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2021 Offseason Moves

bustaheims said:
Some of these contracts for young defencemen are quite something. McAvoy's is deserved, based on the way the market has gone, but, it's still crazy to think about.
We're so screwed with Rielly. Really think he needs to be traded.
 
Bender said:
We're so screwed with Rielly. Really think he needs to be traded.

Mayybe. Rielly shouldn't command quite as much as some of these guys have been getting - he's a little older, not as consistent, etc. - but he's definitely going to come in north of $7M per. That'll be tough for the Leafs to fit in, but it will also be really tough for them to trade their #1 defenceman in a season they expect to be contending for a Cup. Unless Sandin really breaks through this season, I don't think the team can comfortably absorb that loss.
 
Bender said:
bustaheims said:
Some of these contracts for young defencemen are quite something. McAvoy's is deserved, based on the way the market has gone, but, it's still crazy to think about.
We're so screwed with Rielly. Really think he needs to be traded.

At the same time though Ekholm and Pulock both signed in the low 6's in the past couple days and they're probably better comparables for Rielly than a McAvoy or Hamilton.
 
Ekholm is a 0.53 PPG player over the last 3 years
Rielly is at 0.73 PPG over the last three years.

If you just take the last two years to take out Rielly's aberration season it's 0.61 vs 0.48

I just don't see where Rielly is going to get less than 7M and the Leafs can't afford that.  The time to trade him was in the offseason under the guise of a roster shakeup.  Now we are just riding this out and have to hope that the team can go on a run before we lose a second big piece in consecutive years.
 
Points wise over the past 2 seasons they're about even at 5-on-5 though. So at even strength they provide about the same offence despite the fact that Rielly's 4 most common forwards he plays with at Matthews, Marner, Tavares, and Nylander while Ekholm's are Granlund, Johansen, Arvidsson, and Jarnkrok. Ekholm also does that in tougher minutes. Rielly provides additional value on the powerplay but Ekholm provides additional value on the PK. All things considered I don't think they're bad comparables and there's probably a lot of people who would take Ekholm over Rielly. Obviously Ekholm is a few years older so that makes things a bit trickier but that's also why he only got a 4 year deal as opposed to Rielly who will probably get 7 (or 8 if he signs here).

I think if Rielly explodes with another 70+ point then he'll certainly be in line for a $7mil deal that could even push into the 8's with the right team. But he's not going to get paid as an elite offensive defenceman (with defensive warts) if he just hovers around 50 points like he has for the past 2 seasons.
 
I wonder if some of these deals aren't signs that NHL GMs are pretty sure the Cap is going to start moving up again.
 
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