How does Toronto even get out of the mess they are in? I mean the offense on paper is so good but they are barely hanging on to playoffs.
Where do they even go from here with their salary cap tied up? How do they fix their defense issues?? Big mess
Oh come on, it's not THAT bad.
They have some really good prospects who look like they'll be ready for NHL time and some, but not a ton, of salary is coming off the books.
They got off to a bad start thanks to Babcock trying to torpedo the team, then hit a really bad rut right before the All-Star break because the goaltending imploded. And now they're getting killed by injuries. They're still a good team, but I'm sure they're obviously disappointed with the results. I'm convinced Babcock was pretty much gone after this season no matter what, they just figured they'd try and load up one more time, hence the Kadri/Barrie deal.
I'm guessing they will re-up Muzzin and let Barrie walk, Dermott will probably sign a bridge deal of some kind, Rielly will be back and healthy, and they'll have the rest of the defense rounded out by Holl, Sandin, and Liljegren. That's actually a pretty good defensive corps on paper. Up front they've obviously got the "Big Four" and a good supporting cast, but I imagine they'll want to swing some kind of deal to improve themselves.
Keefe will also bring in his own assistants, so it's bye-bye to guys like Hakstol, who, rightly or wrongly, was blamed for the Leafs offense collapsing this season.
And it still makes a small difference in the long run that the dead money they've been carrying with Clarkson and Horton comes clean off the books. It didn't count against the cap but it also required them to do some maneuvering in the offseason IIRC that they won't have to worry about going forward.
The big question for me remains in goal. Freddy is prone to some pretty bad stretches, but I can't help but wonder if it's because he's simply been overworked. Maybe with Campbell they'll FINALLY have an actual tandem, but they simply couldn't continue with Hutchinson.
This is absolutely NOT some untenable situation though. They have an elite center tandem, and two extraordinarily good scoring wingers. On defense they have a tremendous amount of talent, and they have a very good, if not quite elite, goalie.
If you want to see a dire situation, go look at Buffalo. They're the ones in deep shit.
