Can't believe this didn't happen despite the Santo guarantee.

- Scabeh

*returns Skinner Leafs onesie*

Loved the Habs draft, loved the Slaf signing, honestly a great weekend to be a Habs fan.

Too bad we couldn't convince a Marchesseault or Perron to come a for 2-3 years but I think the Habs will be much more aggressive on UFAs next summer.
- Scabeh

I think the smart play for the Habs is to let progress come organically with what you've drafted. If you rush it, you could leave "rebuild space" with an incomplete rebuild.

When I look at Chicago or Pittsburgh or Florida or Edmonton - it's about top-3 picks.

Chicago had 3 top-3 picks in 5 years. Cam Barker may have sucked, but they turned him into a useful Nick Leddy.

Edmonton had 5 in a 6 year period where 4 of them were #1. There are 3 core pieces from those years. They haven't won yet, but it's not like they haven't been given the opportunity to build up the core pieces to do so.

Pittsburgh had 4 in 4 years (Fleury, Malkin, Crosby, Staal).

Tampa had 2 in 2 years, and of course supplemented with Kucherov, Point and Vasilevskiy steals later in the draft.

Florida had 4 in 5 years (Gudbranson, Huberdeau, Barkov and Ekblad).

Montreal has had 2 in recent years and let one walk (which was the right decision and he, sadly, sort of sucked). Patience may be in order, but I think Demidov is a top-3 guy who slipped to 5. Sort of like how I think Marner is a top-3 guy who slipped to 4.

I am a bit surprised the Leafs didnt put Reaves\Kampf on waivers. Kampf is decent,but not at the cap hit, and Reaves clearly isnt a player they can rely on in the playoffs.

Maybe they are trying to trade one of them in a package? Not sure what trades might be available right now for the Leafs.

Wonder if they might be able to trade for Zegras, Konency, or Buchnevich somehow.
- Archaic

Kampf isn’t going anywhere for a couple years and Reaves is still a useful leader

https://thehockeynews.com...-being-named-late-scratch

I am a bit surprised the Leafs didnt put Reaves\Kampf on waivers. Kampf is decent,but not at the cap hit, and Reaves clearly isnt a player they can rely on in the playoffs.

Maybe they are trying to trade one of them in a package? Not sure what trades might be available right now for the Leafs.

Wonder if they might be able to trade for Zegras, Konency, or Buchnevich somehow.
- Archaic

I think Tre values Kampf a lot and so will Berube.

I think they would be open to trading Jarnkrok. Solid player but he has been pretty bad for 3 playoff series in a row now.

He is useful but come playoff time you do not want him in the lineup.

Can't believe this didn't happen despite the Santo guarantee.

- Scabeh

My Guarantee extends to 2025 offseason

I really like what tre did with the D.

Now do something with the forwards. Make this offseason a good one.

Alex Nylander signing.

Trade options

B Tanev at 50% retained
Ross Colton(Would need to trade Lilly)

I really like what tre did with the D.

Now do something with the forwards. Make this offseason a good one.

Alex Nylander signing.

Trade options

B Tanev at 50% retained
Ross Colton(Would need to trade Lilly)
- Santo_44

Have the forward group ever been weaker in the Matthews era?

Have the forward group ever been weaker in the Matthews era?
- fifty__missions

Yes Jimmy Vesey era was quite meh. Was Joe Thornton that year as well? That F group was meh as well.

I'd say stash up another pick and wait until TDL but Tre doesn't like to do that. I think we see a trade involving Janrkrok that brings back a quality F.

He's not amazing, but let's put it this way:

Rielly needs a defensive specialist in order to thrive at 5v5 play - like earlier Brodie, or Hainsey. Tanev is going to provide, ideally, the best example of this.

OEL is not some defensive specialist. Last year with Florida he put up decent numbers, but if you look at the breakdown of those numbers, it was buoyed when he was paired with a defensive partner in Forsling. When he was with Kulikov or even Montour his numbers were marginal (+1 in total compared to +9 with Forsling).

He wasn't particularly great with Vancouver - where he was largely paired with Myers. He did due well a couple of years ago paired when Schenn and playing the left-side.

I mention this because OEL is going to need someone who can play the physical part that he doesn't do too well. This could be Hakanpaa, who is an RD and could serve the part of Schenn - if they keep this pairing as the 3rd pairing. That would put McCabe & Benoit as the 2nd pairing, which I'd prefer to Liljegren in there.

Love him or not, McCabe is a lower top-4 defenseman who isn't pushed into the role unnecessarily (like Holl was; he's moderately capable) and is being paid $2m to do a $4m job.

He probably shouldn't get resigned at the salary he'll want, but while we have him this cheap I wouldn't dismiss that part of his value.
- Monkeypunk

OEL will be fine. The Leafs can't score or generate offense from the blueline outside of Rielly or Lilly randomly and mostly on the PP to save their lives.

Have the forward group ever been weaker in the Matthews era?
- fifty__missions

I don't think the Leafs will have trouble scoring goals with their current forward group.

I don't think the Leafs will have trouble scoring goals with their current forward group.
- Scabeh

Tell me about scoring in the playoffs now.

new blog everyone

Loved the Habs draft, loved the Slaf signing, honestly a great weekend to be a Habs fan.

Too bad we couldn't convince a Marchesseault or Perron to come a for 2-3 years but I think the Habs will be much more aggressive on UFAs next summer.
- Scabeh

I think the Slav signing was smart. With the way contracts go these days you have to take a chance, and the draft was impressive too.

I am a bit surprised the Leafs didnt put Reaves\Kampf on waivers. Kampf is decent,but not at the cap hit, and Reaves clearly isnt a player they can rely on in the playoffs.

Maybe they are trying to trade one of them in a package? Not sure what trades might be available right now for the Leafs.

Wonder if they might be able to trade for Zegras, Konency, or Buchnevich somehow.
- Archaic

This year the league's minimum salary is $775k and next year it will be $800k. The rule for burying a salary in the minors is league minimum + $375k. So this year $1.15m and next year $1.175 of any salary is buriable in the minors. Or in other words if bury Reaves in the minors he has a $200k cap hit this year and a $175k next year.

If you buy him out, you'll pay $450k for 4 years.

I think Kampf is way overpaid, but he does technically provide some value with the right wingers. Buying him out would be crap though - $1.6m x 3 years and then $400k for the next 3. You basically gain $800k for 3 years and then lose $400k for the next 3.

Tell me about scoring in the playoffs now.
- fifty__missions

That's what the TDL is for. If the Leafs had loaded up on forwards, you'd be female doging about the D. You can't fix the entire team in one fell swoop. Tre did well, team will be better than I expected next year.