Trades & Free Agency Thread: 2024-2025 Season Edition

[Gabriel426]

Miller @ 8m would be much better than Marner & his contract

Miller @8mil is better than any of our 10mil plus guys contract.
Would take 4 JT Miller @8mil than AM, MM, Willie and JT. Come to think of it, our big four salaries are enough for FIVE JT Miller @8mil, lol.

 

[TMLAM34]

Are more trades coming as the Maple Leafs attempt to get under the salary cap? - The Athletic

Where things get more interesting is when Järnkrok nears his return, which is expected to be shortly after Hakanpää and Dewar are back in the lineup. Assuming they will be waiving and demoting Dakota Mermis when he recovers from jaw surgery, they will again have enough cap room to activate Järnkrok but not a roster spot.

At this point, a forward will have to go. The likeliest candidates, given the roles they’ve had so far and how they’ve played, would be:

Holmberg: He’s been given plenty of opportunity by Berube, but he’s made some key mistakes, his underlying numbers are awful and he’s been sitting games. He only makes $800,000, but given what little he’s accomplished at the NHL level, could he clear waivers and give them some more Marlies call-up depth? Possibly.

Robertson: There was a trade request in the offseason. And he has only one point in 11 games, along with two healthy scratches. He’s only 23 years old and has produced well in the AHL, so he could fetch the most of this group in a trade. But expect more of a Liljegren-like return than anything exciting. It’s still possible he figures it out and becomes a more effective depth contributor, although the clock is ticking.

Kämpf: That $2.4 million cap hit through 2026-27 looms large. Kämpf’s minutes are down to a career-low 11:15 a game now, and he’s been a healthy scratch once. He hasn’t been relied on to kill penalties the way he has in the past, and Dewar (or Lorentz) arguably can replace what he does for half the price.

The most compelling scenario here by far is Kämpf. Flipping Holmberg or Robertson for a pick opens enough room for Järnkrok to come back and puts the Leafs roughly $1 million under the cap, enough breathing room that they could make another depth addition at some point.

But if the Leafs can find a home for Kämpf, even if there’s not much of anything in return, they’ll be dramatically under the cap (to the tune of almost $2.6 million) and still have decent depth beyond their top 12 forwards and top six defencemen.

...........

If there’s a home for Kämpf, you dump the deal, take the cap space, evaluate your forward depth and go big on an impact centreman before the deadline.

Best case? The player they add is good enough that he elevates the third line to the point the Leafs can count on it for secondary scoring and better defensive play than what we’ve witnessed from down the lineup to date.

That would go a long way to fixing some of Toronto’s main problems.

Moving on from Kampf seems like the easiest but smartest move to help our cap situation. His usage has decreased dramatically under Berube.

 

[LeafEgo]

Moving on from Kampf seems like the easiest but smartest move to help our cap situation. His usage has decreased dramatically under Berube.

Could do but it would cost something of value to replace him adequately and for cheaper. Could also use that capital to get the savings through retention. Depends what's available, he's decent in the playoffs.

 

[TMLAM34]

Could do but it would cost something of value to replace him adequately and for cheaper. Could also use that capital to get the savings through retention. Depends what's available, he's decent in the playoffs.

I mean we have Dewar, who can easily replace Kampf. If you asked me that a year or two ago, I might have had a different answer but under Berube Kampf hasn’t really brought much to the table.

 

[LeafEgo]

I mean we have Dewar, who can easily replace Kampf. If you asked me that a year or two ago, I might have had a different answer but under Berube Kampf hasn’t really brought much to the table.

That might be a good answer but not counting on it until we see it.

Per 82 in the playoffs:
Kampf 10 7 17 0
Dewar 0 6 6 -19

Kampf did well one year playing top 6 minutes. He's a pretty safe bet and has been with the club a while for what it's worth.