Just a casual John Tavares conversation

[leafsfuture]

It's not a stretch, it's just downright stupid.

Tavares >>> Kadri and I freaking love Kadri.

I would go after Tavares hard because guys like Tavares make their wingers better. Having Matthews, Tavares, Kadri down the middle is probably an offense that can score 3.25-3.5 goals per game.

Our defense will get better over time and can play at a 2.5 GA/G.

I would trade Kadri in this case. Id personally hate doing it, but its the right thing to do. Use Kadri to upgrade on D -- maybe lower end top 4 + a good prospect to help the prospect pool depth

 

[A1LeafNation]

I dont get it, why trade asset managed pieces for a expensive piece we don't even need.

 

[KPower]

If he gets to free agency you absolutely kick tires.

But you don't give up assets for him unless it's not much.

 

[Albi34]

If you can get a top 10 C in Tavares without giving up any assets of course you should do it! For the people worried about our defense, then you trade people like bozak jvr kadri brown etc to upgrade the defense, and you have Tavares replacing(greatly improving) the lost offense. Or in other words, signing Tavares allows the leafs to greatly upgrade at center, and also upgrade at D by trading the replaced forward. Not signing Tavares allows us to sign a FA defender, and not have our centers improved. Isn't it a no brainer?

 

[A1LeafNation]

If you can get a top 10 C in Tavares without giving up any assets of course you should do it! For the people worried about our defense, then you trade people like bozak jvr kadri brown etc to upgrade the defense, and you have Tavares replacing(greatly improving) the lost offense. Or in other words, signing Tavares allows the leafs to greatly upgrade at center, and also upgrade at D by trading the replaced forward. Not signing Tavares allows us to sign a FA defender, and not have our centers improved. Isn't it a no brainer?

If you have a top 5 offence cost controlled for years, loads of prospect forward depth, and you can add d-man depth or Tavares for 10M,...you choose Tavares?

 

[deletethis]

Hey, what about the salary cap?

The Leafs have to plan how they can retain all 3 of their great young burgeoning superstar forwards, not how to sign John Tavares to a retirement contract. No way there would be cap space for Tavares and the 3 young stars.

What would you rather have? An aging Tavares plus 2 of the 3 young stars or the 3 young stars?

 

[Albi34]

If you have a top 5 offence cost controlled for years, loads of prospect forward depth, and you can add d-man depth or Tavares for 10M,...you choose Tavares?

Yes I choose the top 10 C and there defenceman it allows us to trade for.

 

[pucci2001]

No. The Leafs do not need Tavares. There is no room.
Spend the money on D.

The Pens have been contenders ever since Sid and Malkin were together. Hard to say no to trying to have 2 world class centres. The Kings also won with Kopitar and Carter.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Nylander..

 

[ConnorTO]

i thought toronto was done overpaying for non-superstar material

which was why they started drafting their own superstars

 

[Koolboss]

No thanks
Same poster who thought we would sign Stamkos.
I like Tavares much better than Stamkos but common grow up people why do we need Tavares?

 

[TorMapleJays]

Because we can.

 

[Mats13]

People claiming we need to save money and not sign Tavares because of D... Which D-man are we going to get who we need to save money for?

I doubt we are ever drafting low enough to get a top 2D and this management group is not going to sign a UFA D-man to 7-8mil contracts. Plus I don't see them trading any of the 3 rookies for a D-man. Rielly is our highest paid D-man at 5mil and I don't see that changing anytime soon. We may never get a Hedman, Karlsson, Doughty type who we need to save 8-10mil in cap space for.

Precisely one year after Tavares hits free agency, Erik Karlsson will be there.

Who would you rather throw 10+ M at?

With who we have at forward, Tavares at 10+ M is illogical.

No one here doesn't want Tavares. We just don't want to cripple our cap.

 

[Rick74*]

No. The Leafs do not need Tavares. There is no room.
Spend the money on D.

What this guy said.

 

[Apotheosis]

The only reason Chicago is in that cap hell is because they paid so much for their two main forwards AFTER they won. If we were to tie similar money up with the big 3 and Tavares, we would be accelerating a bad cap situation that realistically shouldn't happen for another 5-6 years. I mean, sure, if there was a way to work around it, I wouldn't mind it. Tavares on this team basically guarantees us a cup, offensively speaking. No team in the league can contain Matthews-Nylander-Tavares down the middle and we all know in that case, Marner would be paired with at least one of them.

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

It's not a stretch, it's just downright stupid.

Tavares >>> Kadri and I freaking love Kadri.

I would go after Tavares hard because guys like Tavares make their wingers better. Having Matthews, Tavares, Kadri down the middle is probably an offense that can score 3.25-3.5 goals per game.

Our defense will get better over time and can play at a 2.5 GA/G.

We need to stay away from Tavares. Amazing player but we'll be in cap hell. Mathews at 8M Tavares at 10M, Marner and Nylander at 6.5 That's 30 + million locked up to 4 forwards

The Pens have been contenders ever since Sid and Malkin were together. Hard to say no to trying to have 2 world class centres. The Kings also won with Kopitar and Carter.

Matthews, Nylander, and Kadri should be top 5 center depth in a few years.

 

[Diatomic]

Precisely one year after Tavares hits free agency, Erik Karlsson will be there.

Who would you rather throw 10+ M at?

With who we have at forward, Tavares at 10+ M is illogical.

No one here doesn't want Tavares. We just don't want to cripple our cap.

I doubt Karlsson goes to UFA. The isles organization is a mess and JT leaving is an actual probability.

 

[scooter87]

At 8 million or less, sure.

 

[DD03]

Some of you guys need to do your research on what RFAs are getting.

Trouba just got 3 million. He's worth more then that right?

You either sign as an RFA or you don't play. That's how teams are playing it. The massive contracts aren't coming yet. It's when they have UFA rights that the bigger contracts come in.

We need to take a shot at JT when we have before the ELCs are over, and the UFA years are coming.

Nylander and Marner are lucky if they get more then 6. Kadri set the precedent as well last year with his extension.

 

[Gabriel426]

Let's say the cap will be at 76mil by the time Marner and Matthews hit RFA.
Goalies [email protected] and Backup @2mil
Total: 7.5mil
Defence, Reilly and Zaitslev both @5mil, Jake will hit UFA that year, let's say he signs for 6mil/8yrs, Machenko@2mil, Carrick @ 3mil, Dermott and Nielsen@ 1.5mil each and another rookie or vet @ 1mil
Total: 25mil
Matthews @ 7.5mil(think that's the highest RFA ever got as of now, McDavid will break that though), Willie and Marner @6mil, JT@ 9mil, Kapanen @ 2mil, Kadri @ 4.5mil, Martin @ 2.5mil, Brown @ 2.5mil, Hyman and Sosh @ 1.25mil(Basing that on Holland contract with the Leafs), Johnson, Leivo, And Goat all at 1mil.
Total: 45.5mil

Grand total is 78mil.

So off by 2mil.

Honestly, it is going to be tight and just might need Jake, Carrick, Matthews, Marner, Willie and Brown to sign a very friendly team deal like the ones with Reilly and Kadri.

 

[Prime Minister]

I think it would be smart to sign Tavares regardless of need, its the same thing they say in the draft take the best player available. Sure we have too many centers (which I never knew was a problem) but we can always flip another center or even trade Tavares himself at a future point in time, if needed. Leafs are going to get a cup and maybe a Tavares-Matthews 1-2 punch could make it happen. Its been working in Pittsburgh. The only issue is obviously the contract anything over 9 with 6+ years is tough to swallow.

 

[Kiwi]

Some of you guys need to do your research on what RFAs are getting.

Trouba just got 3 million. He's worth more then that right?

You either sign as an RFA or you don't play. That's how teams are playing it. The massive contracts aren't coming yet. It's when they have UFA rights that the bigger contracts come in.

We need to take a shot at JT when we have before the ELCs are over, and the UFA years are coming.

Nylander and Marner are lucky if they get more then 6. Kadri set the precedent as well last year with his extension.

Are they getting two year bridges are they? Because that's what Trouba's deal is
Guys coming off there ELC deals are getting paid now days that's just a fact

Kadri was a 45 point player when he got his deal at least use something comparable when your bringing up contracts

 

[Kiwi]

Let's say the cap will be at 76mil by the time Marner and Matthews hit RFA.
Goalies [email protected] and Backup @2mil
Total: 7.5mil
Defence, Reilly and Zaitslev both @5mil, Jake will hit UFA that year, let's say he signs for 6mil/8yrs, Machenko@2mil, Carrick @ 3mil, Dermott and Nielsen@ 1.5mil each and another rookie or vet @ 1mil
Total: 25mil
Matthews @ 7.5mil(think that's the highest RFA ever got as of now, McDavid will break that though), Willie and Marner @6mil, JT@ 9mil, Kapanen @ 2mil, Kadri @ 4.5mil, Martin @ 2.5mil, Brown @ 2.5mil, Hyman and Sosh @ 1.25mil(Basing that on Holland contract with the Leafs), Johnson, Leivo, And Goat all at 1mil.
Total: 45.5mil

Grand total is 78mil.

So off by 2mil.

Honestly, it is going to be tight and just might need Jake, Carrick, Matthews, Marner, Willie and Brown to sign a very friendly team deal like the ones with Reilly and Kadri.

You've got the same God awful defence
Tavares would be underpaid at 9M and will probably get more
Mathews is going to put up 65 points as a teenager so 7.5M would be mighty friendly if he improves over the next few years
Marner and Nylander are already 60 point forwards if they continue to improve 6M is chicken feed

 

[Gabriel426]

Willie will most likely be signing his extension this summer and that should set the bar for Marner and Matthews.

JT is a dream, would be interesting if the Leafs can work that out.

 

[Avilaj07]

People need to look around the league and realize that teams aren't paying players 10 million anymore. Tavares will be anywhere between 8-9 million book it. By the time he becomes a ufa, we could unload Bozak,JvR,Komarov. If Dermott is showing he is capable of playing top 4 next year we can then look at unloading Gardiner as well. Everyone is so concerned about the future contracts of our big three when look around the league and all the best teams have 4-6 high priced players. We have depth on the wings to cover the loss of JvR and Komarov so we could save money there. Getting Tavares negated the need for a center to replace Bozak and keeps Nylander on the wing which I personally believe there's where he should be. Could we use that money to upgrade our defense, absolutely, but I'm certain that a package of JvR+our 1st could retain a great young defenseman who would be cost controlled for multiple years.