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

[SprDaVE]

My early tinkering of the lineup leading up to the draft and before July 1st. No idea how close these are but it feels close to what I feel is decent

• Kampf and Jarnkrok to Anaheim for our own 3rd round pick. -- Almost 40M of cap space means they can get a couple expensive depth pieces to upgrade their PK and bottom line depth for the new coach. Leafs clear cap. I'd take any pick to be honest.
• Woll to Columbus for Merzlikins at 50%, Luca Del Bel Belluz and Corson Ceulemans -- Columbus gets a big upgrade in net, dump Merz in the process. LDDB is a good center prospect with NHL games already under his belt but the Jackets are loaded upfront. Ceulemans probably needs a fresh start soon, pretty meh prospect. Maybe a pick instead of Ceulemans, I dunno.
• Robertson to Dallas for Marchment. Pretty straight forward. Leafs get a winger upgrade only signed for the year. Dallas gets a cheaper player with potential. Also a cool story with his brother on the same team. Probably a pick involved from the Leafs.

Depth going into July 1st becomes --

Knies - Matthews - Nylander
Marchment - xxx (JT?) - Domi
McMann - Laughton - xxx
xxx - xxx - xxx
Young players in the mix -- Cowan, LDDB, Quillan. Any player signed bumps players down.

Same D. Stolarz and Merz goaltenders.

 

[Martin Skoula]

They are getting old. 31,35,33,28,31,33,26,28

And it’s not Sunday highway miles on them, we just spent 95 games forcefeeding them pucks to the face while we turtle until Nylander gets a breakaway.

 

[Torontonian]

I also think fans are going to be reminded very early on when Marner is gone how hard it is to get talent on your roster, how painful it is to acquire talent.

 

[Field of Dreams]

One player the Leafs should sign is Max Comtois. He seems to have really turned things around in the KHL this year and is reportedly getting alot of NHL interest. A young powerforward would be great in our bottom 6.

 

[Buds17]

He's good defensively and good on faceoffs and the PK.

The extra 500- 700k he's overpaid isn't a real issue now that there shouldn't be such a glut of money tied up at the top.

Fair enough. I'd likely be most interested in another player providing what he can but probably have to pause at the idea of a buyout or attaching an asset in a trade.

 

[Mitch nylander]

UFAs
Mitch Marner - Let Go - Look I think he's supremely talented, but he simply doesn't have the "It factor". If we can move him for a late pick for the 8th year, I'd do it.
John Tavares - Keep - the C market sucks, and we saw Colorado shed 100 assets to try to replace Kadri. If he's willing to stay for 7M we keep him.
Max Pacioretty - Unsure - I found to be great in the playoffs, I lean towards keeping him if he comes at a cheap price.
Steven Lorentz - Let Go - Great kid and all, but he's dime dozen. Only resign if he's at the 1.5M mark.

RFAs
Matthew Knies - 8M x 7 Years, easy keep.
Pontus Holmberg - I'd keep him, he's relentless on the forecheck and can be kept for cheap.
Nick Robertson - At this point move him for another replacement level young RFA.

Trades
I'd move Morgan Rielly for a cap dump + assets | Calgary wouldn't be a bad Shout for Sharangovich. Guy really struggled, and his cap is tolerable. Calgary could use another defender there and I could see Rielly waiving to be closer to home.

David Kampf can also be moved, no point of having someone making 2.5 in the press box. Minnesota makes sense they need Penalty Killers and a 4C.


Free Agent Market:
How about Brock Boeser + Mangiapane + Fabbro
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[Fogelhund]

One player the Leafs should sign is Max Comtois. He seems to have really turned things around in the KHL this year and is reportedly getting alot of NHL interest. A young powerforward would be great in our bottom 6.

Comtois is a guy I had interest in a few years ago. I wouldn’t put much stock in KHL performances though. He put up 50 points.. Yakupov put up 49. The league leader in points with 80 was Josh Leivo. JOSH LEIVO!!! The KHL isn’t all that good.

Having said that, I’d still give Comtois a league min

 

[Rare Jewel]

I also think fans are going to be reminded very early on when Marner is gone how hard it is to get talent on your roster, how painful it is to acquire talent.

Sure, but maybe do a bit more in the playoffs.

 

[Leafs4Life77]

If there's even a 5% chance 97 hits UFA you need to keep $15M+ open for 2026-2027, right?

 

[Malachi Crunch]

Comtois is a guy I had interest in a few years ago. I wouldn’t put much stock in KHL performances though. He put up 50 points.. Yakupov put up 49. The league leader in points with 80 was Josh Leivo. JOSH LEIVO!!! The KHL isn’t all that good.

Having said that, I’d still give Comtois a league min

True, but Comtois has a lot of the traits we need in the bottom 6. I also see that he kicked some butt in the KHL playoffs (15 games - 7 goals, 13 points). Maybe he just needed to clear his head from the World Junior scandal stuff and is now ready to come back? League minimum deal would be ideal.

I was just about to mention Josh Leivo as another creative option for us. LOL

 

[TMLAM34]

I definitely wouldn’t mind giving Comtois a shot. Could be an easy Lorentz replacement with a little more upside.

 

[Field of Dreams]

Comtois is a guy I had interest in a few years ago. I wouldn’t put much stock in KHL performances though. He put up 50 points.. Yakupov put up 49. The league leader in points with 80 was Josh Leivo. JOSH LEIVO!!! The KHL isn’t all that good.

Having said that, I’d still give Comtois a league min

Unlike Yakupov, Comtois doesn't have to be a top 6 scorer to be useful. It would be at a bargain, and if he doesn't work out, we could bury him in the minors.

 

[The Shadow]

If there's even a 5% chance 97 hits UFA you need to keep $15M+ open for 2026-2027, right?

If he isn’t signed by the regular season start then it’s time to plan for the possibility of him being a target

 

[WillNy29]

If we can move on from Rielly,Marner Jarnkrok, Kampf, resign Tavares for 5x3 Bennett + Ehlers+ Provorov+ Frederic we will be a much better team.

Ehlers. Matthews. Nylander
Knies. Bennett. Domi
Frederic. Tavares. Cowan
Lorentz Laughton. Mcmann

McCabe. Tanev
Provorov. Carlo
Oel. Benoit

Stolarz
Woll

isnt this dude a notorious choker?

also this line up has a severe lack of scoring no?

 

[Tony Romo]

I think the one thing the leafs have to get better at doing is finding players who can actually play here. There’s people that want to be in this market and think they can handle it and there’s players that are built for this market.

 

[sxvnert]

Knies Matthews Domi
Crouse Marchessault Nylander
Laughton Gourde Pacioretty
Lorentz Bjugstad Tanev

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Actually, we can trade Marner's negotiating rights at the least. The NMC is over at season end. OR hope for a sign and trade deal with him to recoup something.

I think I can see the reasoning behind Marner not waiving as, Raant helps us get past Florida, then the Leafs beat Marners' Carolina with the player he was dealt for being a big factor. That would be soul crushing for a Toronto boy.

Marner would be an idiot to allow his rights to be traded prior to July 1st. What's the benefit from his perspective?

 

[djdev]

out: marner, rielly, kampff, jarnkrok, jt(unless he takes a really low deal to play the wing) and i think we could get good value for mcmann

in: 1 of pionk/ekblad/gavrikov depending on whether you care about handedness, toews, 1 of bennett/nelson/duchene, and cowan

lineup

domi-matthews-knies
nylander-bennett/nelson/duchene-cowan?
JT-toews-laughton
holmberg-lorentz-whoever fits.

defense:

mccabe/tanev
carlo-gavrikov/ekblad/pionk
oel-benoit

can be tweaked to add or remove a few players, but i think something like this is the most we can expect.

 

[weems]

There is speculation from Mirtle and Johnston that imply something huge is going to happen.

 

[Metroid]

There is speculation from Mirtle and Johnston that imply something huge is going to happen.

I feel they say that every year lol

 

[NorthBayBattleOnion]

Need to rebuild the goalie pipeline. Jack Ivankovic is going to fall this year because of his size, but he’s likely a sleeper pick like Saros. Stolarz is the guy, but age will always be the late bloomer nemesis. Biased but Mike McIvor was phenomenal this year too and worth a look.

 

[stickty111]

There is speculation from Mirtle and Johnston that imply something huge is going to happen.

The only thing that would imply as huge is a Matthews trade and I don't think thats happening.

 

[TML Dynasty]

Knies Matthews ______
_____ Tavares Cowan
Domi Holmberg ____
______ Laughton Lorentz

Mccabe Tanev
______ Carlo
OEL Benoit
Myers

Trade Marner's rights
Find good trade for Nylander (prob less skill but more committed every game)
Sign Tavares 5 or less
Sign Knies
Trade Reilly
Try to get value from Robertson trade.
McMann....i think gone.
Domi.......i think stays.

Make Big Changes

 

[Legion34]

Marner would be an idiot to allow his rights to be traded prior to July 1st. What's the benefit from his perspective?

He wouldn’t.
The only way would be if he/the team valued an 8 year deal.

Then Toronto could “sign” the deal and trade him for something.

Marner will be weighing a 13x8 deal (104 million)

Teams would have to go to 15 to make the money (we all know Marner is all about $$$)

So if they wanted to keep the cap down they might value that.

Of course. Leaf luck. The cap starts to jump just at the time the core 4 is a failure.

Teams might be willing to just pay the 15 million.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

He wouldn’t.
The only way would be if he/the team valued an 8 year deal.

Then Toronto could “sign” the deal and trade him for something.

Marner will be weighing a 13x8 deal (104 million)

Teams would have to go to 15 to make the money (we all know Marner is all about $$$)

So if they wanted to keep the cap down they might value that.

Of course. Leaf luck. The cap starts to jump just at the time the core 4 is a failure.

Teams might be willing to just pay the 15 million.

If they want to pay Mitch freaking Marner 15 million dollars per season then no one on here should worry about him going elsewhere, not even the fanboys.