Trade and Free Agency Thread - 2021/22 - Post Deadline

[hockeywiz542]

Kevin McGran: Leafs mailbag: Playoff what-ifs, format riffs and the trouble with ‘Hockey Night’

Readers are still trying to address what when wrong with the Leafs, and how to fix it. Trading William Nylander is one fix-all suggestion. Changing the playoff format is another.

www.thestar.com

QUESTION: I keep reading in various media that one possible solution to easing some of the Leaf cap woes would be to trade Jake Muzzin. People (some of whom are writers) are tending to ignore the fact that he has a no-move clause in his contract. Or does he? Is it a limited no-move? Is it one that kicks in at some future date? July 1?

It would also be interesting to know what other players on the Leafs have current or future no-move clauses, and when they kick in.

Ron A.

Niagara on the Lake

ANSWER: For information purposes only, and not because I believe any of this will happen: Muzzin ($5.625 million average annual value) has a no-trade clause right now. That means he can be waived but not traded. To waive Muzzin, the Leafs might hope another team claims him. Or they could buy him out, though, because so much of his money is in a signing bonus, the cap savings would only be about $1.4 million or so. If he’s waived, unclaimed and not bought out, he could be sent to the Marlies with the Leafs saving $1.125 million in cap space.

On July 1, 2023, Muzzin’s no-trade clause downgrades to a 10-team no-trade list.

Other Leafs: John Tavares and Morgan Rielly have no-movement clauses (can’t be traded or waived). T.J. Brodie has a no-trade clause. Justin Holl and Petr Mrázek have 10-team no-trade lists. Alex Kerfoot and Wayne Simmonds get 10-team no-trade protection starting in July.

 

[TheDoldrums]

I'm actually warming up to the idea of keeping Mrazek . The reality is unless you've got a Shesterkin or Vasy, your goalie is probably going to have relatively big swings in performances year to year. I could just see us using an asset to dump Mrazek and him immediately rebounding into the solid goalie he's been for most of his career.

I just think goalies are mostly random. And the cost in assets to dump Mrazek plus acquire his upgrade would likely be very high and it's just tough to find goalies you can be confident in enough to justify those costs. I don't think it should be ruled out that he's the veteran in a young/vet platoon.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Reilly Smith is a big target for me I think at this point.

Pretty productive post-seasons and LW/RW utility, believe he also has a decent one timer which could help.

 

[Menzinger]

I'm actually warming up to the idea of keeping Mrazek . The reality is unless you've got a Shesterkin or Vasy, your goalie is probably going to have relatively big swings in performances year to year. I could just see us using an asset to dump Mrazek and him immediately rebounding into the solid goalie he's been for most of his career.

I just think goalies are mostly random. And the cost in assets to dump Mrazek plus acquire his upgrade would likely be very high and it's just tough to find goalies you can be confident in enough to justify those costs. I don't think it should be ruled out that he's the veteran in a young/vet platoon.

There's definitely a scenario where he stays. Especially if the other goalie is on the cheap side.

Could give him time to rehab his value and then would likely be traded.

Though at this point I'd say the safe bet is the team seeks to move on from him

 

[Menzinger]

Re Mrazek A thought had crossed my mind.

i wonder if a a budget team has an uninsured LTIR case and could use a goalie. Have zero idea if anyone fits that category though.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Re Mrazek A thought had crossed my mind.

i wonder if a a budget team has an uninsured LTIR case and could use a goalie. Have zero idea if anyone fits that category though.

Chicago needs a goalie and maybe would like contract flexibility?

Mrazek for Khaira (probably perma LTR) and Borgstrom (1M, can be demoted for zero hit to our cap)

Chicago gets a contract spot, fills a spot in net.

Borgstrom is due 1.1M salary
Khaira 1M salary - although unsure if it's insured.

2.1M salary and freeing up a contract slot for Mrazek at 4.2M salary...maybe a sweetener required.

 

[Menzinger]

Chicago needs a goalie and maybe would like contract flexibility?

Mrazek for Khaira (probably perma LTR) and Borgstrom (1M, can be demoted for zero hit to our cap)

Chicago gets a contract spot, fills a spot in net.

Borgstrom is due 1.1M salary
Khaira 1M salary - although unsure if it's insured.

2.1M salary and freeing up a contract slot for Mrazek at 4.2M salary...maybe a sweetener required.

Something like that certainly seems reasonable. I've no doubt the front office will get creative if they have to should they want to move on from their current goalies

 

[WTFMAN99]

Something like that certainly seems reasonable. I've no doubt the front office will get creative if they have to should they want to move on from their current goalies

It was said somewhere they want to grab someone that is lower cost and hasn't quite broken out, I suspect Blackwood or Stolarz fit the mold but they're going to want someone reliable behind them.

Mrazek with his health issues isn't a good safety net.

 

[Brobust]

Chicago needs a goalie and maybe would like contract flexibility?

Mrazek for Khaira (probably perma LTR) and Borgstrom (1M, can be demoted for zero hit to our cap)

Chicago gets a contract spot, fills a spot in net.

Borgstrom is due 1.1M salary
Khaira 1M salary - although unsure if it's insured.

2.1M salary and freeing up a contract slot for Mrazek at 4.2M salary...maybe a sweetener required.

Mrazek total money owed is $8.6M. Unless you find a way to close that gap, that sweetener is going to be really unpleasant. That's more money than Marleau was owed.

 

[Brobust]

Another unlikely but interesting trade scenario is using Muzzin to trade Mrazek.

You do a 3 three team trade for Muzzin, with a middle team retaining 50%($1.5M). The middle team also takes on Mrazek and gets the entire return on Muzzin.

According to Luke Fox, the trade value on Muzzin is pretty high.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Mrazek total money owed is $8.6M. Unless you find a way to close that gap, that sweetener is going to be really unpleasant. That's more money than Marleau was owed.

Major difference is a team can actually use Mrazek as a very useful asset, and he is not 6.25 mill in dead cap and 3.7 mill in dead money with only a few teams willing/able to do that sort of deal.

Mrazek has a lot more potential suitors and I don't think a team getting him will just buy him out. He is also a guy who can still fill a need for us, at least for one more year. The only real reason we would even consider moving him is if we wanted to drop the tandem idea, which likely means he would head the other way in a trade for a more expensive starter anyways.

I doubt the Leafs move him just to get a different tandem goalie in his place.

That is also approximately the amount of money Connolly had left when he was traded with 2.5 years left on his 4 year deal, and it didn't cost Florida much to dump him (and he was far less useful than Mrazek was and is going to be).

 

[Menzinger]

Mrazek total money owed is $8.6M. Unless you find a way to close that gap, that sweetener is going to be really unpleasant. That's more money than Marleau was owed.

The difference there though is Marleau was an immediate buyout. He was traded as dead money.

A team that trades for Mrazek will do so because they will play him on the roster. Which impacts trade value.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Mrazek total money owed is $8.6M. Unless you find a way to close that gap, that sweetener is going to be really unpleasant. That's more money than Marleau was owed.

Maybe it's as simple as Mrazek for Connolly.

Not much $$ saving but it's 1 year of term vs 2.

Nashville for Myer? Nashville needs a goalie, Leafs actually get a cap credit in year 1 of the buy out.

 

[Buzzman17]

Who can be the next Jason Spezza for the Maple Leafs? Ranking eight potential candidates

Who might fit the bill on the free-agent market to be the Maple Leafs' next Spezza? And will the Leafs try to find a similar replacement?

theathletic.com

1. Darren Helm

2. Andrew Cogliano

3. Trevor Lewis

4. Sam Gagner

5. Brian Boyle

6. Tyler Bozak

7. Derek Stepan

8. Jay Beagle

None of the above. I don’t want another Spezza who has never won anything in this league

 

[Gabriel426]

We've been fantasizing about the returns on a Nylander trade and even a Sandin trade, but I don't see it happening.

Muzzin has a $2M signing bonus on July 1st. He'll get traded along with Kerfoot and a Mrazek buyout. Toronto will then remake the 4th line, add a LW and get two cheap goalies(that we'll panic about).

Trading away Muz is hurting the D.
Really don’t see why any smart GMs would do that.
Unless there is a similar RD like Muz being acquired via trade or UFA.

If the goalie market is as bad as some seems to think. Won’t Petr be more attractive to teams?

Honestly if Helly is available, anyone except AM and Reilly are on the table for the Jets.

 

[Kiwi]

Thoughts on bringing in E Bear and C Miller on cheap deals to play on the right and fill the #6-#8D roles?

 

[Dreakmur]

Thoughts on bringing in E Bear and C Miller on cheap deals to play on the right and fill the #6-#8D roles?

No harm in bringing in contracts that can be fully buried, but neither of those guys help us at all.

 

[Kiwi]

No harm in bringing in contracts that can be fully buried, but neither of those guys help us at all.

Bear is still mid 20's and looked promising before Edmonton went full Edmonton on him and Miller has a point shot we don't really have in the D-core right now

 

[McSnypsky]

Top prospect Slafkovsky on Leafs' Matthews: 'My favourite player in the NHL'

So how do we get him?

 

[hamzarocks]

Would people be comfortable paying our 1st for Barbashev from the Blues?

Had a crazy good year this year but I don't think that's realistic production moving on

He can be a 40 pt 3C whi is pretty big and has some grit

If we move kerfoot for a 2nd+ then use 3.5M to add an upgrade on Campbell (5ishM goalie) our team doesn't get any worse off and if the goalie we get is actually the difference people think is needed it could solve our playoff issues

Ideally we dump Mrazek +Holl and get another 6M to get a Rielly Smith + depth player which makes us very deep as a whole without too much changes to our core which people don't want to change

 

[WTFMAN99]

Would people be comfortable paying our 1st for Barbashev from the Blues?

Had a crazy good year this year but I don't think that's realistic production moving on

He can be a 40 pt 3C whi is pretty big and has some grit

If we move kerfoot for a 2nd+ then use 3.5M to add an upgrade on Campbell (5ishM goalie) our team doesn't get any worse off and if the goalie we get is actually the difference people think is needed it could solve our playoff issues

Ideally we dump Mrazek +Holl and get another 6M to get a Rielly Smith + depth player which makes us very deep as a whole without too much changes to our core which people don't want to change

Barbashev is a player I like but the production isn't likely to continue.

 

[hamzarocks]

Barbashev is a player I like but the production isn't likely to continue.

Yeah that's true.

He makes only 2.25M though for next year and I can't see him being any worse production wise than kerfoot whose a 30ish pt center when he's not stapled to with 88 and 91

I tried playing around on cap friendly by adding him and dealing kerfoot.

Added Domi, Barbashev, Hathaway, PK Subban, for skaters and then

Husso and Holtby for Goaltending

It worked cap wise but I know for sure a move I made is one that people here won't Iike

Had to do Sandin+Mrazek for Ferland+3rd to get rid of Mrazek and then get the LTIR advantage from Ferlands deal.

I'd do that deal ideally with a 1st instead of Sandin and deal Sandin in a separate deal where we get more value

Tried to make us harder to play against with skilled gritty players who can hit/skate/back check and shoot the puck

 

[fahad203]

Yeah that's true.

He makes only 2.25M though for next year and I can't see him being any worse production wise than kerfoot whose a 30ish pt center when he's not stapled to with 88 and 91

I tried playing around on cap friendly by adding him and dealing kerfoot.

Added Domi, Barbashev, Hathaway, PK Subban, for skaters and then

Husso and Holtby for Goaltending

It worked cap wise but I know for sure a move I made is one that people here won't Iike

Had to do Sandin+Mrazek for Ferland+3rd to get rid of Mrazek and then get the LTIR advantage from Ferlands deal.

I'd do that deal ideally with a 1st instead of Sandin and deal Sandin in a separate deal where we get more value

Tried to make us harder to play against with skilled gritty players who can hit/skate/back check and shoot the puck

Deslaueirs is the player I want. Perfect 4th liner along with Aston Reese

 

[BertCorbeau]

^ I didn't think Holtby wanted to play for a Canadian team at this point

 

[Dreakmur]

Bear is still mid 20's and looked promising before Edmonton went full Edmonton on him and Miller has a point shot we don't really have in the D-core right now

Small, soft, bad defensively. Maybe Bear can still develop into something more, but he's an AHL project at this point.