Speculation: Compliance Buyouts - Who should the Leafs use one on?

uncleben

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Dec 4, 2008
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Personally, I don't think we really have a candidate.

Kerfoot, if we had to burn the slot, but his contracts not bad. Would rather give him another year's chance, or trade him for cheap, instead of paying him to walk, even with zero caphit.
 

uncleben

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Dec 4, 2008
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Acton, Ontario
Honestly. Marner give a little wink wink nudge nudge he resigns for less caphit but extra money ovr
Assuming it follows like the last compliance buyouts, the player is prohibited from rejoining the team that bought him out for one year. Trading a player and then signing them after their new team uses a compliance buyout would also automatically be circumvention (this can be allowed, pending the League looking into it and approving it as not pre-arranged with normal buyouts, a la Brooks Orpik)
 
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deletethis

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Mar 17, 2015
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Kerfoot, Kerfoot, Kerfoot, Kerfoot. Not a fan of this player. Didn't produce well, plays a bit like a weeny yet is somehow still a bit dirty.

Then maybe Johnsson who sadly is probably never getting back to his 2019-20 level again.

Everyone else is just too good as an asset. Any of the big four could be traded with their contracts even in a cap-strapped situation.
 

Funk21

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Mar 6, 2013
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Buy out JT and then resign him for 1 million per. He gets his money and we get our cap relief.

Honestly this is such a stupid suggestion as some teams had been manoeuvring last year and this to project where the cap would likely fall. It’s an extraordinary circumstance (COVID-19 Pandemic) and not all team would have players you would need to buy out. Players like Kerfoot and AJ likely hold value for some teams, especially if they can be had for meh picks.

I expect this kind of dumb thinking from Burke, he was a bad GM and at this point he just spews random thoughts into the media markets that drive the NHL fan base.

Whatever plan it is will need to have multiple options for teams.
 
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LeafsOHLRangers98

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Jun 13, 2017
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There really isn't a bad contract on the team now. Everybody is movable for assets. We have to be careful with Mikheyev and Dermott but we don't really have the need for one right now.
 
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Legion34

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Jan 24, 2006
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Ultimately. If we decided to burn the money for assets that wouldn’t be circumvention right?

The Sens owe Bobby Ryan what 15 million? They tried to get rid of his contract an bunch and have 5 picks in the top 60 I believe.

get the isles picks for Ryan?

we can trade for a player and buy him out right? As long as we don’t re sign that player
And the team doesn’t re sign him.

although that’s fine if not a leaf apparently. Orpik...Stone.
 

67Leafs67

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Nov 8, 2014
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Nobody is worth buying out. None of our contracts heading into 20/21 are bad. Are some players perhaps overpaid? Yes, but the main culprit there is Marner, not the kind of player you buy out. Some people might point a finger at Kerfoot or Johnsson perhaps, but while their contracts aren't steals, they are pretty fair value, and both tradeable deals that could bring back assets. So, I don't think Toronto should buy anybody out. Dubas already got rid of our 'buyout-worthy' deals, Zaitsev & Marleau.
 
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ULF_55

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Nobody is worth buying out. None of our contracts heading into 20/21 are bad. Are some players perhaps overpaid? Yes, but the main culprit there is Marner, not the kind of player you buy out. Some people might point a finger at Kerfoot or Johnsson perhaps, but while their contracts aren't steals, they are pretty fair value, and both tradeable deals that could bring back assets. So, I don't think Toronto should buy anybody out. Dubas already got rid of our 'buyout-worthy' deals, Zaitsev & Marleau.

It isn't whether or not they should be bought out though.

Toronto Maple Leafs - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

The question is can the Leafs fit 20 players under the Cap without revenue from all the missing games.
 
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Stephen

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For me, it would be John Tavares. Sidestep that looming drop off amidst uncertain economic times and live to spend another day.

Also, Tavares only has $45 left on his deal thanks to two years of intense bonus money payouts at about $32 million for 1.75 seasons of service, so we're hardly doing him dirty. He will likely be able tot make up the $45 million else where and we can restock the roster.

As much as I don't like Marner at the moment, he has his whole career ahead of him. Matthews is untouchable and the rest are not big enough cap dumps to make it worthwhile.
 

67Leafs67

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Nov 8, 2014
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It isn't whether or not they should be bought out though.

Toronto Maple Leafs - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

The question is can the Leafs fit 20 players under the Cap without revenue from all the missing games.
What a ridiculous notion. You don't just buy out players because you won't be cap compliant. If the cap stays stagnant, Toronto can fit a 22 man roster in with currently signed players and have about ~$400K in cap-space. However, you still want to bring in RFAs Dermott & Mikheyev, and so that's when you look into the option of trading pieces like Kerfoot, Johnsson, & Kapanen, but you don't buy-out guys like that and lose them for nothing when they are worth a significant amount on the trade market. Unless the salary cap drops drastically, the Leafs should not be in a position where a buyout is a necessity.
 
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cannucky

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Aug 18, 2011
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Considering the cap is tied to league revenues and the league is losing @ 15% for the lost games I don't know why people would expect the cap to go up , playing in empty stadiums is still a loss of revenues so the expectation should be a reduction of cap not an increase , best case scenario at this point they come up with some janky math to keep the cap constant .
 

hamzarocks

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Jul 22, 2012
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Pickering, Ontario
For me, it would be John Tavares. Sidestep that looming drop off amidst uncertain economic times and live to spend another day.

Also, Tavares only has $45 left on his deal thanks to two years of intense bonus money payouts at about $32 million for 1.75 seasons of service, so we're hardly doing him dirty. He will likely be able tot make up the $45 million else where and we can restock the roster.

As much as I don't like Marner at the moment, he has his whole career ahead of him. Matthews is untouchable and the rest are not big enough cap dumps to make it worthwhile.

We buy out JT we are basically going to be blacklisted from any star UFA ever joining the team again. We also become the clowns of the league by buying out a current ppg center and top 20 player.

The isle fanbase to this day bitches about not being able to get assets FOR JT before he walked. If we used the compliance buyout on him we get no assets besides 11 million in cap which we would use on who exactly? We would still need a top pairing RHD and now a number 2 center. Unless the philosophy as a whole switches the building from the backend out, our forward group goes from top 3 in the league to 10-15 range.

We are trying to contend for the duration of matthews deal. Us buying out JT would be a terrible signal for him that we are not serious about being competitive and have a incompetent ownership+management group. We should not piss of one of our 2 franchise players.

Keep JT. He has been unlucky this year but still produces strong. He will be a 80-90 point center for the next 4 seasons. If he declines to a 55-60 point player in his last year of his deal we absorb that then. Right now we are building to win not make a drastic but rash decision to get rid of our center and top 3 player.
 

Stephen

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Feb 28, 2002
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We buy out JT we are basically going to be blacklisted from any star UFA ever joining the team again. We also become the clowns of the league by buying out a current ppg center and top 20 player.

The isle fanbase to this day bitches about not being able to get assets FOR JT before he walked. If we used the compliance buyout on him we get no assets besides 11 million in cap which we would use on who exactly? We would still need a top pairing RHD and now a number 2 center. Unless the philosophy as a whole switches the building from the backend out, our forward group goes from top 3 in the league to 10-15 range.

We are trying to contend for the duration of matthews deal. Us buying out JT would be a terrible signal for him that we are not serious about being competitive and have a incompetent ownership+management group. We should not piss of one of our 2 franchise players.

Keep JT. He has been unlucky this year but still produces strong. He will be a 80-90 point center for the next 4 seasons. If he declines to a 55-60 point player in his last year of his deal we absorb that then. Right now we are building to win not make a drastic but rash decision to get rid of our center and top 3 player.

If the NHL is ordering compliance buyouts when normal life resumes after this Covid-19 pandemic, we will be living in a different economic reality anyway and many other teams will be forced to do the same and the optics of a John Tavares buyout will be nothing. He's expensive, he's going to be over 30 and he's already shown signs of decline.

The Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues were forced to dump guys like Peter Forsberg and Chris Pronger in their prime coming out of the 2004-05 lockout. That was an insignificant work stoppage compared to what could be a much larger crisis. A John Tavares buyout would be nothing in that environment.
 

ULF_55

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What a ridiculous notion. You don't just buy out players because you won't be cap compliant. If the cap stays stagnant, Toronto can fit a 22 man roster in with currently signed players and have about ~$400K in cap-space. However, you still want to bring in RFAs Dermott & Mikheyev, and so that's when you look into the option of trading pieces like Kerfoot, Johnsson, & Kapanen, but you don't buy-out guys like that and lose them for nothing when they are worth a significant amount on the trade market. Unless the salary cap drops drastically, the Leafs should not be in a position where a buyout is a necessity.

Leafs are at 76.9 million right now with 16 players signed.

The projected 84 million was projected based on playing 82 games.

What is the Cap going to be if they end up playing 70 games?
 
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ULF_55

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If the NHL is ordering compliance buyouts when normal life resumes after this Covid-19 pandemic, we will be living in a different economic reality anyway and many other teams will be forced to do the same and the optics of a John Tavares buyout will be nothing. He's expensive, he's going to be over 30 and he's already shown signs of decline.

The Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues were forced to dump guys like Peter Forsberg and Chris Pronger in their prime coming out of the 2004-05 lockout. That was an insignificant work stoppage compared to what could be a much larger crisis. A John Tavares buyout would be nothing in that environment.

Yes, we have no idea what the Cap is going to be.

I think people are using the original projected Cap of 84 million.

Very basic but:

$84 / 82 game = 1.024 million per game - Projection

70 games * 1.024 = 72 million

I know extremely simplistic, but the point is we don't know if they're going to play another game this year.

If the League decides to have a one-time carry forward the Cap from the previous year, maybe let them play with last year's numbers, in which case Leafs don't need to buyout.
 

Legion34

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Jan 24, 2006
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Leafs are at 76.9 million right now with 16 players signed.

The projected 84 million was projected based on playing 82 games.

What is the Cap going to be if they end up playing 70 games?

whatever they want it to be. Bill Daly has come out and said they aren’t tied to the revenue of this year
 

Menzinger

Kessel4LadyByng
Apr 24, 2014
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Theres nobdy on the team worth doing it on - as long as the league allows you work out deals to take problems from other teams in exchange for picks or prospects
 
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Menzinger

Kessel4LadyByng
Apr 24, 2014
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whatever they want it to be. Bill Daly has come out and said they aren’t tied to the revenue of this year

Yep.

The cap is 100% artificial, not a natural reocxuring thing. Neither teams nor players have any morivstion to lower it.

At worst it stays flat, at best theres a very mild increase
 
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