KlingburgLeaf

terrible for the Leafs lol. Why give up one of your young players under team control who is cheap? Just for a rental who is insanely overrated

They need to add Holl's replacement (without trading him), which should be a shutdown dman unless Liljegren emerges as that guy. Trading Sandin would be a mistake. They could add Klingberg but not much point since they probably won't be able to retain him, and adding him as a rental likely doesn't put them over the top (might improve PP1 but could cost them 5v5).

Either way I would hope their blue line next year looks like this:

Rielly - Holl-type/Klingberg-type
Sandin - Liljegren
Giordano - Brodie

My 2 Ideal Blue Lines imo
1. Rielly-Lilly
Brodie-(Murphy/Chych aka someone via trade)
Gio-Sandin


2.Rielly-Lilly
Sandin-Brodie
Gio-(Schenn/Braun aka someone via trade)

Sandin and a 2nd isn't going to buy a retained Klingberg either. Sandin has been frankly brutal under the increased role that he swears he is ready for, and Anaheim has plenty of copies of him in our system so why push all them down or add to the log jam?

Any offer that doesn't start with the 2023 1st probably gets hung up on.

I like option 2 better for their long-term outlook, they need someone better than Schenn/Braun though or they might as well resign Holl.

Murphy is just a more expensive Holl imo, and there are a ton of issue with adding Chychrun.

I think the Leafs current D-core is fine if they run
Rielly-Liljegren
Sandin - Brodie
Giordano - Holl

They can then add at the deadline a guy like Zub or Hakanpaa if they become available or perhaps Dubas can find another off the radar addition like Lyubushkin. I think they need to be capable enough to play the RD even if they are LH, so that the D-lines can be arranged accordingly. The cost of acquisition needs to be reasonable too, a guy like Soucy for example if he's going to cost a 1st+3rd, it's not really worth it, but if he's more like two 2nds+3rd then it would be good.

The other addition that they should make is an upgrade on Kerfoot, someone who's more of a top 6 player, even if they end up playing them at 3C if it's a center like Toews for example. I think Knies will be able to join the team but he'll probably not be good enough for the top 6. So, he could play with Jarnkrok and Engvall on the 3rd which would result in them needing a top 6 guy unless Robertson proves otherwise.