Earlier this week I posted a thread that focused on a roster with the same core and some re-tooling. With many looking for the core to be shaken up, here is an alternative proposal, featuring a William Nylander, trade, and a different direction in goal. Everyone's thoughts are welcome.
Trades
1. William Nylander and Justin Holl traded to Detroit, for Tyler Bertuzzi, Simon Edvisson and a draft pick. Detroit gets a high end forward in Nylander that it deeply wants, at an affordable price tag and a defenseman that will surely slot into their top 6. Toronto gets a top 6 forward in return, who arguably makes the Leafs harder to play against in the playoffs, while saving the team money, as well as a blue chip defensive prospect, slated to play early, taken #6 overall last year. Get the vaccination thing sorted out with Bertuzzi and move on.
2. Toronto's 2023 1st round pick to the New York Islanders, for Semyon Varlamov. The Leafs go in a different direction in net. The 34 year old Varlamov appears to have several years left and has one year left on his contract, at $5 million, after which he should start getting cheaper. The Islanders finally go with the younger Sorokin on a full time basis, freeing up cap space and acquiring an assett before losing Varlamov.
3. Toronto trades Jake Muzzin away for a draft pick and a prospect. Muzzin's cap hit must be sacrificed for this team to properly re-tool. They have enough organizational depth to make it happen, assuming they re-sign Giordano. Not expecting a huge haul in return, but quite a few franchises could still still use Muzzin in their top 4.
4. Toronto trades Alex Kerfoot as the sweetener in a deal to dump Petr Mrazek. The versatile Kerfoot would be an excellent fit, at a quality price, for a number of teams. I'd love to get great assets back for him, but I'll be happy if they can dump Mrazek's albatross at the price of Kerfoot and sign an FA (who I will mention later) for the same money.
FA Signings
1. Paul Stasny (2x 3.5 million). Despite being in his mid 30's Stasny can still play and would be the ideal 3C for this team, IMO. He's coming off another nice year in Winnipeg and he'd move Kampf down to the 4C spot, giving Toronto, arguably, the league's best center depth. His price tag will replace Kerfoot's, dollar for dollar.
2. Mark Giordano (1x 3.0 million). I might have been ahead of myself thinking Gio would be dirt cheap, so I've tried to be more realistic with this price tag. Giordano is an obvious choice to replace Muzzin as the #2 LD, at a cheaper price tag. I want to see an entire season of him paired with Timothy Liljegren, as the two showed excellent chemistry together late in the regular season.
3. Ilya Mikheyev (3x 3.25 million). With Nylander off the roster, Mikeheyev (coming off his best year yet) becomes an attractive player to retain. He's a really nice penalty killer, will chip in with 20+ goals, is a great skater and can play up the lineup. An ideal 3rd line player, however, I have up on the 2nd line on my 2022-2023 roster.
4. Timothy Liljegren (3x 2.4 million). I think Liljegren will slot into the #4 spot this year, playing beside Giordano. This will be his "prove it"contract, before getting paid nicely, next time around. IMO, he'll have a similar career progression as Mack Weegar in Florida and his contracts will scale similarly.
5. Rasmus Sandin (2x 1.5 million). A typical bridge deal for Sandin, who plays regular minutes on this team, in a 3rd pairing capacity, alongside Ilya Lybushkin. Give him some 2PP time and start developing him to move up into Giordano's top 4 role, a couple years from now.
6. Ilya Lyubushkin (3× 2.5 million). I like what Lyubushkin does, especially when he plays down the lineup. Capable of moving up the lineup in sheltered minutes, I think he's a definite asset that I'd like signed for multiple years, at a reasonable cap hit.
7. Nick Paul (4x 2.7 million). As Toronto looks to get a little heavier and harder to play against, the Mississauga native offers a nice frame and some heavier play in the bottom six. Probably won't be easy to sign, but maybe there is some interest in playing at home, for regular 3rd line minutes, on a longer contract. Paul would be a really nice organizational fit if he doesn't re-sign in Tampa Bay.
2023 Toronto Maple Leafs
#1 C: Auston Matthews (11.6 million)
#2 C: John Tavares (11.0 million)
#3 C: Paul Stasny (3.5 million)
#4 C: David Kampf (1.5 million)
# 1 LW: Tyler Bertuzzi ($4.75 million)
#2 LW: Michael Bunting ($900k)
#3 LW: Nick Paul ($2.7 million)
#4 LW: Nick Robertson ($797k)
#1 RW: Mitch Marner ($10.9 million)
#2 RW Ilya Mikheyev ($3.25 million)
#3 RW Pierre Engvall ($2.0 million)
#4 RW Joey Anderson (750k)
13th Forward: Wayne Simmonds (900k)
#1 LD: Morgan Rielly ($7.5 million)
#2 LD: Marc Giordano ($3.0 million)
#3 LD: Rasmus Sandin ($1.5 million)
#1 RD: TJ Brodie ($5.0 million)
#2 RD: Timothy Liljegren ($2.4 million)
#3 RD: Ilya Lyubushkin ($2.5 million)
7th D: Addition $750k-$1.0 million
#1 G: Semyon Varlamov (5.0 million)
#2 G: Addition $750k-$1.0 million
Total Cap Hit: $82.3-82.4 million
Bertuzzi / Matthews / Marner
Bunting / Tavares/ Mikheyev
Paul / Stasny / Engvall
Robertson / Kampf / Anderson
Simmonds (or Steeves)
Rielly / Brodie
Giordano / Liljegren
Sandin / Lyubushkin
Addition
Varlamov
Addition
