News: Leafs cap - Dubas: We can, and we will keep all our 4 top F

[nbwingsfan]

I have no idea why people are acting like we can't fit this roster under the cap next season. We'll likely be unable to add any significant assets, that's true, but we can easily run our current roster for the next two seasons under the cap. We just have to apply all the bonuses to the cap this year. And we'll have to run a young dcore season after this one and hope for the best, but once Marleau and Horton's contracts are over, we're free from worries over the cap. Likely works out to something like this:

16.2 M cap space
-7M Nylander's new contract
+2M Matthews/Marner ELCs coming off the books
-11M Matthews' new contract
-8M Marner's new contract
-Leivo/Carrick/McBackup replaced by equal cost players
+7M letting Hainsey & Gardiner go to UFA
-2M Liljegren and Rosen/UFA replacing Hainsey/Gardiner
+1M Kapanen's ELC gone
-2-2.5M Kapanen's new contract
+2M cap raise
--------
Comes to 2M over the cap, but with Horton's 5.3M LTIR contract, we're still left with 3.3M in wiggle room.

So there's the math, add 1M each to our 3 young forwards if you're hoping they sign for more, but we're still good cap wise. This would likely be our 2019-2020 roster

[SPOIL]Marleau-Matthews-Nylander
Hyman-Tavares-Marner
Johnsson-Kadri-Kapanen
Grundstrom-Lindholm-Brown

Rielly-Zaitsev
Dermott-Liljegren
A mix of Rosen/Marincin/Holl/Borgman/UFA

So obviously in 2019-2020 our D is going to be weak but we'll be betting on it just needing to get the puck out of the zone to let the forwards do their work, so considering it's filled with PMDs it shouldn't be too harmful.
[/SPOIL]
So, tell me why I'm wrong and why we're destined for cap hell unless we trade Nylander/Marner to your team for peanuts

You're banking on a LOT of unproven players being impact NHLers.

You're entire second pairing is rookies (one who played a sheltered role in the AHL last season) as well as your 3rd pairing.

Your 3rd line is a guy who hasn't proven anything at the NHL level and another who has proven to be unproductive (so far).

What happens is most/some of Johnsson/Kapannen/Dermott/Liljegren don't pan out?
All of a sudden you've either lost your depth up front or have the worst D in the league.

I'm not saying that's going to happen (I don't think it does), but it's a very real possibility

 

[nbwingsfan]

Leafs will be a powerhouse for the foreseeable future, just being able to run 2 elite franchise centres down the middle in Tavares-Matthews alone guarantees this in the same way it's guaranteed it for the Penguins with Crosby-Malkin. Interchange players on their wings its still going to be a great team. This is the beauty in having such incredible centre depth in this league.

I agree the Leafs will be able to maintain this forward core (Matthews, Tavares, Marner, Nylander) apparently Tavares asked GM Dubas what his plans were to keep the core together during their 2 hour meeting and it was a condition of his because he wants to play with a strong supporting cast..something he's never had in NYI. So I trust the management.

People just like to stir up conspiracies and fake problems because lets face it, tons of people are salty that the Leafs signed a star UFA, especially after years of everyone telling us no big name stars would ever sign here. Its the same way they've stirred up the fake story of there being a rift between Babcock and Matthews because he visited him in Arizona. When in actuality he also visited Andersen in Denmark and that's just how he is, a coach that wants to maintain relationships with his players on and off the ice.. its the same reason he's the only coach that goes up the stands to talk to the parents of players we draft on the draft floor.

You're right in theory, however Crosby/Malkin (especially at their cap) >>> Matthews/Tavares

 

[Cleatus]

The funny thing is, Friedman reported yesterday Lou was going to offer sheet a young Leaf player. Today Lou takes 2.5 million off their hands

Holy crap, Lou has definitely lost his mind, and I’m really happy he’s not with the Leafs anymore.

 

[Flair Hay]

I dont think moving Nylander for a bad defenseman is a bad move. But moving him for an affordable defenseman that is good could be a good move.

Make no mistake this signing was enormous for the Leafs. All Dubas needs to do is have a steady stream of low cost signings and draft picks fill bottom six and bottom four spots. Which is basically what he was hired to do.

I wasnt sure he was the guy to find them a stud D they needed since I figured they'd have to trade away a ton to get one. But now that Tavares is on board all he really needs to do is draft and develop..

 

[JetsHomer]

38m for your top 4 forwards?

thisisfine.jpg

 

[Aintboutdatlyfe]

Obviously they can fit what they ha e under the cap, but the problem everyone is saying is they can’t improve their defence with the amount they’re spending on forwards which is true. So they’ll likely have to trade Nylander if they want to upgrade their defence in any way

But that's not even true either.

 

[howkie]

What pair of underwear did Marner wear today, Im very worried, please keep me updated

 

[TMLeafs17]

All the Leaf detractors, that’s who.

 

[Critical13]

38m for your top 4 forwards?

thisisfine.jpg

By next year, Jets could have:

Scheifele - 6.1
Laine - 11
Ehlers - 6
Wheeler - 9

Then on D

Buff - 7.6
Trouba - 8
Morrissey - 8

Of all teams, not sure why a Jets fan would be making comments!

 

[Cleatus]

Why are you here then, Peter? Doesn’t Brian need a walk? Stewie a diaper change?

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Marleau's 6.2 million comes off the books after this coming season along with Horton's 5.3 million. Rielly is locked up on a great team friendly 5 million until 2022-23 as is Zaitsev at 4.5 until 2024. Hainsey's 3 million is off the books after this coming season too.

We just traded Martin today too freeing up another 2.5 million.

We currently have 16.1 million in space.

Marleau's contract runs for another two seasons. Same for Horton.

 

[Aintboutdatlyfe]

You're banking on a LOT of unproven players being impact NHLers.

You're entire second pairing is rookies (one who played a sheltered role in the AHL last season) as well as your 3rd pairing.

Your 3rd line is a guy who hasn't proven anything at the NHL level and another who has proven to be unproductive (so far).

What happens is most/some of Johnsson/Kapannen/Dermott/Liljegren don't pan out?
All of a sudden you've either lost your depth up front or have the worst D in the league.

I'm not saying that's going to happen (I don't think it does), but it's a very real possibility

The only one of those 4 who isn't a lock to be an NHLer (Re: They aren't already good enough to play in a top 9/top 4 role in the NHL if they never improved anymore than the level they are currently at) is Liljegren. And he probably has the highest ceiling out of all of them. Besides Liljegren, they've already "Panned Out" just cause they haven't played much at the NHL level yet does not mean it isn't easy to tell that they are already NHL level quality.

Also, Dermott is not a rookie, he was a rookie last season. And Kapanen's production is only low because of ice time/playing on the 4th line due to the extreme depth that the Leafs have on the wing.

Beyond that, they have enough depth on blueline prospects beyond them to safely project 2 bottom pairing caliber Dmen coming out of that group with certainty.

 

[Peiskos]

You're right in theory, however Crosby/Malkin (especially at their cap) >>> Matthews/Tavares

Crosby-Malkin command a combined 18.2 million, Tavares-Matthews when Matthews gets his 10 million (Eichel comparable) they'll command a combined 20-21 million. Which is quite clearly VERY worth the money, and when you factor in the rising cap its all relative really.

I can't think of any other team apart from PIT that can run 2 franchise C's down the middle like that. Also don't forget Tavares-Matthews is a much younger duo than Crosby-Malkin. We'll be fine

 

[Fantomas]

Leafs will regret giving Tavares all that money. He is not worth it.

 

[Peiskos]

Marleau's contract runs for another two seasons. Same for Horton.

Irrelevant, Leafs will still have the space.

 

[Aintboutdatlyfe]

Leafs will regret giving Tavares all that money. He is not worth it.

He is worth more actually, judging by the market.


Anyways, even if he's not cheap. Your opinion is objectively wrong.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

That defense is not winning anything.

 

[Peiskos]

Leafs will regret giving Tavares all that money. He is not worth it.

Today I learned a premier 27 year franchise centre (669 GP, 272G, 349A, 621P) career 0.93 point per game player...a 2 time Hart finalist isn't worth the going rate for #1 top tier centermen in the NHL.

Guess Eichel and Kopitar aren't worth 10 million either? or how about Toews at 10.5? or better yet McDavid at 12.5?

Legitimate #1 franchise centre's get paid between 10-12 million these days, welcome to 2018 in the NHL.

Try to keep up.

 

[Paralyzer]

Tavares set the bar for Matthews and Marner. Will be interesting to see how much the cap does play a big part into these signings and seeing where this will go with Toronto. That is all.

 

[Peiskos]

That defense is not winning anything.

We just witnessed the Penguins winning a cup with Justin Schultz as their #1 D, Vegas went to the final with a D core than resembles an AHL one, the Caps don't exactly have an all world D core themselves. Leafs have a good enough D core and it will improve with internal call ups and continual development.

When you can run 2 elite franchise centres down the middle, you can make it work. Thanks for the concern though.

 

[Kybb79]

Leafs are too soft. Jets are still Canada's best chance at the Cup.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Irrelevant, Leafs will still have the space.

This year they're fine. Next year depends on what guys like Nylander gets this year, Matthews and Marner get next year, what they pay for Gardiner and Hainsey or whoever their replacement is. I think they'll find a way to make it work. Someone will bridge to be RFA after the Marleau deal expires but they're going to have a hard time improving their areas of weakness after next season.

 

[mrv52]

What a time to be a Leaf fan.

July?

 

[WesMcCauley]

The problem has never been if they can sign Matthews, Marner and Nylander after they got Tavares. The difficult thing will be if they have enough cap space to put good enough players on defense and around their superstars. I think they will be fine offensively but i dont think they will be able to sign any great defensemen because they simply dont have the cap space for it.

 

[JetsHomer]

Today I learned a premier 27 year franchise centre (669 GP, 272G, 349A, 621P) career 0.93 point per game player...a 2 time Hart finalist isn't worth the going rate for #1 top tier centermen in the NHL.

Guess Eichel and Kopitar aren't worth 10 million either? or how about Toews at 10.5? or better yet McDavid at 12.5?

Legitimate #1 franchise centre's get paid between 10-12 million these days, welcome to 2018 in the NHL.

Try to keep up.

The only player that is worth their contract that you mentioned McDavid