GDT: Trades & Free Agency -- Off-season edition

[Dion TheFluff]

Darren Ferris has started working the media dogs. Things are about to get really nasty.

where have you seen that?

 

[Brobust]

where have you seen that?

Lebrun article.

 

[Americanadian]

What’s the point in watching next season if Marner is on the roster? We already know the outcome.

 

[TMLAM34]

What’s the point in watching next season if Marner is on the roster? We already know the outcome.

Honestly… It would basically be a complete wash. You can’t win with over half our salary in Matthews, Nylander, Marner and Tavares.

Normally I watch every single Leafs game, last season was the first time I actually missed a few games for reasons I chose to and didn’t really care. Obviously I’d check my phone for score updates but I didn’t care to miss the games.

If you’re running it back with the core four, not sure how much more I can take. I’ve slowly been paying more attention to the Wings (I live in Windsor).

 

[ULF_55]

Not sure how this team can actually address the blueline and our depth if Marner is kept and over 50% of our salary cap goes to the core four…

Unfortunately it’s starting to look and sound like that’s what’s going to happen which makes it very hard to get excited about next season.

I think people would be surprised what one very good defenseman could do for the team.

Look at Ekhom in Edmonton, and he's already 34 years old, so not in his prime.

Does that look like a Conference winning defense?

Sure scoring is everything for Oilers ... but take out Ekholm and put in Edmundson and how's it look?

 

[rumman]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1797990471144525835

Lets see if Brad pushes back. Woulda been nice if that bozo shanny was gone

You mean the architect of this mess, yes having him gone would have been nice indeed……..

What’s the point in watching next season if Marner is on the roster? We already know the outcome.

Another playoff choke job, book it……..

 

[Trapper]

You mean the architect of this mess, yes having him gone would have been nice indeed……..

I didn’t believe for a second they were ever going to approach Tavares.
And quite frankly, he’s not even on the same level of concern as Marner.
He’s never getting 7 x 11 here again or any type of raise. There will be no greed/agent/parents/media/whatever with him.

 

[weems]

I think people would be surprised what one very good defenseman could do for the team.

Look at Ekhom in Edmonton, and he's already 34 years old, so not in his prime.
View attachment 879436

Does that look like a Conference winning defense?

Sure scoring is everything for Oilers ... but take out Ekholm and put in Edmundson and how's it look?

Coaching matters.
Just like some coaches are good at having creative, offensive teams, some coaches excel at coaching defense, sometimes regardless of personel.
There's many different strategies you can employ, sometimes very simple things that can make a big difference.
Getting buy-in defensively from the forwards is very important and getting them to back check hard, forces back pressure which takes away time and space.

 

[WTFMAN99]

I think people would be surprised what one very good defenseman could do for the team.

Look at Ekhom in Edmonton, and he's already 34 years old, so not in his prime.
View attachment 879436

Does that look like a Conference winning defense?

Sure scoring is everything for Oilers ... but take out Ekholm and put in Edmundson and how's it look?

Ekholm was an amazing grab, akin to getting Muzzin for us.

Kulak is a great 3rd pairing D.

Ceci is okay, steady

Bouchard is a hell of a PP QB, reminds me of prime Gonchar

Nurse and Desharnais have been pretty bad, Nurse is overpaid by at least 4M

 

[rumman]

I didn’t believe for a second they were ever going to approach Tavares.
And quite frankly, he’s not even on the same level of concern as Marner.
He’s never getting 7 x 11 here again or any type of raise. There will be no greed/agent/parents/media/whatever with him.

JT’s shortcomings are in his ability, he’s not a mail it in kind of guy, in fact I kinda feel sorry for him having to play with such talent that doesn’t care. Total waste of talent, I wonder if any of these divas will have regrets when they’re old and can reflect on what could have been? Probably not, they’ll be ironing their Benjamins and smiling on how they schooled the team and it’s fans……….

 

[Twine Tickler]

I honestly don't think any "insider" has a f***ing clue of what's going on in Leaf land TBH. The are very strategically fed narratives from both the players side and management side of things to help move a process forward in their favor. This happens all the time in Toronto unfortunately. The media are played like puppets.

If Mitch intends to play out his final year, that is fully within his right to do so. If his intention is to walk in UFA, I am not sure why he'd take this approach, but then again he is a unique character and nothing really is out of the question. He doesn't strike me as a guy who wants to continue playing in Toronto, so I am not sure what he stands to gain by not entertaining a trade if the end destination comes with an extension and a preferable location.

Like I said earlier, the media hardly ever has it right when it comes to Toronto. They'll say 1 thing this week, and the exact opposite thing 2 weeks from now. I am not going to read too much into their reports until something is either imminent or done. This is more than likely some form of posturing to either improve negotiations on an extension or improve trade value.

At the end of the day, taking Mitch into the final year of his deal doesn't make any sense for the Leafs, and I'd argue it makes no sense for Mitch either if management has already expressed a desire to move you. Players want to be wanted. If Mitch is no longer part of the long term plan, we need to play hardball with him. List 10 teams, or sit out. Enough is enough.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

What’s the point in watching next season if Marner is on the roster? We already know the outcome.

It's less about next year than it is about after that.

It's very possible they can't find a trade that works. It also would be terrible to lose Marner for nothing. But losing him for nothing is better than a market-value extension because you can't have two wingers costing over $11M/year on your cap unless they are playoff legends...and fewer than a handful of players on this team can even spell the word playoffs. Enough is enough with this group. I honestly cannot understand how anyone could possibly want to run it back long-term with these 4 (not you, just speaking generally) unless they generally don't care about winning. Totally delusional.

 

[ACC1224]

I honestly don't think any "insider" has a f***ing clue of what's going on in Leaf land TBH. The are very strategically fed narratives from both the players side and management side of things to help move a process forward in their favor. This happens all the time in Toronto unfortunately. The media are played like puppets.

If Mitch intends to play out his final year, that is fully within his right to do so. If his intention is to walk in UFA, I am not sure why he'd take this approach, but then again he is a unique character and nothing really is out of the question. He doesn't strike me as a guy who wants to continue playing in Toronto, so I am not sure what he stands to gain by not entertaining a trade if the end destination comes with an extension and a preferable destination.

Like I said earlier, the media hardly ever has it right when it comes to Toronto. They'll say 1 thing this week, and the exact opposite thing 2 weeks from now. I am not going to read too much into their reports until something is either imminent or done. This is more than likely some form of posturing to either improve negotiations on an extension or improve trade value.

At the end of the day, taking Mitch into the final year of his deal doesn't make any sense for the Leafs, and I'd argue it makes no sense for Mitch either if management has already expressed a desire to move you. Players want to be wanted. If Mitch is no longer part of the long term plan, we need to play hardball with him. List 10 teams, or sit out. Enough is enough.

How does the bolded work?

 

[Americanadian]

It's less about next year than it is about after that.

It's very possible they can't find a trade that works. It also would be terrible to lose Marner for nothing. But losing him for nothing is better than a market-value extension because you can't have two wingers costing over $11M/year on your cap unless they are playoff legends and less than a handful of players on this team can even spell the word playoffs.

Letting that asset walk for nothing and/or re-signing him are equally the worst case scenario. At that point you’re signing up for another season of finishing 8-12 in the league and losing in R1.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

I didn’t believe for a second they were ever going to approach Tavares.
And quite frankly, he’s not even on the same level of concern as Marner.
He’s never getting 7 x 11 here again or any type of raise. There will be no greed/agent/parents/media/whatever with him.

Approaching Tavares would have been a waste of time. The man isn't waiving his NMC.

Letting that asset walk for nothing and/or re-signing him are equally the worst case scenario.

Yeah they do both suck. But I'd rather have the former easily.

At that point you’re signing up for another season of finishing 8-12 in the league and losing in R1.

I'm beginning to think that is enough for some people.

Which is f***ing pathetic.

 

[TMLAM34]

I think people would be surprised what one very good defenseman could do for the team.

Look at Ekhom in Edmonton, and he's already 34 years old, so not in his prime.
View attachment 879436

Does that look like a Conference winning defense?

Sure scoring is everything for Oilers ... but take out Ekholm and put in Edmundson and how's it look?

Acquiring a defenceman like Ekholm would definitely change the landscape of the team but they’re rarely available. The only who one I can think of that might be available would be Parayko.

 

[Fogelhund]

I honestly don't think any "insider" has a f***ing clue of what's going on in Leaf land TBH. The are very strategically fed narratives from both the players side and management side of things to help move a process forward in their favor. This happens all the time in Toronto unfortunately. The media are played like puppets.

If Mitch intends to play out his final year, that is fully within his right to do so. If his intention is to walk in UFA, I am not sure why he'd take this approach, but then again he is a unique character and nothing really is out of the question. He doesn't strike me as a guy who wants to continue playing in Toronto, so I am not sure what he stands to gain by not entertaining a trade if the end destination comes with an extension and a preferable location.

Like I said earlier, the media hardly ever has it right when it comes to Toronto. They'll say 1 thing this week, and the exact opposite thing 2 weeks from now. I am not going to read too much into their reports until something is either imminent or done. This is more than likely some form of posturing to either improve negotiations on an extension or improve trade value.

At the end of the day, taking Mitch into the final year of his deal doesn't make any sense for the Leafs, and I'd argue it makes no sense for Mitch either if management has already expressed a desire to move you. Players want to be wanted. If Mitch is no longer part of the long term plan, we need to play hardball with him. List 10 teams, or sit out. Enough is enough.

I agree with most of what you've said here, but they aren't sitting him out... that would never happen. Split up the talent, and play him on the third line maybe... depends on who else is on the team. But it's highly unlikely that any coach would do something that would be a negative to the performance of the team.

 

[Evilhomer]

At the end of the day, taking Mitch into the final year of his deal doesn't make any sense for the Leafs, and I'd argue it makes no sense for Mitch either if management has already expressed a desire to move you. Players want to be wanted. If Mitch is no longer part of the long term plan, we need to play hardball with him. List 10 teams, or sit out. Enough is enough.

I think it makes for Marner in the same way that it made sense for Nylander. If Marner gets off to a hot start, his price goes up. It was a hell of a strategy for Nylander.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

One of the core should be playing on the 3rd line regardless to have a good bottom 6 haha. Anyone but Matthews makes sense imo

 

[WTFMAN99]

I agree with most of what you've said here, but they aren't sitting him out... that would never happen. Split up the talent, and play him on the third line maybe... depends on who else is on the team. But it's highly unlikely that any coach would do something that would be a negative to the performance of the team.

Yeah, I could see what you described.

PP2 instead of PP1 and on the 3rd line at 5v5, doesn't help him in a contract year.

It does come back to what the poster did say in that it helps no one to keep this dragged out for another year.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Yeah, I could see what you described.

PP2 instead of PP1 and on the 3rd line at 5v5, doesn't help him in a contract year.

It does come back to what the poster did say in that it helps no one to keep this dragged out for another year.

Oh no!

Anyway

 

[TMLAM34]

Let’s say Treliving goes out and acquires Parayko, 6.5 million dollar cap hit (pretty good cap hit nowadays). Between Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, Rielly and Parayko you have just over 60 million in 6 players… You have 27 to spend on at least 14 players… You also need a reliable 1A/B goaltender to split time with Woll, which will cost you a couple million there as well. I just don’t see how you can build a competitive roster holding onto Marner.

 

[Twine Tickler]

I agree with most of what you've said here, but they aren't sitting him out... that would never happen. Split up the talent, and play him on the third line maybe... depends on who else is on the team. But it's highly unlikely that any coach would do something that would be a negative to the performance of the team.

oh ya, sitting him out is very unlikely. But TBH, if his intention is to walk in the summer of 2025 and f*** us long term, I personally would have no problem putting him on the shelf to rot for a year. Keep him away from the team.

Buy in or get out.

I respect Mitch as a player and as a human being, but at the end of the day if it is not working out for him or the Leafs and change is required, he should be willing to work with us in some capacity. The way I see it is very simple.

1. If Mitch negotiated his NMC to remain a Maple Leaf for life, and he genuinely doesn't see any other place he'd rather play. Open up the dialogue now for extension.

2. If he plans on walking in UFA after the conclusion of this season, list as many destinations he would be comfortable being traded to. Even if that list is 1 team. Surely he must have at least 1 place in mind.

If he provides no intention to resign, or no list of potential destinations, make it known to his representation that he will not be invited to camp and that until either one of the above parameters are met, he will sit out.

Yes, Mitch negotiated his NMC. Yes, it is his right to employ that NMC when he desires. It is also our right to play him. At the end of the day, there are multiple avenues where this works out for player and team. If Mitch only wants it to work out for himself, let him rot in the press box.

It's a complete pipedream of mine, but if we want to shift "the culture" like they say they do, it's gotta start from the top down. Enough of the inmates running the asylum. There needs to be more cohesion in terms of building the team on and off the ice. When a guy is putting his own financial gain ahead of the teams long term success, it needs to be actioned accordingly IMO

 

[The Masters]

You mean the architect of this mess, yes having him gone would have been nice indeed……..


Another playoff choke job, book it……..

no I mean bozo shanny. better name.

 

[TMLAM34]

In terms of dropping Marner to PP unit 2, I’m all for it. I’ve been saying this for quite some time but I really think we need to get back to having two solid units to create some internal competition. The big boys have gotten far too comfortable even when they’ve played like crap getting their PP time to pad their stats and then take us to the cleaners sucking every penny out of this organization.