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2025 Offseason Thread: Spring Cleaning

Combining my last two admittedly far-fetched ideas: Knies @ $7mil, Tavares @ $6mil, Kane @ $5mil, Toews @ $2mil (performance bonus heavy), Rielly for Zibanejad, move Jarnkrok after his signing bonus is paid out:

Knies-Matthews-Nylander
Tavares-Zibanejad-Domi
McMann-Toews-Kane
Laughton-Kampf-Lorentz

McCabe-Tanev
______-Carlo
Benoit-OEL

Stolarz
Woll

Leaves about $7.8mil to find a top-4 puck moving defenceman and fill out the press box spots. Not really sure where the Rielly replacement comes from though. Stop me if you've heard this before but the UFA market isn't great. Maybe there's a struggling young D we can swap Robertson for and just hope for the best (while also possibly taking on a camp dump for value since we have open space).
Carlton has already moved on, and what a roster he proposes!

I would make Zib for Reilly trade immediately without hesitation. A Toews/Kabe reunion is a great concept. Those two are only playing to win, so it doesn't seem too far of a stretch. Proven winners are a good thing.

Cowan needs to play and play at least line 3. Hockey DB says he plays RW but shoots left?
 
So when are the Leafs having the "Shanahan won't be back" press conference?

With the future of Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan hanging in the air following the team’s second-round series loss to the Florida Panthers, the Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment board of directors will meet Thursday as part of the organization’s end-of-season review, multiple league sources briefed on the agenda of the meeting told The Athletic.

So the Management press conference will be no earlier than this Friday.

If they want to blow up the front office with some heavy cuts (presumably to the holdover staff hired by Dubas), they have a very short turnaround with the draft and free agency looming.
 
I think this might actually be a bad thing for the organization. I think Keith Pelley is coming in to make cuts to find "efficiencies" rather than optimizing. I'm moderately concerned for the front office direction of the Toronto sports teams.

Less investment in the organizations, jacked up ticket prices and we get to foot the bill for Rogers not being able to afford the NHL TV deal. This screams corporate ownership to a T.

Why spend 30 dollars on a steak when you can spend 5 dollars on a hamburger. It's all beef. Our front office should be massive relative to other teams because its our competitive advantage. I think this is heading for the Leafs going back to TPF ownership models where despite lacking a salary cap we were only among the top spenders instead of dwawfing everyone.
 
I think this might actually be a bad thing for the organization. I think Keith Pelley is coming in to make cuts to find "efficiencies" rather than optimizing. I'm moderately concerned for the front office direction of the Toronto sports teams.

Less investment in the organizations, jacked up ticket prices and we get to foot the bill for Rogers not being able to afford the NHL TV deal. This screams corporate ownership to a T.

Why spend 30 dollars on a steak when you can spend 5 dollars on a hamburger. It's all beef. Our front office should be massive relative to other teams because its our competitive advantage. I think this is heading for the Leafs going back to TPF ownership models where despite lacking a salary cap we were only among the top spenders instead of dwawfing everyone.
The whole lot stinks, so what are you worried about?
 
The whole lot stinks, so what are you worried about?
That drastic changes aren't always the right move. If you have a spider in your kitchen burning down the house is a bad approach.

Some of the rumblings for a while is that Ed Rogers wants Masai Ujiri out in the Raptors side of things. If that's the kind of restructuring they want to get rid of, it's not good decision making. There are a lot of good arguments for restructuring management but going in and gutting things doesn't necessarily fill me with confidence that we are making good decisions.
 
After a few days to cool off.

The one thing that I really like is that Florida hammered the Leafs 2 times with 6-1 scores. And why the heck I would say something like that, you might be wondering...
Well, because the Leafs were not that close to the cup and need some big changes. Of course that game 5 was somthing to fully mad about, game 7 was so Leafy that they could even replicate the worse game of the series after being in a tie after 20 and they were playing better at that point.

and funny thing is that a guy like Himan was exactly what line 2 lacked off and he at 5.5 is a bargain... or Ryan O'Rielly

Anyway, back to changes...

The Leafs lost to a playoff juggernaut, a team that will either sweep or close the ECF in 5 games, Carolina don't stand a chance. And they did so because Paul Maurice read it too well, moved their D up to cause havoc on the Leafs over passing D zone exit. Seth Jones was perfect doing that. Marchand was a difference maker (again).

Games 5 and 7 will drive the changes that this team needs, no more Shanaplan. Treliving will need to do something huge this offseason.

Let Marner go for free is a move that will ecoes and put this team back years to come. If there was a way to sign him, with limited NMC I would do it.

Tavares as a 3rd line center for 3rd line center money can also work, but I don't think the Leafs see it that way.

Rielly is someone that can appel to Vancover, just don't know what kind of return we can get for him, but he is one that I would move, love Mo, but he can't be a #1 D anymore.

Anyway, a drastic change is needed, and this would never happen if they had 7 close games, or lost game 7 in OT. It was always that we almost made it feeling...

And as I said in the other thread, I would try to sign Marchand and guys with proven playoff performances.
 
After more than 45 years of this, I finally understand why my dad and uncles always seemed so cynical about the Leafs when I was growing up. It’s not bitterness, it's just a kind of exhaustion. A sense that all the hope and energy poured into this team ends up feeling like a grand waste of time.
That said, I’ll still watch, just not with the same level of care or belief I once had.

My Daughters friend is a member of the Molson Family and her Dad over the past year has covertly converted her into a Habs fan by buying her a Habs touque and then it was a hat....and then a Suzuki signed jersey!

Now my Daughter is a Habs fan and asked me this week if when her friend comes for a sleepover they can burn a Leaf flag in the backyard.

Normally I would have resisted all of this subtrafuge and directed her in the "right" path of being a Leafs fan....like her Dad. But its a punishment I would never want on anyone. At least Habs went to the finals in 2021 and won many many times in our life time....and at least Habs have kept a very reasonable pay roll and have tons of assets and prospects they didn't just throw away.

She has gone to the dark side. And im ok with that. Because the blue and white side turns people into depressed masochists.
 
Hypothetical Buyouts:

Reaves - 1.35M cap hit - 26 - 450K, 450K - makes no sense because burying him in the minors has a cap hit <200K
Domi - 3.75M cap hit - 2.75, 2.75, 2.75, 500K, 500K, 500K - 1M in cap savings for the next 3 years
Jarnkrok - 2.1M cap hit - 1.583, 258K. ~500K savings
Kampf - 2.4M cap hit - 1.683M, 1.683M, 358K, 358K - ~700K savings the next two years

Rielly - 7.5M cap hit - 1.633, 3.633, 3.633, 3.633, 3.633, 2.133, 2.133, 2.133, 2.133 - 5.9M saving next year but only 3.9M for the next 4 years after that.

Of the buyouts the only one that gives meaningful cap space is Rielly's buyout but are we getting a better defenseman for 4M. I think even with his warts the Leafs should be able to get something meaningful in return for him in a trade even if it means eating some of his salary which should come with less of a long term bit on the cap while getting something back even if it's only draft/prospect.

Sending Jarnkrok or Kampf to the minors provides a bigger cap relief than buying them out.

I'm not seeing anyone who seems like a good buyout candidate.
I would support a Rielly buyout. As much as I do like his character and honesty as a good interview I'm of the opinion that we have to move on from the longest standing Leaf one way or another. I dont really see a trade scenario where we wouldn't either have to eat some salary (btw thanks Dubas for another overpay on contract extension) or add a sweetener pick which we really cant afford to lose any more picks.

Rielly has become a player who is only truly effective when jumping up and joining a rush. When skating backwards his gap control is terrible. His d zone coverage has been on a steep decline. He is not an effective PP QB since his skating and passing is very deliberate and predictable and has that muffin of a slap shot to go along with that.
 
My Daughters friend is a member of the Molson Family and her Dad over the past year has covertly converted her into a Habs fan by buying her a Habs touque and then it was a hat....and then a Suzuki signed jersey!

Now my Daughter is a Habs fan and asked me this week if when her friend comes for a sleepover they can burn a Leaf flag in the backyard.

Normally I would have resisted all of this subtrafuge and directed her in the "right" path of being a Leafs fan....like her Dad. But its a punishment I would never want on anyone. At least Habs went to the finals in 2021 and won many many times in our life time....and at least Habs have kept a very reasonable pay roll and have tons of assets and prospects they didn't just throw away.

She has gone to the dark side. And im ok with that. Because the blue and white side turns people into depressed masochists.
You're a failure as a father.
 
It's going to be hard to stomach losing Marner for nothing, and being left with Nylander, who also has playoff-fatal flaws in his game, but seems to be getting off scot-free in the RecriminationFest going on right now. And for the record, I like both players.
 
I would support a Rielly buyout. As much as I do like his character and honesty as a good interview I'm of the opinion that we have to move on from the longest standing Leaf one way or another. I dont really see a trade scenario where we wouldn't either have to eat some salary (btw thanks Dubas for another overpay on contract extension) or add a sweetener pick which we really cant afford to lose any more picks.
Buying out and paying Rielly until the end of the 2034/35 season is a bad idea. Retaining 2.5M or even half 3.75M in a trade is a better move and you're ahead of the game if you want to get rid of him that bad. Either way poor asset management. When Rielly signed his deal, it was not an overpay. D men were signing for crazy money. Nurse signed for over $9M.
 
You're a failure as a father.

The opposite. I care for my Daughters future wellbeing and future happiness. Forcing a little girl to like the Leafs wont lead to that. Its too late for me because I loved this team at her age.

Is it too much to ask for one Cup within our lifetimes?

Is it too much to ask for the team not to play the worst 40mins of hockey of the entire season (reg and post) for any team when they get to Game 7?
 
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