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

[Maple Leaf]

I've listed a bunch over the last few weeks but it will really depend on interest and what they want for money. It can get crazy so I have no idea what to expect from a few of them.

I would target 1 to 6 forward, preferably center but winger would be fine if JT sticks around at a reasonable price, and then I would target a few players that bring a combination of speed, forechecking, decent production in a depth role and PKing. So like Robinson, Tanev, Appleton, Eyssimont, Dvorak, etc. I'd also target a couple physical players like Brazeau, Kunin, Bastian and Jeannot to bolster that part of the equation. For my buy low options, I'd look at Kuraly, Mangiapane, Armia, Gourde, Kapanen and Bjugstad.

A few of those can and should be rectified via trades though... hopefully anyway.

So is marner back in this scenario

 

[Peasy]

Team desperately needs a new look. We basically got 2 seasons before we have to make a big decision on Matthews. If nothing has changed then, they should probably blow it all up and restart. With that said, this is what I would try and do.

Let Marner walk - we need to try something different.

Tell JT the max he can get with us is 4m, if he wants to go live somewhere else for more, have it at. Can even defer money to give him more but keep the cap hit down.

Sign Bennett for 9m MAX. Ideally you get him for 8-8.5. Leafs NEED a 2C. We barely have any assets, and Bennett could change the Leafs look in the post season. I know there would be high risk he could get suspended, but they need to try something different in these next 2 years. JT cant hold his own at 2C.

Try and dump Rielly if you can, if you cant, seriously consider a buyout.

This would provide you with a different mix, as well as a decent amount of cap space to continue to fill in some holes and hopefully spend more on the bottom 6 so they are more productive come playoff time.

 

[SprDaVE]

So is marner back in this scenario

if you put your mind to it, anything is possible

 

[seanlinden]

I've got Anderson, or someone like him at $1.5... signed after a buyout... if it's $2.75 mil, I'm looking elsewhere, there are plenty of options that I've listed. I'm using Capwages, and they do projections, based on production, previous cap % for that age, production, and then prorated for the current Salary Cap. Provorov is $7. Ehlers is $8.1

It's a shame it doesn't copy and paste the same way CapGeed used to, otherwise I'd share, but the numbers actually work. Tavares at $5, Knies at $7.1 Tavares is the only one I put in, they've got him higher.. the rest I just used their numbers. This lineup is at $95.6.. so 100k over... but I'm sure there is a way to get it under... I'm not going to sweat $100k on a projection.

- It makes no sense for Montreal to buyout Anderson when they can trade him at 50% retained and likely get some value.

Ivan Provorov is going ot get $8m minimum. Ehlers $9m minimum... those "cap projections" do not accurately consider that the vast majority of the league's players all have contracts, or the amount of money that is truly available system-wide this summer.

 

[seanlinden]

You can use deferrals.

Ehlers I believe is 8.1M on a 6 year projection but if they gave him the 7th year, I wonder if it can get down to 7.5M - it all helps.

Deferrals are not some "magic sauce" that players are just going to agree to without issue.

The concept of a deferral, is that instead of giving somebody $5m today, you give him $2.5m today, and $2.5m in a few years. The "$2.5m in a few years" gets reduced, becasue you can take $2.1m today, put it in GIC, and know that it will be $2.5m in however many years.

At the end of the day, the player could also do just that.... if they take $5m today, and put $2.5m in a GIC, they'll have $5.4m in a few years.

Now, there are certain situations where deferrals end up being advantageous to the player; as they are able to pay less income tax as they're not going to be making millions of dollars when they're 40. Even if the case of Tavares who many are talking about as an ideal candidate for deferred salary. If he's living in Toronto/Oakville after retirement, it doesn't help that much.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Deferrals are not some "magic sauce" that players are just going to agree to without issue.

The concept of a deferral, is that instead of giving somebody $5m today, you give him $2.5m today, and $2.5m in a few years. The "$2.5m in a few years" gets reduced, becasue you can take $2.1m today, put it in GIC, and know that it will be $2.5m in however many years.

At the end of the day, the player could also do just that.... if they take $5m today, and put $2.5m in a GIC, they'll have $5.4m in a few years.

Now, there are certain situations where deferrals end up being advantageous to the player; as they are able to pay less income tax as they're not going to be making millions of dollars when they're 40. Even if the case of Tavares who many are talking about as an ideal candidate for deferred salary. If he's living in Toronto/Oakville after retirement, it doesn't help that much.

For JT, he's made a ton of money in his career, he only has a few years left to win so holding off a few million bucks likely doesn't change his life either way.

It also depends how much you're deferring as well. Ehlers we could front load the heck out of the first 2 years but defer a bit on the back end a few hundred thousand, if you give him a lot of money up front, maybe he bites, maybe he doesn't. I don't see any reason for Ehlers to help the Leafs but JT? Yea, JT I could see maybe working something out with us because he wants to stay.

 

[The Shadow]

What about Sean Kuraly ?

Had playoff success with Boston. Big guy for 4th line. Wears an A for Colombus.

Anyone know much about him?

Sean Kuraly | 4yrs x 2.500M (CBJ)

Sean Kuraly signed a 4 year, $10,000,000 contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jul. 28, 2021. The contract has a cap hit of $2,500,000.

capwages.com

 

[WTFMAN99]

What about Sean Kuraly ?

Had playoff success with Boston. Big guy for 4th line. Wears an A for Colombus.

Anyone know much about him?

Sean Kuraly | 4yrs x 2.500M (CBJ)

Sean Kuraly signed a 4 year, $10,000,000 contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jul. 28, 2021. The contract has a cap hit of $2,500,000.

capwages.com

He's a good 4th line centre along with Faksa, there is durability concerns, I don't know if he'd play in Canada, he's a local I believe from Ohio.

He's in the group of Quillan, Toews, Faksa and Kuraly I am wondering about for 4C, I think Laughton needs to move to wing to get more offense out of him.

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

I'd like to see the Leafs add Corey Perry for cheap. He can play on virtually any line and still brings skill and grit.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

I like the free agent list for the offseason.

There are all kinds of choices and possibilities for Treliving and TOR.

The world won't end if Marner goes elsewhere and JT doesn't sign to a team-friendly contract.




Come at me!

 

[Roo]

Brock Boeser will likely cost too much. I'd rather go for a local kid in Anderson that adds some more size, plays with some edge, and would come much cheaper. I think Anderson at 50% retained is solid value. Stick him with AM34 or JT and he may very well become a 30-goal scorer. He could become our Tom Wilson.

Kreider is interesting, given he's fast and put up a 50-goal season. he'd be someone I would consider post-buyout if you can get him cheap.

 

[The Shadow]

I'd like to see the Leafs add Corey Perry for cheap. He can play on virtually any line and still brings skill and grit.

Agreed and we should have done this years ago

 

[The Shadow]

What about Bjugstad? Anyone know much about him?

He’s massive

Nick Bjugstad | 2yrs x 2.100M (UTA)

Nick Bjugstad signed a 2 year, $4,200,000 contract with the Arizona Coyotes on Jul. 1, 2023. The contract has a cap hit of $2,100,000.

capwages.com

 

[Menzinger]

Connor Brown is exactly the type of guy Tre likes for depth players. I can see and Tanev getting offers

The problem with Anderson is the contract. He's very overrated but for the right price as a free agent, I'd be very interested for obvious reasons.

Hes exactly what you want in a reclamation project. Stay the hell away from that current caphit, but if hes bought out get him on a short term 'prove it' deal.

 

[MarMarSab3]

What about Bjugstad? Anyone know much about him?

He’s massive

Nick Bjugstad | 2yrs x 2.100M (UTA)

Nick Bjugstad signed a 2 year, $4,200,000 contract with the Arizona Coyotes on Jul. 1, 2023. The contract has a cap hit of $2,100,000.

capwages.com

He seems like someone we need but after 20 games he will be hated.

 

[seventieslord]

you went wrong all over the place.
starting at the top
JT is the 'best' C available, and wants to return at a pay cut
Rielly is moveable, but, its up to him
dumps are okay
Knies doesnt deserve 8.5 (yet) ...thats an overpay
patches is retiring, and wasnt very good, save for 1 goal
trade AM, Willy, and Marner - you lost track of the agenda big time, forget the fact that all have NMC!!
Ekblad in no world is worth 10 mil, not even if it were 5 years ago Ekblad
Bennett and Marchand are reasonable and you can fit both with only the Marner walking $$

if McD is available as a UFA next offseason you simply sign him to whatever he asks, and unload whatever it takes to make the cap space. Cap will be going up ~10mil, and we have a bunch coming off the books anyways

with your 'trades', we are a lottery team with no 1st rounders for the next 3 seasons.

- JT is the best C available via free agency, you mean. Depending what you think of Bennett.

- Everyone seems to agree that Knies is going to get paid in that range. If you want to lock him up for 8 years, that's what it's gonna cost.

- Patches is as strong a bet as you can get to greatly outperform a league minimum salary. If he retires, so be it, but I think he wants one more shot. Not hard to move off him if he and I are wrong.

- I'm not oblivious to the fact that Matthews, Willy and Rielly have NMCs. In theory you can't trade a player with an NMC. In practice, it happens all the time. I've asked on this board before for an example of a player whose team no longer wanted him and he just sat there for multiple seasons refusing to be traded. There is no such player. If we want them gone bad enough we can make it happen.

- Well I hope you're sitting down when you see what Ekblad signs for. He's a former first overall pick who was the #1 defenseman on a president's trophy winning team and three times the #2 on a team that went to the finals three times, winning once (or twice). Remember that 10M next season is like 9M this season. Does 9M sound that bad? He's way better than Rielly in every way. Anyway, no one is ever truly worth what they get on July 1st. This is why you can't build the foundation of a team with free agency, you can only get your finishing pieces, and yes you overpay a little to get the things you need the most before other teams can. You look at his salary compared to the top defensemen in the league and it will look out of whack for sure. But that's what it takes to get the player, and we have the need and we have the room. $10M will be worth it and will get it done. (and hey, if I'm wrong I'm wrong, I'm not saying to just throw $10M at a guy no one else will pay more than $8M, just make him the best offer!)

- There's no reason to believe we would be a lottery team. The team I just envisioned has less in terms of top-end talent at the top of the roster but a much-bolstered bottom and especially middle. It's important to note one more time, that the team being built the way it is now, hasn't worked.

it absolutely works.
teams have won with worse players and teams have won with better players, but, generally, teams dont always go up against the teams that have won the majority of the Stanley Cups every season.

We have had the luck to go against a Cup winner or finalist every season since 2018 and took almost all of them to 7 games.

that is the hump to get over, not blow it up, because we have gone against a Selke finalist/winner and the cup finalist/winner every single season this core has been in the playoffs.

Hmm, ok, so there's still one of you out there, eh. I didn't realize that.

Running it back would be highly ill advised. I'm happy for you that you uncovered some sort of key to success (not facing a selke candidate in the playoffs) and you think this is a profound point but if we are paying 4 forwards spread across two lines $11+M each, then we should be able to expect them to overcome a goddamn selke finalist. Come on!

Either they don't have it individually, or they don't have it in this particular configuration, at these salaries, on this team together. Either way, I've seen enough. Haven't you?

Keep the 2028 1st, if we suck again or fall short, that is the time.

At the conclusion of the 2027 season, that summer all the way through to the summer of 2028 is when maybe the reset occurs.

We cannot reset anything while our 2025, 26 and 27 1st round picks are gone.

It's not a reset, it's a reload. It's an outside of the box solution, selling and then buying.

There's a perfectly logical reason it can make sense, and that is that you can't just unload the cancers from the team to another team that has the kind of things we want back (a change up in top-end forwards). So you act as a middleman who sells for assets, then flips the assets to get other players. It's risky, but fortune favours the bold.

Look at what happens every season - someone makes a big play for an elite player before we even know he's on the market, or they pay less for a great player than we played for a mediocre one. Time to swing big. We can find an Eichel, Rantanen, Stone, Hagel, Jones, etc. They are out there.

I'm in no way advocating falling in the standings without our own first round picks.

 

[Leaffan1991]

A forward group of
Knies Matthews Domi
Kreider Karlsson Nylander
Marchment Tavares Cowan
Lorentz Laughton Tanev

Could work?

 

[Fogelhund]

- It makes no sense for Montreal to buyout Anderson when they can trade him at 50% retained and likely get some value.

Ivan Provorov is going ot get $8m minimum. Ehlers $9m minimum... those "cap projections" do not accurately consider that the vast majority of the league's players all have contracts, or the amount of money that is truly available system-wide this summer.

I'm going by the rumours on Anderson, and there have been rumours he will be bought out. As has been suggested, and posted, there are many other options at the same cap hit I posted. I've given many alternatives.

These cap projections have been based on years of contracts built into their system, and tweaked every year, adding new data. These projections on average have been very accurate over the years, although there are always outliers. These aren't seat of pants numbers pulled from the sky, it is data driven, based on comparables over time. Like every model, or projection, you can update it when there is new data. Feel free to create your own lineup, whether you use data driven projections, or numbers you are pulling from your gut... it's all for fun.

 

[leafsfan2point0]

A forward group of
Knies Matthews Domi
Kreider Karlsson Nylander
Marchment Tavares Cowan
Lorentz Laughton Tanev

Could work?

That’s a very deep group assuming Cowan impresses.

 

[SprDaVE]

A forward group of
Knies Matthews Domi
Kreider Karlsson Nylander
Marchment Tavares Cowan
Lorentz Laughton Tanev

Could work?

It's definitely strong with a lot of veterans. Hard to see this lineup being worse than the past season lineup. Seems way too good to be true but certainly what Treliving should attempt at going for, only 1 free agent added. The 3rd line seems a little weird and slow but the other 3 should make up for it. Not sure what happened to McMann but I'd keep him over Marchment, or have both.

 

[Fogelhund]

What about Bjugstad? Anyone know much about him?

He’s massive

Nick Bjugstad | 2yrs x 2.100M (UTA)

Nick Bjugstad signed a 2 year, $4,200,000 contract with the Arizona Coyotes on Jul. 1, 2023. The contract has a cap hit of $2,100,000.

capwages.com

For a big guy he gets around the ice pretty good... he's just slightly above league average in skating speed. He has a hard shot. Doesn't PK, doesn't do the PP.. throws his body around some, but kind of soft for his size, not great offensively. He's kind of a vanilla big guy, with ok skating... he's not going to be your first choice for much of anything, and probably isn't a July 1st signing, but a guy who someone signs, because their preferred options were taken already.

 

[MarMarSab3]

Reilly for Garland
Marner for Karlsson
Sign Mantha Mangiapane Jeannot Tanev Fabbro Lindgren

Knies Matthews Garland
Mantha Karlsson Nylander
McMann Domi Mangiapane
Jeannot Laughton Tanev

McCabe Tanev
OEL Carlo
Lindgren Fabbro
Benoit

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

Who are some guys that we might be able to target as an RFA like St. Louis did with Dylan Holloway? A talented but unproven player who hasn't broken out yet?

Maybe Mavrik Bourque? Aatu Raty? Owen Beck? Drew Helleson? Jack Finley? Luke Evangelista? Rasmus Kupari? Hendrix Lapierre?

 

[Fogelhund]

Who are some guys that we might be able to target as an RFA like St. Louis did with Dylan Holloway? A talented but unproven player who hasn't broken out yet?

Maybe Mavrik Bourque? Aatu Raty? Owen Beck? Drew Helleson? Jack Finley? Luke Evangelista? Rasmus Kupari? Hendrix Lapierre?

https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/_/year/2025/type/rfa

 

[Dreakmur]

Who are some guys that we might be able to target as an RFA like St. Louis did with Dylan Holloway? A talented but unproven player who hasn't broken out yet?

Maybe Mavrik Bourque? Aatu Raty? Owen Beck? Drew Helleson? Jack Finley? Luke Evangelista? Rasmus Kupari? Hendrix Lapierre?

Nobody. We don’t have the picks to pay the penalty.