obey86
Registered User
- Jun 9, 2009
- 8,013
- 1,274
Thank goodness we are a lottery team with a bad cap situation as opposed to a team with 2 certified superstars in their primes, a pretty good supporting cast, a decent farm system, and a tenuous cap? That's a pretty bold statement.
-Jake Gardiner ($4.05) is absolutely terrible when it counts, so that's 'almost' addition by subtraction.
-If they can convince Babs that Marleau needs to go, they can free up $6.25 a year ahead of his contract expiring. He has a NMC, but even without it he's Toronto's more expensive version of Dan Cleary, Babs Toronto BFF, so he will be back.
-Hainseys contract is up this summer, that's $3 mil
That's not real bad given they have 2 solid D prospects with the Marlies that can 'probably' step in next year. If they want something proven, they could send Nylander+ Liljegren (might be too high, but I'm not sure about the market there) to grab a guy like Trouba. They have 2 skill guys drafted recently that are lighting it up with the Marlies that could compete for Nylanders spot.
It sucks for them that they will be paying Kessel $1.2 until 2022. Is retained salary something they can trade?
Pretty sure I'd trade the Wings roster for the Leafs.
*Jake Gardiner is far from terrible. He's a pretty good, not great, NHL defenseman.
*Marleau isn't going anywhere unless they buy him out. He has no incentive to waive his NMC.
*Not sure it would be prudent to rely on 19 and 20 year old defensemen while you're supposedly competing for the Stanley Cup. It will likely be a few years at least while those top 2 d prospects get acclimated to the NHL game to become truly good top 4 defenders.
Despite having a few really great players, they are first round fodder with a bad defense for at least the next 1-2 seasons, barring a major trade of something like Nylander+. Even then, i'm not so sure Nylander's value on the market hasn't tanked since he signed his deal - so i'm not so sure what they could really get in return for him at this point.
IMO the Leafs will need 2 years or so to let the cap rise so their big contracts aren't as prohibitive, and for Sandin and Lily to grow into solid NHL defensemen and then the team will be ready to truly compete for a Stanley Cup. The only problem with that is that in a couple years Rielly will be nearing the end of his sweetheart contract of 5M/year and if he keeps putting up 70 point seasons that sweetheart contract will be no more, and at that point Tavares will be 31 years old and soon declining. It's great they have stars, but the team constructed as is is going nowhere in the playoffs. By the time the Leafs fix their defense and are ready to compete for the Cup, the Wings should have the major pieces of their rebuild in place and be on the upswing. If the Wings can't do it in that timeframe (again, 2 years or so down the road) the rebuild failed.
Right now, the Leafs are just a younger version of the 2012 Red Wings. A couple star players, but overall the defense stinks and they will lose in the 1st round