Armchair President/GM 2023-2024

[cw]

As for a right handed offensive dman for the PP, I wouldn't mind trying Timmins there.

The team needs another offensive defencemen with Klingberg not working out but yeah I think Timmins deserves a legitimate shot at playing in that role. If he's not working out by the trade deadline maybe that's when you bring someone else in to push him down the depth chart.

I just mention Timmins as a possible PP specialist to help them out and provide that option from the right side for the PP. He's only got 1000 minutes of total NHL experience spread over several seasons. He'll do well to secure a bottom six pairing role in the near future. He's in tough because when Liljegren returns, a top four addition will probably be on the right side which will probably squeeze him out.

If McMann is in the line up and the 2nd PP is sputtering, I'd do the same thing with him. That is his AHL forte.

Let these guys do what they do well.

 

[Bullfrog]

...

Ideally, one of Tanev or Zadorov can get acquired for a not insane price. I think Peeke or Lyubushkin would be ok bargain bin options if the CGY guys just aren't attainable and if they come with a bargain bin price.

Tanev makes the most sense. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he becomes a Maple Leaf. I suspect Conroy is just waiting to get the best package he can.

 

[herman]

This one might be tricky to pull off, but given there's a bunch of expiring deals on the backend, I'd like to swing for some term as well as mobility:
Mike Matheson (currently on Montreal) has a 4.85M AAV for 2 more seasons after this one (and a M-NTC) to close out the 8 year deal he received from Florida. It's a bit like adding another McCabe, especially if we can swing any retention.

Can't quite think of what they'd want from us that we'd be willing to part with, other than maybe William Villeneuve and he hasn't pushed himself into any noteworthy conversation other than the Memorial Cup and being from Quebec.

He's a defensive blackhole though Could probably shred a bottom-pair, sheltered 3rd-line combo though if he's buddied up with a boring partner.

 

[L K]

If we're looking for offence, Justin Schultz could be an option. Good Klingberg replacement; can help with moving the puck and manning the point on the power play.

Not going to help team defense all that much though.

I'm disappointed with your suggestion.  Back to the drawing board for you.

Yeah the Leafs need a defence first D man.

I would definitely prefer we find some stay at home guys but can it please be a guy who can make an outlet pass.  The team needs to stop having the forwards leak up ice when the defence can't connect a pass.  Timmins can do it but he needs to get back into game shape and we need to see if he can play well enough defensively to stay in the lineup.  I still have hopes for Liljegren but coming back from a high ankle sprain who knows what kind of player he will be for the rest of the season. 

We can't just get a guy with stone hands.  I'm not expecting another 40+ point defensemen but they need to be able to start the rush.

 

[herman]

RH Jake Muzzin without age/injury issues and available for chump change is a unicorn

 

[Guilt Trip]

If we're looking for offence, Justin Schultz could be an option. Good Klingberg replacement; can help with moving the puck and manning the point on the power play.

Not going to help team defense all that much though.

I'm disappointed with your suggestion.  Back to the drawing board for you.

Yeah the Leafs need a defence first D man.

I would definitely prefer we find some stay at home guys but can it please be a guy who can make an outlet pass.  The team needs to stop having the forwards leak up ice when the defence can't connect a pass.  Timmins can do it but he needs to get back into game shape and we need to see if he can play well enough defensively to stay in the lineup.  I still have hopes for Liljegren but coming back from a high ankle sprain who knows what kind of player he will be for the rest of the season. 

We can't just get a guy with stone hands.  I'm not expecting another 40+ point defensemen but they need to be able to start the rush.

Has to be a puck mover to be an add.

 

[herman]

Options to add (if we add at all)
- Top-4 Defense with term: Adam Larsson, Cam Fowler (someone mobile and not tiny, don't care which handedness)
- Legit 3C: Elias Lindholm ($$$$), Alex Wennberg, Sean Monahan, Jason Dickinson
- LW: Anthony Duclair, Travis Konecny, Frank Vatrano, Yegor Sharangovich, Andrew Mangiapane, Max Jones (ugh)

Trade Bait: Opportunities to subtract (for them and for us)
- Robertson
- Timmins
- Domi

 

[Zee]

So the rumours of Nylander coming in a over $11M really kind of bugs me.  Not that he's not worth it right now, but the fact is they probably could have gotten a deal done before the season at 8x$9.75M or something like that. 

Nylander is playing like a monster right now, but how much of that is from motivation for a new contract?  Once he signs the big deal are we going to see the same Willy next season? Yes, I get that Tavares's contract is up after 1 more year and the money is basically re-allocated from Johnny to Willy, but damn son, why can't the Leafs ever get a home run deal on a contract?  Hopefully the cap shoots up like a mofo in the next few seasons.

 

[Guilt Trip]

So the rumours of Nylander coming in a over $11M really kind of bugs me.  Not that he's not worth it right now, but the fact it they probably could have gotten a deal done before the season at 8x$9.75M or something like that. 

Nylander is playing like a monster right now, but how much of that is from motivation for a new contract?  Once he signs the big deal are we going to see the same Willy next season? Yes, I get that Tavares's contract is up after 1 more year and the money is basically re-allocated from Johnny to Willy, but damn son, why can't the Leafs ever get a home run deal on a contract?  Hopefully the cap shoots up like a mofo in the next few seasons.

Doubtful it was ever under 10. I'm betting he wanted 11 all along like Pasta.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Options to add (if we add at all)
- Top-4 Defense with term: Adam Larsson, Cam Fowler (someone mobile and not tiny, don't care which handedness)
- Legit 3C: Elias Lindholm ($$$$), Alex Wennberg, Sean Monahan, Jason Dickinson
- LW: Anthony Duclair, Travis Konecny, Frank Vatrano, Yegor Sharangovich, Andrew Mangiapane, Max Jones (ugh)

One name that I think you're missing who could be a serious candidate and fill either of those forward roles is Adam Henrique. I had him as a trade target last year as well but an injury right before the trade deadline ended up taking him off the market. Reliable veteran, from southern Ontario, history of being a consistent 20 goal scorer, can play anywhere in the line-up, can be PK, can win face-offs. Bonus this season too is that he's back to playing centre after mostly transitioning to the wing I think for a few years. A Domi-Henrique-Jarnkrok 3rd line could be on that actually provides solid minutes and doesn't need any major sheltering. Last year around this time I described him as a "rich-man's Kerfoot" which I think still stands, and while Kerfoot wasn't perfect I think the team can use someone like that.

Biggest issue of course is his $5.825mil AAV. 50% retention brings it down to about $2.9mil and even that might be a little high if the team also wants to add another defenceman so a double retention deal there could be necessary but maybe too pricey.

 

[cw]

Options to add (if we add at all)
- Top-4 Defense with term: Adam Larsson, Cam Fowler (someone mobile and not tiny, don't care which handedness)
- Legit 3C: Elias Lindholm ($$$$), Alex Wennberg, Sean Monahan, Jason Dickinson
- LW: Anthony Duclair, Travis Konecny, Frank Vatrano, Yegor Sharangovich, Andrew Mangiapane, Max Jones (ugh)

One name that I think you're missing who could be a serious candidate and fill either of those forward roles is Adam Henrique. I had him as a trade target last year as well but an injury right before the trade deadline ended up taking him off the market. Reliable veteran, from southern Ontario, history of being a consistent 20 goal scorer, can play anywhere in the line-up, can be PK, can win face-offs. Bonus this season too is that he's back to playing centre after mostly transitioning to the wing I think for a few years. A Domi-Henrique-Jarnkrok 3rd line could be on that actually provides solid minutes and doesn't need any major sheltering. Last year around this time I described him as a "rich-man's Kerfoot" which I think still stands, and while Kerfoot wasn't perfect I think the team can use someone like that.

Biggest issue of course is his $5.825mil AAV. 50% retention brings it down to about $2.9mil and even that might be a little high if the team also wants to add another defenceman so a double retention deal there could be necessary but maybe too pricey.

I've been intrigued by Henrique too. I looked him over last year or before. He'd be on my list to check out.

 

[Zee]

So the rumours of Nylander coming in a over $11M really kind of bugs me.  Not that he's not worth it right now, but the fact it they probably could have gotten a deal done before the season at 8x$9.75M or something like that. 

Nylander is playing like a monster right now, but how much of that is from motivation for a new contract?  Once he signs the big deal are we going to see the same Willy next season? Yes, I get that Tavares's contract is up after 1 more year and the money is basically re-allocated from Johnny to Willy, but damn son, why can't the Leafs ever get a home run deal on a contract?  Hopefully the cap shoots up like a mofo in the next few seasons.

Doubtful it was ever under 10. I'm betting he wanted 11 all along like Pasta.

He didn't have the numbers to back it up like Pasta did.  Nylander hit 40 goals for the first time last year while Pasta had seasons of 40+ and a 60 goal season.  So maybe under 10 didn't get it done, but I'm thinking 8x10 before the season started might have been enough.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Wanted to see how the numbers worked with Tanev and Henrique trades, both coming with 50% retention:

Knies-Matthews-Marner
Bertuzzi-Tavares-Nylander
Domi-Henrique-Jarnkrok
Gregor-Kampf-McMann

Rielly-Tanev
McCabe-Brodie
Giordano-Liljegren
Benoit

Jones
Woll

This assumes Robertson, Timmins, and Lagesson either traded or demoted, Reaves ($200k cap hit) and Samsonov ($2.4mil cap hit) on the Marlies as well. That still leaves about $650k in available cap space, so maybe they could try to squeeze in just a tiny bit more cap space from a double retention deal to include a 13th forward on the roster as well. Hypothetically if Samsonov rediscovers his game on the Marlies and he comes back up and Jones down there would be about $375k in cap space still left.

That roster, to me, is a pretty darn balanced line-up from top to bottom with the obvious potential weak spot being in goal but with the way the Leafs are structured that will likely always be the case to some degree. As I said in another thread the other day, maybe you want to bring in either a defensive or physical upgrade on McMann but if he keeps playing the way he did last night he could take a stronger hold on that spot. And with the way Benoit's been playing he could be a very real candidate to bump Gio out of a healthy defensive line-up if his game drops as it did in the playoffs last year.

 

[Guilt Trip]

So the rumours of Nylander coming in a over $11M really kind of bugs me.  Not that he's not worth it right now, but the fact it they probably could have gotten a deal done before the season at 8x$9.75M or something like that. 

Nylander is playing like a monster right now, but how much of that is from motivation for a new contract?  Once he signs the big deal are we going to see the same Willy next season? Yes, I get that Tavares's contract is up after 1 more year and the money is basically re-allocated from Johnny to Willy, but damn son, why can't the Leafs ever get a home run deal on a contract?  Hopefully the cap shoots up like a mofo in the next few seasons.

Doubtful it was ever under 10. I'm betting he wanted 11 all along like Pasta.

He didn't have the numbers to back it up like Pasta did.  Nylander hit 40 goals for the first time last year while Pasta had seasons of 40+ and a 60 goal season.  So maybe under 10 didn't get it done, but I'm thinking 8x10 before the season started might have been enough.

Pasta has had 1 season over 100pts, last year in his contract year. Fwd to this year and Willy is doing the same thing. He might not get 60 goals but he's probably putting up 100+ points. No doubt Pasta has put up some better numbers, and like last contract Willy got a similar deal and it aged just fine.
Both players have questionable defense at times.
I think one thing we overlook is Willy is at least 1/2 the time playing behind Matthews as the go to guy. Pasta has always been the go to especially on the PP.
I have no issue with him getting 11M or whatever. He's earned it and it doesn't look like he's slowing down. These guys are just hitting their primes.
Oh and open market he's getting 12+ IMO so anything under is a deal. Just like Matthews next deal. Could you imagine what he'd be offered if he went to market? A lot more then he will get.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Wanted to see how the numbers worked with Tanev and Henrique trades, both coming with 50% retention:

Knies-Matthews-Marner
Bertuzzi-Tavares-Nylander
Domi-Henrique-Jarnkrok
Gregor-Kampf-McMann

Rielly-Tanev
McCabe-Brodie
Giordano-Liljegren
Benoit

Jones
Woll

This assumes Robertson, Timmins, and Lagesson either traded or demoted, Reaves ($200k cap hit) and Samsonov ($2.4mil cap hit) on the Marlies as well. That still leaves about $650k in available cap space, so maybe they could try to squeeze in just a tiny bit more cap space from a double retention deal to include a 13th forward on the roster as well. Hypothetically if Samsonov rediscovers his game on the Marlies and he comes back up and Jones down there would be about $375k in cap space still left.

That roster, to me, is a pretty darn balanced line-up from top to bottom with the obvious potential weak spot being in goal but with the way the Leafs are structured that will likely always be the case to some degree. As I said in another thread the other day, maybe you want to bring in either a defensive or physical upgrade on McMann but if he keeps playing the way he did last night he could take a stronger hold on that spot. And with the way Benoit's been playing he could be a very real candidate to bump Gio out of a healthy defensive line-up if his game drops as it did in the playoffs last year.

Well done CTB...like that lineup and agree on Benoit and Bobby Mac

 

[Jolly good show chaps]

Going the other way, what are potential returns for the below assuming rental only?

Bertuzzi
Brodie
Domi

 

[herman]

Knies-Matthews-Marner
Bertuzzi-Tavares-Nylander
Domi-Henrique-Jarnkrok
Gregor-Kampf-McMann

Rielly-Tanev
McCabe-Brodie
Giordano-Liljegren
Benoit

Jones
Woll

The only thing that bugs me about it is Domi on the wing. More defensively sheltered there, but also surprisingly more brain dead and bafflingly can't skate anymore(?). Maybe the run at centre gets him moving again, especially with a decent vet like Henrique.

I kind of want to trade Domi. I like your other idea of getting someone that pushes Knies down to LW3, but I don't know how the $ shake out unless we can drop Domi.

Vatrano(1.3 years)-Matthews-Marner
Bertuzzi-Tavares-Nylander
Knies-Henrique (rental+retention)-Jarnkrok
Gregor-Kampf-McMann
Holmberg

 

[herman]

Going the other way, what are potential returns for the below assuming rental only?

Bertuzzi
Brodie
Domi

Bertuzzi - could command a pretty penny but blows a huge hole in an area we've been shopping for for several seasons
Brodie - still our best defensive defenseman, even if Tanev is here
Domi - probably not much other than a change of scenery type; the cap space is the value I'd be after as he's essentially our 4C

 

[CarltonTheBear]

The only thing that bugs me about it is Domi on the wing. More defensively sheltered there, but also surprisingly more brain dead and bafflingly can't skate anymore(?). Maybe the run at centre gets him moving again, especially with a decent vet like Henrique.

I kind of want to trade Domi. I like your other idea of getting someone that pushes Knies down to LW3, but I don't know how the $ shake out unless we can drop Domi.

I did genuinely wonder if moving Domi to wing would be detrimental to him, yeah. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt there and say that his struggles early in the season had more to do with playing in this market for the first time and all that came with that, especially considering who his dad is.

With that said, yeah doing a Henrique-Domi-Jarnkrok line would be just as good if Domi needs to play in the middle to be most effective. He'd have two veteran, defensively responsible, 20-goal guys flanking him that can cover his defensive issues and convert on his playmaking abilities.

Alternatively, you could try Henrique on the top line and push Knies down to LW3. That's a very "Kerfoot" move and might not be popular but it adds another defensive element to the top line which could be handy since they're often taking on top assignments as well, especially come playoff time.

Like I said, I really like him as a trade target and he's be right near the top of my list largely because of how versatile he could be.

 

[bustaheims]

So the rumours of Nylander coming in an over $11M really kind of bugs me.  Not that he's not worth it right now, but the fact is they probably could have gotten a deal done before the season at 8x$9.75M or something like that. 

If that kind of deal was available in the summer, it almost certainly would have been signed.