Trades & Free Agency Thread: 2024-2025 Season Edition

[Fogelhund]

It’s perhaps even more common for teams to extend popular players who play well for them.

And if that’s what they want to do, that’s what will happen. But he’s a player worth inquiring about, that fits the description of players often made available. He’d be an upgrade on our 4th line, so you ask. If they say no, you move on.

 

[Phion Keneuf]

I think Granlund would be a perfect fit. I’d be willing to move our 1st+ for him.

Knies-Matthews-Marner
McMann-Granlund-Nylander
Pacioretty-Tavares-Domi
Dewar-Minten-Lorentz

Rielly-OEL
McCabe-Tanev
Benoit-Timmins

Woll
Stolarz


I’d also look for a 3rd/4th line RH C who is good on face offs. Move Dewar out of lineup. Currently would be 4/4 LH C and only 2/12 RH players in our entire forward group.

 

[All Mod Cons]

I get that.. This is more about getting out of the Kampf contract while getting bigger and stronger, assuming Minten shows he’s ready.

I doubt that the GM or coach want to move Kampf.

Why would Columbus trade Olivier?
They have cap space for miles. He is a fan favorite and they have no one else who plays even close to the same game.

Because they could have Robertson, Holmberg and a 3rd instead.

 

[Fogelhund]

Further on Olivier... I looked into what was online, and it appears as though Columbus is offering him an extension.

""

I mean, I really like the guy as a fourth liner, but no matter how good your fourth liner is, you don't pay them $3.5 million per year... that makes the Kampf contract look like value.

 

[Jmo89]

It would be a shrewd but very unlikely way of tweaking the lineup. Teams don't tend to make those kind of changes within the season. But the Canes dumping Bunting to get Guentzel was very shrewd, even if it didn't work out.

If the Leafs did remove Kampf one way or another, keep Jarnkrok and Hakanpaa on LTIR... they would have 4.6M of cap space with a 23 player roster. If you trade Robertson or Holmberg as part of deal to add upfront, you can add a 5.5M ish player. This is also with 100k dead cap space from Benning.

Almost enough for a nice and shiny Chris Kreider.

 

[ULF_55]

No 1st. round pick for less than a year of service.

 

[Sypher04]

No 1st. round pick for less than a year of service.

Agreed. If we’re parting with a 1st, which I’m certainly open to, we need min 2 years, but ideally this one, plus 3 more.

 

[Kiwi]

Noting, Olivier would be 5th in goals scored on the Leafs right now. Maybe obtaining bottom six bangers, who can score at a better rate than the guys we have now is something we should strive for.

This is what we call an "outlier" of a season and you would need to be insane to think this is what he is and buy him on the high

Oh wait, let's do the opposite of that and not fill an actual need instead

 

[Fogelhund]

This is what we call an "outlier" of a season and you would need to be insane to think this is what he is and buy him on the high

Oh wait, let's do the opposite of that and not fill an actual need instead

Certainly it would be dumb to overpay on someone. It's an outlier, in that he's shooting 24%... which will likely regress quite a bit. The thing is, you've somehow decided my interest is because of outlier statistics, and you can't look beneath the hood to see what the expectations would be for a player like that.

He's 6'1", 226 lbs, is near the top of the league in hits, is a good forechecker, is a top heavyweight in the league, and likely tops out around 20ish points, without being a massive liability.

Tonight we are dressing Reaves.... who has ZERO fights, and really isn't very useful for much of anything else. Olivier has five fights..... he's basically a more talented hockey player version of Reaves, who is over a decade younger.

Lorentz has two goals.
Kampf - Zero
Dewar - Zero (Zero points)
Grebenkin Zero points
Reaves Zero goals

Hey, but according to you, depth scoring isn't a need, or a problem it seems. Is that your actual position, that we don't need ANY depth scoring?

Normalized Olivier has 3-4 goals..... more than every other fourth liner we've got combined... while providing great checking, actually standing up for teammates.... I think upgrading the fourth line, if the price was reasonable, is actually something we should be looking at.... I mean you don't overpay, that much is for sure, but I do find it puzzling that you look at all of our fourth liners combined, and say... ya, that doesn't need upgrading... and if you are upgrading, why not look, and try and get one of the better fourth liners... if it's affordable?

 

[TMLAM34]

4th line right wing is definitely a spot I’d like to upgrade on, Reaves is basically unplayable right now let alone in the playoffs. However, our top priority should be acquiring a top nine center. I know I’m living in la la land here but I would break the bank to acquire McTavish.

Knies - Matthews - Nylander
Tavares - McTavish - Marner
Pacioretty - Domi - McMann

Sign me up for that top nine.

 

[DragoGrizzly]

Certainly it would be dumb to overpay on someone. It's an outlier, in that he's shooting 24%... which will likely regress quite a bit. The thing is, you've somehow decided my interest is because of outlier statistics, and you can't look beneath the hood to see what the expectations would be for a player like that.

He's 6'1", 226 lbs, is near the top of the league in hits, is a good forechecker, is a top heavyweight in the league, and likely tops out around 20ish points, without being a massive liability.

Tonight we are dressing Reaves.... who has ZERO fights, and really isn't very useful for much of anything else. Olivier has five fights..... he's basically a more talented hockey player version of Reaves, who is over a decade younger.

Lorentz has two goals.
Kampf - Zero
Dewar - Zero (Zero points)
Grebenkin Zero points
Reaves Zero goals

Hey, but according to you, depth scoring isn't a need, or a problem it seems. Is that your actual position, that we don't need ANY depth scoring?

Normalized Olivier has 3-4 goals..... more than every other fourth liner we've got combined... while providing great checking, actually standing up for teammates.... I think upgrading the fourth line, if the price was reasonable, is actually something we should be looking at.... I mean you don't overpay, that much is for sure, but I do find it puzzling that you look at all of our fourth liners combined, and say... ya, that doesn't need upgrading... and if you are upgrading, why not look, and try and get one of the better fourth liners... if it's affordable?

I get the interest in kicking tires, but 2 days ago Waddell was on the Kyper and Bourne show and said, and I quote: “Olivier, I guarantee it, is not going anywhere”.

 

[barilko05]

When Tre talks about "snot" a guy like Lorentz immediately comes to mind. A fourth liner who knows his role, throws hits, stands up against the rats, PKs, has shown some offence, and has blocked more shots in the last two weeks than Reaves has in two years. Reaves isn't "snot." His thing is intimidation. Unfortunately, he's old, slow, and no-one in the league is really intimidated by him any more. His time is up. I hope management recognizes that...and soon. Too bad Grebs is still too green. When he gets more seasoned, he is gonna be a handful.

 

[Kiwi]

Certainly it would be dumb to overpay on someone. It's an outlier, in that he's shooting 24%... which will likely regress quite a bit. The thing is, you've somehow decided my interest is because of outlier statistics, and you can't look beneath the hood to see what the expectations would be for a player like that.

He's 6'1", 226 lbs, is near the top of the league in hits, is a good forechecker, is a top heavyweight in the league, and likely tops out around 20ish points, without being a massive liability.

Tonight we are dressing Reaves.... who has ZERO fights, and really isn't very useful for much of anything else. Olivier has five fights..... he's basically a more talented hockey player version of Reaves, who is over a decade younger.

Lorentz has two goals.
Kampf - Zero
Dewar - Zero (Zero points)
Grebenkin Zero points
Reaves Zero goals

Hey, but according to you, depth scoring isn't a need, or a problem it seems. Is that your actual position, that we don't need ANY depth scoring?

Normalized Olivier has 3-4 goals..... more than every other fourth liner we've got combined... while providing great checking, actually standing up for teammates.... I think upgrading the fourth line, if the price was reasonable, is actually something we should be looking at.... I mean you don't overpay, that much is for sure, but I do find it puzzling that you look at all of our fourth liners combined, and say... ya, that doesn't need upgrading... and if you are upgrading, why not look, and try and get one of the better fourth liners... if it's affordable?

Nobody on this board wants Reeves, he sucks and most of us would waive him given a choice
Kampf is a defensive specialist, and a center so nope
Dewar just came back from injury
Grebyonkin is a Marlie who's only playing because of injuries
Lorentz is a 4th line banger, so a lot of the stuff Olivier does without the acquisition cost

So we're upgrading the bottom 6 scoring but instead of doing something intelligent like using our resources on a big 3rd line upgrade we're wasting assets on a 4th liner on a shooting bender instead

Our 4th liners are going to play with Kampf, they aren't scoring **** being centered by him so fix the 3rd line, that's the priority

 

[arso40]

4th line right wing is definitely a spot I’d like to upgrade on, Reaves is basically unplayable right now let alone in the playoffs. However, our top priority should be acquiring a top nine center. I know I’m living in la la land here but I would break the bank to acquire McTavish.

Knies - Matthews - Nylander
Tavares - McTavish - Marner
Pacioretty - Domi - McMann

Sign me up for that top nine.

Like the add but him n jt both have to play center domi cannot

 

[Gabriel426]

Depth scoring is not getting another bottom 6 player from another team but rather getting a top 6 or mid 6 forwards and bumping players down a line.

 

[Stephen]

It’s perhaps even more common for teams to extend popular players who play well for them.

The CBJ usually have no issues dumping anyone.

 

[thusk]

Certainly it would be dumb to overpay on someone. It's an outlier, in that he's shooting 24%... which will likely regress quite a bit. The thing is, you've somehow decided my interest is because of outlier statistics, and you can't look beneath the hood to see what the expectations would be for a player like that.

He's 6'1", 226 lbs, is near the top of the league in hits, is a good forechecker, is a top heavyweight in the league, and likely tops out around 20ish points, without being a massive liability.

Tonight we are dressing Reaves.... who has ZERO fights, and really isn't very useful for much of anything else. Olivier has five fights..... he's basically a more talented hockey player version of Reaves, who is over a decade younger.

Lorentz has two goals.
Kampf - Zero
Dewar - Zero (Zero points)
Grebenkin Zero points
Reaves Zero goals

Hey, but according to you, depth scoring isn't a need, or a problem it seems. Is that your actual position, that we don't need ANY depth scoring?

Normalized Olivier has 3-4 goals..... more than every other fourth liner we've got combined... while providing great checking, actually standing up for teammates.... I think upgrading the fourth line, if the price was reasonable, is actually something we should be looking at.... I mean you don't overpay, that much is for sure, but I do find it puzzling that you look at all of our fourth liners combined, and say... ya, that doesn't need upgrading... and if you are upgrading, why not look, and try and get one of the better fourth liners... if it's affordable?

Olivier had a 5 game streche wherehe played over his head with 4 goal ans 2 assist.

In the other 18 gm... 3 goal and 1 assist... nothing special. Basically 18 pts in 82 game season ( basically his normal stats for a player who get more than 5 goal in a season for the 1st time)

Don't get fool with a 4th line player who had 1 good streche of 5 game in carreer...

 

[Stephen]

Olivier had a 5 game streche wherehe played over his head with 4 goal ans 2 assist.

In the other 18 gm... 3 goal and 1 assist... nothing special. Basically 18 pts in 82 game season ( his normal stats)

Don't get fool with a 4th line player who had 1 good streche of 5 game in carreer...

Yeah, it’s not like Olivier is Tanner Jeannot or anything like that.

 

[Menzinger]

I would not be opposed to 3 years to keep his av down during the remainder of the Matthews contract and really go for it. I'm definitely getting a "windows are finite and followed by a down cycle" vibe from the way this team is being constructed, no point half assing that (on the cap side, still need to maintain some semblance of a prospect pipeline)

There's definitely a logic ton that approach. But I'd be concerned that his ask is going to jump considerably in that 3 year.time with the cap rising as it's expected to. Personally I see this as an opportunity to lock him into the top six for a fixed price before the 'storm' hits

 

[SprDaVE]

I want some term to

If we're giving up assets it's time to sort out the 3C position medium to long term

And before I get whinged at you can still play Minten at the NHL level if you want, Tavares isn't exactly young and Kampf is allergic to scoring

That's fair. It's gonna be hard to find though. I think you're probably hinging on trying to get Laughton if you want to avoid pending UFAs. That's someone that would fit in well with the structure, push Domi to the wing, kill some penalties and give you 35-40 point pace.

If you want a younger or longer term option, I'm not sure you're finding a great player for the assets we have unless Treliving can work some magic.

 

[LeafSteel]

Would definitely prefer a 6-8 year range from the teams pov

Maybe I’m being overly simplistic, but why wouldn’t Knies’ representation be interested in a long term contract that goes up each year, in anticipation of a rising cap?

It would be more of a gamble for the Leafs, should the cap not continue to rise, but why wouldn’t Knies be interested in a long-term guaranteed contract that goes up in value every year?

Thoughts?

 

[Kiwi]

That's fair. It's gonna be hard to find though. I think you're probably hinging on trying to get Laughton if you want to avoid pending UFAs. That's someone that would fit in well with the structure, push Domi to the wing, kill some penalties and give you 35-40 point pace.

If you want a younger or longer term option, I'm not sure you're finding a great player for the assets we have unless Treliving can work some magic.

Maybe you roll the dice on a young guy like Frost? He works out you have a 3C solution for the next half decade

You would need a set of stones to take a punt like that though

 

[Fogelhund]

Nobody on this board wants Reeves, he sucks and most of us would waive him given a choice
Kampf is a defensive specialist, and a center so nope
Dewar just came back from injury
Grebyonkin is a Marlie who's only playing because of injuries
Lorentz is a 4th line banger, so a lot of the stuff Olivier does without the acquisition cost

So we're upgrading the bottom 6 scoring but instead of doing something intelligent like using our resources on a big 3rd line upgrade we're wasting assets on a 4th liner on a shooting bender instead

Our 4th liners are going to play with Kampf, they aren't scoring **** being centered by him so fix the 3rd line, that's the priority

You seem obsessed with Olivier's shooting percentage.. even though that's been explained to you.

When everyone is healthy, the third line wingers are McMann and Domi or Nylander... depending on how we run the lines... I don't see any need to upgrade the wingers.

The big question is 3C... and Minten has 4 points in 5 games. I don't expect him to continue this "shooting bender", but anything over 0.4PPG out of that spot, while playing a responsible game is more than good enough.

This idea that we need a big third line upgrade, is speculative at best right now.. Certainly Robertson and Holmberg can't be part of the equation. We should be patient, before determining what our main need is though.

Interesting comment on playing with Kampf and not scoring..... please go look up how many points Engvall and Kerfoot put up playing primarily with Kampf two years ago. They seemed to score just fine for the minutes.

1. We should be patient and see how our team plays, once the injured players return. In particular if Patches can remain healthy, and if Minten's play is good enough to stay up. Our main need really is to be determined at this point.
2. We should probably stay put, until mid to late January, before making any decisions.
3. The cost for a fourth liner, shouldn't preclude us from making a third line upgrade, if necessary... we should be able to make more than one move, particularly if moving several bodies out.

 

[Fogelhund]

Olivier had a 5 game streche wherehe played over his head with 4 goal ans 2 assist.

In the other 18 gm... 3 goal and 1 assist... nothing special. Basically 18 pts in 82 game season ( basically his normal stats for a player who get more than 5 goal in a season for the 1st time)

Don't get fool with a 4th line player who had 1 good streche of 5 game in carreer...

I don't understand how you quoted me, and didn't even read what I posted. As I said... normalized scoring, likely tops out around 20ish points... literally in what you quoted. The rest of his game is exactly the type of player you want on the fourth line, and really 18-23 points is very good production from someone on your 4th line. It should be clear, that his scoring isn't sustainable right now, but I was mentioning him BEFORE that streak, because of the other attractive assets he brings... top 10% in league in skating speed, size, physicality, can fight, and has just enough skill to go on the occasional bender scoring, while usually putting up around 20 points.

It sounds like Columbus wants to extend him, at a ridiculous $3.5 mil per anyway....

But I'd love to find a fast, top 20 in NHL in hits, who can fight, and can put up 18-20 points without being a liability for the fourth line...

 

[Evilhomer]

Maybe I’m being overly simplistic, but why wouldn’t Knies’ representation be interested in a long term contract that goes up each year, in anticipation of a rising cap?

It would be more of a gamble for the Leafs, should the cap not continue to rise, but why wouldn’t Knies be interested in a long-term guaranteed contract that goes up in value every year?

Thoughts?

If I'm Knies, I take the shortest deal possible. Barring something akin to the pandemic, the cap will continue to rise. Each year you give up in a contract is a year that you don't get to take advantage of the cap percentage increase. I would want a bridge deal all the way. The alternative would have to be a long-term deal at a massive salary.