GDT: Trades & Free Agency

[Rare Jewel]

That's a curve ball, but a good spot to be in the NHL very fast.

Right away, one would imagine.

Good for them; I hope they get the 1st pick as well because they've been real bad these last few years.

 

[Menzinger]

Florida takes advantage of no state tax.

And warm weather and lack of media pressure.

It's a nice sell to a player. frustrating of course for other teams

 

[nuck]

Yeah, signing with Florida or Tampa would be amazing for a young athlete.

My only counter to that is: if it were another team, I'm still fairly certain our same players would be paid less. We're either getting a "Leafs" premium tax, or our management is overpaying players, or a little of both.

Both of these things. Only a person who had just started watching hockey in October and stopped around game 50 would think Nylander is worth more than Pasta. The boys rolled over KD last time around and Tre continues to get railed so I think its part of the culture now and will be there until at least Mitch is signed and Shanahan is gone. No more stars to sign after that and the next player who's agent points to an internal comp as his target needs to be traded yesterday. They could and they did but they don't have to for ever.

 

[nuck]

Players in/out from last years playoff team to this years playoff team.

Bunting - Bertuzzi
Kerfoot - Domi
ROR - Holmberg
Lafferty - McMann
Acciari - Dewar
Simmonds - Reaves
Aston-Reese - Gregor
Schenn - Lyubushkin
Holl - Edmundson
Gustafsson - Benoit

Except for ROR that looks pretty good. Too bad it doesn't also address the decline in Brodie and Gio but you can't have everything. Now about the goaltending. 2024 Woll doesn't not inspire confidence like he did last year. As long as they pick the best option they have a shot.

 

[seanlinden]

Not Mitch specifically, but one of them. Keeping them sounds right in isolation, but when you actually have to put a team around them, it becomes much less clear.

I wonder how many times people would need to see these guys underperform in the playoffs before they think exploring the idea of moving one is something to consider.

I mean, what's the harm?

And therein lies the crux of the issue.

There's nothing inherently "wrong" with Auston Matthews at $11.6m, or even $13.25m for that matter.... although it's a far less advantageous contract than some of his comparables (McDavid & Kucherov notably).

There's nothing inherently "wrong" with Mitch Marner at $10.9m (at least today, at the beginning of the contract it was problematic)... although it's certainly a far less advantageous contract than his comparables (Point, Kucherov, Panarin, Tkachuk, Rantanen).

There's definitely nothing wrong with William Nylander at $7m, and even at $11.5m, it's not great, but it's ok.... although again, not as advantageous as some of his comparables like Aho or Pastrnak.

And there was only a little bit wrong with John Tavares at $11m for the first few years of his contract.

The problem is the combination of the 4 of them together. Next year they will be the #1 (Matthews), #5 (Nylander), #9 (Tavares) and #10 (Marner) highest paid players in the league.

I haven't done the full research, but their combined cap hits next year will be $46.7m. You look at some of the other "top heavy" teams in the league....

Edmonton spends $36,5m on McDavid, Draisaitl, Nurse and Ekholm.

Colorado spends $37.9m on MacKinnon, Rantanen, Landeskog and Makar.

New York spends $37.6m on Panarin, Zibanejad, Fox and Trouba.

Vegas spends $35m on Eichel, Stone, Hertl and Pietrangelo; and still does a bunch of cap shennanigans.

Florida spends $37m on Barkov, Tkachuk, Ekblad & Bobrovsky.

Tampa spends $37m on Kucherov, Point, Stamkos and Vasilevsky. Toss on Victor Hedman and they're still going to be less than what Toronto's big 4 will be next year.

Overall, that's a $10m delta from what the top-heavy teams in the league are spending.

 

[horner]

Players in/out from last years playoff team to this years playoff team.

Bunting - Bertuzzi
Kerfoot - Domi
ROR - Holmberg
Lafferty - McMann
Acciari - Dewar
Simmonds - Reaves
Aston-Reese - Gregor
Schenn - Lyubushkin
Holl - Edmundson
Gustafsson - Benoit

The best part is 80% of these playees will be back .

 

[Rare Jewel]

Tysplakov is the big fish of the Euro UFA pool, but I'm intrigued by this boy as well.

Mikulas Hovorka - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Mikulas Hovorka, 2001-07-01 Praha, CZE Czechia. Most recently in the AHL with Charlotte Checkers. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Hovorka míří do zámoří, jednání finišují. Sledovalo ho 11 týmů | Hokej.cz - web českého hokeje

Reprezentační obránce Mikuláš Hovorka opustí České Budějovice. Kometa letošní extraligové sezony svými výkony vzbudila zájem v zámořské NHL, kde má nyní před podpisem smlouvy.

www.hokej.cz

He's coming over, and quite a few teams are looking at him. It's not clear if the Leafs are one, but this is one to watch.

I'm not sure if he'll be at the WC in May, but that's where we could get a glimpse. However, it sounds like he could be signed before then.

 

[Fogelhund]

The best part is 80% of these playees qull ve back .

I'm guessing we had a keyboard slip, and meant 80% of these players will be back.

 

[horner]

I'm guessing we had a keyboard slip, and meant 80% of these players will be back.

Yes

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Curious about Rychlovsky. Have seen discussions about Liberec's Najman but not as much about him.

 

[aingefan]

That's a curve ball, but a good spot to be in the NHL very fast.

No real reports connecting him to the West Coast.
I guess there’s less pressure there, more opportunity to play right away. Seems like an odd choice, really.

 

[aingefan]

Curious about Rychlovsky. Have seen discussions about Liberec's Najman but not as much about him.

Any standout D from the udfa class this year? Aside from the big Czech kid?

 

[Rare Jewel]

Any standout D from the udfa class this year? Aside from the big Czech kid?

I wouldn't stay "standout," but a player I'm curious to see if there's any interest in is...

Artyom Minulin at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Artyom Minulin, 1998-10-01 Tyumen, RUS Russia. Most recently in the KHL with Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

The offensive numbers aren't great, but neither were Lyybushkin's before he came over. I know it's a divisive stat, but I do think it's interesting that he's never really been a minus player spanning from the WHL to the KHL.

He was also part of the most recent Russian Olympic team despite not playing a game.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Buffalo has Power, Dahlin, Samuelsson and now Byram as left shots.

I know at times Dahlin moves to RD but wondered if the Sabres would have an interest in something around Samuelsson and Liljegren?

Rielly-X
Samuelsson-X
Benoit-McCabe

Skeleton for next year.

 

[Captain Crunch]

View attachment 844050
Moved Marner to jackets for jenner and Werenski traded a first for markstrom .Ya got a few elc players but we need them to take the step. Things can get even better once jt money comes off following year.

I like it, but is Zadorov a legitimate top 4 dman?

 

[Captain Crunch]

Marner is a Toronto boy who's family resides in Toronto, there's no way in hell he's waiving

He's also a mid 20's 100 point 2-way winger, a there's money to chop before you get to him

The forward group is in a good place, we've built some cheap depth and there's guys coming we just need to sort out the backend

Do you keep Liljegren? How much should we spend back there? Do we need a rethink on the types of guys we have back there, should we look to trade for some young defenseman that are struggling?

I get that, but how many playoff rounds has this core won? Only winning 1 round in 7 years, no one should feel safe

 

[Stephen]

Except for ROR that looks pretty good. Too bad it doesn't also address the decline in Brodie and Gio but you can't have everything. Now about the goaltending. 2024 Woll doesn't not inspire confidence like he did last year. As long as they pick the best option they have a shot.

The thing that’s kind of crazy to me about the whole Mark Giordano experience is we paid 2 seconds and a third for Gio who was UFA, whom we re-signed to a 2 year deal only 2 years ago. As a late 30s rental with not a lot of great hockey left, Toronto actually paid a similar and heavier price as to what Colorado paid for Devon Toews, who only cost 2 seconds. The low key poor decisions like that are just staggering.

 

[aingefan]

Any insight into this guy:
Colton Huard: Colton Huard at eliteprospects.com
Or this guy:
John Prokop: John Prokop at eliteprospects.com

 

[Dekes For Days]

The thing that’s kind of crazy to me about the whole Mark Giordano experience is we paid 2 seconds and a third for Gio who was UFA, whom we re-signed to a 2 year deal only 2 years ago. As a late 30s rental with not a lot of great hockey left, Toronto actually paid a similar and heavier price as to what Colorado paid for Devon Toews, who only cost 2 seconds.

We paid two late 2nds and a 3rd for 50% retained Giordano and Blackwell as deadline additions, not just Giordano. Weird to compare deadline additions and offseason trades in the first place, especially ones years apart. Also, Giordano was re-signed for 800k, not 4m, so the alternative would have meant other team subtractions.

I think it would have been easier to say that 31 teams regret not acquiring or keeping Devon Toews in hindsight. Giordano, who has worked out pretty well for us, really doesn't have anything to do with it.

 

[613Leafer]

The thing that’s kind of crazy to me about the whole Mark Giordano experience is we paid 2 seconds and a third for Gio who was UFA, whom we re-signed to a 2 year deal only 2 years ago. As a late 30s rental with not a lot of great hockey left, Toronto actually paid a similar and heavier price as to what Colorado paid for Devon Toews, who only cost 2 seconds. The low key poor decisions like that are just staggering.

Well and compare the trade costs for a dozen or two games of ROR or Foligno as declining players in their 30s vs what Vancouver paid for Hronek, at the time a 25 year old legit top 4 RHD under team control.

Other examples of top 4 RHD acquired for even less than Toews are DeMelo, Durzi, Montour, etc (some of this requires good scouting, to for example be confident you can take Montour from a bad Buffalo team and put him on a good team and see him be more successful).

 

[Stephen]

We paid two late 2nds and a 3rd for 50% retained Giordano and Blackwell as deadline additions, not just Giordano. Weird to compare deadline additions and offseason trades in the first place, especially ones years apart. Also, Giordano was re-signed for 800k, not 4m, so the alternative would have meant other team subtractions.

I think it would have been easier to say that 31 teams regret not acquiring or keeping Devon Toews in hindsight. Giordano, who has worked out pretty well for us, really doesn't have anything to do with it.

Yeah but you have to wonder if Giordano retained was worth anything having seen him play for 2.5 years. He’s been a rapidly declining asset whereas Colorado got a franchise cornerstone defenseman that allowed Byram to be moved off.

I guess it never occurred to the GM that paying a guy older than him to log heavy NHL minutes was probably not a great idea. But he probably thought he was getting his Ray Bourque.

 

[613Leafer]

Yeah but you have to wonder if Giordano retained was worth anything having seen him play for 2.5 years. He’s been a rapidly declining asset whereas Colorado got a franchise cornerstone defenseman that allowed Byram to be moved off.

I think very clearly, Devon Toews a legit top pairing dman you can put out against the top players in the league, acquired in his prime in his 20s with a good ~6-8+ years of quality hockey ahead of him, is a MUCH more valuable acquisition than Gio in his late 30s and Blackwell, even at the caphit differnce (especially considering Toews' caphit was only 4.1M for years after the trade, which he definitely exceeded in terms of value he brought).

 

[SprDaVE]

Any insight into this guy:
Colton Huard: Colton Huard at eliteprospects.com
Or this guy:
John Prokop: John Prokop at eliteprospects.com

I think Prokop is someone a few teams want. He's got a couple more NCAA eligible years so he's got time.

John Prokop, LHD, Union-ECAC

Prokop has led Union in scoring as a sophomore. He was always seen as a talented player in junior, but his defense was awful and he was inconsistent. His defending has improved enough to be a potential sign candidate with a chance to be a solid pro. He’s a tall defender who skates well and has enough skill to be interesting at higher levels.

Colton Huard is probably someone Hardy is familiar with since he played for the Steel a few years ago.

 

[Stephen]

Yeah but you have to wonder if Giordano retained was worth anything having seen him play for 2.5 years. He’s been a rapidly declining asset whereas Colorado got a franchise cornerstone defenseman that allowed Byram to be moved off.

I guess it never occurred to the GM that paying a guy older than him to log heavy NHL minutes was probably not a great idea. But he probably thought he was getting his Ray Bourque.

Hopefully Tre uses some of the assets to land a long term solution on D this summer. It's a 6 man unit so one or two key acquisitions can really change the complexion and strength of the group.

Hate to say it but you also want a younger guy in situ who might be able to take on Morgan's role in a couple of years. He's 30 now but you want a successor in his 20s to take the reigns in 3-4 years.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Yeah but you have to wonder if Giordano retained was worth anything having seen him play for 2.5 years. He’s been a rapidly declining asset whereas Colorado got a franchise cornerstone defenseman that allowed Byram to be moved off. I guess it never occurred to the GM that paying a guy older than him to log heavy NHL minutes was probably not a great idea. But he probably thought he was getting his Ray Bourque.

Of course Giordano retained was worth something. If you've seen him play for the last 2.5 years, you should know he was quite good for us for the majority of that time. I'm not sure why we're comparing a deadline addition to an offseason trade from two years prior that have nothing to do with each other. Toews is one of those trades that 31 teams wish they had made in hindsight, but Giordano ended up providing good value for what we paid as well. The GM didn't sign him to be Ray Bourque or log heavy NHL minutes. He re-signed him for basically league minimum to provide significant surplus value and quality defensive depth, which is exactly what he did.

Also, it was more Makar that let Byram be moved. Well, that plus Colorado's desperate need for a center and development and injury concerns.