21 May 2018 15:55:46
Matt Martin (LW - 2.5 Million x 2 Years - 25% Salary Retention) and 2018 4th Round Selection to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Tyler Ennis (C/ LW - 4.2 Million x 1 Year)

- Similar contracts and cap totals being swapped; one at less of a hit for an additional cost. Martin is worse than Ennis, so the pick is added, however, Ennis’ production for his cap hit is pretty worrisome. Toronto needs more cap hit for the 2019/ 20 season because of Matthews&Marner’s contracts, so they can afford the pricy tag for Ennis for the next year. If Minny wants free agents, then it makes more sense for them to take the cheaper contract, albeit for an extra year.

Jake Gardiner (D - 4.05 Million x 1 Year) to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Connor Murphy (D - 3.85 Million x 4 Years) and 2018 3rd Round Selection.

- Chicago could use an offensively minded dman, Toronto could use a defensive oriented one. Although Murphy has a longer term, and is locked down for longer, Gardiner is the superior dman based on the previous seasons statistics, and that's why Chicago adds the 3rd Round Pick. Gardiner could be useful alongside a true DFD like Brent Seabrook, and Murphy could partner well with Morgan Rielly.

2018 3rd Round Selection (Chicago) + Curtis McElhinney (G - 0.8 Million x 1 Year) + 2019 4th Round Selection to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Valeri Nichushkin (LW - Rights - Contract Extension: 2.25 Million x 3 Years) .

- Dallas acquires two draft picks and a cheap backup goalie to aid Ben Bishop, in order to not overplay him during the season. Mac played better than Lehtonen, and tbh, Dallas needs to move on from him. Toronto acquires a wild card: a guy who was a 30 point man in his first stint in the NHL, and a guy who has been 0.5 PPG in the KHL. He could be great alongside Auston, or could bust out, be worse than Connor Brown, and then defect back to Russia.

2018 2nd Round Selection + Josh Leivo (RW - 0.75 Million x 1 Year) to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Samuel Morin (D - RFA - Contract Extension: 1.5 Million x 2 Years) + 2018 5th Round Selection.

- Philly has a ton of young dmen (Prov, Ghost, Hagg, Sanheim, Myers), as well as some veterans such as Gudas, so Morin seems expandable, especially since his growth has somewhat stunted in Phillys farm system. Its possible he could use a fresh start, and maybe he could turn it around, especially on a team that could certainly use DFD. Philly gets a bottom six winger who never got a chance in Toronto, and a decent pick around 55th overall. Toronto gets a guy who could be a solid DFD for the future, or a guy who may be no more than a 5-6 dman.

Draft:

(C) Vitaly Kravtsov - MHL:
Comparable: Evgeny Kuznetsov
Rankings: Between 15-25.

If not.

(D) Mattias Samuelson - USA
Strengths: Hitting, Defensive Responsibility.
Rankings: 21-25.

Extensions:
William Nylander - C/ RW - 5.75 Million x 7 Years
Tyler Bozak - C - 3.0 Million x 1 Year
Andreas Johnsson - LW - 1.75 Million x 3 Years
Auston Matthews - C - 10.0 Million x 8 Years
Mitch Marner - RW - 7.0 Million x 8 Years)

Free Agency:
John Carlson - D - 8.0 Million x 7 Years

Lineup:
Valeri Nichushkin (2.25 Million) - Auston Matthews (ELC) - Mitch Marner (ELC)
Patrick Marleau (6.25 Million) - Nazem Kadri (4.5 Million) - William Nylander (5.75 Million)
Andreas Johnsson (1.75 Million) - Tyler Bozak (3.0 Million) - Kasperi Kapanen (0.85 Million)
Zach Hyman (2.25 Million) - Par Lindholm (0.85 Million) - Connor Brown (2.1 Million)
*Tyler Ennis (4.2 Million), Miro Aaltonen (0.8 Million)

Travis Dermott (ELC) - John Carlson (8.0 Million)
Morgan Rielly (5.0 Million) - Connor Murphy (3.85 Million)
Ron Hainsey (3.0 Million) - Nikita Zaitsev (4.25 Million)
*Samuel Morin (1.5 Million), Igor Ozhiganov (0.8 Million)

Frederik Andersen (5.0 Million)
Garrett Sparks (0.85 Million)

Total Cap: 68.725 Million
- Fourth line is the checking line against teams top lines, Hyman, Brown and Lindholm are all defensively responsible and will be the matchup line.

When Matthews and Marner and Dermotts extensions kick in.

Lineup:
Valeri Nichushkin (2.25 Million) - Auston Matthews (10.0 Million) - Mitch Marner 7.0 Million)
Patrick Marleau (6.25 Million) - Nazem Kadri (4.5 Million) - William Nylander (5.75 Million)
Andreas Johnsson (1.75 Million) - Miro Aaltonen (0.8 Million) - Kasperi Kapanen (0.85 Million)
Zach Hyman (2.25 Million) - Par Lindholm (0.85 Million) - Connor Brown (2.1 Million)
*Carl Grundstrom (ELC), Trevor Moore (ELC)

Travis Dermott (0.875 Million) - John Carlson (8.0 Million)
Morgan Rielly (5.0 Million) - Connor Murphy (3.8 Million)
Samuel Morin (1.5 Million) - Nikita Zaitsev (4.25 Million)
*Andreas Borgman (0.875 Million)

Frederik Andersen (5.0 Million)
Garrett Sparks (0.85 Million)

Total Cap: 76.525 Million

With the cap going up, this seems reasonable. If not, a Marleau trade could happen and could become a legitimate possibility.

1.) 21 May 2018
21 May 2018 16:20:36
I would avoid Carlson being that he is not good in his own end and is an offensive defencemen.

2.) 21 May 2018
21 May 2018 17:52:47
I’m not sure Stars will want to give up on Nichushkin so easily. He has had two years of extra development in KHL, where he has done well, and Stars can almost certainly find a use for him on their team.

Wild might do the Martin trade. Lowers their AAV cap hit. Gives them a little relief.

Gardiner for Murphy is a yes from Chicago. Gardiner might help put them back in the playoffs next year. And if they decide they can’t afford him after, he is free to walk.

Morin I don’t know anything about. If we can’t get anything useful for Lievo, we should take it. Morin would be facing same depth problem on Leafs that he is facing on Philly and may have hard time cracking our lineup. Even if Morin doesn’t work out, it cost us fringe player for fringe player.

3.) 21 May 2018
21 May 2018 18:24:35
I'm very high on Kravtsov. I think he might be a sleeper this draft. No question the leafs don't draft him if he falls to 25.

4.) 21 May 2018
21 May 2018 18:56:49
I hope the Leafs pick a center this year. We are pretty desperate at that position and not a lot of depth there. Gauthier was a huge bust for us. Let’s not repeat that mistake again. We need to draft someone with real potential. It looks like defensemen are favoured to take up the top spots, which means of the available centres left when we pick, there should still be a decent one left.

5.) 21 May 2018
21 May 2018 19:52:42
Gardner for Murphy would absolutely decimate Toronto’s defence, the hate jake gets on here is hilarious, leaf fans on here have no idea what they have in Gardner. He’s a 40 to 50 point defend men who makes the occasional bad mistake, I’ve watched him play every game the last few years and he is easily our second best defencemen. Murphy btw was a healthy scratch multiple times this year in Chicago and played poorly in a sheltered bottom pairing and yet apparently that’s a good trade.

6.) 21 May 2018
21 May 2018 20:52:49
This year's draft lacks at the centre position. Although I absolutely think we should draft a centre, you always take the best available player. Kravtsov and Lundestrom are my guys at 25, not sure if they'll fall though. If not, Ryan Mcleod will be a safe bet at that pick.

7.) 22 May 2018
22 May 2018 13:09:44
@tmarras

You must be joking . If you watched every game Gardiner played this year, you can’t argue with the simple facts x2 that I am listing below. If you disagree, you are lying about watching games and just read the stat lines :

1) Gardiner can’t transition to skating backwards fast enough to keep up. He can’t go from stop-to-go backwards fast enough and people blow by him (see game 7 tying goal in 3rd period)

True!

2) Also, when he is skating backwards and the offensive player is along the boards, instead of rubbing rim out into the boards, he swings his stick at them softly and rapidly and 7/10 times he misses and they go right by him .

True again!

These are 2 basic things you learn in early years of development .

Your response please . start with @Mr Blizzard.

8.) 22 May 2018
22 May 2018 15:48:29
My other concern about Gardiner, he makes decisions too slowly. When he is first back to retrieve the puck in his own end, he seems to hesitate. Quite often he gives up the puck under pressure or the opposing forward is on him before he moves the puck.

9.) 22 May 2018
22 May 2018 19:53:51
Ah so blizzard is using an eye test to judge jake Gardner based off of his backwards skating and lack of running people out on the boards, this being a flaw in most smooth skating defencmen whose game and purpose is to transition the puck, which everybody but us leafs fans knows that jake Gardner is one of the best in the league at, lol if you take away blind hate for the guy you realize that he’s a 50 point offensive defencemen, a term I hate because if you delve into any advanced stats you realize that Gardner actually has the most zone entries and exits and when he’s on the ice the puck tilts towards the leafs favour. Now before you go on about ya so he still has horrible give away tendencies I say to you so what? He more than makes up for it throughout a full year and is without a doubt our second best defencemen, again I’m not completely against trading him, but I’ve yet to see a trade on here that improves the leafs d by trading our second best d man. Stop using this weird hate for the guy and please look at the facts. The other teams will be laughing if we trade Gardner for someone that’s not equal to him, which btw would be someone who would come in and be our second best defence. Again I’m not against trading the guy but really if you think about there aren’t a whole lot of 1 for 1 trades that actually make sense with him.

10.) 23 May 2018
23 May 2018 12:37:51
@tmarras

1) you gave it a shot . I respect that you are at least trying to show some value to this guy. The reality is we could take any of our many many wingers in our system and they could be just as good of an “offensive defenseman”

2) yes, Blizz uses the eye test . my eye test shows me that he is a defensive liability because he gives the puck a way a lot, skates poorly backwards, gets beat 1 on 1 all the time. also, look at a picture of the guy. I do believe he is completely cross eyed . (not making fun, I’m not prince, I just don't think that’s helping

3) second best D?!?! Yikes! here is our D depth chart :

Morgan
Hainsey
Dermott
Zaitsev
Roman P
Borgman
Holl
Rosen
. do we still Marincin or did we trade him?
Gardiner


The reality is we had a 4-3 lead with 10 min left in the 3rd period and Gards played 8:17 of the last 10:00 . why?

Side note : the East stinks. Washington stinks . stamkos is terrible . pity is always a threat because Crosby is great, they are probably the best team in the east.

If Gardiner didn’t play the last 10vs Boston we would ah e held on and went vs Tampa.

We would have won in 6 at the most . They stink . Very lucky to still be alive.

Washington would be a coin flip. But a big difference ina. Continuing build to make it out of that game

Gardiner stinks, your argument is is flawed, they won’t get anything for him, it’s too bad . we deserve to see the second round .