GDT: Trades & Free Agency Thread - Off-Season Early Edition

[ryno23]

As much as Hyman works hard and has produced with playing with elite talent there is no reason to overpay him. Guys like Hyman come and go all the time. Regardless Hyman at anything over 4 million in this cap world is an overpayment.

Sure it would have been nice to see Marner and Matthews both take 1 million less on their contracts which would have freed up $2 million. So then what you overpay Hyman?

Matthews, Tavares both earned their contracts well Matthews a little less in the playoffs but it's Marner that has the Leafs screwed over by no producing in the playoffs and not getting out of the 1st round. If they made the 2nd round we wouldn't be talking about any contracts but here we are.

I don't think Dubas planned on a global pandemic screwing over the whole world and putting a clamp on the cap for the foreseeable future. If there was no pandemic the cap would be going up and even higher with the new TV money they got which was higher than they predicted.

 

[613Leafer]

BIGGEST mistake is letting Hyman go! TO are boneheads. This guy brings it every night. Unlike some others. Terrible decision to let him go. It will be felt. These are the exact players you need in the playoffs.

Sometimes there are no good options and you need to go with the lesser of two evils.

Letting him go? Won't be easy to replace his two-way play and ability to play anywhere in the top 9.
Re-signing him? Physical blue collar players with moderate amounts of skill tend to take a nosedive around age 30 (e.g. Bolland, Armstrong, Clarkson, Simmonds, etc just to name a few who have played for the Leafs). His contract could very easily be an anchor contract within a year or two.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

We should be able to manage with our 1st and 2nd line and our entire D-corp which is great.

Definitely need either a tandem goalie, or a reliable veteran backup depending on who and at what cost.

We need purpose on our 3rd and 4th lines. Soup, Spezza, Simmonds, Engvall have little synergy and don't look much like a shutdown line, energy line, or a scoring line. Soup - Kerfoot - Hyman had some purpose at one point but 2 of those players may be gone

 

[rumman]

You got a love Mapleleaf fans if they were to sign Freddy all the bandwagon jumper‘s would say that’s the best thing that has ever done remember at the moment everyone thinks it’s a dumb idea I’ve read post about zack Does not deserve the money and you take a Hometown discount he’s exactly the player were trying to find Heart and soul and everyone seems to dump on him now It’s going to be sad when we lose him

Zack won’t miss the Leafs as much as the Leafs will miss Zack.

 

[rumman]

Sometimes there are no good options and you need to go with the lesser of two evils.

Letting him go? Won't be easy to replace his two-way play and ability to play anywhere in the top 9.
Re-signing him? Physical blue collar players with moderate amounts of skill tend to take a nosedive around age 30 (e.g. Bolland, Armstrong, Clarkson, Simmonds, etc just to name a few who have played for the Leafs). His contract could very easily be an anchor contract within a year or two.

Puzzling how Zack is near be too old, but the GM has no problems signing geriatrics such as Thorton, Simmonds. Maybe Zack's game hasn’t degraded enough for him to be a attractive to Dubas and Shanahan?

 

[Torontonian]

It's going to be of the bargain bin variety save for maybe 1 addition, the team's fate is unlikely to improve. I understand the season is likely a write off but the price we pay to finally move on from the Dubas experiment.

How do you know that? Look at free agency last year with the flat cap and the signings, apart from Petroangelo and Krug signing for big money every FA signed for less then expected. In a flat cap world, it's going to be a lot easier to find good players at lower cap hit then it was with a rising cap. The problem with our free agency last year is Dubas zoned in solely on players that were "hungry" for a cup and hadn't won before, I suspect that will change this off season.

Toronto will have close to 13m to find 4 forwards and a backup goalie and as I said before, I think you're going to be surprised at the contracts and the money/term friendly players are going to accept for stability in a flat cap world.

 

[Burnie97]

Looks like Edmonton did Carolina a solid there. You only have to expose one goalie even if they are a rfa you just have to qualify him. Im guessing so they can protect their other young goalie Nedeljkovic.

 

[dubplatepressure]

Looks like Edmonton did Carolina a solid there. You only have to expose one goalie even if they are a rfa you just have to qualify him. Im guessing so they can protect their other young goalie Nedeljkovic.

Edmonton is sure racking up a lot of IOUs.

 

[WTFMAN99]

How do you know that? Look at free agency last year with the flat cap and the signings, apart from Petroangelo and Krug signing for big money every FA signed for less then expected. In a flat cap world, it's going to be a lot easier to find good players at lower cap hit then it was with a rising cap. The problem with our free agency last year is Dubas zoned in solely on players that were "hungry" for a cup and hadn't won before, I suspect that will change this off season.

Toronto will have close to 13m to find 4 forwards and a backup goalie and as I said before, I think you're going to be surprised at the contracts and the money/term friendly players are going to accept for stability in a flat cap world.

We will see

 

[Burnie97]

After the Vegas bullshit. If I'm a GM of any team... just have your list and no stupid side deals.

We'll see how GMs play it this time but I expect a lot less movement until after Seattle's team is picked.

 

[Dreakmur]

Looks like Edmonton did Carolina a solid there. You only have to expose one goalie even if they are a rfa you just have to qualify him. Im guessing so they can protect their other young goalie Nedeljkovic.

Jeremy Helvig will be exposed and meets the requirements. This trade just means Wells and Helvig will be exposed.

 

[GoLeafsGo96]

BIGGEST mistake is letting Hyman go! TO are boneheads. This guy brings it every night. Unlike some others. Terrible decision to let him go. It will be felt. These are the exact players you need in the playoffs.

I love Hyman - but if were talking about guys who have failed in the playoffs in comparison to how they've played in the regular season over the years - frankly, hes right at the top of the list. Maybe thats unfair - and his contract meant he wasn't the biggest issue either way - but they can't pay him 5M+ given his age, style of play (players that play like him have a tendancy to fall off a cliff in their 30s), and injury history.

 

[Dreakmur]

After the Vegas bullshit. If I'm a GM of any team... just have your list and no stupid side deals.

We'll see how GMs play it this time but I expect a lot less movement until after Seattle's team is picked.

Exactly. Seattle is likely just going to grab a whole pile of value contracts and use the flat cap to hold teams hostage.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Exactly. Seattle is likely just going to grab a whole pile of value contracts and use the flat cap to hold teams hostage.

Grab the good shit where you can, some teams won't be giving up much in expansion so just grab cheap/buriable and weaponize your cap space.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Starting to think Seattle would want the Leafs to pay them to take Kerfoot. I've been galaxy-braining it a little bit and they might elect to take a cheap player instead: Dermott if available, Holl or even Soup is very cheap and useful

 

[dubplatepressure]

Starting to think Seattle would want the Leafs to pay them to take Kerfoot. I've been galaxy-braining it a little bit and they might elect to take a cheap player instead: Dermott if available, Holl or even Soup is very cheap and useful

Taking Dermott or Soup over Kerfoot would be better for us IMO. We have no 3C replacement for Kerfoot right now.

 

[Jozay]

It's going to be of the bargain bin variety save for maybe 1 addition, the team's fate is unlikely to improve. I understand the season is likely a write off but the price we pay to finally move on from the Dubas experiment.

I dont think the goalie, third line center and one of the other forward spots will be bargain bin.

I can see them getting a baragin bin guy like Galchenyuk to put with Tavares and Nylander though.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Taking Dermott or Soup over Kerfoot would be better for us IMO. We have no 3C replacement for Kerfoot right now.

Wennberg would be a shrewd add but definitely need to look at what other teams are icing at centre vs us

Matthews/JT/Kerfoot

Point/Cirelli/Gourde (option of Stamkos)

Bergeron/Krejci/Coyle

MacKinnon/Kadri/Compher or Jost

Stephenson/Karlsson/Nosek

VGK gotta upgrade at C but if we lose Kerfoot, we do need to replace him because if we sustain an injury as we did vs MTL to JT, our depth is bad.

 

[Fogelhund]

I love what Hyman brings to the team, but it's probable his production falls off a cliff if he goes elsewhere. As a Free Agent signing, some team signing him to $5 million +, with term, is going to look terrible pretty quick.

First post in a while.... too much toxicity in this place for now.

 

[The Podium]

Sure it would have been nice to see Marner and Matthews both take 1 million less on their contracts which would have freed up $2 million. So then what you overpay Hyman?

This is what people need to realize.

Puzzling how Zack is near be too old, but the GM has no problems signing geriatrics such as Thorton, Simmonds. Maybe Zack's game hasn’t degraded enough for him to be a attractive to Dubas and Shanahan?

I bet Dubas would sign Hyman if he was willing to take a 1 year sub 1 mill contract

 

[Torontonian]

Puzzling how Zack is near be too old, but the GM has no problems signing geriatrics such as Thorton, Simmonds. Maybe Zack's game hasn’t degraded enough for him to be a attractive to Dubas and Shanahan?

It's not about not wanting Zack anymore because he is too old and run down, the money he is asking for and the type of player he is, doesn't make sense to sign him for that number and term.

If Hyman looked at Toronto and said ill take a 4 year deal at 4m, I am sure Toronto would sign him. Even if Toronto wasn't in a cap crunch and had the money to sign him to lets say 6x6 which is what he's looking to get apparently, you have to walk away from bad contracts and decisions like that. Toronto made that same mistake with Clarkson.

 

[VanW27]

Starting to think Seattle would want the Leafs to pay them to take Kerfoot. I've been galaxy-braining it a little bit and they might elect to take a cheap player instead: Dermott if available, Holl or even Soup is very cheap and useful

Taking Dermott or Soup over Kerfoot would be better for us IMO. We have no 3C replacement for Kerfoot right now.

Soup is exempt.

I like Kerfoot and he fills a valuable role for us, but he's overpaid in the pandemic/flat cap world. We need to find a replacement for sure but I think you can find one as good, or better for less cap

 

[stickty111]

I love what Hyman brings to the team, but it's probable his production falls off a cliff if he goes elsewhere. As a Free Agent signing, some team signing him to $5 million +, with term, is going to look terrible pretty quick.

First post in a while.... too much toxicity in this place for now.

Thats where the ignore list comes in man. I am approaching 300.

 

[gabeliscious]

I stopped calling them the Big 4.

I am reluctant to clump Tavares in with Matthews, Nylander, and Marner.

He signed as a UFA and at max term. He could have gone anywhere but chose Toronto. He put in his dues and his resume justified the price tag in my opinion. We can debate whether Toronto should have signed him but I think his contract was reasonable at the time it was signed given the context. Tavares also appears to me as someone who conducts himself with humility. Even when he was 18years old he carried himself well compared to Matthews, Marner, and Nylander in my opinion.

Contract aside, Nylander sitting out optically tarnished a lot of people's view of him. In hindsight, his contract is probably fair and reasonable. Especially in relation to Matthews and Marner.

There is nothing about Matthews in my opinion that warrants him being one of the top paid players league, especially given that he only signed for 5 years. It is not enough to just put up points. At that price, he should be able to carry 2 linemates the same way Crosby does, not bitch if he doesn't get to play with Marner or Nylander. If Matthews could elevate someone like Galchenyuk's game to 50-60 points it would allow us to balance the lines more.

Marner's contract in my opinion is the most egregious. Both the dollar amount and the term are terrible for what he brings. At least an argument can be made that Matthews is your franchise center. Not too many teams win with franchise wingers. Even in Chicago, Kane may be the bricks, but Toews was the mortar. In Washington, as good as prime Ovy was, I don't think they are anything without Backstrom. Given that as RFA's these kids had no leverage other than signing an offer sheet or sitting out, I think Dubas, unfortunately, learned the hard way that the business of hockey trumps the loyalty of hockey.

I think the Leafs should do what they can to dangle Marner in a deal for Jones. Even an extended Jone will not be for $11 million. We can replace a top-line winger far easier than we can find a top pairing RD. I don't think Colombus will be able to get a singular piece more valuable than Marner for Jones. They may get prospects and picks but they still need someone right away to make sure people still show up to games there.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Bogo likely heading to UFA per Terry Koshan of the Sun