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

[Taylor Halls Teeth]

Here’s a question, can Marner stop the Leafs from trading his rights because of his NMC?

He could, but trading his rights to the place he wants to go gets him an 8th year. I expect his list of desirable destinations is a pretty short one and he might not necessarily want to put himself on the market to the highest bidder, It wouldnt be a huge return in any case.

 

[Duke16]

I don't want to just pile on Marner, but I just can't shake the stat that he has 0G 7A in games 5-7 as a Leaf. Matthews and Tavares aren't good there either, but no goals is crazy.

While the Leafs won't directly replace Marner, I can't really shake the idea that they could effectively target three good top/mid guys for the type of game they want to play, and be far better equipped for clutch time. Yes, there's 100 PT Selke winger Mitch Marner on the surface, but there's are 0G 7A player in 20 games when it matters... coupled with Matthews/Tavares not shooting the lights out either and nobody in the bottom 6 EVER having a legacy game in a big moment (Nick Paul vs. Us)

It's crazy to me that Mikael Granlund potting 3 in R2 G4 vs. WPG is a bigger individual performance than our stars have EVER had.

Marner can get his big deal elsewhere, and I wouldn't be lining up to sign Tavares at all either tbh - I'd have that as more of a fall back on more creative center ice options if I'm TOR

I'd expect a lot of UFA signings and it would be wise to trade some of internal depth to recoup some futures assets instead of just running back something very close and increasing the sunk cost. To me McMann and OEL are sneaky good candidates you'd actually get assets for. They're good, I like them both, but there's a return to be had compared to obvious cap dumps like Kampf who net nothing. You sign a bunch of FA's to replace them and dont have to be overly diligent about value signings now that you're not so top heavy - they dont NEED McMann to score 20 at $1.35 with a newfound ability to spread wealth. They're so asset poor right now that they should be looking at things like this to re-establish a pool of assets.

You can run back names like Pacioretty, Laughton, Holmberg, Lorentz as your pure depth at low cap hits. It's tough to even hypothesize the higher-up additions that change the makeup of the team quite yet. Need to be diligent in FA and various buy-low trade opportunities that could come up from contenders (I could get behind the Marchment idea others have suggested). Add Layers to this team...

 

[Dreakmur]

With the lack of UFAs, I think it’s actually best to bring Tavares back on a cheaper deal. If we do that, I think we need to split Tavares and Nylander and build them lines that maximize their strengths.

Tavares is easy. Give him a two big boy wingers who can win battles down low. Skill is a bonus, but optional!

Nylander is a bit trickier. His centre would ideally be a good-skating two-way player who doesn’t necessarily need to have high end offensive skills. On the other wing, a big boy with speed. McMann fits that well enough.

Rather than UFA, we may want to take on time players from teams who want to make a splash in free agency. I wouldn’t pay a premium for these guys, but they might be cheap.

Others have mentioned Mason Marchment as a cap dump from Dallas, and he makes perfect sense for a Tavares winger.

JG Pageau in NYI would be a good C for Nylander. He may be available if they’re rebuilding.

Vegas may want to make some noise again, and I can see William Karlsson being the cap dump. I think he’s the #1 best fit for Nylander.



End up with something like:
Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Max Domi
Bobby McMann-William Karlsson-William Nylander
Mason Marchment-John Tavares-Justin Brazeau
Brandon Tanev-Scott Laughton-Steven Lorentz

 

[LeafEgo]

Berube doesn't have much interest in playing him though. Has been healthy scratched more than any other time in his career. I'll be shocked if he's still around after the sumer

I think Kampf is a valuable player and valuable on a contender. But we got a cheaper and better version in Lotty (at a steep price), so Kampf seems like a pretty obvious out.

If we're spreading money around next year i don't see Kampf and Lotty centering two of our lines.

 

[Torontonian]

Leafs are damned if they do and damned if they don't with Marner. If you let him walk, you're letting a star talent walk away from your team for nothing. On the otherhand do the Leafs want to sign Marner to a large long term contract and be locked in with him for the next 6-8 years or something and be stuck with him when he hasn't produced any amazing performances in the playoffs?

The only possible outcomes that makes even a little sense if Brad and Leafs management really want to bring Marner back is either signing him to a one or two year contract so that you can still run it back, but walk away if it doesn't work or sign him to a long term contract with a decent not crazy raise however with ZERO trade protection for at least the first 3 years of that contract.

That way Marner gets his contract and gets to stay and the Leafs have the flexibility to trade him and not be locked in with him long term if the team decides it isn't working out and wants to move him for the best possible value they can get for him. If Marner wants the money, the term AND the trade protection, then 100% let him walk because its not worth it for the Leafs.

This is going to be Toronto biggest off-season in 9 years, they have some incredibly tough choices to make. With a weak free agency, and next years free agency with potentially Eichel/McDavid/Kaprizov being UFAs, they are going to have to navigate though it all. I don't think your scenario is a realistic one unfortunately, this is Marner last big contract. He's going to sign for as many years & money.

It wouldn't surprise me if Toronto looked at FA class & takes a run at resigning Marner if he was willing to take 11.5m or 12m and let Tavares walk, freeing up his 11m to bolster the depth of the lineup.

Or Marner is completely checked out of playing in Toronto, my guess this is the current situation.

 

[jaric1862]

What concerns me most heading into the off-season is center depth. Hopefully we can lock up Bennett and get Tavares to reasonable number

 

[djdev]

I think the cap jump is going to result in Ehlers around 8M

He's got pt/game around 17 minutes a night.

Also felt weird having 7M in cap space in that specific scenario, opted for demoting Cowan for some seasoning and Andrew Mangiapane is a Leaf

Knies-Matthews-Ehlers
Chinakov-Granlund-88
Copp-DBB-Mangiapane
Laughton-Toews/Quillan-McCarron

McCarron had some pretty respectable pk stats for Nashville.

have u seen ehlers playoff stats? much worse drop than any of our guys. like .37ppg. i dont think hes the answer

 

[BallardEra]

It wouldn't surprise me if Toronto looked at FA class & takes a run at resigning Marner if he was willing to take 11.5m or 12m and let Tavares walk, freeing up his 11m to bolster the depth of the lineup.

Or Marner is completely checked out of playing in Toronto, my guess this is the current situation.

Marner is 100% gone.

 

[djdev]

Both Tavares and Rielly took pretty reasonable contracts, and they both seem pretty humble. I wouldn’t include either of them.

rielly was our worst dman in our zone imo, cant pay a bottom pair dman over 7million. even if i like him as a player and i like his attitude

 

[ashs]

Both Tavares and Rielly took pretty reasonable contracts, and they both seem pretty humble. I wouldn’t include either of them.

Agreed, although rielly needs to go.

 

[SprDaVE]

With the lack of UFAs, I think it’s actually best to bring Tavares back on a cheaper deal. If we do that, I think we need to split Tavares and Nylander and build them lines that maximize their strengths.

Tavares is easy. Give him a two big boy wingers who can win battles down low. Skill is a bonus, but optional!

Nylander is a bit trickier. His centre would ideally be a good-skating two-way player who doesn’t necessarily need to have high end offensive skills. On the other wing, a big boy with speed. McMann fits that well enough.

Rather than UFA, we may want to take on time players from teams who want to make a splash in free agency. I wouldn’t pay a premium for these guys, but they might be cheap.

Others have mentioned Mason Marchment as a cap dump from Dallas, and he makes perfect sense for a Tavares winger.

JG Pageau in NYI would be a good C for Nylander. He may be available if they’re rebuilding.

Vegas may want to make some noise again, and I can see William Karlsson being the cap dump. I think he’s the #1 best fit for Nylander.



End up with something like:
Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Max Domi
Bobby McMann-William Karlsson-William Nylander
Mason Marchment-John Tavares-Justin Brazeau
Brandon Tanev-Scott Laughton-Steven Lorentz

I'm not sold on Brazeau and I think the Leafs would be better with finding someone with speed. He had a bad time in Minny too. Marchment + JT + Brazeau would be one of the slowest lines out there but for the most part this feels attainable and pretty good on paper. Just depends what's being given to get Karlsson.

 

[Dreakmur]

I'm not sold on Brazeau and I think the Leafs would be better with finding someone with speed. He had a bad time in Minny too. Marchment + JT + Brazeau would be one of the slowest lines out there but for the most part this feels attainable and pretty good on paper. Just depends what's being given to get Karlsson.

Not in love with Brazeau either. I just picked a random big RWer.

Brett Leason out of Anaheim might work. Maybe an RFA swap with him for Holmberg.

 

[Kiwi]

I'm not sold on Brazeau and I think the Leafs would be better with finding someone with speed. He had a bad time in Minny too. Marchment + JT + Brazeau would be one of the slowest lines out there but for the most part this feels attainable and pretty good on paper. Just depends what's being given to get Karlsson.

A Kapanen type but with a set of functioning hands ideally

Cowan? If he's ready? RW, offensive ability and some decent skating

 

[hamzarocks]

Out of the box type trade but would a deal like this make us better team and make sense if accepted from both parties?

Trade 1; Matthews

WSH; Matthews at 13.25M

TOR; Strome + 2026 1st (top 5 protected) + Ryan/Leonard

Gives us an elite 2C to replace Tavares and two young assets for the following up Trade.

Trade 2 - Acquire a 1C

To NYI; Leonard/Cole Hutson + 2026 1st + Easton Cowan

To Tor: Matt Barzal (preferred) or Bo Horvat

We would be paying top 2 Cs ~14M so basically matthews caphit while getting 2 strong producers vs only matthews

 

[SprDaVE]

Not in love with Brazeau either. I just picked a random big RWer.

Brett Leason out of Anaheim might work. Maybe an RFA swap with him for Holmberg.

A Kapanen type but with a set of functioning hands ideally

Cowan? If he's ready? RW, offensive ability and some decent skating

Appleton would fit that mold I think. Jets fans seemed fed up with him though. 1 goal in 32 playoff games is rough to see. But he's a very effective forechecker and capable of chipping in.

Cowan could be ready but he'll need a pretty big training camp, it's more likely he'll be on the Marlies as a callup to start off like most prospects.

 

[Folignos Helmet]

I see a lot of league minimum filler suggestions in this thread. The whole point of moving on from the core 4 is to build a team with more depth.

I still think best option to improve is to grab guys from other rosters they will look to move off or dump for cheap in the offseason. The Marchment idea is good. Friedman mentioned Marchessault. There are others of that ilk. Another poster had a couple of others Pageau, Karlson

The only UFAs of interest are Bennett, Marchand, Frederic, Jeannotte and a few other depth pieces. But I’m not sure any of them end up here.

I would move on from Domi, Jarnkrok, Kampf, Marner and JT.

McMann, Matthews and Rielly are open discussions if willing to move and return is decent.

Woll I keep. I think he caught irrational flack because Stolarz went down and people blame him but I put it more on team. Also goalies seem to hold almost no trade value.

 

[Dreakmur]

Appleton would fit that mold I think. Jets fans seemed fed up with him though. 1 goal in 32 playoff games is rough to see.

Cowan could be ready but he'll need a pretty big training camp, it's more likely he'll be on the Marlies as a callup to start off like most prospects.

After looking at some more UFAs, Connor Brown would be great with Marchment and Tavares.

 

[Kiwi]

Appleton would fit that mold I think. Jets fans seemed fed up with him though. 1 goal in 32 playoff games is rough to see.

Cowan could be ready but he'll need a pretty big training camp, it's more likely he'll be on the Marlies as a callup to start off like most prospects.

I'm pretty sure Appleton is a LW,I wouldn't mind trying to find a young guy for the 3rd line, we're getting to old imo
I'd even be open to a reclamation project

 

[SprDaVE]

I see a lot of league minimum filler suggestions in this thread. The whole point of moving on from the core 4 is to build a team with more depth.

I still think best option to improve is to grab guys from other rosters they will look to move off or dump for cheap in the offseason. The Marchment idea is good. Friedman mentioned Marchessault. There are others of that ilk. Another poster had a couple of others Pageau, Karlson

The only UFAs of interest are Bennett, Marchand, Frederic, Jeannotte and a few other depth pieces. But I’m not sure any of them end up here.

I would move on from Domi, Jarnkrok, Kampf, Marner and JT.

McMann, Matthews and Rielly are open discussions if willing to move and return is decent.

Woll I keep. I think he caught irrational flack because Stolarz went down and people blame him but I put it more on team. Also goalies seem to hold almost no trade value.

You're gonna be really let down if you expect the Leafs to move on from all those players. They will still want to be competitive and it's not realistic to expect a change of 8+ players from the roster, on top of signing a bunch of UFAs.

This team will already be looking very different with just 1 top player leaving. The Leafs already have 25M of cap space, and likely more if they finally dump a few players for minimal money back.

 

[NWWisconsinDuck]

Hey Leafs fans,

Was pulling for you guys hard. Was lurking here half as a vibe check on you all and half to see if anything has been proposed in terms of making a deal with Anaheim.

I saw someone mention Brett Leason. My God, if you’re miserable now watching him play hockey for your team isn’t gonna make it better.

I’m curious and I know the chances of Matthews actually moving are slim and the chances of him accepting a trade to Anaheim are probably just as low - but out of curiosity because the Ducks are one team with the pieces and cap to make it work. What would it take. I would think only ones they would say no to would be Carlsson, Lacombe and Gauthier.

McTavish, Mintyukov, #10 overall as a baseline? Feel free to just tell me to f*** off too

 

[SprDaVE]

Hey Leafs fans,

Was pulling for you guys hard. Was lurking here half as a vibe check on you all and half to see if anything has been proposed in terms of making a deal with Anaheim.

I saw someone mention Brett Leason. My God, if you’re miserable now watching him play hockey for your team isn’t gonna make it better.

I’m curious and I know the chances of Matthews actually moving are slim and the chances of him accepting a trade to Anaheim are probably just as low - but out of curiosity because the Ducks are one team with the pieces and cap to make it work. What would it take. I would think only ones they would say no to would be Carlsson, Lacombe and Gauthier.

McTavish, Mintyukov, #10 overall as a baseline? Feel free to just tell me to f*** off too

I'd say it's more likely the Leafs win the cup than they trade Matthews within the next 3 years. That's how unlikely it is.

The baseline seems fine, but I'd be shocked if you could get him without offering one of the 3 barred from the conversation.

 

[hamzarocks]

Hey Leafs fans,

Was pulling for you guys hard. Was lurking here half as a vibe check on you all and half to see if anything has been proposed in terms of making a deal with Anaheim.

I saw someone mention Brett Leason. My God, if you’re miserable now watching him play hockey for your team isn’t gonna make it better.

I’m curious and I know the chances of Matthews actually moving are slim and the chances of him accepting a trade to Anaheim are probably just as low - but out of curiosity because the Ducks are one team with the pieces and cap to make it work. What would it take. I would think only ones they would say no to would be Carlsson, Lacombe and Gauthier.

McTavish, Mintyukov, #10 overall as a baseline? Feel free to just tell me to f*** off too

That's a great deal for both teams if leafs actually went to retool

I actually have a deal scenario I like better with WSH for Dylan Strome + Ryan Leonard + WSH 2026 1st and then dealing Leonard + WSH 2026 1st + Cowan for Matt Barzal to give us 2 guys who can give 70-80 pts at ~14.25M (only 1M more than AM34)

However this is one trade and in the world of incorporating a bit of realism in fantasy HFboards GM'in this is probably closer to realistic.

I would do this deal as a Leaf fan. Issue is MLSE and a lot of core fans who think we need to thinker the outside and not the center core wont like it as it does on paper push of contending now and defer the windows a few years down the line

But overall value wise that is definitely fair

 

[NWWisconsinDuck]

That's a great deal for both teams if leafs actually went to retool

I actually have a deal scenario I like better with WSH for Dylan Strome + Ryan Leonard + WSH 2026 1st and then dealing Leonard + WSH 2026 1st + Cowan for Matt Barzal to give us 2 guys who can give 70-80 pts at ~14.25M (only 1M more than AM34)

However this is one trade and in the world of incorporating a bit of realism in fantasy HFboards GM'in this is probably closer to realistic.

I would do this deal as a Leaf fan. Issue is MLSE and a lot of core fans who think we need to thinker the outside and not the center core wont like it as it does on paper push of contending now and defer the windows a few years down the line

But overall value wise that is definitely fair

Fair enough! Won’t ever happen and I know that, just curiosity is all

 

[Mitch nylander]

Outside of the obvious top 6 targets, I wouldn't mind grabbing a bunch of young RFAs/UFA group 6, who are likely under the compensation for offer sheets on try-me deals. Hope you strike gold.

IE:
Adam Klapka - 6"8 power forward
Jakob Lauko - absolute puck hound bottom 6er, who hits everything that moves
Rasmus Kupari - incredible skater. Might be one of the faster players in the league.
Kole Lind - Has had back to back great AHL playoff performances, physical, can score.
Grigori Denisenko - Former top pick, definitely has skill, not sure about the tool box.

 

[Rare Jewel]

Outside of the obvious top 6 targets, I wouldn't mind grabbing a bunch of young RFAs/UFA group 6, who are likely under the compensation for offer sheets on try-me deals. Hope you strike gold.

IE:
Adam Klapka - 6"8 power forward
Jakob Lauko - absolute puck hound bottom 6er, who hits everything that moves
Rasmus Kupari - incredible skater. Might be one of the faster players in the league.
Kole Lind - Has had back to back great AHL playoff performances, physical, can score.
Grigori Denisenko - Former top pick, definitely has skill, not sure about the tool box.

Kupari is interesting

and given Klapka is Flame, that's a no-go.