HF Habs: Trade Proposal Thread #79

[jellybeans]

There’s “not paying full value” and there’s “let’s get PLD without including any of our top 8 prospects and any first or second rounders because xyz”

When Pacioretty and Petry wanted out… for examples … after bad seasons… I bet not a lot of poeple here were doing the gymnastics to justify giving them away for 50 cents on the dollar lol

The Jets have no obligation to trade him to the Habs he can be usefull elsewhere and no one beside the media's said he only wanted to play in
montreal.

 

[Captain Mountain]

These players (other than Tavares) are worth the contracts in a strict $/WAR sense but they aren't worth it relative to their peers, and especially aren't when term is taken into account. Marner is probably better than Panarin but when you have the leverage of RFA status that's not a good reason to just pay him like he's a UFA when you're only buying two years of UFA eligibility. Matthews I don't really give them a hard time on because he's worth the money and the offer sheet threat would be real. It's unfortunate for them he wasn't willing to take 8 years like McDavid but I don't pin that on Dubas other than the fact it makes for a really dicey situation where those contracts are all coming up a lot quicker than I think they might have hoped.

As for the Suzuki comparison that's exactly what I'm getting at, Montreal bought 4 years of UFA at that price and paid slightly more than his market value today in exchange for his entire prime and a deal that will be very affordable for what he brings within just a season or two when the Habs will start to care about cap efficiency again.

Ok, so the alternative is to play hardball and end up where Calgary is now. Or where Vancouver will be in a year with Pettersson.

Toronto got screwed by the flat cap more than any other team. Their stars ALL came into the league in the 2016-2017, which means they hit their next contracts right before the pandemic hit. Could they have pushed harder to get the term up or the salary down. Maybe, but not by that much.

Actually, lets look at the 2016-2017 rookies, because its a good insight into the alternatives to what Toronto did:

2016-17 NHL Awards Voting | Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

Laine - not at the saome level, RFA with a 7.5 mil qualifying offer and a lot of leverage
Werenski - Bridged and then became very overpaid
Murray - LOL
Tkachuk - bridged to a 9 mil QO and finding the fastest way out of Calgary
Aho - Carolina played hard ball with him so Bergevin offer sheeted him. He's making 2.5 mil less than Marner and will be UFA in two years

Toronto's guys are paid fairly based on their contributions relative to their peers. Point is really the only one that actually took less, and that's a culture that was established in Tampa years ago.

A lot of the good teams in the league have their star players on good contracts threw their RFA years. I don’t think using Bergevin as an example of why what Toronto did was smart is the way I would go in this argument. They overpaid. How do you hand out $11.6 million dollars to Matthews at that point without buying UFA years? There’s no defending that.

They bought a UFA year. And he was a top-10 player in the NHL out of his rookie deal, he's got a ton of leverage.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Ok, so the alternative is to play hardball and end up where Calgary is now. Or where Vancouver will be in a year with Pettersson.

Toronto got screwed by the flat cap more than any other team. Their stars ALL came into the league in the 2016-2017, which means they hit their next contracts right before the pandemic hit. Could they have pushed harder to get the term up or the salary down. Maybe, but not by that much.

Actually, lets look at the 2016-2017 rookies, because its a good insight into the alternatives to what Toronto did:

2016-17 NHL Awards Voting | Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

Laine - not at the saome level, RFA with a 7.5 mil qualifying offer and a lot of leverage
Werenski - Bridged and then became very overpaid
Murray - LOL
Tkachuk - bridged to a 9 mil QO and finding the fastest way out of Calgary
Aho - Carolina played hard ball with him so Bergevin offer sheeted him. He's making 2.5 mil less than Marner and will be UFA in two years

Toronto's guys are paid fairly based on their contributions relative to their peers. Point is really the only one that actually took less, and that's a culture that was established in Tampa years ago.



They bought a UFA year. And he was a top-10 player in the NHL out of his rookie deal, he's got a ton of leverage.

There has to be a compromise. He wasn’t an $11.6 million dollar player when that contract was signed. And he wasn’t the second best player in the league. If you’re going to overpay, you better get something back like 3-4 UFA years bought in return. They got absolutely nothing. They gave Matthews a blank cheque. I don’t know why you’re defending that. It’s easy to say with hindsight that the $11.6 million was worth it.

 

[Captain Mountain]

There has to be a compromise. He wasn’t an $11.6 million dollar player when that contract was signed. And he wasn’t the second best player in the league. If you’re going to overpay, you better get something back like 3-4 UFA years bought in return. They got absolutely nothing. They gave Matthews a blank cheque. I don’t know why you’re defending that. It’s easy to say with hindsight that the $11.6 million was worth it.

You think Toronto was dumb enough to risk losing or pissing off a player of Matthew's caliber? Relationships matter. Matthews had leverage because of who he was.

 

[Rapala]

I agree with others that Dubois wanting to play in Montreal only will limit Peg’s options — perhaps the parties get back to that initial 3-player offer the Habs made as a means of finding common ground. As I understand it, the Jets were interested in that package but then nixed it — so there might be the foundation for a deal if the parties keep tweaking it.

But Romanov and Poehling are now gone. My initial impression at the draft was KD was a back up plan. It really did feel like a plan gone wrong. People who say Hughes was talking to Chicago all along need to understand the concept of drafting a winger #1 while the more pressing needs were for a C and or a D. Meanwhile having to executing a three way deal. Once you pull that trigger you are walking a tight rope and with all the smoke surrounding PLD one has to think that was our plan A and would have sent everyone home delirious. My guess is Hughes would never have got on that tight rope without a safety net. The plan B was a done deal before the draft pending the outcome of plan A.

 

[Naslundforever]

I know even with PLD we are not a good team but he does improve us. You also don't bring in 30G scorers while you are rebuilding though and still need to get more 1st line potential guys in your system. The point of a rebuild is to suck and get a high draft pick. There are some teams who are used to finishing middle of the pack, and are never quite bad enough to get consecutive high picks. That was us the last 25 years. Can we please end that cycle? We need to get a top 5 pick next year, and the following year a top 10 pick. PLD will be available in 2 years, if not, every year there are always other options when we are actually ready (RFA/FA/unhappy players).

Not sure I agree. The point of a rebuild IS to bring in young 30g scorers. This is not a situation like Lang, Cole, Radulov, Alzner (lol) where habs traded picks or gave big contracts for aging vets to make the playoffs.

Habs would easily have 3-5 years to develop guys like Suzuki, Dubois, Caufield, Dach, Slafkovsky, Ghule, etc and acquire more assets before the core of their prime.

I also don’t think you build a team entirely on paper. I understand the point of drafting high, but you need to develop and evaluate these guys, and adjust the roster all year long, not just at the draft. Just ice a crap goalie and have the guys go all in playing « the right way » and learning the game. Play the young guys and don’t rush them, that’s how you develop.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

There’s “not paying full value” and there’s “let’s get PLD without including any of our top 8 prospects and any first or second rounders because xyz”

When Pacioretty and Petry wanted out… for examples … after bad seasons… I bet not a lot of poeple here were doing the gymnastics to justify giving them away for 50 cents on the dollar lol

Presumably people who don't want to give up much for PLD don't think he is a difference maker or a great player, and possibly don't like his next contract which will be very expensive, or don't like his character concerns, or maybe all 3. Those are all totally reasonable concerns about PLD, which people who want PLD maybe aren't concerned about or don't feel the same thing about. So that's most likely the difference.

Tyler Toffoli has a very good contract that is under what he's worth, so that also factors into his value.

 

[DubDub]

Ok, so the alternative is to play hardball and end up where Calgary is now. Or where Vancouver will be in a year with Pettersson.

Toronto got screwed by the flat cap more than any other team. Their stars ALL came into the league in the 2016-2017, which means they hit their next contracts right before the pandemic hit. Could they have pushed harder to get the term up or the salary down. Maybe, but not by that much.

Actually, lets look at the 2016-2017 rookies, because its a good insight into the alternatives to what Toronto did:

2016-17 NHL Awards Voting | Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

Laine - not at the saome level, RFA with a 7.5 mil qualifying offer and a lot of leverage
Werenski - Bridged and then became very overpaid
Murray - LOL
Tkachuk - bridged to a 9 mil QO and finding the fastest way out of Calgary
Aho - Carolina played hard ball with him so Bergevin offer sheeted him. He's making 2.5 mil less than Marner and will be UFA in two years

Toronto's guys are paid fairly based on their contributions relative to their peers. Point is really the only one that actually took less, and that's a culture that was established in Tampa years ago.



They bought a UFA year. And he was a top-10 player in the NHL out of his rookie deal, he's got a ton of leverage.

How did they get screwed more then anyone else by the flat cap? They literally signed John Tavares in 2017 for a 11 million dollar - 7yr - 77mil contract. They literally did this for more scoring, when they never needed the scoring in the lineup?! They needed Defense but instead they just went 4 guys making 40mil plus! The cap management by Dubas was atrocious. IMO this never made sense for their team.

2019 the cap was estimated to increase by what 2 mil? They knew these guy's were do for big contract's , it's not like it s snoke up on them..

 

[Rapala]

I could be wrong but from my understanding it was the Tavares contract that did it. The moment he got paid like that, everybody wanted to get paid.

It was and then to top it off not moving Nylander when he held out made it untenable. How were you suppose to properly establish a decent D and get some grit when the money is gone. Instead they opted for the cheapies who were on their last legs and actually missed the best one in Scorey Perry.
I couldn't have written a more pleasing script if I tried to.

 

[JoelWarlord]

Ok, so the alternative is to play hardball and end up where Calgary is now. Or where Vancouver will be in a year with Pettersson.

The Leafs only got 1 additional year of control on Matthews vs. Tkachuk, and in exchange they paid 4.5M more during their window (and gave him a NMC in the last year so if he wants out they might have even fewer trade partners than Calgary!). They got 2 additional years of control with Nylander and paid the same price for an inferior player during their contending years. Tkachuk is an overall odd comparison given the reason he wants out is largely out of the team's control and there likely wasn't an option to go long-term with him, there are tons of examples of RFAs that signed long-term at non-UFA prices, or players that got similar term and way less money than Marner (eg. Rantanen).

Why are you only looking at the downsides of an alternative anyway? What if the alternative was to play hardball and end up where Tampa was with Point, or where Boston was with McAvoy, with 3 years of extreme value on the AAV to use during a contending window, and then an extension a little below UFA prices?

Toronto got screwed by the flat cap more than any other team. Their stars ALL came into the league in the 2016-2017, which means they hit their next contracts right before the pandemic hit. Could they have pushed harder to get the term up or the salary down. Maybe, but not by that much.

They got screwed by the flat cap more than any other team because they decided to pay their RFAs like UFAs, these contracts didn't come down from the heavens and compel the Leafs to pay Marner like he's Panarin without buying much UFA term. We can talk about the flat cap all we want but it's patently absurd to give Mitch Marner off his ELC a 1.3M higher AAV than Nikita Kucherov.

They chose to do that and the flat cap made that choice even harder to navigate around. They had leverage didn't use it successfully, that's their own fault. Again like I said I don't really give them any grief on Matthews as there's not really much you can do there if the player insists on 5 years, but in aggregate they paid a lot of UFA money without buying many UFA years.

Laine - not at the saome level, RFA with a 7.5 mil qualifying offer and a lot of leverage
Werenski - Bridged and then became very overpaid
Tkachuk - bridged to a 9 mil QO and finding the fastest way out of Calgary
Aho - Carolina played hard ball with him so Bergevin offer sheeted him. He's making 2.5 mil less than Marner and will be UFA in two years

"We did better than the Laine contract situation" is probably not something to really hang your hat on. Werenski is not overpaid either, that contract buys 4 years of UFA term and runs for his age 25-30 seasons. Again that's the thing, their peers are getting paid NOW and still getting paid less as UFAs on long-term deals than the Leafs guys did on shorter-term RFA contracts that didn't buy many UFA seasons.
Aho is exactly my point too, he's making 2.5M less during a critical competitive window and the only "cost" was losing 1 year of control vs. Marner, which isn't a big deal unless Aho walks and definitely worth it in aggregate given Marner is being paid like a UFA right now anyway.

Toronto's guys are paid fairly based on their contributions relative to their peers. Point is really the only one that actually took less, and that's a culture that was established in Tampa years ago.

What about Pastrnak? Rantanen? Fox? Vasilevskiy? McAvoy? Heiskanen?

 

[Habs Icing]

Who wants Drouin or Hoffman ?

Their mothers.

The root of Calgary's downfall was when Treliving ghosted Bergevin at the GM meetings a few years ago when MB was coming out and Treliving was going in.

That was only because Treliving had never seen Marc without a plant in his face.

 

[Rapala]

This thread is fun but I wish folks wouldn't be trying to use our dead weight in trade proposals for PLD it ain't happening. Just forget the Drouin's and Byron's for the moment and the Hoffman's and Armia's are also very very unlikely unless something bad is coming back.

 

[Captain Mountain]

The Leafs only got 1 additional year of control on Matthews vs. Tkachuk, and in exchange they paid 4.5M more during their window (and gave him a NMC in the last year so if he wants out they might have even fewer trade partners than Calgary!). They got 2 additional years of control with Nylander and paid the same price for an inferior player during their contending years. Tkachuk is an overall odd comparison given the reason he wants out is largely out of the team's control and there likely wasn't an option to go long-term with him, there are tons of examples of RFAs that signed long-term at non-UFA prices, or players that got similar term and way less money than Marner (eg. Rantanen).

Why are you only looking at the downsides of an alternative anyway? What if the alternative was to play hardball and end up where Tampa was with Point, or where Boston was with McAvoy, with 3 years of extreme value on the AAV to use during a contending window, and then an extension a little below UFA prices?

They got screwed by the flat cap more than any other team because they decided to pay their RFAs like UFAs, these contracts didn't come down from the heavens and compel the Leafs to pay Marner like he's Panarin without buying much UFA term. We can talk about the flat cap all we want but it's patently absurd to give Mitch Marner off his ELC a 1.3M higher AAV than Nikita Kucherov.

They chose to do that and the flat cap made that choice even harder to navigate around. They had leverage didn't use it successfully, that's their own fault. Again like I said I don't really give them any grief on Matthews as there's not really much you can do there if the player insists on 5 years, but in aggregate they paid a lot of UFA money without buying many UFA years.

"We did better than the Laine contract situation" is probably not something to really hang your hat on. Werenski is not overpaid either, that contract buys 4 years of UFA term and runs for his age 25-30 seasons. Again that's the thing, their peers are getting paid NOW and still getting paid less as UFAs on long-term deals than the Leafs guys did on shorter-term RFA contracts that didn't buy many UFA seasons.
Aho is exactly my point too, he's making 2.5M less during a critical competitive window and the only "cost" was losing 1 year of control vs. Marner, which isn't a big deal unless Aho walks and definitely worth it in aggregate given Marner is being paid like a UFA right now anyway.

What about Pastrnak? Rantanen? Fox? Vasilevskiy? McAvoy? Heiskanen?

Pastrnak signed for a percentage of the cap that was in line for the Leafs comparables, he exploded afterwards. Rantanen took a discount relative to Marner, but not that much of one. Fox has been trying to force his way to the Rangers since he got drafted, of course he took a slight discount. Vasilevsky signed the largest RFA goalie contract in NHL history. McAvoy took a bridge and then became one of the highest paid D in the NHL post-covid. Heiskanen's contract is also post covid and its not that great.

How did they get screwed more then anyone else by the flat cap? They literally signed John Tavares in 2017 for a 11 million dollar - 7yr - 77mil contract. They literally did this for more scoring, when they never needed the scoring in the lineup?! They needed Defense but instead they just went 4 guys making 40mil plus! The cap management by Dubas was atrocious. IMO this never made sense for their team.

2019 the cap was estimated to increase by what 2 mil? They knew these guy's were do for big contract's , it's not like it s snoke up on them..

75% of UFAs are overpaid. They got screwed for their RFA's because their projections for cap growth didn't account for a global pandemic.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

The Leafs only got 1 additional year of control on Matthews vs. Tkachuk, and in exchange they paid 4.5M more during their window (and gave him a NMC in the last year so if he wants out they might have even fewer trade partners than Calgary!). They got 2 additional years of control with Nylander and paid the same price for an inferior player during their contending years. Tkachuk is an overall odd comparison given the reason he wants out is largely out of the team's control and there likely wasn't an option to go long-term with him, there are tons of examples of RFAs that signed long-term at non-UFA prices, or players that got similar term and way less money than Marner (eg. Rantanen).

Why are you only looking at the downsides of an alternative anyway? What if the alternative was to play hardball and end up where Tampa was with Point, or where Boston was with McAvoy, with 3 years of extreme value on the AAV to use during a contending window, and then an extension a little below UFA prices?

They got screwed by the flat cap more than any other team because they decided to pay their RFAs like UFAs, these contracts didn't come down from the heavens and compel the Leafs to pay Marner like he's Panarin without buying much UFA term. We can talk about the flat cap all we want but it's patently absurd to give Mitch Marner off his ELC a 1.3M higher AAV than Nikita Kucherov.

They chose to do that and the flat cap made that choice even harder to navigate around. They had leverage didn't use it successfully, that's their own fault. Again like I said I don't really give them any grief on Matthews as there's not really much you can do there if the player insists on 5 years, but in aggregate they paid a lot of UFA money without buying many UFA years.

"We did better than the Laine contract situation" is probably not something to really hang your hat on. Werenski is not overpaid either, that contract buys 4 years of UFA term and runs for his age 25-30 seasons. Again that's the thing, their peers are getting paid NOW and still getting paid less as UFAs on long-term deals than the Leafs guys did on shorter-term RFA contracts that didn't buy many UFA seasons.
Aho is exactly my point too, he's making 2.5M less during a critical competitive window and the only "cost" was losing 1 year of control vs. Marner, which isn't a big deal unless Aho walks and definitely worth it in aggregate given Marner is being paid like a UFA right now anyway.

What about Pastrnak? Rantanen? Fox? Vasilevskiy? McAvoy? Heiskanen?

Pastrnak signed for a percentage of the cap that was in line for the Leafs comparables, he exploded afterwards. Rantanen took a discount relative to Marner, but not that much of one. Fox has been trying to force his way to the Rangers since he got drafted, of course he took a slight discount. Vasilevsky signed the largest RFA goalie contract in NHL history. McAvoy took a bridge and then became one of the highest paid D in the NHL post-covid. Heiskanen's contract is also post covid and its not that great.



75% of UFAs are overpaid. They got screwed for their RFA's because their projections for cap growth didn't account for a global pandemic.

IMO the Leafs pushed their chips in with the Tavares signing, and it was a very good move if they won in those first few years. But the back half of that contract was always questionable, and it in fact seems very bad now. Add to that, the Tavares signing never seemed to sit well with Matthews and seemed to create a weirder negotiation culture in Toronto for those forwards.

I still think Toronto could go on a tear for one of these playoffs, and I think Dubas is a smart GM and I've stopped disliking him so much since he got rid of his way too hip glasses. So I actually wouldn't mind if the Leafs make a successful run before their team disintegrates. But the Leafs are not my least favorite team. Right now I think that would be the Hurricanes, followed probably by the Lightning...

 

[montreal]

It's Florida's pick, not ours. How high do you think that pick could possibly go?

between 1st OA and 32 OA.

 

[montreal]

You certainly have high expectations for that Floridas' pick. Frankly, I don't get it.

not really but I'm not risking it for PLD when the rebuild just started less then a year ago and next summers draft could be epic.

 

[Runner77]

I think it would do wonders if the NHL were to introduce a “franchise player exemption”.

Restricted to one player max per team, has to be drafted by the org with uninterrupted service. Team would get the benefit of all cap hit surpassing a certain limit - say $7M / $8M (pick a number) to not count vs their cap.

I.e McJesus has a $12.5M AAV only the first $8M counts, freeing up $4.5M in cap space to use at their discretion

It would offer immediate relief but could also cause a new round of inflation with GMs spending like drunken sailors. How about a compliance buyout as a temporary measure?

 

[montreal]

We would be hitting the jackpot if we drafted a PLD with the Florida 1st. It's highly unlikely to be a lottery pick.

Also PLD is 1 year older than Suzuki. He can be part of the rebuild.

correct but that doesn't account for the likely several years of cheap contract we would have said pick for vs the big money PLD is going to get.
I never said PLD couldn't be part of the rebuild, I just said I'm not giving up a 1st round pick to acquire him. If that's the cost then don't do it imo.

 

[salbutera]

It would offer immediate relief but could also cause a new round of inflation with GMs spending like drunken sailors. How about a compliance buyout as a temporary measure?

Compliance buyout rewards failure, managing the cap is a significant job requirement for a GM, franchise exemption rewards a teams ability to draft & develop.

Also my definition of franchise player has no loopholes very specific - the player has to be drafted by the team & have uninterrupted service.

I.e. NYR & Leafs couldn’t use it on a UFA - Panarin or Tavares. A Team couldn’t use it for a player acquired via trade such as Miller for Van, or the team that will potentially acquire Tkachuk or PLD wouldn’t qualify

 

[hardcorehabs]

The Leafs have 2 years, when Matthews goes UFA they’re f***ed. Either lose him or pay him $14M /year.

If they don’t win the cup in 2 years, the Dubas era will have been a total fail due to the 3 contracts he gave Tavares/Matthews/Marner.

 

[Runner77]

Compliance buyout rewards failure, managing the cap is a significant job requirement for a GM, franchise exemption rewards a teams ability to draft & develop.

Also my definition of franchise player has no loopholes - the player has to the drafted by the team & have uninterrupted service. I.e. NYR & Leafs couldn’t use it on a UFA - Panarin or Tavares. Van couldn’t use it for a player acquired via trade such as Miller or the team that will potentially acquire Tkachuk or PLD

It’s not really a reward, just relief against a market paralyzed by the flat cap. Some of those contracts that have become burdensome were awarded before the pandemic, where teams operated in a far less restrictive environment.

 

[JoelWarlord]

Pastrnak signed for a percentage of the cap that was in line for the Leafs comparables, he exploded afterwards. Rantanen took a discount relative to Marner, but not that much of one. Fox has been trying to force his way to the Rangers since he got drafted, of course he took a slight discount. Vasilevsky signed the largest RFA goalie contract in NHL history. McAvoy took a bridge and then became one of the highest paid D in the NHL post-covid. Heiskanen's contract is also post covid and its not that great.

I understand where you're coming from, I think we're just at the agree to disagree point as the only place to really go from here is back and forth on comparables like Heiskanen and Werenski etc etc and that probably isn't a good use of our time given every situation is unique and there's always going to be contextual issues with any comparison that either of us can argue either way.

All I can say is that I really hope that Hughes and Gorton are not into the strategy of paying their RFAs as if they were UFAs and only getting 5-6 years right off their ELCs. Mitch Marner off his ELC got 1.3M more than Nikita Kucherov on a 6 year deal that only bought 2 UFA seasons, that is just absolutely bonkers to me. If you have to cave on one of term or AAV then choose term if you're bad or AAV if you're good, but you can't cave on both unless it's a truly special player like Matthews, and especially not after you've just paid franchise player top-5 in the NHL money to a player that's probably in the top 40-50 range.

 

[BaseballCoach]

correct but that doesn't account for the likely several years of cheap contract we would have said pick for vs the big money PLD is going to get.
I never said PLD couldn't be part of the rebuild, I just said I'm not giving up a 1st round pick to acquire him. If that's the cost then don't do it imo.

I would only include the lower of the 2023 first round picks if no other higher value asset were included AND one of the long-term contracts (Armia, Hoffman, Savard) were taken back. Neither Dach nor Dvorak is going to play on the fourth line though, so either PLD is moved to wing or Dvorak or Dach are traded elsewhere for a first rounder at least.

It just works better if we don't send a 1st rounder and send one of our centers instead with some other decent but non-critical assets.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

Hey guys, I just heard from multiple serious sources that PLD may be traded in the coming months. Winnipeg will analyze the situation and won't bend to make a quick trade - they'll only do one if it helps their team moving forward. There is a strong chance that Montreal will attempt to trade for PLD, so look out for that! I also hear that Dach and/or Anderson may be of interest to Winnipeg, but that Montreal really likes both of them & likely won't move either for Dubois...

Also, Calgary is in a similar situation with Tkachuk. They want to make sure they get the right return. Talks are heating up - talk is that Tkachuk likely wants to play for US team. I keep hearing St. Louis. But there is also another team, figuring out which at this moment, that is making a strong push for Tkachuk. There is also talks that Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver have some interest in him & the feeling might be mutual. That being said, Calgary is in no way pressed to make a trade for the sake of making one & will wait for the right return.

Kadri is on the verge of signing. It could happen any day now. I'm hearing Colorado, Calgary, Boston, NYC, Montreal, Vancouver, and an unknown team that will be making their final pitch, as Kadri makes his selection. Toronto is also in the mix, there is mutual respect and interest in returning with the Leafs. I'm hearing he'll sign north of 7m, possibly north of 8m per season.

Lastly, there is a 50/50 chance a UFA signing or a trade goes down in the following 24 hours. I can't say more, and which player is being traded - everything's pretty hush-hush.

Please follow me on Twitter and be the 1st to learn what may go down before it actually does. My track record is spotless: I'm 0 for 0. Here is the link to my Twitter account:

Spoiler

I watched the whole thing, not because I had to, but I because I wanted to.

 

[salbutera]

The Leafs have 2 years, when Matthews goes UFA they’re f***ed. Either lose him or pay him $14M /year.

If they don’t win the cup in 2 years, the Dubas era will have been a total fail due to the 3 contracts he gave Tavares/Matthews/Marner.

If Price is back healthy & playing - I nominate the Leafs in pole position to acquire him, call it Dumb-as’s last stand