Trades & Free Agency Thread: Off-season Edition

[The Shadow]

I don’t even see Pittsburgh making the playoffs

 

[Leafs87]

I'm guessing they'll sign Gillies and put him on waivers to play for the Marlies if Murray doesn't clear waivers.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1836123411031933279

I wouldn’t be worried about Murray not clearing

 

[Folignos Helmet]

Now they have Marner at c up on TSN.

Berube could light Toronto on fire by going
Matthews
Nylander
Marner
Tavares
Down the middle.

Would be great just for the comedy of the reporting and talking heads.

 

[rumman]

Now they have Marner at c up on TSN.

Berube could light Toronto on fire by going
Matthews
Nylander
Marner
Tavares
Down the middle.

Would be great just for the comedy of the reporting and talking heads.

I don’t think this is the craziest idea, it would give them a chance to see what a top six without JT and Marner would look like. JT is really a third line centre right now, but he’d be the best 4th line centre in the league. I doubt Marner could handle third line centre duties so let him play wing on the third line. It would definitely make it hard for opposing teams to shut down four lines imo……..

 

[Rude Dog]

I wouldn’t be worried about Murray not clearing

Interesting enough I was talking with a friend of mine who doesn’t work for mlse but has strong ties to many of the players and has watched the guys on ice getting ready for the season. He wasn’t a Murray fan but can’t believe how good Murray looks right now after surgery. Players are raving about him. I thought he was drunk until I heard that report this week suggesting someone else saying this. Apparently he is very serious about resuming his career. Likely not with the leafs but if there is any truth he may not clear as easy as we all assume.

 

[conFABulator]

I don’t think this is the craziest idea, it would give them a chance to see what a top six without JT and Marner would look like. JT is really a third line centre right now, but he’d be the best 4th line centre in the league. I doubt Marner could handle third line centre duties so let him play wing on the third line. It would definitely make it hard for opposing teams to shut down four lines imo……..

The issue with going four lines deep in this way is ice time. How much time are you giving the fourth line? There are 48 ES minutes in a game and the more time you give the fourth the less you have available for the others.

I like this approach across three lines and then having a fourth line that gets limited ES time but plays a lot on the PK. None of this really lines up with JT on the fourth. I do like him on the third line and Willy as 2C (or Marner).

I wouldn’t be worried about Murray not clearing

I do worry about this. If he is healthy and sharp in camp I think he could be interesting for teams that need a goalie.

 

[Gilmour1996]

Interesting enough I was talking with a friend of mine who doesn’t work for mlse but has strong ties to many of the players and has watched the guys on ice getting ready for the season. He wasn’t a Murray fan but can’t believe how good Murray looks right now after surgery. Players are raving about him. I thought he was drunk until I heard that report this week suggesting someone else saying this. Apparently he is very serious about resuming his career. Likely not with the leafs but if there is any truth he may not clear as easy as we all assume.

If he looks decent from the get-go, I don't think there's even a remote chance he clears. Only way he stays a Leaf is if he or one of our other goalies gets hurt during preseason.

 

[rumman]

If he looks decent from the get-go, I don't think there's even a remote chance he clears. Only way he stays a Leaf is if he or one of our other goalies gets hurt during preseason.

Or the Leafs keep him over one of the other net minders……..

 

[ACC1224]

If he looks decent from the get-go, I don't think there's even a remote chance he clears. Only way he stays a Leaf is if he or one of our other goalies gets hurt during preseason.

I expect they have a plan to carry 3 if need be.
Woll and Stolarz are locks.

 

[conFABulator]

Or the Leafs keep him over one of the other net minders……..

Or we go with three goalies

 

[TMLAM34]

Given all three goaltenders injury history, would be smart to keep all three if they’re playing really well. Never know when one of them gets injured.

Really curious to see how Murray does. He was one of the best in the league at one point, you don’t automatically loose that skill set. Obviously he won’t be as good as he once was but I can see him being a solid 1B if he’s actually healthy. He’s also not that old either.

 

[Rob Brown]

I don’t even see Pittsburgh making the playoffs

Yeah hard to see them making it considering the big four in the Atlantic are almost locks, there is all of Ottawa/Buffalo/Detroit that seem fairly close, and then NYR/New Jersey/Carolina as top 3 locks in the Metro with Washington/Philadelphia both getting better and the Islanders still there.

 

[mydnyte]

Now they have Marner at c up on TSN.

Berube could light Toronto on fire by going
Matthews
Nylander
Marner
Tavares
Down the middle.

Would be great just for the comedy of the reporting and talking heads.

I was suggesting they try Marner at C for a while, he is good enough defensively, but, would need to be able to get to at least 50% on faceoffs, then the lineup could be quite interesting

Patch (test) - Matthews - Domi
Knies - Marner - Nylander
McMann - Tavares - Robertson
Dewar - Kampf - Holmberg

Jarnkrok OR Kampf traded

 

[SprDaVE]

Given all three goaltenders injury history, would be smart to keep all three if they’re playing really well. Never know when one of them gets injured.

Really curious to see how Murray does. He was one of the best in the league at one point, you don’t automatically loose that skill set. Obviously he won’t be as good as he once was but I can see him being a solid 1B if he’s actually healthy. He’s also not that old either.

Leafs are capped out. Keeping a goaltender in the pressbox "in case of" is not really possible if they want to have a 21-22 player roster. It's a whole lot more important to carry an extra forward and defender. It's very rare to keep 3 goalteders on your NHL roster. Just punt Murray to the Marlies to keep progressing and if a team wants him in the NHL then so be it. I'd be shocked if he was claimed.

I kind of hope he gets claimed anyway since I want Hildeby and AA to get a ton of starts and even maybe NHL games.

 

[rumman]

Leafs are capped out. Keeping a goaltender in the pressbox "in case of" is not really possible if they want to have a 21-22 player roster. It's a whole lot more important to carry an extra forward and defender. It's very rare to keep 3 goalteders on your NHL roster. Just punt Murray to the Marlies to keep progressing and if a team wants him in the NHL then so be it. I'd be shocked if he was claimed.

I kind of hope he gets claimed anyway since I want Hildeby and AA to get a ton of starts and even maybe NHL games.

If he is healthy and the rumours are true about how his game is going preseason there’s no way he makes it through waivers……..

 

[SprDaVE]

If he is healthy and the rumours are true about how his game is going preseason there’s no way he makes it through waivers……..

Good for him to get a shot on a team that could use him in the NHL right away then. The Leafs would have just signed him to be the back-up if they were worried about it.

 

[ULF_55]

Leafs are capped out. Keeping a goaltender in the pressbox "in case of" is not really possible if they want to have a 21-22 player roster. It's a whole lot more important to carry an extra forward and defender. It's very rare to keep 3 goalteders on your NHL roster. Just punt Murray to the Marlies to keep progressing and if a team wants him in the NHL then so be it. I'd be shocked if he was claimed.

I kind of hope he gets claimed anyway since I want Hildeby and AA to get a ton of starts and even maybe NHL games.

Unless there is a trade, we kind of know the line-up.

Wouldn't be wild to suggest, Kampf or Dewar as a casualty for any new blood in the forward ranks.

It's kind of a boring situation, at least the defense wasn't just rearranging the deck chairs.

 

[rumman]

Unless there is a trade, we kind of know the line-up.

Wouldn't be wild to suggest, Kampf or Dewar as a casualty for any new blood in the forward ranks.

It's kind of a boring situation, at least the defense wasn't just rearranging the deck chairs.

Dewar’s not starting camp due to shoulder surgery…….

 

[ULF_55]

Dewar’s not starting camp due to shoulder surgery…….

Have not seen the injury reports yet.

Not starting camp, or out for weeks/months/days?

His Cap Hit would cover any 1 prospect.

 

[rumman]

Have not seen the injury reports yet.

Not starting camp, or out for weeks/months/days?

His Cap Hit would cover any 1 prospect.

Tre mentioned a number of injuries heading into camp. Dewar shoulder, Minton high ankle sprain, the rest were prospect injuries……..

 

[WTFMAN99]

Not sure what it is but my interest in the team at this moment is probably the highest it has been since the Habs playoff loss.

I'm probably going to be dialed in until at least the off-season. I think if Tree simply extends boith Marner & JT and messes around on the fringes of the roster (Tanev, OEL adds) versus making his mark/stamp with the team, you can write off his era as GM.

Back end probably needs at least a Muzzin type addition to be serious about going deep and the guys up front need to show they can score in the playoffs.

None of that can be answered or solved today, I think what Tree did over the summer is add depth so at the TDL we're not sending 3rd/4th/5th picks out there for Dewar or Edmundson type additions, we can probably tackle a big need at that time.

 

[rumman]

Not sure what it is but my interest in the team at this moment is probably the highest it has been since the Habs playoff loss.

I'm probably going to be dialed in until at least the off-season. I think if Tree simply extends boith Marner & JT and messes around on the fringes of the roster (Tanev, OEL adds) versus making his mark/stamp with the team, you can write off his era as GM.

Back end probably needs at least a Muzzin type addition to be serious about going deep and the guys up front need to show they can score in the playoffs.

None of that can be answered or solved today, I think what Tree did over the summer is add depth so at the TDL we're not sending 3rd/4th/5th picks out there for Dewar or Edmundson type additions, we can probably tackle a big need at that time.

They’re not winning anything with 53% of the cap tied to four forwards, you can play with the fringes all you want, but until you address the cap allocation issue nothing changes…….

 

[Fogelhund]

They’re not winning anything with 53% of the cap tied to four forwards, you can play with the fringes all you want, but until you address the cap allocation issue nothing changes…….

Personally I disagree. I don't think allocating that much of the cap to four players, specifically forwards is a big problem. Last year, it wasn't that our Goalies let us down, or our D wasn't quite good enough in the playoffs. It was those four forwards didn't play to the level of their pay. If you have truly elite players, they should be dominating, especially on the PP, which of course they have in the regular season most of the time.... Top 2 team in the NHL, along with the Oilers over the past years.

4.8% in the playoffs last year on 21 opportunities... if they are elite players, at nearly 30% like the Oilers and Avalanche, that's 6-7 goals on the PP, instead of 1.

Matthews shoots 5% in the playoffs.... normally he's over 15%... that's an extra two goals... (We could say the same of Marner and Tavares too)

So if this offense puts in an extra 8-9 goals... we probably move on, and continue to have success.

I think the problem is these "elite" players, paid at an "elite" level, just aren't "elite" when the playoffs come. It's that SO FAR, these are the wrong players to expect playoff success. Frankly, if we paid them 40% of the cap, I don't think it makes any difference either.... you need your best players to be the best players on the ice, when it counts.

The cap % is a compelling argument no doubt, but I think it's a red herring. Our stars, just don't show up enough in the playoffs. Frankly their pay doesn't matter... if they aren't going to show up when it counts, they aren't going to show.

 

[WTFMAN99]

They’re not winning anything with 53% of the cap tied to four forwards, you can play with the fringes all you want, but until you address the cap allocation issue nothing changes…….

Personally I disagree. I don't think allocating that much of the cap to four players, specifically forwards is a big problem. Last year, it wasn't that our Goalies let us down, or our D wasn't quite good enough in the playoffs. It was those four forwards didn't play to the level of their pay. If you have truly elite players, they should be dominating, especially on the PP, which of course they have in the regular season most of the time.... Top 2 team in the NHL, along with the Oilers over the past years.

4.8% in the playoffs last year on 21 opportunities... if they are elite players, at nearly 30% like the Oilers and Avalanche, that's 6-7 goals on the PP, instead of 1.

Matthews shoots 5% in the playoffs.... normally he's over 15%... that's an extra two goals... (We could say the same of Marner and Tavares too)

So if this offense puts in an extra 8-9 goals... we probably move on, and continue to have success.

I think the problem is these "elite" players, paid at an "elite" level, just aren't "elite" when the playoffs come. It's that SO FAR, these are the wrong players to expect playoff success. Frankly, if we paid them 40% of the cap, I don't think it makes any difference either.... you need your best players to be the best players on the ice, when it counts.

The cap % is a compelling argument no doubt, but I think it's a red herring. Our stars, just don't show up enough in the playoffs. Frankly their pay doesn't matter... if they aren't going to show up when it counts, they aren't going to show.

I struggle with the math for a Marner extension because 2 10-11M wingers that aren't Kucherov doesn't make sense from a team building standpoint.

JT and Marner in particular were underwhelming

Matthews looked pretty good until the injury.

Nylander was good once he got over his migraines

We need them to look great though for once.

 

[Fogelhund]

I struggle with the math for a Marner extension because 2 10-11M wingers that aren't Kucherov doesn't make sense from a team building standpoint.

JT and Marner in particular were underwhelming

Matthews looked pretty good until the injury.

Nylander was good once he got over his migraines

We need them to look great though for once.

I agree in so much, as you move on from players who don't help in the playoffs. If we have guys who played like Kucherov, or MacKinnon, or McDavid in the playoffs, we'd keep them, and build the team around them and it wouldn't matter what they were paid. Again, the dollars doesn't matter much, in my opinion. It's the quality of play. If they don't work as a group, you have to move on from the weakest players in the playoffs.