Leafs sign Ryan Reaves [3 years, $1.35mil AAV]

[dekedastardly]

Losing O'Reilly & Acciari sucks, but I'll reserve judgement until I see what else goes on. Reaves comes pretty cheap and ramps up intensity significantly.

 

[Bill_Berg]

Losing O'Reilly & Acciari sucks, but I'll reserve judgement until I see what else goes on. Reaves comes pretty cheap and ramps up intensity significantly.

I wanted to keep them both too, but ROR's contract is a steep one imo. Acciari's would have been a good one though.

 

[Bender]

Losing O'Reilly & Acciari sucks, but I'll reserve judgement until I see what else goes on. Reaves comes pretty cheap and ramps up intensity significantly.

I wanted to keep them both too, but ROR's contract is a steep one imo. Acciari's would have been a good one though.

And the thing is I have a hard time believing they didn't try to extend those guys. Tre said it wasnt a dollars or term issue with O'Reilly. The Leafs don't exist in a vacuum and FAs can and do go elsewhere even on good teams. Losing Acciari hurts in the sense that I liked his play, but look up his stats. He's not irreplaceable.

 

[Bill_Berg]

Losing O'Reilly & Acciari sucks, but I'll reserve judgement until I see what else goes on. Reaves comes pretty cheap and ramps up intensity significantly.

I wanted to keep them both too, but ROR's contract is a steep one imo. Acciari's would have been a good one though.

And the thing is I have a hard time believing they didn't try to extend those guys. Tre said it wasnt a dollars or term issue with O'Reilly. The Leafs don't exist in a vacuum and FAs can and do go elsewhere even on good teams. Losing Acciari hurts in the sense that I liked his play, but look up his stats. He's not irreplaceable.

I don't completely buy the 'wasn't a dollars or term' story for ROR. And sure, Acciari is replaceable, but he still needs to be replaced.

 

[dekedastardly]

If they somehow were to rope in Dumba and or Bertuzzi, I would feel better.

 

[Bender]

Losing O'Reilly & Acciari sucks, but I'll reserve judgement until I see what else goes on. Reaves comes pretty cheap and ramps up intensity significantly.

I wanted to keep them both too, but ROR's contract is a steep one imo. Acciari's would have been a good one though.

And the thing is I have a hard time believing they didn't try to extend those guys. Tre said it wasnt a dollars or term issue with O'Reilly. The Leafs don't exist in a vacuum and FAs can and do go elsewhere even on good teams. Losing Acciari hurts in the sense that I liked his play, but look up his stats. He's not irreplaceable.

I don't completely buy the 'wasn't a dollars or term' story for ROR. And sure, Acciari is replaceable, but he still needs to be replaced.

These guys were picked up at the deadline and can be added at the deadline.

 

[bustaheims]

I don't completely buy the 'wasn't a dollars or term' story for ROR.

Maybe, but I think it?s kinda telling that he went to a team where he?s clearly going to have a more prominent role than he would here. It?s not like he left for another contender. Nashville is a bubble team at best, and ROR is now their #1 C.

 

[Bill_Berg]

I don't completely buy the 'wasn't a dollars or term' story for ROR.

Maybe, but I think it?s kinda telling that he went to a team where he?s clearly going to have a more prominent role than he would here. It?s not like he left for another contender. Nashville is a bubble team at best, and ROR is now their #1 C.

That I may buy, but the twittidiots are claiming locker room cancer Bob Loblaw. Maybe ROR is excited to live in Nashville.

 

[herman]

Maybe ROR is excited to live in Nashville.

The man loves music. Income tax free state is a little overblown but not nothing (for Ryan and for his family). It?s also not too long a drive (or flight) back to St. Louis for whatever roots their family has there.

 

[dappleganger]

If they somehow were to rope in Dumba and or Bertuzzi, I would feel better.

Yes, definitely.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

These guys were picked up at the deadline and can be added at the deadline.

At the same time though, we obviously don't want to keep consistently giving up those types of assets at the deadline to pick them up.

 

[dappleganger]

These guys were picked up at the deadline and can be added at the deadline.

At the same time though, we obviously don't want to keep consistently giving up those types of assets at the deadline to pick them up.

Picking them up in free agency without an asset cost seems like the best option.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/puckpedia/status/1675555495808233472
What an easy workaround

 

[Deebo]

https://twitter.com/puckpedia/status/1675555495808233472
What an easy workaround

The point of the 35+ rule is to prevent teams from front loading deals when a player plans on retiring before the contract is over so they can lower the cap hit for the first year while paying him more.

If its flat or backloaded, there is no cap benefit, so there is no reason to have the rule apply to those contracts.

 

[Kin]

https://twitter.com/puckpedia/status/1675555495808233472
What an easy workaround

The point of the 35+ rule is to prevent teams from front loading deals when a player plans on retiring before the contract is over so they can lower the cap hit for the first year while paying him more.

If its flat or backloaded, there is no cap benefit, so there is no reason to have the rule apply to those contracts.

Yeah. The union probably wouldn't have agreed to something that especially penalizes signing 35+ year old players if there weren't an attempt at cap shenanigans in the deal itself.

 

[Kin]

I generally agree. What irks me a little is losing Acciari, now maybe that doesn't directly relate to signing Reaves, but it's hard not to compare them a little.

OK but Acciari isn't ROR. Like, if we really need a guy like that at some point I'm pretty confident that the Leafs can add a guy like that if need be without much of a draft cost. Like, if we're not generally confident that our GM can make that kind of addition at a reasonable price then we probably have bigger concerns than just Acciari vs. Reaves.

The Leafs almost certainly aren't finished with tinkering about with their bottom 6 and my guess is that when all is said and done it'll be fairly comparable to what they've had in recent years.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Yeah. The union probably wouldn't have agreed to something that especially penalizes signing 35+ year old players if there weren't an attempt at cap shenanigans in the deal itself.

The original 35+ rule actually did just that. It was adjusted in 2020 to have these stipulations.

 

[Kin]

Yeah. The union probably wouldn't have agreed to something that especially penalizes signing 35+ year old players if there weren't an attempt at cap shenanigans in the deal itself.

The original 35+ rule actually did just that. It was adjusted in 2020 to have these stipulations.

Fair enough. Once again I have overestimated the NHLPA.

 

[Bender]

These guys were picked up at the deadline and can be added at the deadline.

At the same time though, we obviously don't want to keep consistently giving up those types of assets at the deadline to pick them up.

Obviously not, ideally they stay but the team can only try to convince them to stay at reasonable costs and term. Other teams are out there with other pros and cons. 

 

[Arn]

To be fair, the guys could be in for a new stereo in the locker room. The missing ingredient.

https://theathletic.com/4660382/2023/07/02/maple-leafs-ryan-reaves/?source=user_shared_article