2025 Offseason Thread: Spring Cleaning
- Thread starter herman
- Start date
I think Giroux often doesn't get talked about a lot as a free agent target because many assume he's definitely returning to Ottawa. But if that's not the case he's definitely fairly high on my wish list.
herman
Well-known member
Claude Giroux - Scott Laughton - Connor Brown for the redheaded stepchild line?
I did wonder about something like a Domi/McMann-Laughton-Giroux scrappy/two-way 3rd line yeah. Have a new speedy 2C move Tavares to 2LW (which is maybe the obvious answer to the 'Tavares is too good for 3C but too slow for 2C' problem):
Knies-Matthews-Domi
Tavares-Karlsson/Zibanejad-Nylander
McMann-Laughton-Giroux
I dunno, wouldn't hate it. Obviously 1RW is a massive downgrade but guys could be moved in and out of that spot as needed.
herman
Well-known member
My only misgiving is that we will be collecting a lot of 35+ year olds on a team that is already rather plodding.
I think $$ priority should be to a fast 2-way centre (or two). Everything else we can cheap out on or promote internally to cover. We already have some game breaking scoring skill. We already have shutdown defenders. We already have pretty reliable goaltending. With an infusion of speedier and more committed players, we have a structure that doesn't really require that much additional $hooting or pa$$ing $kill.
I think $$ priority should be to a fast 2-way centre (or two). Everything else we can cheap out on or promote internally to cover. We already have some game breaking scoring skill. We already have shutdown defenders. We already have pretty reliable goaltending. With an infusion of speedier and more committed players, we have a structure that doesn't really require that much additional $hooting or pa$$ing $kill.
mr grieves
Active member
If there’d been a spring cleaning in any of 2021, 2022, or 2023, I wonder what the Leafs could look like today. How many top-pairing centers or worthwhile 1-2Cs moved over those years? Could any of them been had for either Marner or Nylander?
bustaheims
Well-known member
Not many. Those types of players don't move around all that much. If you take away guys who were only willing to go to specific destinations, you're left with guys like Chychrun, Meier, and DeBrincat as the best available options. I wouldn't have moved Nylander or Marner for any of them, and the teams moving them were looking for futures, not current pieces.
Guru Tugginmypuddah
Well-known member
16 more or less not a Leaf any longer.
34 is teetering on giving up hockey and selling sea shells by the sea shore.
88 is well.....88.
91 probably wants too much money.
44 is not very good
I think azzuri63 is right. This team is hosed.
34 is teetering on giving up hockey and selling sea shells by the sea shore.
88 is well.....88.
91 probably wants too much money.
44 is not very good
I think azzuri63 is right. This team is hosed.
mr grieves
Active member
I saw a few others as I skimmed the transaction list on Wikipedia... ARI traded OEL and Conor Garland, CBJ traded Seth Jones, BUF traded Sam Reinhart, BUF traded Jack Eichel, VAN traded Bo Horvat, WPG traded Pierre-Luc Dubois... Yeah, most of those are steps back from Nylander or (especially) Marner, but the idea here is a GM is seeing the Core 4 not working, predicting it will likely continue not working, and looking down the barrel of at least one of those players walking as UFAs after NMCs kick in and years of playoff disappointment.
Plus you don't know what options might open up if you go to teams and say "I'm looking to move Marner (or Nylander)." Even if the return is a "step back" in terms of overall talent, it could still make the team better. Or maybe the pieces returned are used in another deal that addresses needs.
Now we have to hope that Treliving is able to find a number of pieces that fit the system Berube wants to play, are good enough to ensure the team actually makes the playoffs in the first place, and then perform at a high level in the playoffs. It's a lot to ask.
bustaheims
Well-known member
OEL was a declining asset at the time, glad the Leafs didn't pursue that one. Doubt Buffalo would have considered a deal with the Leafs for Eichel and, when they moved Reinhart, he was nowhere near what he has become in Florida (he was a 20 goal, 50 point guy for basically his entire stint with the Sabres). Same with Horvat until the season he was dealt. The PLD drama has been well documented. Regardless, other than Jones and Eichel, at the time they were dealt, those guys were in the same tier as the likes of Chychrun, Meier, DeBrincat, etc. They'd all have made for bad trades from the Leafs' perspective and feel like making changes for the sake of making changes. Changes are required, sure, but they have to made to improve the team, not just for the sake of change.
L K
Well-known member
Although guys like Nylander or Marner don't really hit the market very often either. Who knows what trades would become available if the Leafs were on a mission to move one of those wingers. I liked the idea of the hypothetic Quentin Byfield ++ for Marner kind of trade ideas.
Naaaaaahh.. 10th time the charm!