Well, if you guys actually read the post, vs skimming through it, i specifically mentioned to not make any trades like this until we are 40+ games into the regular season, and if the same situations arise like in the past, options like this need to be explored..
It doesn't matter when the trade is made. It's still a bad deal for the Leafs regardless. Gardiner is more valuable than Yandle simply because he is younger, actually better and more reliable defensively (as hard as that is to believe), and still puts up similar production as him. We could re-sign for Gardiner for a better contract. Kadri for McCann is an even bigger joke. This actually makes our team worse at both ends of the ice, and it's not even like we get a bonafide young player out of it.
We all can agree that Toronto needs to bolster up the toughness and grit.. McCann is a big guy who can hit, and once he makes that hit, the player feels it and will effect the games outcome.. That's a big key factor in success.. that LITERALLY is why we never make it past round 1 in the post season.. Yes, we can stack the roster till we are blue in the face with statistics of point producers, but those points won't come when we are getting hammered in the boards...
McCann is the same size as Kadri, and he's nowhere near as gritty as Kadri. As far as I have known him, he's always been a two-way playmaking type center. Considering he's only averaging 57 hits in an 82 game season, the stats back that up. Unless those are 57 bonecrunching hits... Which I doubt. So we downgrade on there too, because Kadri averages over twice that in a season and a lot of them are pretty heavy. The Leafs may lack some size and toughness up front, but they have a lot of hard working forwards, and since they just traded Matt Martin for pretty much nothing but cap space without any sort of clear replacement for him, it's not like the Leafs are placing a high priority on it right now. The Leafs also let go of Polak, Soshnikov and Komarov over the course of the year. Those 4 were our toughest players by far, and now they are all gone.
And I say it again.. Yandle would bring leadership into the locker room and give our current defensive core, someone to follow and respect. the dude's only 31... hasn't missed a game in what? 550+ games? he's a tank!
We are stacked in the farm.. we have youth for days.. If the first 40 games are not what is expected, I think a trade like this will come. and Kadri will be the first on the chopping block... he's officially more valuable as trade bait, than producing points on the ice.
The Leafs do not lack leadership in the room or on defense. Plus the Leafs could poach a bunch of guys from FA who have plenty of leadership intangibles.
Finally, I do not see what our farm has to do with anything, but nobody on there comes close to replacing what Kadri provides. Not only does he provide a crap ton of goals and points (contrary to your point), but he's also one of the best at shutting down top competition in the NHL. He's good enough to be a 1C on some teams, and yet he's being dealt for a guy who shouldn't be more than a 4C on any sort of good team right now.
If our first 40 games suck, we will probably sell off Gardiner, but it'll be for pure futures. No way the Leafs would ever consider doing a deal like this. It's 100% against what Dubas wants to do.