Speculation: Leafs trade predictions

[tmlms13]

They will trade anybody they can who is able to be replaced by a player who is cheaper without a large drop off in production of the replacement.

I.e. Patrick Marleau (NMC tho) and Connor Brown.

I'm in the pro Zaitsev camp only because the replacement for Zaitsev will be someone who does not belong in the NHL.

I think Dubas and Babs will eventually sit down with him in person and try to convince him to stay. If all he wants on the ice is some Ozone time then they can work it out. When the cap gets to 90m, 4.5m for a middle pair RHD will look pretty good.

 

[ShaneFalco]

I think Dubas and Babs will eventually sit down with him in person and try to convince him to stay.

Just no. Anyone who doesn't want to be here should be shown the door ASAP

 

[Fogelhund]

Just no. Anyone who doesn't want to be here should be shown the door ASAP

Agreed... Zaitsev needs to go. At least now, we will get something back for him... he might just quit and go back to the KHL. Babcock is using him, as a type of D that he isn't, and his play has suffered because of it. Zaitsev is likely frustrated, frustrated with his usage, and the comments about him, because he's being used wrong.... Let's find a square peg, to fit in a square hole... instead of this round one.

 

[Duke16]

I think we will be busy...

•Marleau+Bracco/Timashov to ARZ for Hossa+late pick
•Brown to EDM for Hebig+2019 3rd
•Zaitsev to NJD for Coleman
•Kadri+ for Rielly's D partner
•Kapanen for Miller

When healthy:
Hyman-Tavares-Marner
Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander
Moore-Coleman-Mikheyev
Marchment-Petan-Cheap UFA
Ex. Gauthier

Rielly-Kadri Trade
Muzzin-Miller
Rosen-Dermott

Andersen-Sparks/Cheap UFA

 

[Rob Brown]

Vegas is $125K over the cap right now with William Karlsson and Malcolm Subban still to sign.

I know, they have some moves to make as well. My point is all of their main players minus Karlsson are signed:

- Stone
- Marchessault
- Pacioretty
- Stastny
- Smith
- Tuch
- Theodore
- Schmidt
- McNabb
- Miller
- Fleury

And they have guys like Glass and Hague that will come in on ELC's sooner rather than later.

They aren't trying to sign their best player while moving out at least 2-3 bad contracts.

 

[moon111]

I don't think the Leaf's failure was with players like Marleau and Connor Brown who did their main job, hold the fort.

Hyman, Tavares, and Marner were credited with 21 giveaways... ...the rest of the Leaf forwards were credited with 15.
Hyman, Tavares, and Marner combine for a -12. The plus/minus of the rest of the forwards breaks even.

There's a simple reason for these figures, discipline to stay on the right side of the puck. The bottom two lines
did their job. I think Andreas Johnsson could of shown a little more respect as well. Matthews has started to
elevate his game in this regard.

The reason President trophy winners end up crashing in the playoffs often comes from regular season success clouds
player's vision that they have to respect their opponents. Could Connor Brown hit 20 goals? No problem.
It's a choice on how to play. Take more chances or end up with the best +/- among forwards in the playoffs and
6th in the regular season.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Why do we have to trade anyone at all?

Ppl keep telling me we don't have any cap problems.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

We can retain 50% and still end up ahead. I think he'll definitely be traded.

That's still a lot of cap for a 4th liner (marginal 3rd maybe). Lots of lower cost alternatives are available. Seems a tad optimistic.

Agree that there's a way of trading Marleau, but at what cost? Its possible that the price for the Leafs might end up being pretty steep. Its hard to say, but it will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

 

[Madap]

They will trade anybody they can who is able to be replaced by a player who is cheaper without a large drop off in production of the replacement.

I.e. Patrick Marleau (NMC tho) and Connor Brown.

I'm in the pro Zaitsev camp only because the replacement for Zaitsev will be someone who does not belong in the NHL.

I think Dubas and Babs will eventually sit down with him in person and try to convince him to stay. If all he wants on the ice is some Ozone time then they can work it out. When the cap gets to 90m, 4.5m for a middle pair RHD will look pretty good.

Yeah, I completely agree. Marleau and Brown gone will give us enough cap space to get things done this season. No need to move Zaitsev for more space unless he's completely dead set on going. I think a full season beside Muzzin will do him well. I hope he has a change of heart and stays, at least for this upcoming season.

Kadri does not need to go either, especially since we will have no replacement for him. Nylander should not be our third line center. Even though we would have enough room for Kap and AJ, I do see us making a move to acquire another defender for Rielly and one of them will have to go. Doesn't have to be spectacular. Just good enough to get us through a season or two, maybe more. A combination of Brown+AJ+picks/prospects should be enough to get a Larsson or Pesce or someone like that. That really would still give us one of the better defence cores in the league next season, and the only true loss offensively would be AJ. I think that would be well compensated for by Nylander if Babcock puts him back with Matthews for the whole season.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Dude, he family is moving back to San Jose... Yes, he is being traded!

Looks like it but nothing can be guaranteed when another Team is involved.

Yep. All that means is his family is moving back & no deal has been made yet. PM could play the year (wherever) and join them at the seasons end.

My best guess is Marleau has given the Leafs a short list of teams (5 or 6) in the far West he would agree to traded to (i.e., no news about going to any Western Conference team).

That's a compromise and at least a decent starting point.

If something can be worked out with those 5 or 6 teams, then great!!! I'd think there's a pretty good chance of that. The question is, what happens and where does it go IF a trade to one of those teams cannot be worked out?

 

[HoweHullOrr]

So even if his family is in San Jose and he goes to Arizona or Vancouver, he doesn't go to the airport three hours earlier and wait to fly in cattle class.

He pays ten to fifteen G's for a private flight where the company sends a limo to his house to pick him up and gets a flute of champagne handed to him as soon as he steps on the plane, where he's the only person on the plane and its nice and smooth.

He still has to get to an airport that has long enough runways to accommodate a small corporate/private jet. Then there's the same scenario at the other getting from the destination airport. Of course, maybe he has an airport in his back yard?

Commute and overall time to destination is a big concern for those that spend a lot of their lives invested in air travel. Been there - done that i.e., corporate travel on private planes. I'm guessing that the people that are overlooking this haven't done much.

Also, would be a good idea to take a look at Arizona's cap situation before suggesting Arizona as the destination. Its a different animal now than before.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Zaitsev to New Jersey for 4th rd pick

Brown and a 7th rd pick to Edmonton for 3rd rd pick

Marleau and Timashov to Arizona for conditional 7th rd pick

That means that Arizona would likely be over cap, or right against it without any wiggle room. My guess is that we'd have to give a better asset to entice the Yotes, or take a bit of a cap dump back.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

I think we will be busy...

•Marleau+Bracco/Timashov to ARZ for Hossa+late pick

That's an interesting & creative way of getting it done.

 

[Menzinger]

Agreed... Zaitsev needs to go. At least now, we will get something back for him... he might just quit and go back to the KHL. Babcock is using him, as a type of D that he isn't, and his play has suffered because of it. Zaitsev is likely frustrated, frustrated with his usage, and the comments about him, because he's being used wrong.... Let's find a square peg, to fit in a square hole... instead of this round one.

I dont hold anything against the guy for not being happy with the media, but any team that employs him in a top 4 offensive centric role is going to have a fairly lousy D corps. He may want that type of usage but he simply doesnt have that ability.

The sooner the player and team part ways the better both will be as a result

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Since Z wants out, we will have no proven RD.

We are desperate to find a RD. We likely have to trade a big piece to get it.

 

[ChuckWoods]

Kadri to Minnesota
Marleau to Anaheim
Brown to Edmonton
Zaitsev to Vancouver / Anaheim
Kapenen to Carolina

 

[Menzinger]

Regardless of who is traded I suspect the number of roster players moved by Dubas will be surprising to some folks. Hes only been GM for a full year, has now actually had time to lay the groundwork over the regular season for his offseason moves. I wont blink if he moves 4-5 guys.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

I hope he goes back to his old team but I don't they can or will pay him 4.5M per for 5-7 years. At least it won't cost us a pick or prospect that way. If we seek an NHL trade we are going to lose a piece.

With Marleau it is different because 1 year left with next to no money left to be paid and a nice pick up for a team looking to hit the CAP floor with big AAV.

 

[Cypruss]

I do appreciate that Marner hasn't received a single vote so far.

I think Marleau is as good as gone, same with Brown, and Dubas will make an effort to find Zaitsev a home. He's a lot less likely, it will need to be a deal that helps our team with more than just cap space. Even if he goes, we need someone who can play his minutes and have his impact in the defensive end. It would really suck to pay to get rid of him and then pay again to get a replacement.

Brown goes for a late 2nd or early 3rd. Marleau goes with Timashov for an LTIR player like Eaves.

Kadri only gets moved if we're re-jigging the team and we're getting a very good RHD back. We can thank ol' Lou for signing Nelson to a $6m contract which makes Kadri and his 30g upside even more valuable. I think we keep Kadri at the end of the day, but we can get a very nice piece if we move him in a hockey deal.

I think we keep Kappy and AJ, that's the entire point of getting Marleau off the books.

Lots of talk on the Jets board about a Kadri + for Trouba deal in the works....

 

[LeafGrief]

Lots of talk on the Jets board about a Kadri + for Trouba deal in the works....

Depending on what the + is and what Trouba wants for an extension, that is the kind of deal I would be happy with. Trouba is a good player and would be a good fit. If we're trading Kadri, that's the kind of player that makes sense.

 

[HC7]

<4M in Cap w/ Horton on IR.
Sign vet for cheap if Tim/March not ready/not 7th D in presser.
Muz, Brown for Pulju + Pick/Pros
Naz for Ras Andersson + Pick/Pros
22 + for w/e
12 + for w/e
Can deal Horton to NY for 1 season "cheap"
EK65

 

[Leaf4Life79]

Yep. All that means is his family is moving back & no deal has been made yet. PM could play the year (wherever) and join them at the seasons end.

My best guess is Marleau has given the Leafs a short list of teams (5 or 6) in the far West he would agree to traded to (i.e., no news about going to any Western Conference team).

That's a compromise and at least a decent starting point.

If something can be worked out with those 5 or 6 teams, then great!!! I'd think there's a pretty good chance of that. The question is, what happens and where does it go IF a trade to one of those teams cannot be worked out?

PM Strikes me as needing to be with his family at said city of work, look at how tight he is with his kids, builds an epic ice rink in the backyard etc.. Perhaps, but I think he is wanting to go back close to his family... I wonder if San Jose will take him back?

 

[HoweHullOrr]

PM Strikes me as needing to be with his family at said city of work, look at how tight he is with his kids, builds an epic ice rink in the backyard etc.. Perhaps, but I think he is wanting to go back close to his family... I wonder if San Jose will take him back?

Its possible I suppose. Sharks have cap space, but they also have a lot of work to do in the offseason with 7 UFAs and 4 UFAs to sign. Maybe when they get other key players signed there will still be some time and budget left over to take a look at Patrick. Might be a bit tricky given circumstances.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Kadri to Minnesota
Marleau to Anaheim
Brown to Edmonton
Zaitsev to Vancouver / Anaheim
Kapenen to Carolina

Ohh interesting.

Do you think this would be for picks/prospects or a player like Spurgeon?

 

[ChuckWoods]

Ohh interesting.

Do you think this would be for picks/prospects or a player like Spurgeon?

I would imagine Spurgeon would be a focal point.

A Phil Kessel and Naz would be interesting.