Free Agency and Trade Thread - Playoff Edition

[WTFMAN99]

There was nothing about physicality that lost us Game 6 or 7. The Leafs won plenty of board battles through the series, especially when you consider they out chanced Boston 5 on 5 and had plenty of offensive zone time. It was all about special teams (the worst PK percentage in the cap era), not getting enough offence from depth players and goaltending --- especially game 7.

It's a bad and lazy narrative that isn't backed up by facts or even the eye test.

Felt goaltending was good enough to win the series. The giveaways in our own zone for the 1st 2 goals against in game 7 were pretty bad.

The rest of the stuff I can agree on for sure.

 

[SprDaVE]

Felt goaltending was good enough to win the series. The giveaways in our own zone for the 1st 2 goals against in game 7 were pretty bad.

The rest of the stuff I can agree on for sure.

The problem is that it wasn't better than their goaltending. I didn't see Rask give up goal like Andersen did in Game 7. He made huge saves when the Leafs were piling on.

Andersen was good overall, Rask was just better.

 

[Leafs Fan 12]

for me it is a big no cause if you bring him back and Babs is still around he will lean on Hainsey again in the top pairing. Get rid of Hainsey, Brown and if possible Marleau all GUD pros and force Babs to rely on his star players to lead the way.

True but I am assuming/hoping babcock is gone

 

[WTFMAN99]

The problem is that it wasn't better than their goaltending. I didn't see Rask give up goal like Andersen did in Game 7. He made huge saves when the Leafs were piling on.

Andersen was good overall, Rask was just better.

I give Andersen the nod in probably 5/7 games as being the better goalie. Unfortunately the rest of our team let us down.

Somewhere in the midst of it all last night, Boston's side talked about how much fresher Rask felt this post-season due to Halak handling so much of the load during the regular season. Something we really need to take care of next year.

 

[Faltorvo]

William Nylander cost us 6.96 million against the cap this year. The 10 million is a proxy of his per game cap hit.

oh i see,,believe you or cap friendly

Nylander, William

RW, C

NHL

22

$10,277,778

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[4thline]

oh i see,,believe you or cap friendly

Nylander, William

RW, C

NHL

22

$10,277,778

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

How about both.

Toronto Maple Leafs Daily Cap Tracker - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Look at accumulated hit. William Nylander cost us ~6.96m dollars against the cap this season.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Ellis for Nylander? would you

I think that I would prefer Subban with retention but that is just me.

This summer I think a good target would be Zemgus Girgensons.

AAV:
Ellis - $6.25 m
Subban - $9 m
Matta - $4.08
Girgenson - $1.6 m & RFA

If we are adding something like the above, we will certainly have to be making even more roster cuts in addition to the ones that we anticipate will need to happen already.

Important relevant stats from CapFriendly re: Leafs cap 2019-20 cap situation

Toronto Maple Leafs - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Projected cap space: $4.5 m
Cap increase: $3.5 m
Horton LTIR: $5.3 m
TOTAL $13.3 m

RFA & UFA are not signed and hence salaries are not included in the total team cap.

RFA: Marner, Kapanen, Ozhiganov, Johnsson
UFA: Gardiner, Hainsey, Hutchinson, Marincin, Ennis

If we sign Marner at $10 m AAV and Hainsey (or a Hainsey level defenseman replacement), the remaining cap space is gone. Players identified in blue font would be gone in this "scenario/example".

Conclusion - If we want to add additional players, more player cuts (in addition to those in blue font) will be needed. I guess that's why there is so many Nylander or Kadri (or both) trade proposal trades these days.

 

[smitty10]

Well, the summer is upon us. Another first round exit = time to make a few moves.

- Re-sign Marner!

- Gardiner walks to FA and gets over paid by Edmonton or someone who desperately needs a puck mover.

- Re-sign Hainsey to a 1 year, cheaper deal. He played well this season and in the playoffs.

- Re-sign Hutchinson to be the back up, sending Sparks to the Marlies.

- Re-sign Johnsson and Kapanen to bridge deals.

- Try to move Nylander to acquire a top 4 D to replace Gardiner and give some cap relief.

- Move Brown to free up cap space.

- Attempt to work out a trade to send Marleau to a floor team for his final year.

My guess is that Rosen and Bracco make the team out of camp. Hopefully we can sign this Mikheyev kid from Russia. Maybe he can be a cheap top 9 forward.

 

[Field of Dreams]

AAV:
Ellis - $6.25 m
Subban - $9 m
Matta - $4.08
Girgenson - $1.6 m & RFA

If we are adding something like the above, we will certainly have to be making even more roster cuts in addition to the ones that we anticipate will need to happen already.

Important relevant stats from CapFriendly re: Leafs cap 2019-20 cap situation

Toronto Maple Leafs - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Projected cap space: $4.5 m
Cap increase: $3.5 m
Horton LTIR: $5.3 m
TOTAL $13.3 m

RFA & UFA are not signed and hence salaries are not included in the total team cap.

RFA: Marner, Kapanen, Ozhiganov, Johnsson
UFA: Gardiner, Hainsey, Hutchinson, Marincin, Ennis

If we sign Marner at $10 m AAV and Hainsey (or a Hainsey level defenseman replacement), the remaining cap space is gone. Players identified in blue font would be gone in this "scenario/example".

Conclusion - If we want to add additional players, more player cuts (in addition to those in blue font) will be needed. I guess that's why there is so many Nylander or Kadri (or both) trade proposal trades these days.

I think a fair swap would be Connor Brown for the rfa rights to Girgensons.

 

[WTFMAN99]

I think a fair swap would be Connor Brown for the rfa rights to Girgensons.

Girgensons is pretty useless IMO.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

I think a fair swap would be Connor Brown for the rfa rights to Girgensons.

Girgensons is pretty useless IMO.

With two roster defenders that are UFA, we will need to focus on the blueline.

 

[WTFMAN99]

With two roster defenders that are UFA, we will need to focus on the blueline.

We need to rebuild the entire right side of our defense at this point. Benning is a decent 3rd pairing RHD, plays a bit physicall too. He is nothing more then that though.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

We need to rebuild the entire right side of our defense at this point. Benning is a decent 3rd pairing RHD, plays a bit physicall too. He is nothing more then that though.

Agreed!!! RD is a glaring hole in our lineup right now.

Unfortunately, its also the hardest position to fill.

 

[Field of Dreams]

Girgensons is pretty useless IMO.

Girgensons is a similar player to Hyman. Great 2 way player, with a huge motor. Great on the PK. Far from a useless player. If Babcock is our coach, we must give him the tools he needs to run his system. Put Girgensons with Matthews, and we will see that line have more ice time.

 

[Field of Dreams]

With two roster defenders that are UFA, we will need to focus on the blueline.

We need to do both. Trading Brown for a cheaper Girgensons will only add more flexibility to work on the blue line.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Girgensons is a similar player to Hyman. Great 2 way player, with a huge motor. Great on the PK. Far from a useless player. If Babcock is our coach, we must give him the tools he needs to run his system. Put Girgensons with Matthews, and we will see that line have more ice time.

 

[Cor]

Here's some deals that could happen.

 

[Deebo]

oh i see,,believe you or cap friendly

Nylander, William

RW, C

NHL

22

$10,277,778

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

$6,962,366

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Players only count against the cap for the days they are on the roster. Nylander was only on the roster for for 126 out of 186 days.

126/186 * 10,28M = 6.96M, which is equal to his cap hit in the subsequent years.

The reason the first annual cap hit is higher for deals signed after the season starts is so the actual amount charged against the cap is the same in all years of the contract.

Many of the folks at TSN and Sportsnet don't seem to understand how the cap actually works, so misinformation like Nylander cost the team 10.3M in cap space this season spreads.

Another example is Muzzin, he didn't cost the Leafs 4M in cap space, he only cost them 1.46M because he was only on the Leafs roster for 68 days.

The Clarkson/Horton debacle from years ago and the Marleau contract had a greater effect on the leafs not being able to make further additions at the deadline.

The Horton contract caused them to have to carryover 2,550,000 in bonus payments to this seasons cap. Then they couldn't use LTIR on Horton this year because they couldn't afford to carryover anything to next year so Horton's 5.3M counted fully against the cap.

Marleu and Horton effectively cost the leafs a combined 14.1M on the cap this season.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

We need to do both. Trading Brown for a cheaper Girgensons will only add more flexibility to work on the blue line.

Doubt that treading Brown frees up enough cap space to make much of a difference. Nor does that address our biggest problem = defense. IMHO, that is like polishing a BB, or rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Here's some deals that could happen.

1. I'm just not sure that the Pesce boat hasn't sailed already. If I were Carolina, with the amount of cap space they have available, I'd probably look to free agency if I wanted to add a forward. However, I'm not inside the owners mind of course.

2. The Yotes have had more success in extracting assets in these kind of situations. IMHO, they'll end up with more than essentially a 4th round pick from us.

3. Gagner only has one year remaining on his current contract. I don't see them moving a 2nd for a $1 m cap saving for one year.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Marleu and Horton effectively cost the leafs a combined 14.1M on the cap this season.

The concept that we would have no cap problems was very popular not very long ago.

 

[TML Dynasty]

Graduates from the Marlies could be: Bracco, Sandin, Lilj, Marchment, Rosen, Borgman. Moore should also stay up. That's some pretty cheap fillers
We shouldn't HAVE to do anything for cap reasons but adding anyone decent as mentioned above by KeonHorton will require some creativity. Ideally Marleau. That said we need to add to our defence right side.

 

[Rielly4]

Graduates from the Marlies could be: Bracco, Sandin, Lilj, Marchment, Rosen, Borgman. Moore should also stay up. That's some pretty cheap fillers
We shouldn't HAVE to do anything for cap reasons but adding anyone decent as mentioned above by KeonHorton will require some creativity. Ideally Marleau. That said we need to add to our defence right side.

Before we add to the right side we need to subtract. Zaitsev at 4.5 mil being a horrible puck mover needs to go. Get rid of Zaitsev and throw in a quality top 4 D like Manson or Pesce and then we are in business. Realistically We have so many quality LHD in Rielly, Dermott, Muzzin, Sandin, Rosen...One of those guys will play the right side(likely Dermott). Liljegren/Oz is definitely good enough bottom pairing RHD depth, both can pass the puck well.

I see our D like this atm heading into next year:
Rielly-Zaitsev
Muzzin-Dermott
Rosen-Oz
Sandin-Liljegren

Zaitsev on the top pairing is VERY ugly. If we can replace him with a quality guy our blueline is solid. Muzzin-Dermott should be a very good pair especially as Dermott continutes to develop...Hes ready for top 4 duty.

 

[TML Dynasty]

Before we add to the right side we need to subtract. Zaitsev at 4.5 mil being a horrible puck mover needs to go. Get rid of Zaitsev and throw in a quality top 4 D like Manson or Pesce and then we are in business. Realistically We have so many quality LHD in Rielly, Dermott, Muzzin, Sandin, Rosen...One of those guys will play the right side(likely Dermott). Liljegren/Oz is definitely good enough bottom pairing RHD depth, both can pass the puck well.

I see our D like this atm heading into next year:
Rielly-Zaitsev
Muzzin-Dermott
Rosen-Oz
Sandin-Liljegren

Zaitsev on the top pairing is VERY ugly. If we can replace him with a quality guy our blueline is solid. Muzzin-Dermott should be a very good pair especially as Dermott continutes to develop...Hes ready for top 4 duty.

Yep. Zaitsev for me may have changed a little. I think him and Muzzin developed ok chemistry lately so Im ok with rolling that for another year if we don't see a really good trade out there. under the theory that his partners were not suited to him.
I have it as:

Reilly Dermott
Muzzin Zaitsev
other 4..

but adding a legit top pairing RHD and bumping the other two down should be the main goal this off season

 

[Rielly4]

Yep. Zaitsev for me may have changed a little. I think him and Muzzin developed ok chemistry lately so Im ok with rolling that for another year if we don't see a really good trade out there. under the theory that his partners were not suited to him.
I have it as:

Reilly Dermott
Muzzin Zaitsev
other 4..

but adding a legit top pairing RHD and bumping the other two down should be the main goal this off season

The thing is we cant really afford adding a legit top pairing RHD and "bumping" Zaitsev down. We need to clear that salary cap space to add a top d man...And plus honestly Ozhiganov is probably just as good as Zaitsev on the bottom pair maybe even better.