Kevin McGran's math appears to be off in his recent mailbag.
I tried to create the team he suggests in the Armchair-GM mode of Capfriendly. Added Montour for $7 million, added Zadorov for $5 million and gave Liljegren a very modest raise. That left about $5.5 million for another goalie to play with Woll and 2-3 more forwards. So the Leafs will definitely lose Bert and Domi.
The top four D is better, but the forward group would be worse. I don't see how we can compete for a Cup with that roster.
by davedaviking
17 Comments
We aren’t competing for a cup with these 4 forwards making 11M+. It’s just not happening. If we run it back just accept that next season is waiting for the 25-26 season.
The media in this city is fuckin trash Leafs haters, stop engaging with it….
Zad at 5mill because of one off-season is a mistake. Montour is worth it tho
Zadorov is not signing for less than 6.5 not saying he is worth 6.5 but I bet you someone offers him it.
Everyone saying we can’t compete with our current roster isn’t taking into account the effect of a new coach and system.
If the Leafs had played the entire Boston series the way they played games 5-7, everyone would be singing a different tune, because it’s likely we win round 1 and at the very least, push Florida to the edge.
We’ve got good players, they just need defined roles without ego getting in the way. With that comes confidence.
Look what happened to the Oilers when Knob was brought in. They were a complete tire fire up until that point.
Zadorov at 5M is disgusting. Please no.
Zadorov is the classic “looks really good as a 5/6 dman, gets overpaid in free agency to play as a teams 1/2/3/4 dman, and looks completely out of place” Free Agent
Why is everyone so high on Montour? He’s 30. He’s had one career year at age 29 where almost half his points came on the PP. We talk about overpriced players in the top four, but want to hand out a fat contract to a guy that will never live up to that ONE season he had. He’s going to want to get paid and we should be staying far away.
Let’s assume the Penguins are just going to have to start a rebuild. The leafs could do a lot worse than trading for Ryan Graves who Dubas overpaid (shocking, i know) and their fanbase is already sick of. dubas eats more salary in exchange for better draft capital. they also have a swedish Petterson who is on an expiring deal with a reasonable cap hit.
For free agents, the ones that stick out to me are guys like Carrier or DeMelo that don’t have the profile in Toronto media, but are, in my opinion, better moves to fantasize about since they aren’t necessarily going to command the same kinds of salaries.
edit: i thought dubas gave graves 6/6 but it’s actually on 4.5 a year. good player on a team going nowhere with a reasonable deal and under 30. also he’s from nova scotia and all these guys seem to like winning.
The Leafs also have quite a few prospects that could crack the roster next season. Not saying they will but any of the following guys could steal a roster spot as early as next season. Easton Cowen, Fraser Minten, Alex Steeves, Roni Hirvonen as forwards. Topi Nimela, Cade Weber, Noah Chadwick on defence. Hidleby and Akhtiamov in net.
Line 4 as of now probably looks something like Dewar, Kampf, Reaves. Line 3 could be around Jarnkrok and McMann on the wings with Holmberg, Minten, Steeves, or Hirvonen, or a F/A signing at center. Need one winger for top 6, could end up being Bert, Domi, Robertson, Cowen slotting into that roster spot. If Cowen makes the team I would expect Knies to fill line one wing and Cowen to get shuffled between 2nd and 3rd line wings.
If they sign Montour for $7ish they could bring Nimela in for bottom pairing minutes with Benoit and also be on PP2 with Rielly. Montour with McCabe and just need one RD to play with Rielly.
Getting Woll and one of the other young goalies is a 1A/1B would allow them to spend elsewhere.
They have $18mil in roster space for Robertson, Domi, Dewar, Montour, and second and third line defender, and a vet 3rd goalie similar to Martin jones. Any of the prospects jumping to the NHL takes a bit of pressure off spending on forwards in free agency.
I hope they bring in Domi & Montour for $10 mil, resign Robertson and Dewar for $2.5 mil, a $4 mil defender to play with Rielly, Nimela takes 3rd pairing with Benoit. They could also trade the rights to Liljegren and Kampf for a decent return as well. Teams will be willing to take a chance on Liljegren and Kampf is expensive for what he is and could use a fresh start.
I like this
Ewww I don’t want montour or zadorov
I’d much rather have Tanev and pesche
And tbh I’m not sure I really want domi or Bert back because they need to have some roster spots for Cowan and minten those guys plus Robertson are cheap and the team needs as many cheap spots as they can get
Robertson Matthews Nylander
McMann Domi Marner
Knies Tavares Cowan
Dewar Holmberg Jarnkrok
Reaves
Rielly Liljegren
McCabe Montour
Zadorov Timmins
Benoit
Woll
Robertson = 1.25m x 1
Domi = 3.5m x 2
Dewar = 1.35m x 2
Liljegren = 2.5m x 1
Montour = 7m x 6
Zadorov = 5m x 5
Kampf to NJD for a 3rd, or 5th.
Cap Space: 0.27m
It could be done if you traded Jarnkrok for a pick and signed a backup with his money or less.
Wait we *don’t* want Montour?
Montour would boost tuzzi and tavvi with some boomers from the point for them to collect into the back of the net.
Or we can try using MR flutter puck again
I’d rather Pesce than both tbh
Montour at 7M is crazy. Zadorov at 5M is crazy. The obvious defense targets should be Pesce and Skeji
7 million for montour? Are you out of your mind?