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

[Buds17]

honestly what's different with mrazek than a year ago when Dubas signed him? he had staying healthy flags then. If he thought it made sense at that point then just go with it instead of giving up assets a year later to do something else. Don't bring back campbell and pair someone with Mrazek

I imagine the intention was to run a 1A/1B in net. By the end of the season, the GP count obviously didn't reflect that very well at all. Campbell also had a low cap hit this past season. It won't necessarily be easy to find a starter or 1A for cheap again. That said, I'd probably prefer a buyout of Mrazek's deal over attaching assets in order to dump his contract. If possible, taking back contracts that can be fully stashed in the AHL just might be the best option of all.

 

[showtime8]

The Leafs would probably point out that Connolly, other than 3 years, has been a fringe NHLer or worse his entire career, and was not even good enough to crack a rebuilding team's roster, while Mrazek just had one really down year (mostly hampered by numerous injuries) but has had a solid track record of success the rest of his career.

Connolly is guaranteed dead money. Mrazek is not. Leafs would rather have the useful asset than the dead money, so unless Chicago includes some kind of sweetener or the Leafs find a third team to dump Connolly to, I don't think we consider it.

Yeah that's probably fair that Connolly hasn't been good in the last couple years, but his previous 5 were solid. It's not easy to gamble on a guys career from 3 years ago, but I think he's got a bit of hockey left in him at the NHL level.

For Mrazek, you're getting a guy that's had consecutive lower body injuries. I believe that he's had 2 hip surgeries. I'm not sure if his most recent injury required surgery, but the previous off-season he had it done before the Leafs signed him. So you're gambling on a guy that just posted a 3.34 GAA & 0.88 Save % and didn't look good. I think the Canes system made him look a lot better than he was in the past couple years.

I don't think Connolly is dead money for sure. Why not stick him on the 4th line? With the constant rotation that happened, he can just stay there for a 20 game tryout and move pieces around from the Marlies on a needs basis.

 

[Rude Dog]

I’m wondering Nashville loses Forsberg if they would be a motivated buyer for someone like Nylander?

I would insist on Askarov being part of the package coming back. Use the cap space on a free agent.

Interesting question. If you knew now that Askarov will end up being the next Vasi or Shersterkin but was still a few years away, would Leaf fans trade a key piece today (while in their window) for a decade of solid goaltending in the future? And yes, I know goaltending is far from a sure thing.

 

[Brobust]

I would insist on Askarov being part of the package coming back. Use the cap space on a free agent.

Interesting question. If you knew now that Askarov will end up being the next Vasi or Shersterkin but was still a few years away, would Leaf fans trade a key piece today (while in their window) for a decade of solid goaltending in the future? And yes, I know goaltending is far from a sure thing.

Hasn't Askarov blown every game on a big stage?

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Yeah that's probably fair that Connolly hasn't been good in the last couple years, but his previous 5 were solid. It's not easy to gamble on a guys career from 3 years ago, but I think he's got a bit of hockey left in him at the NHL level.

For Mrazek, you're getting a guy that's had consecutive lower body injuries. I believe that he's had 2 hip surgeries. I'm not sure if his most recent injury required surgery, but the previous off-season he had it done before the Leafs signed him. So you're gambling on a guy that just posted a 3.34 GAA & 0.88 Save % and didn't look good. I think the Canes system made him look a lot better than he was in the past couple years.

I don't think Connolly is dead money for sure. Why not stick him on the 4th line? With the constant rotation that happened, he can just stay there for a 20 game tryout and move pieces around from the Marlies on a needs basis.

Well 3.5 mill for a 4th liner is not exactly good use of money (I would rather have a 3.8 mill backup), and he hasn't even been 4th line caliber for a few years now. I would rather bet one of our league minimum prospects can outperform him. That makes him dead money.

Mrazek hasn't had any hip surgeries (to my knowledge and Googling anyways). He had a thumb surgery and fully recovered from it. That is the only major injury he has suffered until this year.

And sure, Mrazek had a bad year. Injuries were a large part of that, and whoever has been responsible for our goalies' groins should probably be fired for incompetence, but if he didn't have a bad year, we wouldn't be talking about moving him at all, or at least not to a team that would get him without giving up anything.

If it is me, I am not moving Mrazek for Connolly. We don't save any real cap. We have more guys who can easily replace or upgrade Connolly in house than we do Mrazek. The only thing would be buying out or burying Connolly is easier than Mrazek given Connolly has one less year, but that should not be a consideration involving Mrazek anyways. Chicago can have him for free, or worst case, we can dump him in a similar manner to Florida with Connolly and it will hardly cost us anything to do so.

 

[RAM]

Toronto does not need to trade or buy out Mrazek, They should put him on long term injury like they did with Joffrey Lupul. Mrazek has had 3 significant groin injuries in a short period of time Toronto has a legal obligation to mitigate any serious health issues going forward. Mrazek needs to think quality of life moving forward.

 

[Rude Dog]

Hasn't Askarov blown every game on a big stage?

Yep. He was not good at all. But that doesn't scare me longer term. Buy low candidate. Trade Nylander for Askarov and the 17th pick. Take Kasper or McGroarty. Maybe sign a Perron type of forward.

I realize it's too big of a gamble. Can't see Dubas trading for futures while his future hangs in the balance. Just having fun with it. Just can't shake the feeling that Askarov is going to be a star one day. But his timeline doesn't match the Leafs.

 

[SprDaVE]

Whenever the Leafs trade Kerfoot, Holl, etc they will likely use a pick from those trades to attach with Mrazek and maybe a C level prospect for a useful but average depth player. Similar to the Ritchie trade really.

I really don't see them having to attach a premium asset because they aren't going to ask for a lot back. Mrazek isn't a 35+ contract and isn't long-term. Rebuilding teams should be interested in a short-term asset to gain medium level future assets.

The Leafs would probably prefer to take a chance with him as a back-up or to bury Mrazek for the season if there isn't a good option to dump him. The buyout in 2023 is 10000% better.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Whenever the Leafs trade Kerfoot, Holl, etc they will likely use a pick from those trades to attach with Mrazek and maybe a C level prospect for a useful but average depth player. Similar to the Ritchie trade really.

I really don't see them having to attach a premium asset because they aren't going to ask for a lot back. Mrazek isn't a 35+ contract and isn't long-term. Rebuilding teams should be interested in a short-term asset to gain medium level future assets and a chance at reflipping the asset in the near future.

The Leafs would probably prefer to bury Mrazek for the season if there isn't a good option to dump him. The buyout in 2023 is 10000% better.

I don't think they would ever bury Mrazek.

You save a little over one mill by doing that. Mrazek is better than anyone you can find in UFA, short of some ELC contract of a really good player, for that money.

 

[SprDaVE]

I don't think they would ever bury Mrazek.

You save a little over one mill by doing that. Mrazek is better than anyone you can find in UFA, short of some ELC contract of a really good player, for that money.

They already waived him once, they will do it again.

The cap savings by putting him on the Marlies might be something they need to do and hope he can play well enough there to bounce back. It's a last resort because they definitely will try to punt him away.

 

[Brobust]

I think the trade will end up being Mrazek + Kerfoot for a late 2nd or 3rd.

Kerfoot is super valuable because he only has a $750k salary. A team can retain half at very little cost and flip him for a very good asset.

 

[fahad203]

Whenever the Leafs trade Kerfoot, Holl, etc they will likely use a pick from those trades to attach with Mrazek and maybe a C level prospect for a useful but average depth player. Similar to the Ritchie trade really.

I really don't see them having to attach a premium asset because they aren't going to ask for a lot back. Mrazek isn't a 35+ contract and isn't long-term. Rebuilding teams should be interested in a short-term asset to gain medium level future assets and a chance at reflipping the asset in the near future.

The Leafs would probably prefer to take a chance with him as a back-up or to bury Mrazek for the season if there isn't a good option to dump him. The buyout in 2023 is 10000% better.

Mrazek can still bounce back. I think he's a better goalie than he has played. He doesn't have a mental health or confidence problem like Campbell. Jack scares me more than Mrazek. Littlest thing side tracks him

Kerfoot isn't a bad player but he's a player we have abundance of. A small good skater, supposedly responsible. I just don't think Robertsson or Anderson fill his role

Mikaheyev can gtfo. dude brings nothing to the team during playoffs. he's good at scoring goals against Ottawa and lesser teams but he has zero balls. 6'2 skates like the wind but doesn't want to hit anyone

The play by Compher on Bouchard is the perfect example of a player we need. Compher isn't overly physical but knows how to use his body

 

[Dreakmur]

The Leafs would probably prefer to take a chance with him as a back-up or to bury Mrazek for the season if there isn't a good option to dump him. The buyout in 2023 is 10000% better.

Just play him in a couple early back to back pre-season games, destroy his groin and he'll be on the IR.

I think the trade will end up being Mrazek + Kerfoot for a late 2nd or 3rd.

Kerfoot is super valuable because he only has a $750k salary. A team can retain half at very little cost and flip him for a very good asset.

Kerfoot and Mrazek to Ottawa for Austin Watson?

 

[SeaOfBlue]

They already waived him once, they will do it again.

The cap savings by putting him on the Marlies might be something they need to do and hope he can play well enough there to bounce back.

They waived him and then used him right away. Sure, they wanted to see if anyone wanted him for nothing off of waivers at the time.

However, I sincerely doubt they choose to use Kallgren or some other league minimum goalie over Mrazek because of 250k in cap space. That is all we are saving, and that is not enough for me to put Mrazek on the Marlies.

 

[ACC1224]

They waived him and then used him right away. Sure, they wanted to see if anyone wanted him for nothing off of waivers at the time.

However, I sincerely doubt they choose to use Kallgren or some other league minimum goalie over Mrazek because of 250k in cap space. That is all we are saving, and that is not enough for me to put Mrazek on the Marlies.

Agreed.
As it stands he's the #1 right now. They won't do anything with him unless they've brought in a replacement, very risky business otherwise.

 

[SprDaVE]

They waived him and then used him right away. Sure, they wanted to see if anyone wanted him for nothing off of waivers at the time.

However, I sincerely doubt they choose to use Kallgren or some other league minimum goalie over Mrazek because of 250k in cap space. That is all we are saving, and that is not enough for me to put Mrazek on the Marlies.

If he's awful, yeah they will. Kallgren looked a whole lot better despite their stats being the same. If Mrazek still struggles, he's not staying up.

 

[ULF_55]

If he's awful, yeah they will. Kallgren looked a whole lot better despite their stats being the same. If Mrazek still struggles, he's not staying up.

There is a chance, his groin injuries could be Price like.

 

[Jozay]

I think the trade will end up being Mrazek + Kerfoot for a late 2nd or 3rd.

Kerfoot is super valuable because he only has a $750k salary. A team can retain half at very little cost and flip him for a very good asset.

Idk, I would think Kerfoots value is a 2nd himself, so doubt attaching Mrazek would still return a 2nd.

Probably takes a 2nd to get rid of Mrazek if the Leafs dont retain.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

why would they even do that. I can't see it TBH.

Speculation like this should really read and be taken as "Boston willing to move Pastrnak if given offer they cannot refuse."

He is a UFA next summer. Maybe they don't think he will resign

 

[Brobust]

Idk, I would think Kerfoots value is a 2nd himself, so doubt attaching Mrazek would still return a 2nd.

Probably takes a 2nd to get rid of Mrazek if the Leafs dont retain.

50 point forward for $1.75M next season. That's worth a lot more to a contending team.

 

[Jozay]

50 point forward for $1.75M next season. That's worth a lot more to a contending team.

The Leafs arent gonna retain on Kerfoot

 

[supermann_98]

They already waived him once, they will do it again.

The cap savings by putting him on the Marlies might be something they need to do and hope he can play well enough there to bounce back. It's a last resort because they definitely will try to punt him away.

Last resort is he's in the lineup as the backup to start the season and give him a blank slate and hope he stays healthy long enough to earn even a fraction of that contract... And then hopefully sell high to another (sucker) team who thinks he's rebounded and could actually stay healthy for a change

Dubas doubled down on his core who haven't done a damn thing to repay his trust ... maybe he'll do the same for Mrazek, one of the other terrible contracts he's shelled out

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Here are a few other pure cap dump moves that have happened over the past few years:

Andrew Ladd (5.5 mill x 2) for 60th overall, a 2nd, and a 3rd if Ladd ends up not playing hockey next year.
Stralman (5.5 mill x one) for a somewhat struggling 2nd round prospect, and a 2nd (returned a 7th).
Fleury (7 mill x one) for a contract dump.
Butcher (2.8 mill with 900k retention x one) for a 5th.
Johnson (5 mill x 3) for a 2nd + taking on Seabrook's LTIR.
Gostisbehere (4.5 mill x 2) for a 2nd + 7th.
Connolly (3.5 mill x 2.5) for Borgstrom, Stillman, 7th (returning a couple of low value contracts).
Maatta (3.3 mill with 750k retained x one) for a contract dump.

Mrazek is less of a cap dump than most of those guys, so let's just say I am not worried about being able to move him without giving up much.

 

[ULF_55]

I don't think they would ever bury Mrazek.

You save a little over one mill by doing that. Mrazek is better than anyone you can find in UFA, short of some ELC contract of a really good player, for that money.

Cap savings of the next 2 years might be important.
And some are predicting a revenue growth over the next couple of years.

 

[Brobust]

The Leafs arent gonna retain on Kerfoot

My point was that whichever team is getting Mrazek can also trade Kerfoot retained for a large return at the TDL.