Trades & Free Agency Thread: 2024-2025 Season Edition

[nuck]

The second Engvall era may about to begin

Trying to see how much Nelson has left in the tank maybe? Pageau has too much term. BN is not really a #3 guy because he gets mostly O zone starts. I think I would sooner try to get O'Reilly back once Trotz sees his club is firmly in the lottery basket.

 

[The Podium]

If we’re looking for a LW, I’d target Farabee. We’d have to play Tetris with the salary cap but we’d be able to fit him in.

Farabee - Minten - Nylander

I can’t imagine Philly being eager to part with one of their best offensive players signed to a decent contract for 3 more seasons. And if they were we don’t have the salary cap or assets to make it work.

 

[TMLAM34]

I can’t imagine Philly being eager to part with one of their best offensive players signed to a decent contract for 3 more seasons. And if they were we don’t have the salary cap or assets to make it work.

Outside of last year, Farabee’s second best point total is 39. He’s on pace for what 36 this year? I’m sure they’re in no rush to trade him but I’m also sure he’s far from untouchable.

Saad is another name I’d have interest in. Saad - Minten - Nylander.

 

[The Podium]

Outside of last year, Farabee’s second best point total is 39. He’s on pace for what 36 this year? I’m sure they’re in no rush to trade him but I’m also sure he’s far from untouchable.

Saad is another name I’d have interest in. Saad - Minten - Nylander.

If we want a low asset/cap target who may have more to give in the right situation, Noah Cates might be the perfect long term solution at 3C/LW. RFA at the end of the season.

Top 10 Selke votes in his rookie season, capable of 10-15G 30-40Pts.

 

[SprDaVE]

Leafs play the Kraken a week from today.

Must have missed that when I looked at the schedule.

 

[Stephen]

Outside of last year, Farabee’s second best point total is 39. He’s on pace for what 36 this year? I’m sure they’re in no rush to trade him but I’m also sure he’s far from untouchable.

Saad is another name I’d have interest in. Saad - Minten - Nylander.

I'd be interested in a Morgan Frost reclamation project. He seems like he has some untapped upside.

 

[SprDaVE]

It's all relative really but interesting that the cap could jump up even higher next year. Could help fit Marner in a little easier.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1857966867328983253

 

[TMLAM34]

I'd be interested in a Morgan Frost reclamation project. He seems like he has some untapped upside.

He’d definitely be a target of mine regardless if Minten takes the next step sooner or not. I think he’d instantly slot in nicely next to Nylander and the cost to acquire probably isn’t out of this world but then again it is Briere lol.

 

[conFABulator]

It's all relative really but interesting that the cap could jump up even higher next year. Could help fit Marner in a little easier.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1857966867328983253

We might start seeing more separation again when not every team spends to the cap.

It would also be interesting if Marner still comes in around Nylander and JT takes a deep discount and we can still add.

I am not suggesting we do the two above moves without some playoff success, but if we win a couple rounds and can bring the band back + make room for Minten or Grebenkin or Cowan and some UFAs.

...it would open some possibilities and the window wide open.

 

[Stephen]

We might start seeing more separation again when not every team spends to the cap.

It would also be interesting if Marner still comes in around Nylander and JT takes a deep discount and we can still add.

I am not suggesting we do the two above moves without some playoff success, but if we win a couple rounds and can bring the band back + make room for Minten or Grebenkin or Cowan and some UFAs.

...it would open some possibilities and the window wide open.

Unless Marner sees the cap increase and pegs his demand to a percentage of cap, then the Leafs are screwed again. If it's a dollar amount like around $11.5-12 million, there's some wiggle room.

 

[conFABulator]

Unless Marner sees the cap increase and pegs his demand to a percentage of cap, then the Leafs are screwed again. If it's a dollar amount like around $11.5-12 million, there's some wiggle room.

Yeah. $11.5M could be the number that could work for both sides though.

 

[TMLAM34]

Saad and Bastian would be two good targets for the bottom six.

Knies - Matthews - Domi
McMann - Tavares - Marner
Saad - Minten - Nylander
Lorentz - Kampf - Bastian
Reaves

Pacioretty, if healthy, can easily replace Kampf or Bastian in the lineup. Put Patches with JT and Marner while playing McMann - Lorentz - Bastian for the fourth line.

 

[Avilaj07]

Reaves, Kampf and even Dewar don't bring much to our lineup as well and that 4th line has 0 identity. I really hope we significantly upgrade our bottom 6 prior to the playoffs. Couple of players to target,

Brandon Tanev
Morgan Frost
Scott Laughton
Yanni Gourde
Nick Bjugstad

If we could acquire any 2 of the list above, it would greatly improve our bottom 6 come playoff time

 

[TMLAM34]

Reaves, Kampf and even Dewar don't bring much to our lineup as well and that 4th line has 0 identity. I really hope we significantly upgrade our bottom 6 prior to the playoffs. Couple of players to target,

Brandon Tanev
Morgan Frost
Scott Laughton
Yanni Gourde
Nick Bjugstad

If we could acquire any 2 of the list above, it would greatly improve our bottom 6 come playoff time

I don’t get what people see in Dewar, he’s been a complete non factor offensively and defensively since he’s gotten to Toronto. I would have no problem waiving him if we need to free up the cap space. It’s not hard to find fringe undersized NHL players.

Reaves should be getting the Simmonds treatment. Waive (no one will pick him up), send him technically down to clear most of his cap hit and keep him around the big club for practices and until you need him in your lineup.

I don’t mind Kampf. Yes he’s overpaid but he plays a position of need and there’s not much available out there. He’s excellent on the PK and is one of the few who show up in the playoffs. If we needed to free up cap space, I would have no issues moving on from Kampf but for now I’d hold onto him if we could.

Lorentz - Kampf - ________

I would be shopping around looking for a righty to play along side Lorentz and Kampf. Would love to acquire Bastian. Another local boy like Lorentz who can give you 10-12 minutes a night of physical hard working hockey.

 

[WTFMAN99]

I wonder how much Gourde has left in the tank.. might be a valuable pickup

Dvorak might be ok but he doesn’t have much of a playoff track record.

Nelson would be good if the Isles sell

Nelson is the cadillac but we're going to lose any bidding war most likely, I feel like WPG is the landing spot for him, Schiefele-Nelson-Lowry down the middle with maybe Namestnikov at 4C is damned good.

Dvorak (50%) and Armia off of Montreal is the smart play IMO. Armia is 0.33 pt/game in the playoffs and we complain about points from bottom 6 so that would be something.

Holmberg, Robertson, Jarnkrok and Reaves aren't dressing for us in the playoffs most likely. Lorentz is dicey too.

 

[conFABulator]

With news that the cap may be going up dramatically, like $12M how much does that change our strategy? Could we assume as a placeholder that we resign Tavares, Marner and Knies for the same aggregate amount next year? The Tavares save goes to the Marner and Knies increases?

That gives us $12M to spend on additions, am I missing any key re-signs? I guess we are $2.5M or so for the Woll raise. So we have about $9.5M to spend. If we move out Kampf and Jarnkrok to make room for for Minten, Grebenkin, or Cowan that nets us another ~$2.5M (up to $12M to spend). If we assume Paccioretty, Hakanpaa, Dewar, Robertson, and Holmberg is where we upgrade this gives us another $5.5M to use. We can probably also bury all of Reaves next year with the cap increase. Close to $19M. How do we spend $19M?

Knies Matthews Domi
McMann XXXXX Nylander
Cowan Tavares Marner
XXXXX Minten Lorentz
Grebenkin

Reilly XXXXX
McCabe Tanev
OEL XXXXX
Benoit

Stolarz
Woll
(Hildeby)

Fourth line W and third pair D should be less than $3M combined. $16M for 2C and a RD partner for Reilly?

 

[ULF_55]

I want their deadline day adds to be:

Minten and Grebenkin.

If they can deal off Robertson/? for picks better still.

 

[WTFMAN99]

With news that the cap may be going up dramatically, like $12M how much does that change our strategy? Could we assume as a placeholder that we resign Tavares, Marner and Knies for the same aggregate amount next year? The Tavares save goes to the Marner and Knies increases?

That gives us $12M to spend on additions, am I missing any key re-signs? I guess we are $2.5M or so for the Woll raise. So we have about $9.5M to spend. If we move out Kampf and Jarnkrok to make room for for Minten, Grebenkin, or Cowan that nets us another ~$2.5M (up to $12M to spend). If we assume Paccioretty, Hakanpaa, Dewar, Robertson, and Holmberg is where we upgrade this gives us another $5.5M to use. We can probably also bury all of Reaves next year with the cap increase. Close to $19M. How do we spend $19M?

Knies Matthews Domi
McMann XXXXX Nylander
Cowan Tavares Marner
XXXXX Minten Lorentz
Grebenkin

Reilly XXXXX
McCabe Tanev
OEL XXXXX
Benoit

Stolarz
Woll
(Hildeby)

Fourth line W and third pair D should be less than $3M combined. $16M for 2C and a RD partner for Reilly?

So right now we don't know, the inflator hasn't been used in a while because the players hate the escrow stuff.

My offer to Marner is going to be in the Nylander range, maybe a shade more but I would hope he could do us a solid by deferring a bit of salary like Seth Jarvis and Jake McCabe did.

Maybe it's an average of 11.8 but it goes down to 11.4-11.5M per year because he helps us.

11.8M x 8 = 94.4M

94.4M / 7 = 13.48M

I don't think anyone is going to give Marner 13.48M

 

[rumman]

With news that the cap may be going up dramatically, like $12M how much does that change our strategy? Could we assume as a placeholder that we resign Tavares, Marner and Knies for the same aggregate amount next year? The Tavares save goes to the Marner and Knies increases?

That gives us $12M to spend on additions, am I missing any key re-signs? I guess we are $2.5M or so for the Woll raise. So we have about $9.5M to spend. If we move out Kampf and Jarnkrok to make room for for Minten, Grebenkin, or Cowan that nets us another ~$2.5M (up to $12M to spend). If we assume Paccioretty, Hakanpaa, Dewar, Robertson, and Holmberg is where we upgrade this gives us another $5.5M to use. We can probably also bury all of Reaves next year with the cap increase. Close to $19M. How do we spend $19M?

Knies Matthews Domi
McMann XXXXX Nylander
Cowan Tavares Marner
XXXXX Minten Lorentz
Grebenkin

Reilly XXXXX
McCabe Tanev
OEL XXXXX
Benoit

Stolarz
Woll
(Hildeby)

Fourth line W and third pair D should be less than $3M combined. $16M for 2C and a RD partner for Reilly?

never gets old, counting chickens before they've hatched...........

 

[conFABulator]

never gets old, counting chickens before they've hatched...........

Ummm...it's called scenario planning and teams do it all the time, at least I hope they all do. It informs moves we could make this year too.

What's the issue here exactly? Running out of things to be grumpy about now that the Leafs and Marner are playing well? Extra grumpy because Benoit is a scratch?

 

[WTFMAN99]

We would either need to accumulate some space to handle the new cap hits, pay a 3rd team to retain a bit on Armia or demote Lorentz to make it all fit.

I demoted Reaves in this scenario.

 

[Kiwi]

Right now my plan would be to put Minten into 3C and give him a decent run of games to see what we've got before we start using assets

If he doesn't work out (he's young and it won't hurt him to stay in the AHL if he's not ready) I'm trying to find a 3C solution ASAP

Frost and Dvorak are the two guys I'd have a serious interest in chasing, there not special but they would do well in a semi sheltered situation with good quality wingers, which we can provide

Knies Matthews Domi
McMann Tavares Marner
Patches/Robertson 3C Nylander

That's a dangerous top 9

 

[SprDaVE]

Right now my plan would be to put Minten into 3C and give him a decent run of games to see what we've got before we start using assets

If he doesn't work out (he's young and it won't hurt him to stay in the AHL if he's not ready) I'm trying to find a 3C solution ASAP

Frost and Dvorak are the two guys I'd have a serious interest in chasing, there not special but they would do well in a semi sheltered situation with good quality wingers, which we can provide

Knies Matthews Domi
McMann Tavares Marner
Patches/Robertson 3C Nylander

That's a dangerous top 9

This is likely the plan. It's a perfect time right now to call him up and see what's up. Steeves will get some more games as well I suspect. But I am not sure the Leafs can go into the playoffs with this current depth regardless. They will very likely go out and grab a player or two that bolsters it.

Side note not pointed at you directly, just a general note, I'll never understand the fixation with having Domi play over Nylander with Matthews, especially when he's one of the best scorers in the league right now. Putting your best players together is what works. Nylander is far more dangerous if he can be fed pucks and have him feed our best players. The 3rd line needs to find it's own identity and it's own way of producing and being effective, thus needing to probably make a trade to make it so.

 

[All Mod Cons]

It’s only been 4 games in the AHL but Minten has definitely surprised coming off an injury that made him miss training camp. If he can keep this up around the 15 game mark, would be hard not to call him up before trading assets for a 3C…

Knies - Matthews - Domi
McMann - Tavares - Marner
Pacioretty/Robertson - Minten - Nylander
Lorentz - Kampf - Holmberg
Reaves

There's really no point whatsoever in Robertson being on the team

 

[All Mod Cons]

It's all relative really but interesting that the cap could jump up even higher next year. Could help fit Marner in a little easier.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1857966867328983253

Hopefully Marner agrees to 17 x 8 otherwise we might be priced out.