U have BIG cap issues with this team right now. Find a way to solve those, and this looks awesome.

What cap issues? This roster even gets rid of the rookie bonus issue.

Next summer: Matthews+Marner+all those guys u signed 1 year? That’s a busy summer of either letting kids go or making regrettable trades to free up space (like the Hawks). Plus with the 4.55M in potential Performance bonuses, this just isnt a good idea for the Leafs in the present or future.

Read my description. In this scenario there will be no bonus carryover to the next year. And plenty of cap room if cap goes up by less than it will this year. Plenty of room.

People need to chill out with the Dermott over rating.... I have been a big fan of him since he was drafted and went on to dominate the AHL.

However he is playing sheltered minutes on the 3rd pairing right now, the fact people think he could just step right onto the top pairing is baffling to me. Espcially when you have him displacing Morgan Rielly who has been excellent this year playing on the top pairing...

Some food for thought, Rielly is only born 2 years before Dermott.

So you add a $6 million Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to the team plus add John Carlson at $8 million and then give William Nylander $7 million. So we assume Marner gets the same $7 million and Matthews $10+ million. That's going to be about half of the current salary cap tied up in 5 player. Good luck not being like Chicago in a few years.

Look at Dermott’s advanced stats and he plays well against good competition even when handicapped with Polak. Here he’s not really a 1D, he’s playing with the 1 RD. They just won’t play 1rd with 1ld so that have 2 top pairings.

The cap certainly works for 2018/19. Oiler3535 forget to up the cap 80m which allow the PB to be fully paid in 2018/19.
I'm not sure if the cap truly works for 2019/20, another post would have to worked out, but this lineup allows for no PB carryover which is what the Leafs need.
The trade, I really don't see the Oilers trading RHN for in effect one year of Gardiner. And Carlson, I don't see the Leafs paying the most $$$$ to attract him here. Maybe the Leafs wait till 2019/20 when there are lots of UFA Dmen available and see what the cap is in.
But having RHN and Carlson sure would be an upgrade over the current lineup.

Key word ‘current’. Cap going up 5 million per year. Yes, the top 8 players in 19/20 would be making 50 million-ish. That leaves about 35 for the lower 15 on the roster. That’s over 2 million per player. Easily done.

Ya, I’m not sure why it still said 75. I had set at 80 but didn’t go through. I mention it cancelling out the bonuses in the description. Look there and my last post and I think they have plenty of room....IFF the cap keeps going up.

None of his advanced stats have been adjusted by his quality of competition which is that of an average 3rd pairing defender. When ive seen him make mistakes it is usually when the other team catches his pairing out against a top 6 line. He is not ready for the top pairing at all.

The Rielly-Hainsey pairing is without a doubt the leafs top pairing. Babcock always tries to get them out against the teams best offensive players while Gardiner's paring has the most ice time it is against a slightly worse QoC.

Edit: Zaitsev is a right handed defender too. Not just Polak/Carrick

Zaitzev sucks though. And no I don’t think Dermott is amazing, but he’s very good. He does make the occasional mistake but so does every D in the league. Gardiner has pretty blatant giveaways and so does Reilly. All players do. That’s why you look at stats. And the stats show he plays against all lines and when playing with Polak he drives possession (not so much when stuck with Carrick).

Zaitsev is pretty solid, defensively.

Nothing wrong with Carlson playing with a rookie. It worked okay this year.

Poster, your screen name is Oiler, but you just traded another left handed defenseman to Edmonton, without dumping one back.

I think that leaves them with five left handed defensemen above 3M?

"Edmonton GM has said paying 3 top Centres doesn’t make sense."

Really?

He's going to love watching the playoffs.

Zaitsev is having a tough year but he is playing his second year on North American ice after a good rookie season playing well on the top pairing. He has the tools but is low on confidence, I wouldn't count him out yet.

Can you show me where you got this stat from? As I'm not saying Dermott can't be a top pairing eventually but he is a rookie and putting him right onto the top pairing next year after only ever playing on the 3rd pairing wouldn't be a good thing for his development I think.

Gardiner and Rielly play against much harder matchups and better players than Dermott so comparing their possession stats doesn't really paint the whole picture. I'm not denying Dermott is absolutely dominating the third pairing matchups/QoC and I would like to see him getting 2nd pairing, #4D usage with some powerplay time next year. Build up his confidence and ease him in.

I like this. Not sure if Edmonton would bite, but would love to see that. I think Reilly will grow still as a player and keep the top pairing role. Would have loved to see dermott be a RHD...

I agree the load of LD on Edmonton is an issue I never thought of. Gardiner can easily play RD though.

The stats come from multiple places, but the main ones are Athletic articles. They show when with Polak he starts most shifts in the ad zone and that he isn’t sheltered against good lines.

From the ones I've seen he has pretty much a 50% split with offensive and defensive zone starts with a slight edge to defensive zone. I disagree with the stats pointing to him not being sheltered against top 6 opponents as the stats i have seen point to 3rd pairing matchups and the eye test from watching every leaf game also backs that up.

3rd pairings sometimes see the other opponents top 6 but that is rare and usually when the other team gets the last change or a good on ice change to exploit the 3rd pairing.

So in half the games plus any icing the 3rd pair is on? That’s pretty common.

Hockey Reference has players' offensive zone starts percentage by season and by game, if that helps anyone:
https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/z/zaitsni01.html