for 3RW.

The Leafs will have to fill out their cap sheet by making trades with cap strapped teams. McMann for Marchment makes a ton of sense for both teams.

Edmonton might need to make room to bring back Bouchard. Do the Leafs take a chance on Arvidsson at 4Mx1?

NJ will probably need to make room - does Haula make sense at 3.15Mx1?

Colorado will be tight for space - do they move Colton at 4Mx2? (I think he goes back to TBL for Isaac Howard though)

I like your Marchment idea. Love to have him back.

I'd target Kane from the Oilers, but Arvidsson wouldn't be bad either. He's not young, but he only had one bad year (this year).

 

[Leaffan1991]

Marchand might be a decent pickup for us if he wanted to come here, but we are in dire need of a top 6 C and 3rd line C. In an ideal world we would get both Bennett and Gourde but that's unlikely.
Rielly trade for a top 6 winger who's underperforming their contract a bit would be good since nobody wants Rielly at full price.

 

[dubplatepressure]

Marchand might be a decent pickup for us if he wanted to come here, but we are in dire need of a top 6 C and 3rd line C. In an ideal world we would get both Bennett and Gourde but that's unlikely.
Rielly trade for a top 6 winger who's underperforming their contract a bit would be good since nobody wants Rielly at full price.

Agreed Marchand + Bennett would be ideal especially with Marner gone. Maybe given that we have a chance at those signings

 

[WillNy29]

probably need to give Laughton an expanded role, he's regularly been a third line centre in the NHL and we got massacred by Florida's depth players. Hell Barkov, Tkachuk and co were non factors all series.

if you want to play the dump and chase game that Berube wants to employ you need speed and size throughout the line up. right now the line up should look like:

Knies-Matthews-XXXX
XXXX-XXXXX-Nylander
Dom-Laughton-Cowan??
XXXX-XXXX-XXXX

McCabe-Tanev
XXXXX-Carlo
OEL-Benoit

Stolarz
Woll

thats it build the rest of it out and get creative.

we're seen teams do creative shit and pick up young players for scraps every year so why not our dumbass management?

I would have loved to add Dylan cozens, brad Marchand and another piece this trade deadline but we got Laughton and Carlo so make due they can be part of a cup winner.

 

[Leaffan1991]

If we somehow got Marchand and Bennett I would put Cowan playing with them so he learns from them and how to play that pest role properly. I don't want Cowan anywhere near the softies (Matthews, Nylander) Marner I'm assuming is gone.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Whatever the Leafs do this offseason, it would be refreshing to see them target forwards based on building actual chemistry rather than just throwing top guys together and praying it works.

For example, instead of pairing Nylander with a slower, cycle-heavy center like Tavares, go out and get a fast, transition-style center who can actually keep up with Nylander on the rush. Likewise, if they're going to build a fourth line with Laughton, find a gritty, hard-nosed winger who thrives in the cycle game to play with Laughton. Start building lines with intention where each player's style complements the others.

I'd love to see someone like Matt Duchene brought in to play with Nylander which would be an extremely fast duo on the rush and build a 3rd line with chemistry with one another.

I'd be happy to move on from Marner and Tavares and bring in some secondary scoring.

• Knies – Matthews – Domi → skill and power combo
• McMann – Duchene – Nylander → fast-paced rush line
• Coleman – Granlund – Steeves → reliable secondary scoring
• Lorentz – Laughton – Mantha → physical, grinding cycle line

Trade Matthews

 

[Jacquestrapless]

I just realized depending on the severity of Matthews' injury, we could be looking at a prolonged absence. Might need to pick up 2 centres actually

 

[Field of Dreams]

You guys are letting your emotions get the better of you. Tavares has been good these playoffs, will sign to a team friendly deal, and realistically there are no better options.

It looks like Marner and the Leafs will mutually part ways and while in a vacuum that's a huge loss, allows us to change the identity of the club.

 

[TMLAM34]

I don’t mind re-signing Tavares, as long as it’s no more than 5 million per. Unfortunately I don’t see Bennett ever wanting to come play here which leaves JT as the next best option. The UFA pool is pretty weak for centers and not many trade options out there either. Marner and Rielly would be the two we need out from this core if we want to see some serious changes.

A lot of people are fine with our blueline but I do see some serious lack of offensive capabilities from it. McCabe, Tanev, Carlo and Ekman-Larsson are fine to keep. Would love to add Byram via trade and Provorov via free agency.

McCabe - Byram
Provorov - Tanev
Ekman Larsson - Carlo
Myers

Has a great mix of defence, offence, physicality, size, etc.

 

[SprDaVE]

You guys are letting your emotions get the better of you. Tavares has been good these playoffs, will sign to a team friendly deal, and realistically there are no better options.

It looks like Marner and the Leafs will mutually part ways and while in a vacuum that's a huge loss, allows us to change the identity of the club.

I could see a small chance that Marner stays if he takes a pretty significant "under pay". Like at most around what he's making now. Very unlikely though... he'll likely get a huge bump in pay long-term in a quiet place.

It's probably time to end the relationship. It's very likely going to be a step back for the next season or two but maybe Treliving can pull off something good.

 

[Phion Keneuf]

Let Marner, Tavares walk
Sign Bennett $8.25M x 6 years
Sign Roslovic $4.5M x 4 years
Sign Marchand $6M x 3 years
Sign Fabbro/Perbix $3.5M x 3 years
Re-sign Knies $8M x 5 years
Trade Rielly for DeBrusk
Robertson/Holmberg/Jarnkrok/picks for Crouse (50%)

Knies(8)-Matthews(13.25)-Roslovic(4.5)
DeBrusk(5.5)-Bennett(8.25)-Nylander(11.5)
Marchand(6)-Laughton(1.5)-Cowan(0.93)
Crouse(2.15)-Domi(3.75)-McMann(1.35)
/Lorentz(0.85)

McCabe(4.51)-Tanev(4.5)
OEL(3.5)-Fabbro(3.5)
Benoit(1.35)-Carlo(3.49)
/Myers(0.85)

Stolarz(2.5)
Woll(3.66)

 

[Commander Clueless]

I say we sign Knies and Lorentz, then throw all available cap at Bennett and Marchand.

Really put this "players get away with less in Toronto" theory to the test.

We obviously aren't winning anything anytime soon. Might as well do some science.


And who knows? Maybe if we sign enough former Panthers some of their attitude might rub off on this team.

 

[TMLAM34]

I could see a small chance that Marner stays if he takes a pretty significant "under pay". Like at most around what he's making now. Very unlikely though... he'll likely get a huge bump in pay long-term in a quiet place.

It's probably time to end the relationship. It's very likely going to be a step back for the next season or two but maybe Treliving can pull off something good.

To be honest, even if Marner took a discount and signed the Nylander contract, I wouldn’t want him back. I think everyone knows it’s time to move on.

 

[mydnyte]

If we walk from Marner and JT.
UFA targets:
Centers:
Bennett
Frederick

Wingers: (at least 3)
Benn
Marchand
Boeser
Jeannot
Olofsson

Defense:
Maybe Fabbro/Perbix? D is really weak this UFA season
We need to ask Rielly to waive and get someone with fresh legs that can man PP1

As for JT, needs to be a lower Domi like contract offer, not a 6-7mil offer if he wants another go.