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That remains to be said. If Marner wants $13.5M, it’s way too much.
Basic math says that anything less than 16.5 AAV for Marner would actually be a home town discount.
It’s very easy to do. Try it yourself.
https://puckpedia.com/tax-calculator
Marner would take home the same amount in Vegas at 12 AAV as he would in Toronto at 16.5 AAV.
So if he’s asking for the same as Matthews, that actually is a hometown discount. The problem is, absolutely nobody seems to be sharp enough to realize that he’s losing a lot of money by staying in Toronto at that price.
You can’t win with this playoff no show at that pay grade. 9 years of this! You wanna make it 10?
More career playoff points than Matthews, Nylander, Rielly and Tavares. But somehow, the idiots in the media (whom you are parroting) label him the one “no show”. Makes no sense.
Took Yzerman 14 years to win a Cup. Took Ovechkin 12 years, and he’s only advanced past the 2nd round once. Yes, it’s frustrating but it takes time to continue adding pieces to the team to be able to win a Cup in a stacked division.
It’s what you get if you don’t do something about the Cap with this player. He has not won us Jack Sh!t since he’s come to Toronto. No leadership skills, no grit. But he wants more than McDavid. I call Bullsh!t on this mini mercenary.
So trade Matthews and Nylander too by your logic?
Leafs need a banger and a player that can shoot the puck from the point. Rielly isn’t it, but Ekblad is.
Bennett, Marchand and Ekblad are not leaving Florida for Toronto. Ekblad had 3 goals last year. Rielly had 7. Both had 4 playoff goals each. But Ekblad only has 8 career playoff goals. Rielly has 15. Imagine being so stupid as to trade away Rielly, only to sign a guy for the same (or more) money who gives you even less offense, with a history of concussions and who will demand more money than the Leafs can afford to give him. The Leafs would be better off with Brent Burns than Ekblad at 30% of the cost without the long term commitment.
Tavares is also a huge liability that needs to be addressed.
Probably the only accurate statement you’ve made all night.
However, they could grab Aaron Ekblad as a UFA. If Rielly was moved for picks or prospects, that cash could go straight to Ekblad and solidify the right side of the defense. Leafs need to dispose of both Marner and Rielly. Replace with picks to restock the cupboard. Brock Boeser, and Nikolaj Ehlers could be had for the price of Marner’s contract. You solidify the top 6 and the defense is stronger. Is it enough to win the Atlantic? Maybe. Some time soon, the drain of talent from Florida will finally take them out. Leafs have 2 years to get it done, before the younger teams like Ottawa, Montreal, and Detroit come knocking.
Why the fuck would Ekblad want to play for the Leafs? Please, explain yourself. UFAs aren’t a box of nails you buy at Home Depot. They aren’t just sitting there, waiting for you to be the first one to show up when the doors open.
Do you honestly believe Ekblad has had so many blows to the head that he forgets how much better off he is in Florida?
Additionally, even if he actually was that stupid, why should the Leafs pay him a ridiculous amount of money for 3 goals and 33 points from age 30-37…?
I’m sorry but you’re absolutely fucked if you think Marner needs to be “disposed of” but then want to replace him with soft as baby shit Ehlers and -25 Boeser.
You make absolutely no sense.
Well, if you can convince Rielly to waive and work a deal with Vancouver to take him (preferably zero retention) and get some assets in return, then I nominate you as the next executive assistant to the assistant general manager.
The Leafs don’t need to get gold in return for Rielly. They just need a little extra cap space and to fill gaps in the line-up. I don’t think it requires anything special to get him to waive. They just need to sit down with him and tell him he’s not part of the future plans of the team. At that point, he starts picking places he would like to land in.
Blueger has a $1.8m caphit for next season and then UFA after that.
Myers has a $3m caphit until 2027 and then UFA, and he’s 35 right now, BTW.
Which is perfect for the Leafs. Blueger gives the Leafs a Cup winning 4C who can play the PK and with speed.
Myers gives the Leafs another big body, RHD, who can PK and defend. Maybe gives the Leafs another PP option with his point shot.
So, you would be taking on $4.8m in cap and shooting Rielly’s $7.5m caphit into the Sun… which runs until 2030 by the way, so I hope the Canucks really really want him with no retention.
As I said earlier, they’ll probably end up losing Hughes one way or another by 2030. He doesn’t want to stay in Vancouver. Rielly is at least a hometown guy.
You would be gaining $2.2m in free cap. That’s a nice little piece of change that gets you another bottom sixer or #3-#5 dman.
And that extra cap space would go to either Dumoulin or Brent Burns (hometown discount). Dumoulin gives the Leafs another steady Cup winner with a bit of size and defensive awareness.
At the moment, the Leafs have 3 LHD in OEL, McCabe and Benoit. None of them are #1 D, that’s for certain. However, the Leafs lack 3 RHD.
A big source of the Leafs defensive issues is that they had OEL playing on the right side and it significantly lowered his ability to move the puck effectively.
OEL / Tanev
McCabe / Myers
Dumoulin or Burns / Carlo
BenoitThe problem I see here is, Myers is definitely not a top pair guy. And that still leaves you without a true #1 dman, which Rielly was at least cosplaying as on the Leafs. Blueger is basically a plug and is a noshow in the playoffs, so I guess he’s a little cheaper than Kampf.
None of this solves the root issue on defense – the Leafs don’t have a rock or warhorse. They don’t have a true #1. Rielly is trying and failing. Shooting him into the Sun, but taking back almost $5m in cap on a 35 year old dman and Kampf-lite doesn’t feel like a big upgrade, although you get free of Rielly’s cap from years 2027 onward.
This gives the Leafs the ability to deploy 3 sets of evenly LHD/RHD pairs that can each play 20 min each. Ideally, it would be nice if the Leafs had a guy like Seth Jones (Leafs were too stupid to acquire him) or some other minute munching top pair D. But unfortunately, those guys are A) not available and B) not within the budget.
On further reflection, I think it might be better if Rielly gets a coke habit.
There’s plenty of fentanyl in Vancouver and Seattle, he can do whatever he wants as soon as he’s off the Leafs cap.
At this point you’d almost have to give Rielly away. Even if he agreed to waive (he won’t), the return is going to be scrubs and low picks unless you retain and fuck retaining on a contract like that. Send him to Utah for a 7th and a box of timbits.
Sure, the ownership could run him out of town and basically “override” his NMC by driving him out, but then you damage the team’s reputation as a destination for other players like free agents or trade targets. That’s far from ideal.
Put him in rehab, bury the caphit.
Kerrigan his kneecap and put him on Robidas Island.
Redeploy him as a 2nd pair, optimize for a reduced and overpaid role, and live with it.
That’s pretty much your options.
Disagree.
Rielly has negative value to the Leafs but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have value to somebody else. Remember, Karlsson got traded. Rielly can be traded.
He will waive for Vancouver or Seattle. He doesn’t have a cocaine problem, that’s just insane bullshit that’s been said about Nylander too. He is what he’s always been; good skater who can’t play defense.
The Leafs can get a bottom pairing D and a 4th line C for him. Vancouver would probably welcome him as they expect to trade Hughes as he has no interest in staying long term and wants to play with his brothers.
Rielly to VAN for Blueger and T. Myers.
You’ve earned nothing to warrant the salaries that you opine for. Either shut-up and take a hometown discount, or get the hell out.
Basic math says that anything less than 16.5 AAV for Marner would actually be a home town discount.
It’s very easy to do. Try it yourself.
https://puckpedia.com/tax-calculator
Marner would take home the same amount in Vegas at 12 AAV as he would in Toronto at 16.5 AAV.
So if he’s asking for the same as Matthews, that actually is a hometown discount. The problem is, absolutely nobody seems to be sharp enough to realize that he’s losing a lot of money by staying in Toronto at that price.
Rielly for Lafrenière ???
they have roughly the same cap hit.
why — just because.
Don’t think either team or player benefits or accepts that trade.
Moving Rielly is mostly about getting his horrid defense off the team, clearing cap space and bringing in defensive depth.
You posted stats about 2 players with zero context other than “playoff points / goals” which was intentionally misleading since one guy has played 128 playoff games and the other 75 and when that fact is pointed out to you this is how you react?
There is absolutely nothing misleading or out of context about stating the fact that Stamkos has actually been a playoff performer and Tavares has not.
For the record I didn’t see ANYONE say JT was a better playoff performer (I sure as hell didn’t), I provided context to your post that was missing important information – had you posted it initially instead of trying to spin a narrative by intentionally omitting it we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
You certainly implied it by trying to spin the context by stating that Stamkos was playing on “stacked” teams while Tavares wasn’t.
The facts slapped you harder across the face than Edmonton got slapped in Game 3.
Here are some more facts that may hurt your feelings:
JT HAS in fact played 75 career playoff games https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=89823
34 years only and he’s only played in 75 career playoff games? And you want that garbage to come back?
Tyler Johnson was the playoff goal and point leader in 2015, he also led in even strength goals, Game Winning goals and goals created in those playoffs.
Tampa had Ben Bishop in net who had the most shutouts in the playoffs, a .921 Save % and a 2.18 GAA.
Maybe it’s you who should do research before posting ‘stupid shit’ or post the entire set of data and not just cherry pick what helps support your opinion and purposely omit what doesn’t but should be considered.
Irrelevant. Having Tyler Johnson and Ben Bishop on the team is hardly having a “stacked” team the year he first brought his team to the Cup Final. That same “stacked” team, didn’t go as far without him the next year. Tyler Johnson never had a playoff run like that ever again. Bishop got replaced by Vasilevskiy.
Your dumbass point was refuted. Easily.
The only person screaming about JT is you, it’s quite probable that JT will be back, you may want to look to accept that fact while considering that facts don’t care about your feelings.
Thinking that not bringing a guy back for 3-5M is the major change that’s needed vs not paying a winger 13M or more and yet again putting the Leafs into a cap situation where they simply can’t build the balanced roster that the true, like the elite teams in this league have right now is incredibly short sighted.
Throwing away your leading point producer in his prime for nothing while bringing back an old, proven loser is the precise manner in which this franchise continues to fail miserably. Keep supporting the failure.
I’m done with this debate – sorry / not sorry to have spoiled your narrative with facts.
Good, you know when you’ve been defeated. Now stay silent like a good boy.
Stamkos has played 128 career playoff games many of them with stacked Tampa teams.
JT has played 75 with the Islanders and Leafs.
#facts
You should at least attempt to do research before you say stupid shit like that.
If Tavares only played 75 career playoff games, it’s probably because he played like shit so often, his teams didn’t advance as often or as far as they should have.
Stamkos, in 2015, led his team to the Final with the super megastar Tyler Johnson. Kucherov was a 65 point, 2nd year player, great in the playoffs, yes, but not yet considered who he is today at that time. Vasilevskiy was the back-up. Point wasn’t even drafted yet. Hedman had less points than Stralman. The next year, Stamkos only played 1 playoff game. His team did not return to the Final without him, despite every other major player still being on the team. They did not return to the Final for many years, despite missing the playoffs entirely one year and getting swept by Columbus after being the #1 team in the NHL. Did they blow up the team? Trade Kucherov? Point? Stamkos? Hedman? Vasilevskiy? Nope. Luckily they didn’t have idiot fans running their best players out of town.
Stamkos’ 50 career playoff goals is only 3 less than Kucherov, 6 more than Point and many more than other guy on the roster during that era. And he did that despite missing nearly two entire playoff runs due to injury.
Can Tavares say he did anything anywhere near that? Since 2018 up to 2025, despite being the 2nd highest paid player in the league for most of that time, Tavares (in his fucking prime) sat behind far younger, more inexperienced players like Marner, Matthews, Nylander and even Rielly in playoff scoring. And -15 too. If you wanted to make the argument that he was the best player on a team that lacked good players (like Sundin) you might have a leg to stand on. But you got nothing but excuses for a piece of shit player who did nothing to live up to the contract and praise he was given. People like you were screaming from the rooftops “look at what he did with garbage players in Long Island, just imagine what he’ll do in Toronto with Matthews, Marner and Nylander, we are spoiled with riches” and look how it all played out. Those same people are now screaming for his return. But they also scream “change, change, change”. You want fake change.
The more you look at the numbers, the more it seems like Matthews is closer to Stamkos than Tavares is because Tavares is absolute dog shit by comparison. Matthews is the 60 goal man, plagued by injuries in the playoffs who requires the team around him to be stacked because he can’t carry it all by himself. Which is fine because most players can’t. Not even McDavid seems to be able to win it all by himself.
Even if your argument was that Stamkos was a passenger (he wasn’t) on stacked teams for 16 years, behind Kucherov, Point, Hedman, Vasilevskiy etc., it holds zero water to expect the Leafs to have Stanley Cup success by bringing Tavares back along as a passenger at 34-40 when they have absolutely nobody who performs like the “stacked” Tampa Bay teams did, to carry him along. Much less, after also letting Marner (the #1 career playoff point producer on this team) walk for nothing and replacing him with spare parts at the bottom of the UFA barrel.
Facts. Will you accept them? Probably not.
Not exactly the same, but Steven Stamkos checks a lot of those boxes. Granted, Stamkos was only 30 when he got his first Cup and then 31 on the second Cup. Not great defensively, average skater, little playoff success prior to the Cups. He was making about $8m at the time.
So… kinda…. ish.
So, strike one, he wasn’t 34+, as you already said. Stamkos also had multiple deeper playoff runs (2011/2015/2018) in his younger days prior to winning, including one run to the Final that he lost. All in all, Stamkos has 50 career playoff goals and 100 playoff points to Tavares’ 28 playoff goals and 53 playoff points and they’re basically the same age. The way Tavares got shutout in 6 out of 7 games against the Panthers is something I don’t think Stamkos was capable of. But perhaps at 34+ Tampa Bay let him go away for good reason. And the Leafs should do the same.
If the Toronto media and fans want to blame the “core” for being bad playoff performers, perhaps it was their mentors, Marleau, Thornton, Spezza and Tavares that showed them how to be playoff losers.
I share the same sentiment. JT wants to remain and unless Treliving comes in insultingly low, a deal is going to get done.
Marner, I’m almost certain, is going to test the market and the only question left is whether the Leafs do a sign and trade or trade his rights to recoup some value.
Last year there was a lot of chatter about how everyone knew where certain free agents were going to sign prior to July 1 with the NHL saying that they were aware and were investigating (and I’m sure if it had been a Canadian team that as guilty, they’d have done something about it) – but with a high profile player like Marner, if teams start talking to him prior to July 1 or if it’s “a known done deal” before July 1, I’d suspect tampering could actually be brought up. It might be wise for an interested team to trade something to get that right to talk to him early. Carolina has Toronto’s 6th in 2026. That’s probably a fair trade to get a player’s negotiating rights.
Has any team in recent memory, let’s say, the past 10-15 years, with a player who fits the bill of Tavares been able to win a Cup?
I’d put Tavares in the category of: massive defensively liability, poor skating, 34-40 year old making 5-7 million getting top-six minutes and PP time with poor career playoff success. I’m going to guess; no.
If Tavares is on this team, even on a “discount”, the Leafs will still be fundamentally flawed and won’t be able to win a Cup with him on the roster. Much like how Duchene at 3 million seemed like a bargain for Dallas, Duchene was horrible at 5v5 and defensively for Dallas in the playoffs despite leading the team in scoring in the regular season. I see Tavares in the same light and I don’t think he gives the Leafs any real winning value unless he makes 1 million a year. At absolute most, 2 million AAV.
Tavares has made 112 million dollars in his career. Even with the government stealing 50% of that, Tavares is set for generations and can afford to play for 1-2 million a season if playing in Toronto is paramount to his existence. The Leafs, however, can’t afford to have Tavares at more than that.
It’s tricky – but you need assholes to succeed. Guys who get under the other team’s skin. Guys who want to life difficult for the opposition. Guys who will do what it takes to make it happen.
You see, there’s three kinds of players: dicks, pussies, and assholes. Pussies score all the points, and dicks just want to fuck guys up all the time without thinking it through. But then you got your assholes, like Marchand. And all the assholes want us to shit all over everything! So, pussies may get mad at dicks once in a while, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes, and if they didn’t fuck the assholes, you know what you’d get? You’d get your dick and your pussy all covered in shit!
The Leafs need more dicks. We need more reckless, arrogant, stupid dicks. And the core 4 are pussies. Pussies don’t like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks can also fuck assholes: assholes that just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is: they fuck too much or fuck when it isn’t appropriate –
and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes themselves…because pussies are an inch and half away from assholes.I don’t know much about this crazy, crazy world, but I do know this: If the Leafs don’t find some dicks to fuck these assholes, we’re going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!
Leafs have been dying for a player like Perry, PDO. -fifty
In an alternative universe, where the Leafs had consistent, competent management that knew how to keep their own draft picks, develop prospects and make shrewd trades, they could very easily have a team that looks like this…
Hyman @ 5.5 | Matthews @ 13.25 | Marner @ 10.9
Knies @ 925K | Verhaeghe @ 7 | Nylander @ 11.5
Brown @ 1 | Bennett @ 4.425 | Dakota Joshua @ 3.25
Kapanen @ 1| Domi @ 3.75 | Perry @ 1.1And the craziest part is, if you do the math of what those guys made this year, it would have been 63.675 AAV out of an 88 million dollar cap ceiling.
That would have left 24.3 AAV to still have Tanev, McCabe, OEL, Carlo, Benoit, Woll and Stolarz leaving the Leafs with 1.4 AAV in remaining cap space to sign one last bottom pair D.
Only Rielly wouldn’t have fit. Not a big loss, as we all know. But could have easily landed us a big piece in return back when he got his extension if he were traded instead of signed.
This is also not to mention how different the Leafs D would look had they kept Sandin and Durzi, just to name two, instead of opting for a D-core that is mostly 31-35 year olds.
Just as an example…at 22.8 AAV…
OEL | Tanev
Sandin | Carlo
Benoit | DurziWith a bit of draft lottery luck, you could also swap out Marner for McDavid @ 12.5 which the Leafs could afford by not having either Joshua or Domi and replacing them with a league minimum contract.
Just sayin…
They might grab a lower or middle tier free agent or two, but bringing in a top tier talent is probably going to involve a trade. Given the Leafs track record with trades and their current relations with other GM’s, I wouldn’t expect to pull off a case of highway robbery, but maybe Tree can get creative with three-way trades, retention, etc.
The Leafs don’t need highway robbery, but they do need to “win” a trade or at least make a solid trade that improves the team.
I’d like to see the following :
1) Marner stays for $11m or $12m. (very very very unlikely)
Marner has the misfortune of having to pay taxes in Canada. That means he will take home significantly less money than his cap hit will suggest he makes. The NHL has no will to change it any time soon either.
Rantanen makes 12 AAV in Dallas which means he actually takes home 7,601,813. For Marner to make the exact same amount, he’d have to have a cap hit of 16.4 AAV to take home 7,664,895. Everybody needs to stop and think about that for a second. That’s how bad the taxes fuck over the Leafs trying to sign players who negotiate based on what they’re taking home. So if Marner is asking for 13 AAV, in reality he is only taking home 6,084,445 for 8 years and a total of 48.6 million dollars. When compared to the 7,601,813 per year Rantanen takes home, it’s actually fair value. The fair compromise for both sides is 13.16 x 8 and Marner is actually taking a discount just nobody is realizing it.
If Utah were to give him 13 AAV, he would take home 7,640,313 per year for 7 years which totals 53.4 million dollars.
In Vegas (an immediate Cup contender), he would take home 8,231,813 for 7 years totals 57.6 million dollars.
Which means, if Utah or Vegas offered him 11 AAV, he’d still make more money, with a lower cap hit, playing for Utah or Vegas than he would for the Leafs at 13 million AAV.This IS NOT a matter of greed. Marner could be leaving anywhere between 5-10 million dollars on the table to play for the Leafs at that price. He’s not negotiating for nickels and dimes in difference.
2) Marner does a sign and trade allowing the Leafs to recoup some assets (again, not very likely).
Marner has taken a 6 year deal before, Matthews took a 4 year deal. I don’t think the extra year matters to Marner if he’s decided to test UFA status because the sooner he can be a UFA again, the better it is for him. If he’s gone, he’s gone. The Leafs get and deserve nothing for their horrible mismanagement.
3) Weaponize the free space if Marner walks, but don’t be stupid with it. Don’t go throwing term at dudes on the wrong side of 30 unless an eventual trip to Robidas Island is part of the plan (ala the Gourde contract). Also, don’t shoot your wad on a guy like Ehlers. Who does this leave? Probably guys like Gavikrov, Beauvillier, Fabro, Tanev, and maybe take a flier on a project like Drouin or Patty Kane if the price is cheap.
The UFA market is not there to be weaponized. The last time the Leafs “weaponized” the UFA market, they got fucked in the ass with Tavares. The UFA market has nothing to offer the Leafs except complimentary pieces. And those complimentary pieces would only help the Leafs if they kept their leading point producer, not to try and replace him. Let’s go one by one through what would be top-six forwards “UFA list” and give you the reasons why the majority on this list are either garbage, not better or won’t sign with the Leafs.
Boeser is horrid. -25 player who deserves his -25. He was a 50 point player last year, only made the playoffs twice in his career. This guy is like a less athletic, Value Village Kessel.
Ehlers, not leaving Winnipeg, soft as baby shit, not a playoff performer, not a 100 point, Selke nominee, PKer. Most of his playoff runs ended with 0 goals. This guy is Value Village Nylander.
Tavares. Is. Garbage. 7 years of his prime, he can’t skate, he can’t defend and he didn’t score in 6 out of 7 games against the Panthers. This guy was the definition of bad DNA. Show him the door.
Duchene. Value Village Tavares. Horrid defensively, can’t score 5v5. Basically a PP weapon who can’t play in any other situation. Cheap but ineffective.
Nelson, very good size, good player staying in Colorado, has no reason to play in Toronto (from Minnesota) unless you massively overpay him. And he’s 33. Not going to be a “prime years” contract. Usually a 50 point player most of his career. 0 playoff goals in 7 games for Colorado this year. ZERO.
Giroux, not leaving Ottawa, hasn’t been a 100 point player in 7 years. Basically another 50 point guy on the wrong side of 37. Hasn’t been a playoff performer since 2012.
Palmieri, off the market. Also, 34 anyway…
Drouin has 1 playoff goal in his last 20 playoff games and he had the benefit of playing with MacKinnon. If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll stay in Colorado and continue being a passenger over there.
Suter, is better than Malgin, I’ll give him that but still, 2 playoff goals in 13 career playoff games? Don’t see this guy moving the needle that much.
Granlund, good player but 32, why would he leave all his Finnish buddies in Dallas after going so deep this year?
Benn is washed, from BC, no reason to come to the Leafs. Probably just stays in Dallas for 1 year, 1 million dollar deals.
Kuzmenko, one year wonder, completely unreliable.
Donato, from Boston, why would he don’t see why he wouldn’t go back to Chicago / Boston unless you overpaid him. 0 playoff goals in 19 playoff games.
Roslovic, from Ohio, don’t see why he’d leave Carolina or come to Toronto unless you overpaid him. 3 career playoff goals in 45 games. Already have enough Jarnkroks and Kampfs. Don’t need another.
Mangiapane, 5’10”, 14 goals, 28 points. This guy can’t replace Marner except if it’s in a police line-up for the height and weight. If he takes a super cheap contract, he’s worth a shot but probably not a legit top-six threat in the playoffs as his career playoff numbers are unimpressive. 7 playoff goals, 14 points in 37 games.
The complimentary players need to be acquired via trade. You can get some of them by exchanging Jarnkrok, Kampf, McMann and Robertson. Between those 4 guys, you can get enough capital to flip for McBain and Jenner, if not directly. Draft picks be damned, the Leafs will trade them all later anyway. Any prospect except Cowan should be available. And even Cowan has a price tag if it lands a big enough fish. He’s too young and too small to be effective in the window of opportunity the Leafs have currently backed themselves into. Robertson was a goal scoring machine in the OHL but has been basically useless in the NHL. Cowan is better than Robertson but suffers from the same issues and will ultimately take longer than 3 years before we get what we need out of him. He should be given a chance but he’s not untouchable either.
4) Jesus Fucking Christ, we gotta do something about Rielly. If he’s coked out, put him in rehab and bury his caphit. If he refuses a trade, then redeploy him as a second pairing guy and go after someone like Provorov. Leafs need another top pair D guy. It won’t come cheap. Maybe use some of the Marner cap space. Also, minor tip here – chatter is that Tampa is cutting bait with Nick Perbix. He’s actually a solid 3rd pair guy who will come cheap. I’d snag him if he leaves Tampa (just for depth).
Agreed on Rielly having to be removed. Leafs absolutely need to drop Rielly off in Vancouver or Seattle. Whether people agree or disagree on Marner staying or going, Rielly must go away as soon as possible. He’s not on cocaine, he just sucks defensively. He has since the day he was drafted. He has enough offensive value you can get some depth pieces in return like a 4C and a 3rd pair D. Enough to be useful for the Leafs but nothing directly the same price or role.
But after he’s gone, they don’t need another top pair D. I think the only option the Leafs have now is to acquire a 3rd pair D for Rielly and sign another depth offensive D for the 3rd pair. At this point, the Leafs are locked into having a bunch of old guys as their D core. If you can have 3 balanced LD/RD who can play 20 min each, the Leafs can just do it by committee.
I would prefer to bring in Brent Burns as the Leafs depth D. He’s from Barrie, he’s 40, he’s got a huge shot for the PP. Maybe he does us a favor and gives us a retirement contract discount. He’s looking to win a Cup on a contender, he spent most of his career in San Jose and Carolina. He might come for the ride with his hometown team at this point.
5) Blockbuster trade that brings in an elite centerman or winger to replace Marner. I’ll hold my breath on this one, but I’m giving Tree a chance here to blow us away with something unforseen and off the board.
Not happening, the Leafs don’t have the assets unless they decide to trade Nylander. In that case, a 2nd line C and a 2nd pair D might help the Leafs and allow them to keep Marner if they move Nylander for the pieces they can’t find as UFAs. At this point, just getting rid of Rielly for depth pieces would be a blockbuster.
I think Berube could make Marner and the “DNA” improve if the right pieces are brought in to compliment him,as Uggie keeps going on about. He’s not wrong about that. But, who is actually available right now? I don’t want to hear Bennett or Marchand. The first is a dirty piece of shit that wouldn’t come to TO unless he’s grossly overpaid, and the other is a bionic geezer piece of shit who is definitely on the wrong side of the aging curve to throw term at.
This is how you change the DNA of a team. Bunch of hometown Tarana boys who play North, South, violent hockey.
Knies @ 7×3 | Matthews | Marner @ 13.16×8
R. Smith @ 4.25×3 | Jenner @ 3.75×1 | Nylander
Domi | McBain @ 3.5×3 | B. Tanev @ 1.75×2 (or Corey Perry)
Laughton | Blueger @ 1.8×1 | Lorentz @ 1×1
Comtois @ 850 (or Pacioretty if he doesn’t retire)OEL | Tanev
McCabe | T. Myers
Burns @ 2×1* | Carlo
Benoit*(if he doesn’t retire, hometown guy because he’s from Barrie. Could be the ultimate utility player as both a 7th D and a 13th forward.)
Realistically, having said all of the rambling shit above, unless Matthews goes Super Saiyan next year and puts the team on his back, the Leafs are going to take a step back without Marner.
Marner’s absence will significantly hurt Matthews (as if he wasn’t bad enough in the playoffs). The stats clearly show, the Leafs can win without Matthews, Nylander, Tavares and Rielly. But their record without Marner is significantly worse. Matthews will struggle to reach 60+ goals. Might be a challenge to reach 50 again if Domi is the guy they put up at RW. Nylander doesn’t work with Matthews because they’re both at their best when they shoot first.
The only guy you can bring in to temporarily replace maybe 50-60% of what Marner can do offensively is Patrick Kane. But he’s 37, often injured and hasn’t been effective in the playoffs since 2015. So even Patrick Kane replacing Marner is a big stretch. You also have to bring in Rielly Smith to replace Marner’s defensive responsibilities, especially on the PK. But again, he’s also 34. The Leafs are trying to piece together one 100 point, Selke nominee, 28 year old with two guys on the wrong side of 30. It will look good on paper but the game is played on ice.
The Leafs are not as good as Florida and Edmonton and you are absolutely correct about first two games.
Taking Panthers to game seven should not fool anyone.The Leafs took the Panthers to Game 7, you can’t take that away from them. It wasn’t pretty but nobody else gave them a better challenge. This Leafs team was and is still flawed. But it’s closer than anybody else. And to throw that away instead of build upon it would be stupid. All it would take is for Bob to act his age at 37 or fatigue from 3 long Cup runs or a major injury, and this Leafs team, with the correct improvements (remove Tavares, Rielly, Jarnkrok, Kampf etc.) and they can go further than they ever have before.
This Edmonton team would still be choking like the Leafs if it wasn’t for their head coach. Granted, Kris Knoblauch has the benefit of having the best player on the planet on his team but the way the whole team plays as a relentless unit behind him, with a bunch of no-name players for the most part lower in the line-up, really shaky blueline and a shoddy Skinner (whom he pulled and only put back in because Pickard got injured), is a wonder to watch. They’re up 1-0 early in the series so far and who knows if they will win the Cup but Kris Knoblauch deserves some major credit for the massive turn around this team has had since he took over. Full credit to him win or lose.
Bennett gets away with everything. And of course Marchand scores on the PP that shouldn’t have happened.
You know that if he and Marchand, by some miracle, played for the Leafs, all the shit they get away with would instantly be called every single time.
I think back to Game 3, Leafs had a PP and Marner got hit very late. Nothing. No call. No 5 on 3.
With the way Bennett and Marchand play, they’d get run out of town like Kadri after enough penalties / suspensions.
Uggle Buggle, you let JT walk, now you need a 2C.
Agreed. Would rather trade for Jenner and/or McBain. At least that way you can guarantee you have a gritty, rough, tough player in his prime, under 5 million who can actually play in all 3 zones. You also sign Rielly Smith who is a playoff performer and actual two-way winger. In that scenario, Nylander can be a defensive lazy fuck and still get away with it. In other scenarios, where Tavares and Nylander are still playing together, they are minus and you lose the series like they did against Florida.
You now have to move Kampf and find a taker for him, and probably have to eat cap to do that and add a sweetener;
Not true. Salary cap floor is 70 million this year. There are A LOT of teams that would happily take a plug just to fill salary and a roster spot. Same goes for Jarnkrok. Both Kampf and Jarnkrok are NHL players. They can both fill a spot on a team fighting for the playoffs and score 10-15 goals and eat up 15 min a game. They just can’t be on a team that hopes to win a Stanley Cup. Teams like Columbus or Utah would happily take these guys.
Rielly has a full NMC and very likely is going to say no to any trade except maybe Vancouver, and we’ll have to eat salary as well to do that, or take a cap dump in return.
Vancouver or Seattle. Blueger and Tyler Myers from Vancouver. Or Oleksiak and Tye Kartye from Seattle. Done deal. Next.
If salary retention is a must, I refer to my previous point that the cap floor is 70 million. There’s plenty of teams that would facilitate retaining salary to reach the cap floor. 3-way deals happen every year to reduce salary. Nothing new or complicated about it.
Team upgraded, full of tough, two-way, North-South, Toronto boys with slight hometown discount bargains.
Knies @ 7×3 | Matthews | Marner @ 13.16×8
R. Smith @ 4.25×3 | Jenner @ 3.75×1 | Nylander
Domi | McBain @ 3.5×3 | B. Tanev @ 1.75×2 (or Corey Perry)
Laughton | Blueger @ 1.8×1 | Lorentz @ 1×1
Comtois @ 850 (or Pacioretty if he doesn’t retire)OEL | Tanev
McCabe | T. Myers
Burns @ 2×1* | Carlo
Benoit*(if he doesn’t retire, hometown guy because he’s from Barrie. Could be the ultimate utility player as both a 7th D and a 13th forward.)
Woll | Stolarz
Marner is very likely walking anyways, so are you just armchair GM circle-jerking like usual, or do you want to actually talk about realistic moves?
And the Leafs are very likely never winning a Stanley Cup with retards running this team. But you’re still going to circle jerk yourself while you watch them.
You want realistic? Realistic is Marner is walking because management is inept, Bennett and Marchand are staying in Florida and the Leafs are absolutely fucked. There’s your reality.
I know that’s difficult for you, the air is foul in your mom’s basement what with her corpse rotting in the next room.
Personal attacks because you can’t deal with the actual argument. Nothing new but just as pathetic.
