Theres no need to buy out Martin. U could probably get him onto another team for a pick. The other buyouts u can just put on LTIR and therez more space 4 ya.

Yeah thanks for the feedback man

collectively could these trades be any worse. trading ufa...moore, jvr, polak having the leafs getting inferior players in return when trading kadri and kapanen. trading players with nmcs. trading a potential star in dermot and those picks for two average forwards.

The Jackets trade is nonsensical. Why in the world would we pay anything at all for the UFA rights of a defenseman we have absolutely no need for?

I would not be interested in moving Parayko for any TOR asset besides Matthews, who certainly is not moving.

STL has Pietro, Edmundson, Parayko, Dunn as long-term, cap friendly top 4. Absolutely no reason to break that without an over-payment, regardless of suitor, because in return STL would have to overpay to fill the gap created.

If GMDA moves any of the 4 listed above it will be for an over-payment. STL has no motivation to do so otherwise.

TOR should have drafted more defenseman.

From 2013 draft, TOR has selected:

0 in top 3 rounds, 0 in all rounds in 2013
1 in top 3 rounds (Valiev), no additional in 2014
1 in 2015 (Dermott) in top 3 rounds, 3 additional in later rounds
0 in 2016 top 3 rounds, 3 in later rounds
Then finally got a clue and picked up 2 in top 3 rounds of 2017, 2 additional in later rounds.

38 picks in total, 12 total defenseman selected - 4 of those 12 just this past off-season.
14 picks in top 3 rounds, 4 total defenseman selected in top 3 rounds - half of those just this past off-season. If you do not count 2017, then from 2013-2016, 4 drafts, Toronto selected 12 times and choose defenseman 2 out of those 12. That's 16%. Not how you build a top 4.

I doubt any team is giving TOR what it wants for a potential stud top 4 D except maybe Philly or CBJ since both may have 5 legit top 4 options.

Instead of Marner TOR could have taken Hanafin, Provorov, Werenski.
Instead of Nylander TOR could have taken Sanhiem, Honka.

Now you have to wait 3 years to see if Liljergren is viable or if any recent late round snipes pay off.

"Shanaplan" very very good at selling tickets because team is super exciting to watch and created a great team capable of a cup run, but it created the holes in TOR's lineup, and nobody is going to create a hole to help you out with that.

Hard to compare STL's draft strategy to TOR due to a few deadline buys which sent picks away from the team, but in the past decade STL has selected the following in the first 3 rounds:

Erik Johnson 1OA
Ian Cole 17 OA
Alex Pietrangelo 4 OA
David Runblad 17 OA
Joel Edmundson 46 OA
Jordan Schmaltz 25 OA
Vince Dunn 56 OA
Jake Walman 82 OA
Colton Parayko 86 OA
Tommy Vanelli 47 OA

That is just the top 3 rounds and the players who haven't busted yet. Not listing the busts. Not listing the later round selections like Niko Mikkola who may join the club in another season ready to go, or the pile of later round selections who have busted.

In these years, more than 50% of STLs highest selection have gone to defense. That is how you build a top 4.