Letang wants to be a Leaf?

[Kin]

Yes, Komarov's already gone but that doesn't mean there isn't a hole to be filled there. I mean the NHL carries a what....22 man roster? The Leafs need to re-up or sign half a team for 24 million. Yes the McClaren's/Colbourne's and Fraser's will get relatively small raises but the Kadri's, Bernier's, Gunnarson's, and Franson's will all get good to substantial raises.

Kadri and Franson, yeah, but Bernier? Gunnarson? I'm less convinced. I think in total you can probably get away with giving those guys you list, in total, somewhere like 8-10 more million combined than they got last year. That still leaves a ton of room.

Then, the following year, Jake Gardiner's RFA, James Reimer is RFA, Dion Phaneuf is UFA, Phil Kessel is UFA, Kulemin is UFA and McClement are UFA......Add Letang to the mix and that's a boatload of money to spend on a few players.

But the following year the buyouts come off the books and the cap starts to rise again and I don't see either Kulemin or McClement getting huge raises and I still think you're at a place where Letang can be fit under the cap easily enough. Of course the cap should always be on people's minds and of course there's still a place to debate the validity of whether or not Letang is the guy who deserves that big chunk of space but I really don't think there's a problem with adding a player at that number just in terms of cap management. The Leafs are in a very good situation there.

 

[Britishbulldog]

So, Letang wants $7.8 million for 8 years in the new CBA and Suter got $7.5 million in the old CBA before the CAP went down.

Yes, I think he is being unrealistic.

?The Bruins will spend to the cap,? owner Jeremy Jacobs said during a press conference at TD Garden. ?The Bruins are going to spend to the cap.?

The trick is for the Bruins to re-sign Nathan Horton (unrestricted) and Tuukka Rask (restricted) while remaining cap-compliant. Jacobs has given GM Peter Chiarelli the green light to use a long-term injury exception on Marc Savard if the Bruins aim to exceed the cap by his average annual value.

Jacobs considers 2013-14 a blip on the cap radar. Jacobs expects the 2014-15 cap to rise substantially based on projected NHL revenue.

If Jacobs thinks the cap is going to rise "substantially" then we're talking $70M most likely, so I guess they could afford to give Letang that much if he's right.

I am sure the NHL team's management can do the math even better than us fans and when you see that:

the NHL brought in $2.4 BIL in revenue in 48 games this season which pro-rates to $4.1 BIL over a full 82 game season

combined with the fact that $4.1 Billion in revenue creates a $75 MIL cap (since $4.0 BIL created approx $73 MIL cap projected in 2017/18 and $4.2 created approx $77 MIL cap projected in 2018/19 )

 

[OldTimeHockey]

Yes, Komarov's already gone but that doesn't mean there isn't a hole to be filled there. I mean the NHL carries a what....22 man roster? The Leafs need to re-up or sign half a team for 24 million. Yes the McClaren's/Colbourne's and Fraser's will get relatively small raises but the Kadri's, Bernier's, Gunnarson's, and Franson's will all get good to substantial raises.

Kadri and Franson, yeah, but Bernier? Gunnarson? I'm less convinced. I think in total you can probably get away with giving those guys you list, in total, somewhere like 8-10 more million combined than they got last year. That still leaves a ton of room.

Then, the following year, Jake Gardiner's RFA, James Reimer is RFA, Dion Phaneuf is UFA, Phil Kessel is UFA, Kulemin is UFA and McClement are UFA......Add Letang to the mix and that's a boatload of money to spend on a few players.

But the following year the buyouts come off the books and the cap starts to rise again and I don't see either Kulemin or McClement getting huge raises and I still think you're at a place where Letang can be fit under the cap easily enough. Of course the cap should always be on people's minds and of course there's still a place to debate the validity of whether or not Letang is the guy who deserves that big chunk of space but I really don't think there's a problem with adding a player at that number just in terms of cap management. The Leafs are in a very good situation there.

Well all signs or media outlets are already giving Bernier the 1.5 - 2 million contract. I personally don't think Gunnarsson deserves a raise either, but there's quite a few people out there that see him as pretty valuable.

 

[Frank E]

It was a nice thought to acquire Letang, with his "I'd consider the Leafs" media posturing during contract negotiations and all, but the difference between max term $7.8 and max term $7.0 is relatively close.

I figure they'll saw it off at $7.4 and away they go...unless he feels slighted and won't sign period. 

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

So Fleury will get bought out?

With Letang around 8M and Crosby and Malkin that'll be 32M or so on 4 players?

Unless that cap goes up a bunch I can't wee them keeping everybody (Lucky that Kunitz came in at such a bargain).

 

[ZBBM]

The 64.3M cap is artificially low for one season, its really too bad that some teams are going to have to lose players they otherwise wouldn't have because the cap is low for one season.

Yet that translates into an opportunity for rich teams to strategically overpay to get a star, does it not?

 

[lamajama]

Is anybody else getting the yips that Nonis has entered the JFJ zone
and is nervous when talking to other adults about trades????

It's not like Nonis has never been a GM before the Leafs job or made any trades in the past.  He's fine and like another poster mentioned is just quiet in the press as opposed to Burke who liked to make huge pronouncements about what he *could* do but never actually ended up doing.

What I mean is that Nonis is running his mouth off to media etc about making a trade - and suddenly the Captain is being mentioned as potential trade bait? WTH? I understand the "no one is untouchable" nonsense but along with MacTavish, I get the impression from the media reports he
sounds like he's almost desperate to make a deal. Burke blustered all the time but it was basically garbage and everyone knew it. It just feels to me like I'm going to go to the TSN site and see Nonis has traded Gardner, Reilly, our 1st and the kitchen sink for some yahoo he thinks is a 1C.

I'm very familiar with Nonis and it just sticks with me that what he is spouting is very unlike him. Like I said he seems desperate in the media reports. I wonder if Lieweke is pushing him. 

 

[Rebel_1812]

I'd rather have dion.  Its not like you could have both under the cap.

 

[Tigger]

Is anybody else getting the yips that Nonis has entered the JFJ zone
and is nervous when talking to other adults about trades????

It's not like Nonis has never been a GM before the Leafs job or made any trades in the past.  He's fine and like another poster mentioned is just quiet in the press as opposed to Burke who liked to make huge pronouncements about what he *could* do but never actually ended up doing.

What I mean is that Nonis is running his mouth off to media etc about making a trade - and suddenly the Captain is being mentioned as potential trade bait? WTH? I understand the "no one is untouchable" nonsense but along with MacTavish, I get the impression from the media reports he
sounds like he's almost desperate to make a deal. Burke blustered all the time but it was basically garbage and everyone knew it. It just feels to me like I'm going to go to the TSN site and see Nonis has traded Gardner, Reilly, our 1st and the kitchen sink for some yahoo he thinks is a 1C.

I'm very familiar with Nonis and it just sticks with me that what he is spouting is very unlike him. Like I said he seems desperate in the media reports. I wonder if Lieweke is pushing him.

What?

 

[Kin]

Its not like you could have both under the cap.

Except you absolutely could. Especially if the team got rid of Liles who Letang makes almost entirely redundant.

 

[mr grieves]

Its not like you could have both under the cap.

Except you absolutely could. Especially if the team got rid of Liles who Letang makes almost entirely redundant.

The problem will be the next year.

And even without Liles and Komi, with the expiration of the buyouts and Frattin's & Scriven's retained salary, and the cap going up (say) $5m, it won't be possible to sign all the expiring guys -- Letang, Phaneuf, Reimer, Kessel, and Gardiner -- to new contracts. The good news is that, to get Letang, the Leafs would probably have to give up Reimer and Gardiner anyway. So the problem solves itself.

But acquiring and trying to sign Letang would obviously alter what's been identified as the "core." Which is fine. He's a respectable core piece himself, no?  I don't know if I'd rather him than two price-controlled pieces though.

My concern is if the team sheds its good value RFAs too quickly and invests in guys like Letang, Kessel, and Phaneuf -- who are in the position to demand top dollar -- then the team's increasingly in the position of filling out the rest of the roster with plugs. There will be no money for a shutdown third-line center, for a stay-at-home top-4 defenseman, for a fourth line that can play more than 6 minutes a night. I'd rather have a balanced roster like Boston's than a top-heavy one.

 

[Kin]

The problem will be the next year.

And even without Liles and Komi, with the expiration of the buyouts and Frattin's & Scriven's retained salary, and the cap going up (say) $5m, it won't be possible to sign all the expiring guys -- Letang, Phaneuf, Reimer, Kessel, and Gardiner -- to new contracts. The good news is that, to get Letang, the Leafs would probably have to give up Reimer and Gardiner anyway. So the problem solves itself.

Well, play things out with me, here are the guys on the roster the team won't have to sign or re-sign over the next two years and what they're owed:

Lupul 5.25/Grabo 5.5/JVR 4.25
Orr(950K)

Liles 3.875

That's it. 5 guys, under contract, for a total of 19.825 million dollars. Now, remove Liles like we mention and it's four guys signed for just under 16 million dollars. Now, let's say that we're working with a cap of 70 million in two years. Do you really not think it's possible for the team to retain that core, add 18 or 19 guys to that, for 54 million dollars? Even if Letang, Kessel and Phaneuf alone account for, oh, let's be generous and say 24 million of that? That would leave you 32 million to sign 16 players.

Let's go further. Let's say McClement comes back for 2 million, Kulemin for 3, Franson for 3.5, Kadri for 3.75. Let's say Reimer,gets 4.5, Gardiner gets 3.5, Gunnar gets, 2.75 and Colborne gets 1.5, Bernier gets 2. Let's say Fraser gets 900K, McLaren 800K. At that point the team would like this:

Lupul 5.25/Grabo 5.5/Kessel 8.5
Kulemin 3/Kadri 3.75/JVR 4.25
Colborne 1.5/McClement 2/Orr 950K
McLaren 800k

Phaneuf 7.5/Letang 8
Gunnarsson 2.75/Gardiner 3.5
Franson 3.5/Fraser 900K

Reimer 4.5
Bernier 2

That would leave the Leafs with 18 players signed at 68.1 million. So, yes, to fill out those remaining spots you'd be in a bit of a jam however, and I think you'd agree, I'm being very generous with just about everyone here and what they'll get. If I'm erring, I'm probably erring on the side of too much for all but one or two of those deals. I wouldn't give Phaneuf 7.5, I wouldn't give Kadri or Gunnar those kinds of bumps, I'm giving Letang 200K more than he's asking for. McLaren could be replaced by someone making the minimum and Colborne probably isn't getting 1.5 right away. Both Goalies are being overpaid. Just by shaving off an average of 150,000(and realistically I think it could be at least twice that) dollars from my estimates and you've got 4 million dollars to sign the four players who are missing from that roster. Assuming that your 7th defenseman and at least one of your pressbox forwards are at the minimum and you're at 2.7 million dollars to sign two guys for 3rd/4th line duties.

Is that a perfect team? No. Ideally you'd like to have more of a presence down the middle. You'd probably have to either get lucky on the cheap end or have guys on a ELC be able to contribute to have a really good third line. But that's absolutely a working roster. The idea that Letang's presence even at 8 million a year creates a situation where the Leafs have to lose one of Phaneuf, Kessel, Reimer or Gardiner...where it's, as you put it, impossible to keep them all? That just isn't true.. Really, the only player the Leafs would have to say goodbye to if they really wanted Letang would be Lecavalier.

 

[mr grieves]

The problem will be the next year.

And even without Liles and Komi, with the expiration of the buyouts and Frattin's & Scriven's retained salary, and the cap going up (say) $5m, it won't be possible to sign all the expiring guys -- Letang, Phaneuf, Reimer, Kessel, and Gardiner -- to new contracts. The good news is that, to get Letang, the Leafs would probably have to give up Reimer and Gardiner anyway. So the problem solves itself.

[SNIP]

Lupul 5.25/Grabo 5.5/Kessel 8.5
Kulemin 3/Kadri 3.75/JVR 4.25
Colborne 1.5/McClement 2/Orr 950K
McLaren 800k

Phaneuf 7.5/Letang 8
Gunnarsson 2.75/Gardiner 3.5
Franson 3.5/Fraser 900K

Reimer 4.5
Bernier 2

That would leave the Leafs with 18 players signed at 68.1 million. So, yes, to fill out those remaining spots you'd be in a bit of a jam however, and I think you'd agree, I'm being very generous with just about everyone here and what they'll get. If I'm erring, I'm probably erring on the side of too much for all but one or two of those deals. I wouldn't give Phaneuf 7.5, I wouldn't give Kadri or Gunnar those kinds of bumps, I'm giving Letang 200K more than he's asking for. McLaren could be replaced by someone making the minimum and Colborne probably isn't getting 1.5 right away. Both Goalies are being overpaid. Just by shaving off an average of 150,000(and realistically I think it could be at least twice that) dollars from my estimates and you've got 4 million dollars to sign the four players who are missing from that roster. Assuming that your 7th defenseman and at least one of your pressbox forwards are at the minimum and you're at 2.7 million dollars to sign two guys for 3rd/4th line duties.

Is that a perfect team? No. Ideally you'd like to have more of a presence down the middle. You'd probably have to either get lucky on the cheap end or have guys on a ELC be able to contribute to have a really good third line. But that's absolutely a working roster. The idea that Letang's presence even at 8 million a year creates a situation where the Leafs have to lose one of Phaneuf, Kessel, Reimer or Gardiner...where it's, as you put it, impossible to keep them all? That just isn't true.. Really, the only player the Leafs would have to say goodbye to if they really wanted Letang would be Lecavalier.

When I played this game earlier tonight, I figured there would be an attempt to replace/upgrade MacA on the UFA market (~$4m) and some sort of depth forward in the $2m range. Maybe both are too generous contracts, but the idea was that there will be signings of some sort this off-season and those will probably be more than 1 year deals. I took that to tighten things up next season more than they would, maybe. Maybe it's something you don't do if you're bringing in Letang.

Anyhow: that's a serviceable roster, with the requisite number of players, but not one I'd really like to have.

 

[Leafaholic99]

Not really a fan of Letang, he is a good player, but he doesn't score much and I wonder how many of those assists are from him benefitting from Crosby/Malkin etc. Not trying to take anything away from Letang, I haven't seen him play much at all, but the cost it would take for us to get him here and then for the price of an extension, is he really worth all that? I think it would be better to try wait and see if one of our young guys can turn out to be a "Letang".

I see all the teams that are strong contendors, and they drafted a lot of their players, and then add key players when they are ready, the cost to aquire a top player is too high in my mind, unless he is an elite player. We may have overpaid for Kessel, time will tell with how Seguin, Hamilton and Knight do in Boston, but the trade hasn't blown up in our faces yet, Kessel is a top player in this league, so the over payment might not be as bad, as long as he signs an extension here, if he walks for nothing or we get little in return, the trade to bring him here was as bad as the Rask one.

 

[maplesyrup]

I'm not sure if you can point to Crosby and Malkin when looking at Letang. I mean, Keith has Toews and Kane, right?

 

[Leafaholic99]

I'm not sure if you can point to Crosby and Malkin when looking at Letang. I mean, Keith has Toews and Kane, right?

Yea that is true, never thought of that, guess what I am getting at is if Letang were to come here, would he put up the same numbers with our current roster? or would he decline a bit, which result in the fans running him out of town because of his high salary and expectations. Like I said, i havent seen him play that much, so I am not sure how good of a player he is and if he would be able to help us out, despite who he plays with, like how Kessel seems to perform no matter what.

 

[maplesyrup]

Either way, it would be fun to see him try I think.

 

[Kin]

When I played this game earlier tonight, I figured there would be an attempt to replace/upgrade MacA on the UFA market (~$4m) and some sort of depth forward in the $2m range. Maybe both are too generous contracts, but the idea was that there will be signings of some sort this off-season and those will probably be more than 1 year deals. I took that to tighten things up next season more than they would, maybe. Maybe it's something you don't do if you're bringing in Letang.

Anyhow: that's a serviceable roster, with the requisite number of players, but not one I'd really like to have.

No, but I didn't put it together with the idea that it was the best possible group but rather to address the question of whether you could add Letang and still keep the same core around. Just at a glance, for instance, there's a ton of redundancy on the blue line and, and this might be the hidden upside to acquiring Letang is that you could take Phaneuf, Gardiner and Franson, decide which one is the least valuable(Franson probably) and then shop that asset to try to address some issues like maybe getting some depth at forward at a decent price.

Because of all of the cap space and flexibility the Leafs have a ton of options coming up. Obviously acquiring Letang prioritizes some things over others but it doesn't rule anything out.

 

[Redleaf]

Pens GM Ray Shero and Kris Letang's agent Kent Hughes slated to meet this afternoon... One last chance to find common ground?


Sounds like we may find out this afternoon or evening whether Letang wants out or was just holding out for more $.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Pens GM Ray Shero and Kris Letang's agent Kent Hughes slated to meet this afternoon... One last chance to find common ground?


Sounds like we may find out this afternoon or evening whether Letang wants out or was just holding out for more $.

He has another year on his deal right? So, if he wants out, Shero can hold out until the trade deadline, so I don't think this situation is going to go down that quick.