Full Leafs Roster

That Ottawa deal is bad for the Leafs cause Toronto won't be giving up 2 roster players to get Pesce.

The basis of the Sens deal is there, but straight up that doesn't do much for Toronto. Leafs are actually helping the Sens more than Ottawa helps them because Melynk is so cheap.

To Ottawa:
Zaitsev
TOR 2020 3rd round pick
C+ or B- prospect (I've suggested Pontus Holmberg)

To Toronto:
Gaborik's contract (goes on LTIR and gets his on island)
Dylan Demelo

If Melnyk wasn't so cheap, I could see Ottawa not having to add anything in, but the fact that he doesn't wanna pay a guy to not do anything for him gives the Leafs leverage even though they have the cap issues. That leverage being: any team can take Zaitsev for a reduced price, not many teams have the financial flexibility to pay a guy to not play for them. Toronto is one of them. Advantage Leafs.

Pesce for Kapanen alone is almost fair in reality (despite what some other users on here say), Toronto maybe adds a 2nd in it to get it done and can ship Brown elsewhere to get more assets.

As for the signings, Kapanen is reasonable, Johnsson I think you're in the right ballpark but might be different term and a bit more money. Marner you're off by probably about $1M if you're gonna do 6 years, he'll get closer to Matthews AAV if his term goes longer than Matthews. Best idea is to bridge him until the cap opens up.

AND DEAR GOD DO NOT BRING MARINCIN BACK.... PLEASE!

While I do like Demelo, I don't know how much he really moves the needle for the leafs, I think I'd rather just keep the 3rd, however I agree that that's pretty fair

For Kapy and johnsson I looked at a few comparables who got 2-4 year deals as UFAs after similar production, namely Kase, Pacioretty, Ritchie, Wood, Marcus Foligno, Niederreiter, Bjorkstrand, Tatar, Baertshi, Mantha, Hyman, Brown, Roussell, Dzingel and found that $3.1M/year was pretty fair

As for Marner given that Stone and Kucherov are UFAs with greater negotiating leverage and are flat out better players, and they took $9.5M I think that at the end of the day it will come down to around here.

As for Marincin I don't mind him nearly as much as others lol, but I just want him as like an 8th defenseman, and will only play if 2+ are injured, realistically you could sign any UFA there, like maybe Chris Wideman? I just thought I'd keep him in that spot as a familiar face

Demelo is better than Zaitzev, doesnt really make sense for the Sens if they're only getting back a 3rd and a meh prospect. I get that they have to get to the cap floor but they can do that in more beneficial ways

While I probably agree Demelo > Zaitsev, It will take time for the Sens to be competitive and by the time they do, Demelo may have walked in free agency or be less effective than he is now. The 3rd will be more useful to them when they're ready to win. And this deal doesn't really help them get to the cap floor, as you'll be taking Gaborik's contract anyways. Ottawa would probably rather pay to have a player play for them, than to have a player on IR.

It's debatable if Zaitsev is worse than Demelo and if so, then by how much? Not much at all. The benefit that the Sens are getting is cause of their cheap ass owner. Melnyk doesn't like to pay players. He won't like paying Gaborik to sit out all year, at least with Zaitsev he plays and Melnyk would be slightly happier to pay him to actually play. So the Leafs doing him that huge favour, gets the return of Demelo. Who's at best a 5-6 dman, Zaitsev is at best a #4 dman and on Ottawa would instantly be a #2 dman. It's pretty beneficial to both teams actually