Official Armchair GM Thread 2015-2016

[Frank E]

I was trying to put together some kind of Marlies depth chart too. It's obviously pretty difficult since we have no idea which of these guys could be on the Leafs or not. This was the depth chart I put together (shown as lines just for convenience):

Leivo-Nylander-Brown
Leipsic-Froese-Kapanen
Soshnikov-Gauthier-Frattin
Hyman-Verhaeghe-Bailey
Rupert-Rupert-Carrick-Devane

There's likely a few other guys on AHL contracts that I might be missing. But as herman says Froese is one who has definitely earned a place on that roster.

Now, those are all of the non-legit NHL forwards that the Leafs have signed. Toronto currently has 11 legit NHL forwards on the roster, so there's room for 2-3 more on the team. Assuming the Leafs keep some of the younger guys in the AHL for another year the candidates for those spots will probably be Frattin, Leivo, Hyman, and Bailey. Depending on how much room there is on the team I would expect Devane to go up and down from the ECHL. In fact that Leafs have talked quite a bit about wanting to see their ECHL team more in developing players so I would actually expect them to send a Carter Verhaeghe and maybe even Gauthier down there for stretches as well. Especially Verhaeghe, since he'll likely be in tough to get many minutes on the Marlies with the depth that they have.

Do you know which ones have to be waived to go down?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Do you know which ones have to be waived to go down?

Uh, this is a lot tougher without Capgeeks calculator. Hyman and Bailey just signed so they're still exempt from waivers. I believe that Leivo is too for one more season. Frattin would have to pass through waivers to go down.

 

[Tigger]

Fwiw Dubas specifically said Spaling would be playing centre with the Leafs, for those NHL rosters.

 

[L K]

Do you know which ones have to be waived to go down?

Uh, this is a lot tougher without Capgeeks calculator. Hyman and Bailey just signed so they're still exempt from waivers. I believe that Leivo is too for one more season. Frattin would have to pass through waivers to go down.

It's certainly not as clean as capgeek but hockeyscap is actually a pretty nice site.

 

[Lynx]

Do you know which ones have to be waived to go down?

Uh, this is a lot tougher without Capgeeks calculator. Hyman and Bailey just signed so they're still exempt from waivers. I believe that Leivo is too for one more season. Frattin would have to pass through waivers to go down.

It's certainly not as clean as capgeek but hockeyscap is actually a pretty nice site.

I can't read that and not automatically put an 'r' in there.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

It's certainly not as clean as capgeek but hockeyscap is actually a pretty nice site.

Oh yeah, I use that, generalfanager, and capfriendly. They're all pretty decent. Capfriendly is probably my favourite of the 3, but none of them have a waiver-eligibility calculator for some reason.

 

[Kin]

Fwiw Dubas specifically said Spaling would be playing centre with the Leafs, for those NHL rosters.

With Arcobello, Bozak, Holland and Kadri also on the roster that seems somewhat unlikely barring another trade.

Or it could mean Spaling/Arcobello is seen as the 13th forward going ahead.

 

[L K]

Fwiw Dubas specifically said Spaling would be playing centre with the Leafs, for those NHL rosters.

With Arcobello, Bozak, Holland and Kadri also on the roster that seems somewhat unlikely barring another trade.

Or it could mean Spaling/Arcobello is seen as the 13th forward going ahead.

I figure that Bozak is still going to be traded at some point and I do wonder if the Leafs actually view Holland as a center or not.    I mean to be honest I'm not all that thrilled with what we have seen from Holland thus far as a Leaf.  He has moments of looking solid but he really strikes me as more of a 3rd line guy and I just don't really see him fitting in with the roster a few years down the road.  Maybe they play him on the wing instead.

Spaling has been >50% on faceoffs over his career thus far.  I would imagine that he carries more resell value if he plays up the middle this year.

 

[Joe S.]

Seeing line combinations in July hurts my spleen.

 

[Tigger]

Seeing line combinations in July hurts my spleen.

Hunwickian empathy?

 

[Highlander]

My spleen kills constantly?????.or is that my liver????..or both? :-\

 

[Tigger]

JvR            Kadri        Lupul
Matthias    Bozak      Parenteau
Komarov  Spaling      Holland
Winnik    Arcobello    Panik
Bailey/Leivo/Hyman


Gardiner  Phaneuf
Rielly      Robidas
Hunwick    Polak
Marincin/Brennan

Bernier
Reimer

That's kind of the mix to me at this point.

 

[Kin]

I think one of the reasons we've seen a lot of people go with JVR-Kadri-Winnik instead of maybe the more obvious JVR-Kadri-Lupul is that the latter really seems like it would just be atrocious defensively.

 

[Tigger]

Sure, I mean you could shove Lupul down to the second line and still give him plenty of exposure, reshuffling down a peck on the left side, also you could argue Holland over Spaling at C. One could also start dismantling/reassembling the roster with Bozak's ( hopefully ) imminent departure and what not.

I think part of Kadri's big test this year is to solidify his defensive play. He's got all the tools/skillz on offense. Putting him with the teams best two offensive wingers while throwing down the defensive awareness gauntlet could be good for him at this point. If Lupul could stay healthy it might be good for him/the Leafs as well.

Maybe there's a platoon situation available or something.

I dearly hope they are able to trade Bozak and Phaneuf this summer without having to hold their collective noses, a real decent shot at the top 3 picks becomes far more likely with them gone, and I mean, the cap space...

 

[Kin]

I think part of Kadri's big test this year is to solidify his defensive play. He's got all the tools/skillz on offense. Putting him with the teams best two offensive wingers while throwing down the defensive awareness gauntlet could be good for him at this point. If Lupul could stay healthy it might be good for him/the Leafs as well.

See, I don't agree. I mean, yeah you want Kadri to improve defensively but coming off a season where he didn't even crack 40 points I think he needs to focus on finding his offensive game and so I don't think you really want to pile additional responsibilities on his plate right now. Even still, I don't think the best way for a player to improve defensively is to ask him to be the sole defensive presence on a line. To me that's a recipe for frustration more than success.

Also, I have to assume Marincin is above Hunwick on the depth chart.

 

[Bullfrog]

While he obviously has to work on his defensive game within the team concept, I agree he needs to be let loose on offense with heavy power play time.

 

[Captain Canuck]

I dearly hope they are able to trade Bozak and Phaneuf this summer without having to hold their collective noses, a real decent shot at the top 3 picks becomes far more likely with them gone, and I mean, the cap space...

Bozak yeah, but I wouldn't hold your breath on Phaneuf leaving so soon.
I joked in the Babcock hiring thread that he would be staying, but now I'm beginning to believe that Dion isn't going anywhere. I really think Babcock wants to give it a go with Phaneuf, try and turn him around and at the very least hope to increase his trade value in the future. There seems to have been a philosophical shift regarding Dion within the organization since Babcock came on board.

 

[Frank E]

While he obviously has to work on his defensive game within the team concept, I agree he needs to be let loose on offense with heavy power play time.

Can't Kadri be both? 

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I mean, yeah you want Kadri to improve defensively but coming off a season where he didn't even crack 40 points I think he needs to focus on finding his offensive game and so I don't think you really want to pile additional responsibilities on his plate right now.

I'm not sure I'd worry too much about Kadri's offensive stats last season. At even-strength he produced at virtually the same rate as 13/14 where he put up 50 points. It was just his powerplay scoring that went into the toilet, but for whatever reason the entire 2nd unit just couldn't get anything done last season. I'm sure he won't repeat his 6-PP-point season again.

 

[Bullfrog]

Of course he can. I'm not advocating he abandons learning the defensive side of things. I just am advocating for giving him all the opportunities to use his offensive toolkit. And part of that is giving him the right linemates.