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

[Albz]

Let’s compare McD who led his team to the Finals to our top guys who only played in the 2nd round once in 8 years.

Let’s keep doing that.

Funny that's how you took that. Mcd is literally choking at the biggest time. If marner and matthews did this, you all would threaten to kill em. This is this fan base... everyone laughed at Tkachuk also when he was on the flames.

 

[Gabriel426]

Funny that's how you took that. Mcd is literally choking at the biggest time. If marner and matthews did this, you all would threaten to kill em. This is this fan base... everyone laughed at Tkachuk also when he was on the flames.

Had MM and AM even played in the ECF or WCF?

Not saying we don't make fun at McD, Drai or Hyman choking, but they are choking in SCF against the Panthers after playing THREE rounds of playoffs. How many rounds of playoffs did MM and AM played per playoffs? Usually one.

Like I said, lets keep comparing our guys to others that made it to the SCF and played great along the way. If it makes you feel better and believe that our guys are right there and close, who am I to judge.

 

[Gabriel426]

lmao the guy with 15 points in 27 games and having just quit on his team has a "thats not acceptable" button and changed the mentality of the team? why do people make up narratives without looking first.

Panthers were never Tkachuk's team. It has always been Barkov and Ekblad. The culture been set when Tkachuk came in.
I don't understand why some here thinks Tkachuk is the leader of the Panthers. He might be the most talked about Panthers since last playoffs but he is far from being the leader.

 

[Kurtz]

Had MM and AM even played in the ECF or WCF?

Not saying we don't make fun at McD, Drai or Hyman choking, but they are choking in SCF against the Panthers after playing THREE rounds of playoffs. How many rounds of playoffs did MM and AM played per playoffs? Usually one.

Like I said, lets keep comparing our guys to others that made it to the SCF and played great along the way. If it makes you feel better and believe that our guys are right there and close, who am I to judge.

Can we at least acknowledge that it is clearly significantly more difficult facing and scoring against the current crop of Atlantic teams in the playoffs than it is to put up points on mediocre teams like LA and Vancouver playing their 3rd stringer?

 

[Gabriel426]

Maybe they will soon? Why are you acting like they are past their prime lol.... ovi took how many years to finally win??? Didn't this group legit want hyman gone because he wasn't putting up playoff numbers? Loll look at him now. .. this whole fan base just loves throwing players under the bus

Only a few wanted Hyman to be gone, I wasn't one of them. I understood why he wasn't back due to his increase his wage.

Ovie played fearless hockey and dominated even when the Caps couldn't make it past the 2nd round.

How is stating don't compare AM, MM and other of our top guys to McD means they are past their prime? McD someone who won rounds of playoffs, broken playoffs pts records over the past 8 yrs to our guys who won ONE playoffs round in the same years. Pls explain, as I would love to hear your trains of thoughts.

It is thanks to fans like you who had nothing better to do than put narratives in other words thats make it unbearable at times. But like I said, if if helps you coupe with whatever you are going through, better you do it here than do it in real life causing real damages to society.

Can we at least acknowledge that it is clearly significantly more difficult facing and scoring against the current crop of Atlantic teams in the playoffs than it is to put up points on mediocre teams like LA and Vancouver playing their 3rd stringer?

Yes, but did we faced the Panthers this playoffs?
Also, going by history of our boys in playoffs, I really don't think they can beat LA in 5 games and beat the Nucks in 7 games against their 3rd stringer. If you watch the Nucks and Oilers series like me(as I live in Vancouver), you can see that Silvos was playing as good if not better than Swayman. But McD, Drai, Hyman and Bouchard were just so much better than AM, MM, Willie and Reilly.

 

[supermann_98]

This should be the only plan. Trade marner for high upside young player amd fill in with free agents

Hopefully a young player on the verge of breaking out or a top young talent like a top 10 pick talent

 

[rumman]

Two years sgo we almost bought a beautiful home in High River, luckily I did my due Diligence and found out about the bio digester they are building near there, dodged a huge bullet there, imagine the stink from that albatross……….

 

[Gabriel426]

This Panthers team is virtually the same as the one we played last year. The big difference was Tkachuk was a corpse by the time they got to the finals last year, and Bob didn't look as sharp as he did in the prior rounds. The way he's looking now is the exact same as he looked against us, and Edmonton's vaunted forwards are having just as much difficulty against him as ours did.

Why refuse basic facts in order to buoy your arguments? The LA team would have posed little trouble for Leafs imo, but my assumption on that front is as baseless as yours since the two never played. And while Silovs had a couple of stellar games, he is still a 3rd stringer who posted a save % of under .900 for the playoffs. Van was also missing their best/hottest forward that series, and still came remarkably close to pulling it out.

Mcdavid is on his own level. But the other guys you've mentioned are doing worse against Florida than our guys did.

Did Montour and Frosling played as well as against us as now?
Was Reinheart a 50 goals scorer last season?
Was Rodrigues even on the team last season, bc he scored 2 goals and as many points as the Oilers.

On the other hand, JT was a better player last playoffs than this playoffs and I can say the same about TJ too. On top that, we did had ROR, Accari and Schenn last year.

Point is even though majority of the players remain the same, their level of plays are different. Heck, players level of play can varies between games and even series. So comparing any teams from last playoffs and current playoffs is extremely difficult.

Regarding Kings and Nucks.
AM pretty much got outplayed by Coyle, how can you possibly think he can come out on top against Kopitar and Pizza Boy.
As for Silvos and the Nucks, they remind me of Columbus and Habs.
Like I said, I am basing my assumptions due to our boys past playoffs history. They just had not been good in the playoffs.
Now, maybe you are right that Leafs would had beaten both the Kings and the Nucks but can the Leafs beat Dallas?

As for Oilers against Panthers, the more Oilers struggle the more it proves that you need a balance team to win the Cup and relying on a few guys scoring is just the wrong approach. Afterall if the firepower of McD, Drai, Hyman and Bouchard are firing blanks against the Panthers, what chances do other top forward heavy teams have.

Lastly, lets not take solace in the fact that McD and company is being shut down as prove that our top guys are great, they are close, they are right there and are just a few bounces away from being a Cup contender. Because they are not and are far away from being a contender like the Panthers.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Just to nit pick, it was Simmonds + B. Schenn and a 2nd for Richards
Voracheck + 1st (8th) + 3rd for Carter.

That is not nit picking. That is what the trades were.

 

[leafsfan5]

Is Lyubushkin staying in Toronto ?

I don't think there's been any reports of discussions, nor do I think there should be

The Leafs need to get more mobile on the backend

 

[Shanwhatplan]

I have no clue what our defense-corp will be next year.

I'd think you could re-sign Lilly for cheap on a 1 year deal. He won't be happy but he could probably be retained for 2.1M or something.

Edmundson/Lyubushkin - Perhaps 1 returns

We likely sign one of the UFA defensemen available. If we regrettably keep Marner, we have very little cap to acquire more than 1 UFA of substance.

And don’t forget to include a goalie in there which we may have to get via trade, like Saros for example. But then I would think Marner would be going the other way.

 

[OVO16]

Is Lyubushkin staying in Toronto ?

Nope dont see it. Super low chance.

I can see them circling back if all of their top options fail maybe. But he's low on the chart

 

[ViD]

Nope dont see it. Super low chance.

I can see them circling back if all of their top options fail maybe. But he's low on the chart

He was the best Leads d man in the playoffs, this is baffling

 

[OVO16]

He was the best Leads d man in the playoffs, this is baffling

Not really baffling. He was good sure but the leafs have much higher level targets in mind with 20 million in capspace.

Lyubushkin on a a title team is 3rd pairing material.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Can't wait till marner doesn't get traded and goes on to have a 100+ point season !!!! Hope we kero him

Don't forget the only reason he gets that many pts is because who he plays with and Keefe catering to all out offense. On a team like Columbus he is an 80 pt player. Don't forget Berube is a different animal. If Marner stays he will not be getting $12 million from anybody, especially after he wilts again in the playoffs. It's Marner who has the most to lose if Toronto decides they can't keep on losing by overpaying everyone. This team was misbuilt by an amateur. Those days are over. Toronto has no picks next year and has already dumped a 2nd and a 4th in 2026. They will be handcuffed at TD and have a very weak prospect pool outside Cowan. Their best option is to trade Marner for young and cheap. The rest of the East will get better as Toronto passes it's prime.

 

[ULF_55]

The Leafs version of the Tkachuk trade would be McCabe, Marner, 1st for Dobson.

Dobson?

Tkachuk was traded to the Florida Panthers on Friday night, with Huberdeau part of the haul going to the Calgary Flames for the power forward. Florida also sent defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, prospect Cole Schwindt and a lottery-protected first-round selection in the 2025 NHL draft.

Where are you ranking Dobson amongst defensemen? You think he's winning the Norris this year?

 

[ULF_55]

Terrible I meant Klingberg and to a lesser degree Reaves (half the season he was unplayable). We wasted and handicapped our cap space with Klingberg. Bertuzzi certainly wasn't one of our better players, he looked drunk half the time... but he battled and he was greasy for sure.

Tavares regressed a lot but the guy battled and was playing solid to me. Instrumental in game 6 with a lot of hits and assisted on the OT goal. "Unplayable" is a little much, but I know everyones pissed off so I get it. Unfortunately we're stuck with him for another season, which is not the end of the world.

I did not like Marner either and he's definitely someone that needs to go if there's something that makes sense and fits. But giving him away for nothing isn't a solution. Just let him walk next season at that rate.

A full season of marner is likely better than trading him for depth players who are just going to tread water.

You can sign depth players every summer, and with $22mm in Cap-space next July no one is out of reach. And all the UFA players would know the Leafs pay big and treat players like royalty, if not "Gods."

 

[Brobust]

Just to nit pick, it was Simmonds + B. Schenn and a 2nd for Richards
Voracheck + 1st (8th) + 3rd for Carter.

I was just going off the top of my head. My point was that those are all massive packages.

 

[Americanadian]

Dobson?

Tkachuk was traded to the Florida Panthers on Friday night, with Huberdeau part of the haul going to the Calgary Flames for the power forward. Florida also sent defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, prospect Cole Schwindt and a lottery-protected first-round selection in the 2025 NHL draft.

Where are you ranking Dobson amongst defensemen? You think he's winning the Norris this year?

I think Dobson today is a better NHL player than Tkachuk was when he was traded. Dobson was elite this year.

He was a top 10 defenseman in the league by any metric you use.

 

[ER89]

Funny that's how you took that. Mcd is literally choking at the biggest time. If marner and matthews did this, you all would threaten to kill em. This is this fan base... everyone laughed at Tkachuk also when he was on the flames.

This is the dumbest f***ing take I've read, and I've been at hf for a long time.

Let's shit on MCD and drai who are too five in playoff ppg of ALL time.

 

[Americanadian]

To be clear, your concept is fine. The players you target is what I have an issue with.

A great example of a player pick ups like this are Colorado trading for Arturri Lehkonen, Florida trading for Bennett and Montour. I don't think Nic Roy, Korczak are those guys. Even if they were, consider the cost Colorado paid for Lehkonen and what you're willing to pay for them.

I outlined the comparables for all of the players I proposed in the deal.

If you don’t think they have upside that’s a you thing. No need to pass off your opinion as fact.

 

[ULF_55]

I think Dobson today is a better NHL player than Tkachuk was when he was traded. Dobson was elite this year.

He was a top 10 defenseman in the league by any metric you use.

Did he even get a vote last year?

This year points wise he's top 10, but in the playoffs not so much.

He's a good age.

He isn't worth that package though.

marner is an all star, and has Selke votes, and is near a 100 point player year after year.
He is 8th. in points last 5 years.

 

[conFABulator]

This is the dumbest f***ing take I've read, and I've been at hf for a long time.

Let's shit on MCD and drai who are too five in playoff ppg of ALL time.

I am not disagreeing with you, but I have also thought while watching this series that I would be pretty disappointed in McD and Drai if I were an Oilers fan. They have been invisible and in some cases questionable defensively. It's all about winning the cup, not just getting there and these guys have not stepped up when needed. That's disappointing.

We can look at their PO track records and say that it is impressive, it also feels a bit like rewarding to regular season performance. It's all about the cup.

 

[Brobust]

I outlined the comparables for all of the players I proposed in the deal.

If you don’t think they have upside that’s a you thing. No need to pass off your opinion as fact.

I'm not stating any fact there, I just don't think highly of your opinion.

I mean you very strongly pushed for a Tomasino-Nylander swap. I don't see how this is any different.

 

[Americanadian]

Did he even get a vote last year?

This year points wise he's top 10, but in the playoffs not so much.

He's a good age.

He isn't worth that package though.

marner is an all star, and has Selke votes, and is near a 100 point player year after year.
He is 8th. in points last 5 years.

Points and every advanced metric available.

Tkachuk wasn’t top 10 for any awards either at the time and Huberdeau finished 5th in hart voting.

I'm not stating any fact there, I just don't think highly of your opinion.

I mean you very strongly pushed for a Tomasino-Nylander swap. I don't see how this is any different.

2 summers ago I proposed Jeannot+Tomasino for Nylander. I also proposed Stankoven for Robertson, Hayton for Sandin and Muzzin for Henrique. I’d still take that off-season. Jeannot ended up being worth an entire draft class.

I try to be realistic with my proposals which I understand you don’t value.