ECQR: (8) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (9) Columbus Blue Jackets | Blue Jackets win series 3-2

[Elias Pettersson]

Toronto has no cap space to improve their D and the cap isn't going up for at least 3 years.  They might as well tear it down and start from scratch again.  There is no way for them to improve their D unless they trade one of Tavares, Matthews or Marner.  Can't keep all 3 and why would they when they can't even score one goal playing on the same line together in a deciding game?

 

If they win the lottery and get Lafreniere they should consider trading one of the big 3 for a #1 Dman.  

[Gollumpus]

2 hours ago, Junkyard Dog said:

What's even colder is that the Canucks rebuild won a post-season series before the leafs rebuild did and we did it on our first try.

The narrative which I've seen in a couple of places is that this wasn't an actual playoff series, it was a "buy in" to get to the actual playoffs, so there's no disgrace here for the Leafs still not having won a post season series since 2003(?). Technically, I guess this may be true, but had they won the story would probably be how great it is to finally get the monkey off their backs and win a playoff round.

 

                                               regards,  G.

[WHL rocks]

3 hours ago, MoneypuckOverlord said:

$&!#ty leafs team have too many individuals who don't play with heart, Nylander, Matthews is gonna jet to Arizona the first chance he gets in UFA, Marner is just a weakling, no heart, gg Columbus.

They dont have veteran leadership with Stanley Cup finals experience like we do Edler Tanev and Cup winners like Pearsson Toffoli Beagle  also guys like Sutter 

 

Our rebuild is super skilled kids with solid veteran leadership.. they have overpaid young kids no physicality on their team that can grind out wins..

 

Their just top line today (Tavares Mathews Marner) was 33 mill cap hit CBJ all 4 lines forwards 34 mill. 

[WHL rocks]

42 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Toronto has no cap space to improve their D and the cap isn't going up for at least 3 years.  They might as well tear it down and start from scratch again.  There is no way for them to improve their D unless they trade one of Tavares, Matthews or Marner.  Can't keep all 3 and why would they when they can't even score one goal playing on the same line together in a deciding game?

 

If they win the lottery and get Lafreniere they should consider trading one of the big 3 for a #1 Dman.  

Nylander will be gone before next season. They'll get something good in return. If they take young RFA and draft picks they'll have his 7 mill to sign a good UFA Dman 

 

6 mill will get a very good Dman because revenues are dead UFA prices will be lot cheaper than normal years. 

[Junkyard Dog]

1 minute ago, WHL rocks said:

Nylander will be gone before next season. They'll get something good in return. If they take young RFA and draft picks they'll have his 7 mill to sign a good UFA Dman 

 

6 mill will get a very good Dman because revenues are dead UFA prices will be lot cheaper than normal years. 

I think if they win Laferriere they should trade Matthews as well if they can net a great return.

 

Maybe the Yotes are willing to part with Chychrun, Hayton+ if Matthews was available.

[Elias Pettersson]

5 minutes ago, WHL rocks said:

Nylander will be gone before next season. They'll get something good in return. If they take young RFA and draft picks they'll have his 7 mill to sign a good UFA Dman 

 

6 mill will get a very good Dman because revenues are dead UFA prices will be lot cheaper than normal years. 

Other than Pietrangelo who will want $10 million per there are not any UFA's Dmen who can help Toronto, unless Tanev wants to go there.  They still need to sign like 5-6 guys with only $4.5 million in cap space.  Trading Nylander to free up cap space for an average UFA Dman is a lateral move at best.  If they really want to improve their D they need to trade one of the big 3.

[Gollumpus]

18 minutes ago, WHL rocks said:

They dont have veteran leadership with Stanley Cup finals experience like we do Edler Tanev and Cup winners like Pearsson Toffoli Beagle  also guys like Sutter 

 

Our rebuild is super skilled kids with solid veteran leadership.. they have overpaid young kids no physicality on their team that can grind out wins..

 

Their just top line today (Tavares Mathews Marner) was 33 mill cap hit CBJ all 4 lines forwards 34 mill. 

Well, thay had some guys that were sorta' like that (eg. Kadri), but they were traded away. I suspect that Nylander thought they were setting a bad example, being all sweaty.

 

                                                  regards,  G.

[Elias Pettersson]

4 minutes ago, Junkyard Dog said:

I think if they win Laferriere they should trade Matthews as well if they can net a great return.

 

Maybe the Yotes are willing to part with Chychrun, Hayton+ if Matthews was available.

I agree with this.  Matthews would get them a nice return, and he is probably going to walk after his contract is up anyways.  He would probably be the best one to trade as they have Tavares to be their #1 centre.  If they get Lafreniere they would have a top line of Lafreniere   Tavares   Marner.  By trading Matthews they could get a #1 Dman plus still have extra cap space to fill another spot.

 

If Toronto can get Chychrun and Hayton from Arizona for Matthews they should be all over that.  That would fill the centre position they lose with Matthews and they get a top 4 Dman, plus they create $6 million in cap space on top of that to acquire another Dman.  

[Junkyard Dog]

2 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

I agree with this.  Matthews would get them a nice return, and he is probably going to walk after his contract is up anyways.  He would probably be the best one to trade as they have Tavares to be their #1 centre.  If they get Lafreniere they would have a top line of Lafreniere   Tavares   Marner.  By trading Matthews they could get a #1 Dman plus still have extra cap space to fill another spot.

 

If Toronto can get Chychrun and Hayton from Arizona for Matthews they should be all over that.  That would fill the centre position they lose with Matthews and they get a top 4 Dman, plus they create $6 million in cap space on top of that to acquire another Dman.  

Actually I think they'd probably get a roster player(to even out cap) like Stepan(who'd be redundant with Matthews) and a good pick. Even with giving up a solid Dman in Chychrun, Matthews is no joke. Leafs would probably have to give up a guy like Dermott back since Yotes will need a D back, but like Stepan being redundant Chychrun would make Dermott redundant, especially with already having Sandin. Stepan would be an upcoming UFA that year which would clear 6.5M I believe.

 

My idea would be Dermott and Matthews for Chychrun, Hayton, Stepan and a 2021 1st(Would require them NOT to re-sign Hall).

 

You can then trade Nylander too, maybe package him with that pick to get a top 4 Veteran RD. Maybe go after Risto? Overall a top 4 consisting of Muzzin, Chychrun, Reilly and whoever you get from Nylander would be a huge improvement. They'd take a hit offensively but would have young talent in Laferriere and Hayton on the rise and cap flexibility.

 

If the Leafs get lucky with the lotto they have a great opportunity to retool their roster.

[WHL rocks]

1 hour ago, Junkyard Dog said:

I think if they win Laferriere they should trade Matthews as well if they can net a great return.

 

Maybe the Yotes are willing to part with Chychrun, Hayton+ if Matthews was available.

No way they trade Mathews. You dont trade the guy who played the best series on you team. Only guy to be +1 out of their "young stars"

 

Big body 6'3 220 lbs C with 50 goal pace. He had 47g 80 pts in 70 games. Just about to go into his prime years.. if he doesn't sign extension before he hits UFA in 4 more years you trade him. But no way you even think about that right now. 

 

Nylander is the guy going. 

[Junkyard Dog]

1 minute ago, WHL rocks said:

No way they trade Mathews. You dont trade the guy who played the best series on you team. Only guy to be +1 out of their "young stars"

 

Big body 6'3 220 lbs C with 50 goal pace. He had 47g 80 pts in 70 games. Just about to go into his prime years.. if he doesn't sign extension before he hits UFA in 4 more years you trade him. But no way you even think about that right now. 

 

Nylander is the guy going. 

As I mentioned my idea above wouldn't happen unless they won the lottery.

 

All those things about Matthew are correct which is why he'd net an incredible return. I also said to trade Nylander as well. They're almost 19M together.

 

33M in 3 players isn't gonna help long term. Just trading Nylander will likely not be enough. If they don't win the lottery however there's not much to do.

[WHL rocks]

5 minutes ago, Junkyard Dog said:

As I mentioned my idea above wouldn't happen unless they won the lottery.

 

All those things about Matthew are correct which is why he'd net an incredible return. I also said to trade Nylander as well. They're almost 19M together.

 

33M in 3 players isn't gonna help long term. Just trading Nylander will likely not be enough. If they don't win the lottery however there's not much to do.

Win the lottery or not. They're not trading Mathews. 

 

Laffy isn't a Mcdavid Mathews type to make instant impact. He'll take couple of years to develop and become a big difference maker...

[iinatcc]

2 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Toronto has no cap space to improve their D and the cap isn't going up for at least 3 years.  They might as well tear it down and start from scratch again.  There is no way for them to improve their D unless they trade one of Tavares, Matthews or Marner.  Can't keep all 3 and why would they when they can't even score one goal playing on the same line together in a deciding game?

 

If they win the lottery and get Lafreniere they should consider trading one of the big 3 for a #1 Dman.  

Tavares probably has an NMC, and the reason why Marner won't be traded is because one of the selling points for Taveres to sign with Toronto is playing with Marner. Matthews will fetch a good return but he's a number 1C and I wouldn't trade away the teams future.

 

Nylander might be a good player to trade though. I can see The Leafs getting a #3 dman if they add Nylander with a sweetener 

[Junkyard Dog]

Just now, WHL rocks said:

Win the lottery or not. They're not trading Mathews. 

 

Laffy isn't a Mcdavid Mathews type to make instant impact. He'll take couple of years to develop and become a big difference maker...

It's not just because of Laf, it's because of what you get for Matthews. Having Laf would give them enough flexibility to make that sort of move in order to get that great return. No Laf no flexibility

 

Trading Matthews would net you a return like Chychrun, Hayton +++. That's a young top 4 D, a top prospect and more. Having two young guys like Hayton, Laferriere on top of Marner/Tavares would be a good forward group. Then you throw in a top 4 D in Chychrun and you might be able to get another top 4 D with Nylander+.

 

Overall you lose offense(that slowly improves) but make incredible strides with a new and greatly improved D-core. And on top of that you gain cap flexibility. You can sign someone and take advantage of the ELC's of the young stars to help make the team better short term.

 

Like I said. Having 33M in 3 players will not succeed long term. It is a huge anchor. Cap isn't gonna go down soon. Winning the lotto could be a lifesaver and allow them to make this sort of move.

[iinatcc]

26 minutes ago, Junkyard Dog said:

As I mentioned my idea above wouldn't happen unless they won the lottery.

 

All those things about Matthew are correct which is why he'd net an incredible return. I also said to trade Nylander as well. They're almost 19M together.

 

33M in 3 players isn't gonna help long term. Just trading Nylander will likely not be enough. If they don't win the lottery however there's not much to do.

I have a question if Kyle Dubas offered Matthews to Benning in exchange for Hughes + Eriksson should Benning do it?

[Junkyard Dog]

1 minute ago, iinatcc said:

I have a question if Kyle Dubas offered Matthews to Benning in exchange for Hughes + Eriksson should Benning do it?

No. Hughes is a special talent and we are much more deeper at forward than we are at D so it wouldn't make much sense for the Canucks as well.

 

Also it would force us to tie up a lot of money at forward which is already a problem the Leafs are dealing with.

[Mackcanuck]

Little did a young Tavares know what a nightmare he was dreaming of at the time!

 

[Nuxfanabroad]

They should be bold & trade a few of these soft fwds. Western Conf..dealt far away.

 

Step 1- Gas Dubas & Scammy-plan

2- Use economic clout. Like covering Marner's huge bonus payout. Then ship him to Winterpeg for an Ehlers pkg(Niku or Heinola, 2021 1st)

3- Nylander to Avs or Minny for young D

4- Maybe even the aforementioned AM deal to 'yotes

5- Let Mr PJ's lead a group of peach fuzzed kids. Wanna lead eh? He'll earn them big bucks. Basically what the twins had to do in Van(2014-18), is what he gets here.

 

Start over. Focus resources on accumulating D. They take longer to grow/fit together. They did everything back-*sswards. A team like the Canes would provide a decent model to follow. That squad they gift-wrapped a high 2020 pick to.

[J-23]

Series showed the difference between regular season and Playoff hockey players.

 

This team is so bad. Nylander is awful, made all that attention with his contract and $&!#.

 

Marner and JT were nothing special either.

 

Keep Matthews and Marner and move on from Nylander and JT imo.

 

Should have prioritized Kadri instead of Nylander.

[rekker]

6 minutes ago, Nuxfanabroad said:

They should be bold & trade a few of these soft fwds. Western Conf..dealt far away.

 

Step 1- Gas Dubas & Scammy-plan

2- Use economic clout. Like covering Marner's huge bonus payout. Then ship him to Winterpeg for an Ehlers pkg(Niku or Heinola, 2021 1st)

3- Nylander to Avs or Minny for young D

4- Maybe even the aforementioned AM deal to 'yotes

5- Let Mr PJ's lead a group of peach fuzzed kids. Wanna lead eh? He'll earn them big bucks. Basically what the twins had to do in Van(2014-18), is what he gets here.

 

Start over. Focus resources on accumulating D. They take longer to grow/fit together. They did everything back-*sswards. A team like the Canes would provide a decent model to follow. That squad they gift-wrapped a high 2020 pick to.

Lots of good points and sounds like a good plan. No more Shanaplan, now it's  Nuxfanabroaddy Plan.