Armchair GM 2017-2018

[Highlander]

Did you see the ESPN report on Hedman being injured and Morgan Rielly being a possible replacement for him?
Must have been some bad acid for that writer!

Or maybe the reader...

Maybe a flashback from 40 years ago.LOL...didnt see it was allstar game

 

[skrackle]

I agree with the article author's premise. The young core of the Leafs isn't ready to assume leadership. The veterans they have aren't good enough to lead the team to any real success.

I'd be looking to move any of the veterans; JVR, Komorov, Bozak, Moore, etc. for whatever they would bring in return. Including Marleau, but does he have a NTC? I'm not sure on that.

I'm also not sure what the point of signing him was, unless one buys into the veteran mentorship idea. There might be something to that, but the term and salary seem excessive for what he's actually contributing. It's too early in the day for the Leafs to be paying players for what they've done for other teams. I was hoping the current Leafs management had gotten past that unfortunate tendency.

I'm very interested to see how the Leafs braintrust is going to handle the rest of the season.

I think you answered your own question regarding why Marleau was signed (young core isn?t ready to assume leadership). He has a no movement clause, so if we do move him, it?ll be by his choice.

As a numbers and facts person in general, I do buy the veteran leadership angle largely based on what I?ve seen on teams I?ve run and how other rebuilding teams appeared to work (still very intangible). When he was signed, I saw it as a veteran mentor for the superstars from the top of the draft list who has maintained his body and personal life to be above reproach. I think there is value in embedding that type of dedication/professionalism/leadership by example into your lineup of young superstars. Martin might be good for giving the kids an older brother, but he knows little to nothing of the pressures of being a top pick and playing nearly forever with one organization.

As for his cost, he didn?t pick the highest offer, but he certainly still wouldn?t have come if we didn?t cross a certain threshold. With our LTIR situation, we had the flexibility to throw more money than warranted at his performance level to grease the wheels. Heck, Thornton was propositioned as well but he chose to stay. The difference with this front office?s veteran purchases than previous ones is that they are complementary purchases to insulate the outsides of the core (from the top/side and from the bottom) rather than core player transactions. I noted this earlier, but they basically chose skating/still performing vets for every class of player in the lineup. These aren?t their primary reasons for being acquired (they still need to be able to play), but a healthy portion of the decision in my estimation.

Yeah, I can buy the mentorship angle to a certain degree. The 3rd year of Marleau's contract could end up being a big price to pay for it. One thing current management seems to be good at is handling problematic contracts, so maybe they have that figured out.

I've long been a proponent of tanking. While I realize that it's not a guaranteed path to success, I wish the Leafs had stayed in that mode a bit longer. I do hope the Leafs continue to move assets like JVR while they have trade value. My biggest concern with the Leafs going forward is that they'll end up like the NY Islanders- a team with some elite talent, but just not enough to go anywhere with.

It is a fascinating process to watch, though. It's still early days.

 

[herman]

Dredging up a slightly old idea because Mirtle got a question about it today:
The Leafs should take a healthy run at getting a matchup centre, and UFA ones are not as out of reach as RHD. With all due respect to Kadri, I think he's a better Bozak replacement than Selke winner.

Prime example: Mikael Backlund

This is what happens if we drop him into our lineup (after dumping JvR, Bozak, Komarov). The money he'd be looking for is quite doable. Term might be a bit more questionable, but we don't have anyone in the pipeline.

Hyman - Matthews - Nylander
Marleau - Backlund - Brown/Kapanen
Soshnikov - Kadri - Marner
Johnsson - Gauthier - Brown/Kapanen
Martin

Trade for Marcus Johanssen as well with some spare LD prospects (Nielsen, Valiev, or a goalie in Kaskisuo), and you get some more of that centres playing wing redundancy that Babcock (rightly) desires:

Hyman - Matthews - Nylander
Marleau - Backlund - Brown/Kapanen
Johanssen - Kadri - Marner
Johnsson - Gauthier - Brown/Kapanen
Soshnikov, Martin

Right-side draws will be taken by the RW anyway. Gauthier might not be in the organization after this season anyway, so sub in whatever 4C UFA is okay.

 

[OrangeBlack]

What would you guys be willing to give up for Wayne Simmonds...Age 29, $3.975 cap hit/1.5 years left on contract.  28-32 goals each of the last 4 years.  Physical presence.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

What would you guys be willing to give up for Wayne Simmonds...Age 29, $3.975 cap hit/1.5 years left on contract.  28-32 goals each of the last 4 years.  Physical presence.

It'd probably be something like Kapanen/Brown + a 1st rounder. That's generally the go-to package whenever a player of Simmonds' worth comes up I think. Problem is we should be using those assets to address our needs on defence, not at right-wing where we're pretty solid. If the team decided to sell on JVR/Bozak/Komarov at the deadline then that would bring in some more futures to play with but it really seems like they're going to stick around so we need to be smart/patient with the expendable assets that we do have.

 

[Kin]

Unless I knew he wanted to sign an extension at a very reasonable price it'd be very difficult to convince me to offer a significant prospect for him. The Leafs don't have a short window and shouldn't be using assets on wingers right now.

 

[princedpw]

Unless I knew he wanted to sign an extension at a very reasonable price it'd be very difficult to convince me to offer a significant prospect for him. The Leafs don't have a short window and shouldn't be using assets on wingers right now.

+1

 

[AvroArrow]

Anyone else think Ottawa is a good candidate to take Martin's contract once his July bonus is paid out?  Gives them some cap with little money attached.

 

[herman]

Anyone else think Ottawa is a good candidate to take Martin's contract once his July bonus is paid out?  Gives them some cap with little money attached.

I think we let him pick where he wants to go and if that destination will have him, we just take the conditional 7th and try to help him be happy.

 

[Zee]

Anyone else think Ottawa is a good candidate to take Martin's contract once his July bonus is paid out?  Gives them some cap with little money attached.

He'll be the new Chris Neil, perfect.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

*clears throat*

If the Habs are really looking to rebuild this summer and they decide to unload Shea Weber's contract for a reasonable price, I'd look into it.

Something around Zaitsev for Weber would interest me.

 

[herman]

*clears throat*

If the Habs are really looking to rebuild this summer and they decide to unload Shea Weber's contract for a reasonable price, I'd look into it.

Something around Zaitsev for Weber would interest me.

And then expose him to Seattle.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

And then expose him to Seattle.

I mean it depends on where his game is at at that point, but Seattle gives us a nice safety net just in case it starts to deteriorate. But I'd actually be fine with keeping him for the next 5 seasons, at which point his salary goes down to $1mil and we all know that there's no way in hell he's playing his final 3 seasons at that rate. Because of that his contract really isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

 

[herman]

I think Babcock would really like having Weber.

I'm not sure he's a great fit here given his playstyle, but he's certainly a step up on anyone else we've got going on the right side at the moment.