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

[Kiwi]

Let's be realistic here boys
If Dobson was on the market (I'd bet money he isn't) there's about 10 teams in the league who need him just as much as us that could put together far better packages for him
It's just not happening

What we need to do is find a way with the assets we have to stop playing Matthew's and Marner on the PK so there not playing 25 minutes a night come playoff time

We need a 3C who can win draws, eat big PK minutes and score some points, that's a bloody hard find and won't be cheap
Then we have a potential need on the backend to, although the 3C hole is far more important imo

 

[Dekes For Days]

In a vacuum, sure. In the context of building a winning roster, not so much.

In the context of building a winning roster, elite wingers can bring a lot of value, especially relative to mid tier UFAs.

You just quoted me saying it was poor.

Right after I quoted you saying it was excellent.

Again..... it's the least impactful position. You can dance around that fact all you want.

Top tier, two way, all situations wingers are massively impactful. You can dance around that fact all you want, but it doesn't change it.

In 2016, their best players were Crosby, Malkin, Kris Letang, Phil Kessel, and Matt Murray. Just one winger among their most impactful players.

2017 would be your closest bet for roster composition, with Letang hurt and Guentzel emerging... but Guentzel was still on his ELC, so that eliminates them on the salary cap end of the comparison.

If Letang counts, then Rielly counts. If we need Matt Murray, we got him too! These teams were driven by their core forwards: Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, and Guentzel in 2017. But as predicted, just arbitrary excuses to dismiss it.

We cannot. The raising cap just means contracts raise with it.

We can and should. The raising cap will inflate future contracts, but still offer plenty of opportunity to surround the core. And with contracts about to go up, it's a great time to lock in a superstar.

 

[Rare Jewel]

Let's be realistic here boys
If Dobson was on the market (I'd bet money he isn't) there's about 10 teams in the league who need him just as much as us that could put together far better packages for him
It's just not happening

What we need to do is find a way with the assets we have to stop playing Matthew's and Marner on the PK so there not playing 25 minutes a night come playoff time

We need a 3C who can win draws, eat big PK minutes and score some points, that's a bloody hard find and won't be cheap
Then we have a potential need on the backend to, although the 3C hole is far more important imo

Pfft... I don't come here for realism.


Roy is the #3c for me; I made a thing with him earlier, and @Americanadian shot me down, probably rightly so, but figuring that out without giving a 1st or Cowen would be nice.

 

[thusk]

I really love Knies but sorry if you need to use him +++ for a #1 25 yo all around RHD... Its not even a question( something leafs looking for like 2 decade...

Dobson having all the tool to become one of best NHL D and maybe be as good than a RH Hedman. Please i don't want to see anybody aying no because you would need to sacrifice your 5th foward...

 

[All Mod Cons]

I was also impressed by Jaden Schwartz last night. He can fit in well with our team and provide secondary offense.

Brandon Tanev will be great as well!

Literally any of the Kraken's forward lineup would look good in the bottom six.

 

[LeafParade]

I see a couple posters mentioned Duchesne in free agency but why would he leave Dallas? Did i miss something?

 

[All Mod Cons]

Reports out there saying the Islanders are shopping Dobson, if that's the case, you trade whatever you need to in order to get him.

To Toronto-
Dobson

To Islanders-
Cowan
Niemela
Timmins
1st Round Pick

Then you trade,

To Toronto-
Brayden Schenn

To Blues-
Minten
 Kampf
Robertson
2nd Round Pick

Knies-Matthews-Domi
Mcmann-Tavares-Marner
Jarnkrok-Schenn-Nylander
Lorentz-Holmberg-Dewar

McCabe-Tanev
Rielly-Dobson
OEL-Myers

Cowan, Niemela, Timmins/Robertson/Kampf/Holmberg/Steeves and a 1st can get anyone is the NHL. It's the new Ryder, Halak and a 2nd.

 

[Menzinger]

Friedman insinuated the leafs would rather trade one of their top prospects over next year’s first if we’re acquiring a big name center.

I can see this. Tre just poached a new head of scouting from the Stars, and Dubas' front office and the preference for keeping prospects over picks.

Cowan or Minten could find themselves out the door.

Which would hurt, but as long as the return was worth it, so be it.

 

[Menzinger]

If youn

I think the look of a Dobson in transition and at the top of the umbrella unleashing clap bombs would be a great finishing piece but at the cost of Knies, it hurts. Knies is developing a real nice power profile beside Matthews, giving us early days crash and bang Hyman style sidekick role. And guys like Minten can filter up and take a big jump in development potentially. Picks are picks. I don’t feel like Pageau is that big a difference maker.

If you trade Knies,.the teams secondary scoring collapses even further

Leafs biggest problem in the playoffs has been depth scoring/scoring in general.

Making that worse isn't going to the second round easier. A 1st + Cowan + Danford would be close to 3 ists of value,.which is more than most comparable trades.

The Leafs got multi years of Muzzin for a 1st + 2 B prospects

 

[Kiwi]

I can see this. Tre just poached a new head of scouting from the Stars, and Dubas' front office and the preference for keeping prospects over picks.

Cowan or Minten could find themselves out the door.

Which would hurt, but as long as the return was worth it, so be it.

I'm pretty sure Tre was the GM when Cowan was selected, I'm pretty sure he hadn't had the job long but I still think he was probably involved in the process to select him which may make him more inclined to keep him over Minten

I think Gourde may be the play here, he's injured which should bring down his price but he should be fit well before the playoffs and you could also get some cheap center cover as insurance (like Dvorak) who shouldn't cost more that a 4th or 5th rounder

So 2nd + Steeves or Roberson or 3rd for Gourde and a late rounder for Dvorak

 

[Stephen]

If youn


If you trade Knies,.the teams secondary scoring collapses even further

Leafs biggest problem in the playoffs has been depth scoring/scoring in general.

Making that worse isn't going to the second round easier. A 1st + Cowan + Danford would be close to 3 ists of value,.which is more than most comparable trades.

The Leafs got multi years of Muzzin for a 1st + 2 B prospects

Yeah I do like the idea of Dobson but Knies is a link to the “next generation” as well as being a secondary scoring mix and match player with big untapped upside.

I’d be more than happy to stand par with Knies.

 

[ULF_55]

According to Tre, he looked at trading Nylander for a top dman and could not so his best option was to overpay Willie. Assuming Tre talked the Isles, it tells me you are not getting Dobson for Knies IMO.

Another interpretation is Treliving thought Nylander's value was higher than available defenders.

We can just as easily say Nylander > Dobson in Treliving's opinion.

 

[ER89]

If it's not knies, honestly i don't see anyone else who can make a deal possible for Dobson...The only other way would probably get one of marner ( with extension) nylander of matthews waiving their NMC for NYI.

Dobson's been struggling this year. He's definitely not getting a superstar back.

 

[HomelessPepper]

Screw Schenn, if STL is selling, give me Parayko.

 

[Leaffan1991]

I really love Knies but sorry if you need to use him +++ for a #1 25 yo all around RHD... Its not even a question( something leafs looking for like 2 decade...

Dobson having all the tool to become one of best NHL D and maybe be as good than a RH Hedman. Please i don't want to see anybody aying no because you would need to sacrifice your 5th foward...

I honestly would rather trade Marner or Willy before Knies lol

 

[LeafEgo]

If youn


If you trade Knies,.the teams secondary scoring collapses even further

Leafs biggest problem in the playoffs has been depth scoring/scoring in general.

Making that worse isn't going to the second round easier. A 1st + Cowan + Danford would be close to 3 ists of value,.which is more than most comparable trades.

The Leafs got multi years of Muzzin for a 1st + 2 B prospects

Agreed, Leafs are in a position where we need to add without subtracting and without Knies we only have three wingers.

If we could get Dobson for Knies and then get an adequate replacement on the wing then we should be able to get Dobson without trading Knies.

If not, than it sounds like it's a bridge too far, which is unfortunate.

 

[thusk]

If youn


If you trade Knies,.the teams secondary scoring collapses even further

Leafs biggest problem in the playoffs has been depth scoring/scoring in general.

Making that worse isn't going to the second round easier. A 1st + Cowan + Danford would be close to 3 ists of value,.which is more than most comparable trades.

The Leafs got multi years of Muzzin for a 1st + 2 B prospects

They're different way to see this

If you're improving your D with a player able to play 25 min all around game. Playing better in your D end so at the same time playing more with the puck
+
You would get a 4th player able to contribute in the offensive end, created thing taking good shot from blue line, creating rebound and whatever.



Washington is a good exemple, they didn't improve their foward group but improving their D group. By improving their D group, playing less in their own zone, get more danger and production from D, they drastically improving production of every every line.

Did trading Knies for Dobson would decrease depht scoring or increase it... its a pretty good question

The thing im sure, its more harder to find a #1 RHD than a winger to play with matthews marner or jt-Nylander... You can grab exemple a guy like armia for a 4th pick and that would work

 

[Dreakmur]

In the context of building a winning roster, elite wingers can bring a lot of value, especially relative to mid tier UFAs.

I guess if you shift the goalposts enough, you can get close to the net.

Wingers bring less than other positions and they bring even less when you have more of them.

Top tier, two way, all situations wingers are massively impactful. You can dance around that fact all you want, but it doesn't change it.

They are as impactful as that position can be…. Which is still the least of all the positions.

If Letang counts, then Rielly counts.

Letang has on 8 occasions been a top-10 defender according to Norris voters.

Rielly has done that once.

These teams were driven by their core forwards: Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, and Guentzel in 2017. But as predicted, just arbitrary excuses to dismiss it.

The whole point of this discussion is about building a winner under the cap. Their core of forwards took up how much cap space?

As I said, they are the closest in terms of roster composition, but their cap was much better managed.

I’ve said it many times before - any roster composition can theoretically win the cup, but the salary cap requires that money be spent wisely. The law of diminishing returns applies to all positions, and especially at the less important ones.

We can and should. The raising cap will inflate future contracts, but still offer plenty of opportunity to surround the core. And with contracts about to go up, it's a great time to lock in a superstar.

Unless Marner is going to take a discount, it’s not smart. We’ll be forever at a disadvantage in terms of roster building.

 

[Commander Clueless]

But like who can we even get?

 

[BertCorbeau]

Cozens is tainted. Don't want him, totally tainted

Buffalo has a history of letting players go only to see them bloom elsewhere

 

[TMLAM34]

To Toronto: Dylan Cozens
To Buffalo: Fraser Minten + Nikita Grebenkin + 2026 1st + 2025 2nd

To Toronto: Luke Schenn (50% retained)
To Nashville: Conor Timmins

Knies - Matthews - Domi
McMann - Cozens - Nylander
Robertson - Tavares - Marner
Pacioretty - Dewar - Lorentz

McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Schenn
Ekman Larsson - Myers

Stolarz - Woll

 

[Kiwi]

Buffalo has a history of letting players go only to see them bloom elsewhere

I doubt they want to see a guy thrive with us, that would be rubbing salt into the wound

 

[ToneDog]

Agreed, Leafs are in a position where we need to add without subtracting and without Knies we only have three wingers.

If we could get Dobson for Knies and then get an adequate replacement on the wing then we should be able to get Dobson without trading Knies.

If not, than it sounds like it's a bridge too far, which is unfortunate.

Rielly is expendable and should be moved for a Knies replacement if you get Dobson. Alas might be asking too much of Tre to do before the TDL.

 

[leafsfan5]

If youn


If you trade Knies,.the teams secondary scoring collapses even further

Leafs biggest problem in the playoffs has been depth scoring/scoring in general.

Making that worse isn't going to the second round easier. A 1st + Cowan + Danford would be close to 3 ists of value,.which is more than most comparable trades.

The Leafs got multi years of Muzzin for a 1st + 2 B prospects

Sometimes you need to take a short term hit for longterm gain. This would hurt our depth scoring significantly, but sets us up on the backend for the next decade

You can find players to score beside Matthews/Marner, we're on our 3rd iteration of that (Hyman, Bunting, Knies). We haven't found a young, high end RHD and that is one of the hardest things to find in the entire league

I'd be happy if the package you suggested would work, but I think other teams would likely outbid us on that by offering a better prospect

 

[Taylor Halls Teeth]

I see a couple posters mentioned Duchesne in free agency but why would he leave Dallas? Did i miss something?

He scored 25g and 65pts for them in 23-24 and they committed to him for just 1 year and $3M. its certainly possible he locks up with the Stars but they have put themselves in the position of having to bid against the rest of the league for his next deal. There was a reason he wasn't signed by Dallas for more term