Trades & Free Agency Thread: 2024-2025 - Trade Deadline Approaches

[Fogelhund]

I'm watching the Boston v Buffalo game tonight. First, Buffalo is such a disorganized team. They seem to have no idea where the other players are going half the time, or are sure of where they should go. That being said, their goal was a thing of beauty. Despite this, Buffalo has badly outplayed Boston, who is down their top three D. Tied 1-1 right now.

Even the annoying as hell Boston commentators were talking about the Buffalo D, and team overall. Apparently Zadorov commented to them, that the team has lacked leadership since he played there. No decent vets to teach the kids to play. Look at their D.. they've got some talented players, but they can't get them to excel there, but they seem to elsewhere.

Why does this matter here? I'm watching Krebs. I like his play. Strong board play, retrieves a lot of pucks, good defensively. I think he's another kid who does better when he goes to another team.

 

[Dreakmur]

Well since joining Toronto we haven't seen any of that. I'm not saying he's not capable of pulling of big deals or getting creative to bolster a roster. The Hamilton trade to Calgary was made 10 years ago. Then flipped him for Hanifin and Lindholm 3 years later.

Since joining Toronto, he’s had very few tradable assets and very little cap space. Makes it tough to make major moves…

 

[Fogelhund]

Pretty sure everyone is telling you the same thing. Hughes and Makar are not moving.

I'd take a flier and go for 26 year old center ... Pettersson.

I think you could buy low on him, but it is a gamble.

? - Matthews - ?
? - Pettersson - ?
? - Tavares - ?

Again, it is a gamble.

I'm pretty sure I qualified the post, as saying it wasn't in reality, and I just wanted to see if the cap fits. Called it a crackpipe post.

 

[SprDaVE]

Since joining Toronto, he’s had very few tradable assets and very little cap space. Makes it tough to make major moves…

Poor guy, got the toughest gig in the biz. No tradeable assets.

 

[Dreakmur]

Poor guy, got the toughest gig in the biz. No tradeable assets.

Teams aren’t just going to give you value for nothing. We don’t have much, and we had less when Tre arrived.

 

[thewave]

Poor guy, got the toughest gig in the biz. No tradeable assets.

Welcome Toronto. MM AM WN JT must be signed. No trades or negotiations. The coach must not change the lines they like or want. Your cupboards are bare. Knies is off limits. Cowan off limits. Ok now make us a hard nosed playoff contender this year.

Good luck. Again, Welcome to Toronto

 

[SprDaVE]

Teams aren’t just going to give you value for nothing. We don’t have much, and we had less when Tre arrived.

I never said they would. Part of his job is to deal with it and get creative. Maybe use the off-season to do something, anything. But he didn't. And here we are. Poor guy. Maybe in 3 years he'll have enough assets.

Treliving was able to add many expensive players via free agency across 2 off-seasons. The idea that he had no cap space is laughable. He also had every opportunity to make cap space if he chose to do so.

 

[BertCorbeau]

If St Louis falls out of it, Faksa would be a great rental target at centre.

 

[ULF_55]

I'm pretty sure I qualified the post, as saying it wasn't in reality, and I just wanted to see if the cap fits. Called it a crackpipe post.

Yeah, but Hughes ... how far back to find a Leafs defender in that category?

Salming?

 

[SprDaVE]

If St Louis falls out of it, Faksa would be a great rental target at centre.

He's been on the struggle bus for awhile. Dallas gave him away and he's having a rough season. Pretty much a more expensive Kampf.

 

[Gabriel426]

I'd fire them all if they did not do it. No way Canucks entertain trading Hughes unless they are on crack x10. That Leaf package won't even get you Hughes IMO. Kid is probably more untouchable than Matthews.

Hughes is a true game breaker now and he is right there with Makar

 

[ULF_55]

Poor guy, got the toughest gig in the biz. No tradeable assets.

Deadman walking.

Treliving in charge of the ballroom on the Titanic.

This table over here,
Piano over there.

Rinse - Repeat.

...

Tell Rantanen marner here's what $$$ we can offer.
You can:
1. Accept it in off-season
2. Accept it now
3. Agree to a sign and trade
4. Agree to a trade

Leafs will spend that money on someone.

 

[Dreakmur]

I never said they would. Part of his job is to deal with it and get creative. Maybe use the off-season to do something, anything. But he didn't. And here we are. Poor guy. Maybe in 3 years he'll have enough assets.

Even in the off season, you need cap space and assets…

Treliving was able to add many expensive players via free agency across 2 off-seasons. The idea that he had no cap space is laughable. He also had every opportunity to make cap space if he chose to do so.

He was able to add a handful of second tier players… the vast majority of which were major hits.

What exactly were you expecting with the assets and cap space we had?

 

[Gabriel426]

There's always a deal that could improve the team. It doesn't have to be a blockbuster or nothing. The Leafs added some solid players through free agency but inexplicably did nothing via the trade market whether it was to add players or even just picks, or anything. As for right now, plenty of smoke around quite a few players...

The Leafs don't have an infinite wealth of assets but to say they have nothing is a little much. A good GM can be creative and find ways around that. And part of the reason why we're in the position we're in right now is because of the lackluster off-season they just had.

Teams that contend for the cup make moves in the off-season and the deadline all the time, short and long-term, sometimes big time players, sometimes just depth. I'm not sure what you mean at all.

It's crazy how many excuses Treliving gets right now, but we'll see what he does in the next few weeks and we'll go from there.

He signed Tanev, OEL, and Stolaz. All three played great for the Leafs.

We can say he should not extend Domi but if Domi plays with AM, his stats might be better.
Due to the cap(mainly core 5), Tre doesn’t have money to spend.

Not giving Tre excuses but every teams have players that we want to trade. Which teams would want to give up assets for Robbie, Kampf, Reaves or Calle without sending a bad contract back.
The team doesn’t have any prospects waiting to knock down the door bc nobody is cementing their place in the lineup like McMann, Knies and Benoit did last season. And they have plenty of chances.

Like I said, look at all the trades that happened so far, which trade make sense for the Leafs?

We can say all we want about our top talents but unless the core 5 come through in the playoffs, they are beta chokers.

 

[TMLAM34]

Man I would be pretty disappointed if our deadline ends up being acquiring Kunin. A fringe third liner. Just wait until the off-season to sign him instead of wasting more draft capital.

 

[LeafEgo]

Deadman walking.

Treliving in charge of the ballroom on the Titanic.

This table over here,
Piano over there.

Rinse - Repeat.

...

Tell Rantanen marner here's what $$$ we can offer.
You can:
1. Accept it in off-season
2. Accept it now
3. Agree to a sign and trade
4. Agree to a trade

Leafs will spend that money on someone.

It shouldn't be much of a money issue at all. They need to decide if they want to move forward with the same cast or not, like Colorado did.

 

[SprDaVE]

Even in the off season, you need cap space and assets…



He was able to add a handful of second tier players… the vast majority of which were major hits.

What exactly were you expecting with the assets and cap space we had?

What a good GM could and should do? Is this the guy we hired?

He added well over 12M in players the first off-season, which plenty of people gave him the benefit of the doubt to assess and whatever. This off-season includes the Matthews extension and Nylanders whopping 11.5M extension that he gave him, Tanev, Domi, OEL, Stolarz to name a few. And he didn't create a single penny of cap space until he was basically forced to with Liljegren. That's a not a team with no cap space... be real here. The cap space he doesn't have right now in season was created entirely by himself.

His signings this past off-season were pretty good. The off-season before this was pretty bad, but very little long-term ramifications thankfully.

 

[SprDaVE]

He signed Tanev, OEL, and Stolaz. All three played great for the Leafs.

We can say he should not extend Domi but if Domi plays with AM, his stats might be better.
Due to the cap(mainly core 5), Tre doesn’t have money to spend.

Not giving Tre excuses but every teams have players that we want to trade. Which teams would want to give up assets for Robbie, Kampf, Reaves or Calle without sending a bad contract back.
The team doesn’t have any prospects waiting to knock down the door bc nobody is cementing their place in the lineup like McMann, Knies and Benoit did last season. And they have plenty of chances.

Like I said, look at all the trades that happened so far, which trade make sense for the Leafs?

We can say all we want about our top talents but unless the core 5 come through in the playoffs, they are beta chokers.

Treliving could have traded these "beta chockers" but kept them. Let me guess... they don't have value either? He's going to probably hand Marner a nice extension too, probably because he should.

Funny that 2 of the 4 players listed that nobody want were added by Treliving -- Kampf and Reaves. Many worse players with worse contracts have been traded compared to Robertson and Jarnkrok. It's also funny that you mention 3 players Treliving added via free agency that have been great, but also mention he has no money to add because of the core.

What deal made sense for the Leafs? Plenty of them over the last 6 months would have been good. With that said, there haven't been many centers up for grabs, and it's definitely not an easy thing to navigate. But a good GM does get it done.

 

[ULF_55]

""

Treliving on the idea of Minten returning for Leafs' stretch run: "Is Fraser coming in ahead of somebody from the outside? I don't know. Because I don't know who that person is from the outside. So, those are all things that you balance all the time."

But Rutherford says, not impossible.

"So yeah, if a centre goes out of here we have to get some kind of centre back but it’s not going to be the same as the centre going out. It might not even be a No. 2 centre, but you’d have to do the best with what we have until we figure out how to fill that spot back in. And then, of course, you have to get extra things (in any trade) that you can either use in the future to flip for NHL players now or for other positions or things like that.”

 

[SprDaVE]

Man I would be pretty disappointed if our deadline ends up being acquiring Kunin. A fringe third liner. Just wait until the off-season to sign him instead of wasting more draft capital.

Rentals is where it's heading. I think he fits a lot what Treliving wants. A 10-15 goal scorer that plays heavy and can kill penalties. I can think of worse players.

This team is not adding a good young cost controlled player by the deadline.

 

[thusk]

Rentals is where it's heading. I think he fits a lot what Treliving wants. A 10-15 goal scorer that plays heavy and can kill penalties. I can think of worse players.

This team is not adding a good young cost controlled player by the deadline.

I taking Kunin anytime before a guy like Krebs who doesn't bring much more than robertson in any part of the game. It's just not even close. If he get the job done, you can resign him at a pretty good deal too

A 3rd line of
Mcmann-Kunin-Domi... Line playing with grit and not pretty fun to play against

 

[BertCorbeau]

Pageau with retention would be a good add

 

[ULF_55]

Treat this deadline as the Leafs draft.

Use prospects and all picks for a long term asset.

Don't even care if they attend the draft.

 

[Dreakmur]

What a good GM could and should do? Is this the guy we hired?

He’s fighting with one hand tied behind his back. His only real move was to break up the core, but he apparently wasn’t allowed to do that.

He added well over 12M in players the first off-season, which plenty of people gave him the benefit of the doubt to assess and whatever.

12 million for like 5 roster spots isn’t that much considering the holes filled.

This off-season includes the Matthews extension and Nylanders whopping 11.5M extension that he gave him

Oh I hate that Nylander contract.

Tanev, Domi, OEL, Stolarz to name a few. And he didn't create a single penny of cap space until he was basically forced to with Liljegren.

All good to very good signings, right? Liljegren was useless and an excellent cap dump.

That's a not a team with no cap space... be real here. The cap space he doesn't have right now in season was created entirely by himself.

When you had the holes where we had holes, we had insufficient cap space to properly address our needs. The options were gamble on risky pieces or sign players for roles above their abilities.

 

[Gabriel426]

Treliving could have traded these "beta chockers" but kept them. Let me guess... they don't have value either? He's going to probably hand Marner a nice extension too, probably because he should.

Funny that 2 of the 4 players listed that nobody want were added by Treliving -- Kampf and Reaves. Many worse players with worse contracts have been traded compared to Robertson and Jarnkrok. It's also funny that you mention 3 players Treliving added via free agency that have been great, but also mention he has no money to add because of the core.

What deal made sense for the Leafs? Plenty of them over the last 6 months would have been good. With that said, there haven't been many centers up for grabs, and it's definitely not an easy thing to navigate. But a good GM does get it done.

I want him to trade those beta chokers but he didn’t and I don’t blame him since Leafs ain’t run by him when it comes to those 5.

Which trades would make sense for the Leafs in the last 6 months?
Maybe guys with worse contracts than Robbie, Calle and others were traded but that would mean another bad contract coming back.

Like I said, I am not saying Tre is great bc he won nothing as Leafs GM but to say he done nothing or bad is overblown.