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

[aingefan]

If Hagel doesnt score goals, he's gonna fall out of favor pretty quick.

One guy was a throw in on the Gio trade and the other cost 2 1sts and 2 prospects...

What a crazy deadline. Dubas was one of the few rational GMs out there.

And in prolly half the TOI. I really hope Blackwell sticks around.

 

[Cor]

If Hagel doesnt score goals, he's gonna fall out of favor pretty quick.

One guy was a throw in on the Gio trade and the other cost 2 1sts and 2 prospects...

What a crazy deadline. Dubas was one of the few rational GMs out there.

Dubas had a really good trade deadline.

He mostly had a good off-season as well, other than Mrazek.

Ritchie didn’t work out for us, but showing in ARI he can be productive. Glad Dubas recognized the poor fit fairly quickly and turned him into Lyubushkin.

 

[Zybalto]

Dubas had a really good trade deadline.

He mostly had a good off-season as well, other than Mrazek.

Ritchie didn’t work out for us, but showing in ARI he can be productive. Glad Dubas recognized the poor fit fairly quickly and turned him into Lyubushkin.

Yup,

Toronto kept all their prospects, solidly improved their depth, especially on D and kept all their 1st rounders

Florida traded prospects and has 0 firsts and 1 second for the next 3 drafts and Tampa did the same (except they still have 1 first rounder the next 3 drafts.

I would have liked to see the Leafs pick up a goalie but the prices were so screwy on any kind of upgrade, I'm fine with them not mortgaging the future on one year.

I just hope Campbell keeps it together this run. I can see the goalie situation being revamped in the offseason anyways when things are a little more stable.

 

[DougGilmour93]

I assume next year we’ll have 2 new goalies, unless Campbell of course accepts the back up role.
So, this begs the question, who will be our new number 1 next year?

 

[Menzinger]

If Hagel doesnt score goals, he's gonna fall out of favor pretty quick.

One guy was a throw in on the Gio trade and the other cost 2 1sts and 2 prospects...

What a crazy deadline. Dubas was one of the few rational GMs out there.

Good reminder that TDLs need time to be properly evaluated.

 

[Zybalto]

Good reminder that TDLs need time to be properly evaluated.

Hey, Hagel could blow up and turn out to be worth the two firsts+prospects too, who knows.

I just don't think I would risk that sort of gamble is all.

Even if the Leafs lose, they still would have done a pretty good job improving their team for a run and didnt mortgage their future or future deadlines.

If I'm Florida or Tampa, I have to win now. Theres almost no assets left.

 

[TheShape]

So the Hagel for Raddysh trade isnt looking so good for Tampa with Hagel only having 3 points in 14 games while Raddysh has 8 in 14.

Wait....wasnt there more to that trade?

Jokes aside, not sure why more people arnt starting to talk about this. I'm guessing they are waiting for the playoffs to be the deciding factor I guess?

Well it was worth it for Coleman and Goodrow so it had to work again right? Hagel's a good player but that price paid was straight up insane.

 

[Zybalto]

I assume next year we’ll have 2 new goalies, unless Campbell of course accepts the back up role.
So, this begs the question, who will be our new number 1 next year?

Hard to say.

From Feb. 2020 when we acquired him to mid-January this year, he had the 2nd best save% of any goalie in hockey.

He's just recovering from injury and could just get back to what he's been over the majority of his time here......one of the better goalies in hockey.

 

[DougGilmour93]

Hard to say.

From Feb. 2020 when we acquired him to mid-January this year, he had the 2nd best save% of any goalie in hockey.

He's just recovering from injury and could just get back to what he's been over the majority of his time here......one of the better goalies in hockey.

This year he’s only had one good month... one.

 

[Menzinger]

Hey, Hagel could blow up and turn out to be worth the two firsts+prospects too, who knows.

I just don't think I would risk that sort of gamble is all.

Even if the Leafs lose, they still would have done a pretty good job improving their team for a run and didnt mortgage their future or future deadlines.

If I'm Florida or Tampa, I have to win now. Theres almost no assets left.

I agree fully. I was more referring too the amount of immediate praise Florida got after making those deals.

Hagle is likely a decent top 9 player. But its looking like a fairly steep overpay at the moment

 

[Zybalto]

This year he’s only had one good month... one.

Top 3 goalies in hockey as of January 14th, 2022:
1. Shesterkin: .941
2. Campbell: .935
3. Jarry: .929


....and yet there he was 3 and a half months into the season as the consensus 2nd best goalie in the league and bonafide Vezina candidate threatening Shesterkin with his 19-5 record with 5 more games started........and every person on this board was wondering how the hell we were going to afford him next year.

It's weird how the months played out ( I've explained them before) but there's little doubt Campbell was one of the best goalies in hockey the first half of the season.....and you don't do that by only being good for only 30% of the first half.

Lets just say I'm not a big fan of that talking point.

 

[Fogelhund]

I assume next year we’ll have 2 new goalies, unless Campbell of course accepts the back up role.
So, this begs the question, who will be our new number 1 next year?

It's incredibly premature to make such a statement. Imagine we the Leafs go deep into the playoffs, on Campbell's good play, and you make him the backup next year?

 

[Nylanderthal]

I assume next year we’ll have 2 new goalies, unless Campbell of course accepts the back up role.
So, this begs the question, who will be our new number 1 next year?

I think they move off of Mrazek, Campbell gets something like mrazek or drieger (3.5-3.8) but maybe only 2 years as opposed to three and they take jack’s old cap hit with whatever spare change is left from cap reshuffling to get a 1B for 2-2.5m either via trade or FA. Kallgren Woll Petruzelli & Hutch are fine as organizational depth.
Now if goaltending falls on its face in the playoffs there’s a chance they go big game hunting and kick tires on Helle in Winnipeg or Gibson in Anaheim. Gibby has been booty cheeks for three seasons though, so there’s risk in that deal.

 

[Cor]

Mrazek bought out.

Campbell brought back.

Kallgren and Woll compete for the backup spot.

Leafs acquire a goalie at the deadline if they feel they need too


Outside Chance: a trade for either Blackwood or John gibson

 

[Deebo]

And in prolly half the TOI. I really hope Blackwell sticks around.

What is prolly?

 

[SprDaVE]

Mrazek bought out.

Campbell brought back.

Kallgren and Woll compete for the backup spot.

Leafs acquire a goalie at the deadline if they feel they need too


Outside Chance: a trade for either Blackwood or John gibson

I still think there will be a team that will take a chance on Mrazek. His last injury might make this close to impossible though.

If there are no takers for Mrazek that make sense, keep him and waive him for the ~1M in cap relief. At the very least you hope he figures out his game with the Marlies, ups his value at some point. He'll figure it out eventually, unless his injuries are too much and then at that point it's a LTIR kinda thing.

I would avoid a buyout at all cost.

 

[LeafChief]

I don't see a buyout on Mrazek happening. People thought Ritchie would need to be bought out as well. If he can't be traded, they'll try to re-hab him.

 

[HomelessPepper]

What is prolly?

Short for probably.

 

[Buds17]

I assume next year we’ll have 2 new goalies, unless Campbell of course accepts the back up role.
So, this begs the question, who will be our new number 1 next year?

I can't see any situation in which it makes sense for Campbell to return to the team for a backup role. Any amount of playoff success should mean he's either too valuable to lose or too expensive to keep. Failure to again win a round should probably involve going in a different direction. I imagine every effort will be made to move on from Mrazek (unless he somehow claims the starting role to a fair bit of success).

 

[SeaOfBlue]

I don't see a buyout on Mrazek happening. People thought Ritchie would need to be bought out as well. If he can't be traded, they'll try to re-hab him.

Yup. He is either the 1B again next year or we found a team who wants him to be their 1B.

Typical Leafs luck that this guy has had a perfect bill of health other than a fully healed thumb injury from last year and then this year he major groin problems.

 

[Cor]

I still think there will be a team that will take a chance on Mrazek. His last injury might make this close to impossible though.

If there are no takers for Mrazek that make sense, keep him and waive him for the ~1M in cap relief. At the very least you hope he figures out his game with the Marlies, ups his value at some point. He'll figure it out eventually, unless his injuries are too much and then at that point it's a LTIR kinda thing.

I would avoid a buyout at all cost.

Why? His contract has a soft buyout cost. No reason not to if there isn’t a team that wants him for considerations

 

[SprDaVE]

Why? His contract has a soft buyout cost. No reason not to if there isn’t a team that wants him for considerations

It adds 2 years of dead cap space. It's decent savings during his current contract but the last 2 years of the buy out it's 1.5M of dead cap space... right when we have huge signings to do.

I'd rather bury him on the Marlies than to buy him out. Bite the mistake. Hope he becomes healthy and productive.

If in 2023 things aren't better with Mrazek and he's impossible to dump, which is a big exaggeration, a buy out is much better there. It only gives us 1 year of dead space at 1.5M (until 2025) as opposed to 2 years of dead cap space (until 2026) if the Leafs buy him out this summer.

 

[Cor]

It adds 2 years of dead cap space. It's decent savings during his current contract but the last 2 years of the buy out it's 1.5M of dead cap space... right when we have huge signings to do.

I'd rather bury him on the Marlies than to buy him out. Bite the mistake. Hope he becomes healthy and productive.

If in 2023 things aren't better with Mrazek and he's impossible to dump, which is a big exaggeration, a buy out is much better there. It only gives us 1 year of dead space at 1.5M (until 2025) as opposed to 2 years of dead cap space (until 2026) if the Leafs buy him out this summer.

The additional 2 years start right when there will be a massive jump in the cap. it’ll be a non factor.

It makes more sense than carrying 2.4M in dead cap these next two years, when things aren’t increasing and are tighter

 

[SprDaVE]

The additional 2 years start right when there will be a massive jump in the cap. it’ll be a non factor.

It makes more sense than carrying 2.4M in dead cap these next two years, when things aren’t increasing and are tighter

I completely disagree. The cap jumping is huge but it will be relative as a lot of depth mid level players will just get paid more. It will be a lot more important to have as much cap space there when the actual players that matter will need a lot of money.

We have no immediate need for cap space for next season. All the core players are locked up. We have no bad contracts other than Mrazek and he's hardly a burden. A few players with good to solid value can be moved to create more room. Bite the bullet on the Mrazek mistake, hope it works out and re-evaluate next off-season.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

The additional 2 years start right when there will be a massive jump in the cap. it’ll be a non factor.

It makes more sense than carrying 2.4M in dead cap these next two years, when things aren’t increasing and are tighter

Considering Mrazek can still be useful, I would hardly call it dead cap at this point. Mrazek has played very well against good teams (4-0-0 against Florida, Carolina, Minnesota, and Washington with a .931 save percentage) and was the victim of some really crappy team efforts against poor teams which plummeted his save percentage a fair bit. Add in the injuries and Covid completely ruining any chance he has to get into any kind of rhythm and you can get an outlier season like this.

It is more likely the Leafs go into next year with Mrazek as their 1B again than have truly dead cap for the next 4 years. Short of throwing up a prayer that Woll or Kallgren can be a cheap backup next year, which would be worse than trusting Sparks to do the job, you are looking at paying probably 2-2.5 mill for any kind of decent backup next year anyways. You are not really getting any savings (and likely getting a worse goalie) in that case.

Give Mrazek another year. If he rehabs, we can easily move his last year for value. If he sucks, we can buy him out next offseason or dump his last year, which would be a lot more manageable and Woll/Kallgren would have had another full year in the AHL to develop into a proper replacement.