2025-26 NHL Thread
- Thread starter herman
- Start date
Well come on it's their last chance to abuse the LTIR rule.
OldTimeHockey
Well-known member
Somebody in marketing may be looking for work.
There's no immediate need for this season, but there's apparently still some talk they'll shop him if the number he wants long-term is too high.
It's kind of crazy to see Winnipeg, the reigning Presidents Trophy winner, currently sitting with $18mil in cap space. Roughly $3-5mil of that will likely go to Toews' bonuses but that's still a massive amount of cap space for a team with Cup aspirations.
edit: Ah, I didn't realize Vilardi is still a RFA. That combined with Toews' bonuses probably leaves them with about $7-8mil in cap space. Still a lot but not as crazy.
edit: Ah, I didn't realize Vilardi is still a RFA. That combined with Toews' bonuses probably leaves them with about $7-8mil in cap space. Still a lot but not as crazy.
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It's crazy that this is all Treliving's fault.
dappleganger
Well-known member
It was a good return for Tkachuk.
I don't really disagree but I'm also not looking to restart that debate hah. Just a funny what-if situation. How different would the league look right now if Treliving signed Tkachuk to an 8-year deal after his ELC (like Matthew was allegedly open to) instead of the 3-year bridge. Does that open up a path to a Leafs Cup win?
dappleganger
Well-known member
It really worked out pretty serendipitously for the Panthers. It's not like Tkachuk has been the Conn Smythe winner the last two years (he might have been the Panthers best player for their 2023 run). Seems like he was just what the roster was missing.
herman
Well-known member
The Panthers traded out their top 5 draft pick / one-time 100 pt scoring 1st line playmaking winger with middling playoff performances after 10 years to make this happen.
(They also picked up Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Gustav Forsling for basically spare pucks and Skittles, and rebuilt them into extremely effective players)
Guru Tugginmypuddah
Well-known member
I'm not sure if Panthers management just watched Money Ball on repeat until their eyes bled or just absolute luck.
herman
Well-known member
Those guys are all very skilled in their own way, but struggled on their former (garbage) teams. Kudos to their scouting staff and management team for consistently placing good buy low bets.
My observation/theory is that under Maurice, they converted to a very simple, but effortful game of forecheck, forecheck, forecheck to make mini PPs (teehee) that allowed them to leverage their skills in small areas, but keep things easy in the macro. Their team stays very connected and predictable to one another during the course of play (similar to Boston when it still had talent), so newbs and prospects could fit in easily. I think Berube is on a similar track, but the Leafs haven't had as much managerial success in identifying and acquiring skill value vs cap hit.