Good enough to win a Cup? Yes!

But that team won't ever happen. Nylander's probably .5m too low, Marner at least $1m too low, and Matthews is about $3m too low. So... Add $4.5m to them, cut where you have to (Brown, Hyman, maybe Gardiner)

Because of the Marleau contract length you have three contracts that will need to move to afford the young three. Those players are Zaitsev, Gardner and maybe even Kadri. All should get you younger, cheaper replacements or someone from the farm can fill the holes. Matthews is going to be at least 10 million maybe as much as 12 m. Nylander is probably 7 million and Marner most likely 8 million.
It will be difficult to keep them all and their other parts.

Too low on Matthews for sure. No way he gets less than eichel I expect between 10 and 11 per. Marner really depends on the year he has. But should he play the whole year on Tavares I can see an 80 point season and then a 7-8 million per contract.

Way too much for Carrick who likely won't even crack the lineup most nights. I expect that he is surpassed by Ozhiganov and quite possibly Lilljegren by the start of 2019/20 season.

I'd honestly rather let Gardiner walk and attempt to grab a true top 4 right D man. Again easier said than done but I think spending 5-6 mil per on a true top pair defender and move a young forward like Kapanen to make it happen both acquisition and cap room.

That is the general consensus but I don't see it. I see the fans perspective as inflated salaries based on teams that aren't even in playoff contention let alone Cup contention. The 3 big RFAS are very close in value and cutting to overpay them is something losing franchises would do.

Take out Gardiner, Zaitsev, and Kadri and this team doesn't make the playoffs a la Edmonton.

We have Dubas, they have Chiarelli.

Name a true top pairing defender in the 5-6M range.

I agree Toronto will have a hard time without those three veterans but unless the three kids all give a home town discount to the leafs, there isn't enough money to go around below the cap. Will be interesting to see how Dubas can make it work.

The teams that have drafted as high as the Leafs to get similarly talented forwards (Edmonton, Buffalo) haven't had decent enough defenses or goaltending to get into the playoffs. That doesn't, from the players' or their agents' perspectives, change the comparable players or contracts. For Matthews, it's Eichel, so expect $10m on a "deal." For Nylander, it's Pastrnak minus a bit, so there's $6m as a deal.

Marner's .82 PPG rate at ages 19 and 20 in his first two seasons is between Kane (.88) and Hall (.75)... Their second contracts were around 10% of the cap. So, anything under $7.5m would be a great deal.

Combined... not your $19m, More like $23-24m.

First, understand this isn't me, this is just math.

Nylander is Ehlers, not Pastrnak. Marner isn't far off but let's call him in Pastrnak territory.

Eichel is overpaid. He himself said he hadn't earned it yet and if you compare him to McDavid, he has scored 69% as many points which puts him in the 8.6M range on a losing team that is years away from making the playoffs.

The Leafs run things differently. If you want to win, forget what others are making, this is what we can pay you. That is their model...along with a handful of other teams.

If Mathews wants 10M+, trade him. He's not worth it.

They have a salary structure and they're building a dynasty. If the players don't want to play here, they're easily tradable for ones that do.

Note there is a difference between elite top pairin guys and true top pairing guys. A guy like Muzzin is a true top pair guy, a guy like Trouba is a true top pair guy. Even as a stretch with a partner like Reilly Myers is even a top pairing guy. Sure none of these guys are up there with the Doughty's and Karlssons and Josi's of the league but all are solid guys that play legit minutes and all shouldncpme in right around the 6 mil mark five or take 500k.

Your salaries are very low for all the big three, I think they are going to be more towards

Matthews- 10.5-11 mil x 7 years
Marner- 7-8 mil x 7 years
Nylander- 7-8 mil x 7 years

You did some comparable contracts in the comments as your reasoning which I can see why you think your numbers make sense, but realistically players especially younger ones now a days (since the cap is rising very quickly) will get more than other players even if they are not as good as them. Like even bring up John Tavares, a couple comparable players to him would be Stamkos (8.5 mill per) , Scheifele (6.125 mill per) but he ended up getting 11 million much more than his 'comparable'. Even with Matthews, I still think Matthews is the best C on this team and will be for the next 7-8 years so I don't think he is going to be asking/getting anything less than Tavares (maybe 10-10.5 mil if he is willing to take a small pay cut).

Muzzin, Trouba, and Myers make some sense, as does Gardiner. Myers already makes 5.75 so a raise seems logical, Muzzin is like Gardiner, value friendly deal, and Trouba, could be the best of the bunch, very difficult to acquire.
I gave Gardiner 5.75 for all those reasons and more importantly, cause he's already on the team. Everyone acts like acquiring players they think are better is easy, and it's not.

This was just an example of using what they have along with the cap space they have. Not dreaming about players they can't afford and can't get.

If you're going to talk comparables, at least talk comparables. Scheifele is a Matthews comparable, not Tavares. Everyone seems to forget that UFAs, like Tavares, and Stamkos, have all the leverage in not only dollars, but where they play.
Stamkos already played for a contender, one with no state tax and one that is trying to Erik mfing Karlsson. Why would he leave?
Tavares played for a going show of a franchise and after 9 years, 9 years....., tested the market. Matthews has 2 years and no leverage. I get the fans think he is the second coming of Christ but he's not.

I went conservative to show what's actually there. You added up to 8M in your thoughts, which is the norm, I get it, but no one seems to understand the concept that there just isn't that much money as well as these players aren't worth it.

what's this about trading marleau. it's not even a option with his contract. you've underpaid some players on their first years of rfa, actually less than they were making as elcs. losing gardiner is probably after all he is ufa and ufas tend to leave where they find more money or opportunities.

Who made more on their elc?

Hey I said these numbers and you said they were too high

I guess we are just going to have to disagree on this one. I think you are wildly undervaluing the big three (especially Matthews). and you are living in fantasy land if you believe he is only getting a 7x7 contract extension. He by all accounts is on his way to becoming a consistent top 5 center in the league and will be asking Dubas and the Leafs to pay him much more money than you seem to believe he is worth. A lot of the Hockey Insiders have said they believe Matthews contract will at least be matching Eichel's deal which I would believe would be a baseline for Matthews in his contract discussions. I get that he doesn't have as much leverage as Tavares did but no way in my opinion would he sign a 7x7 million per year contract I would figure he would sit out the season/ask to be traded before signing that far below his valuation.

I know everyone thinks he'll get 10M+ and they all use Eichel as the reason. I don't believe a successful organization can use decisions made by another organization that hasn't made the playoffs in 7 years as a comparable.

The idea here was to show how they fit the money in without moving anyone. Personally, I think Matthews gets 8M x 8 or 7M x 5 and I believe that is too much. I see Marner and Mathews as very similar in value to the team and Nylander can't be forgotten as well.

There was only one 10M player in the playoffs last year and he was swept in the 1st round. Winners make better decisions within the cap, losers handcuff themselves.

I don't think are opinions are ever going to see eyes to eye on this topic we just have different views from each other (not saying this as a bad thing just differing views)

The one thing I'll say to your last point there is just be aware that the cap is going up these next couple seasons as well, which makes 10 million not mean the exact same thing as it did even three years ago in terms of percentage of salary cap. Ex. Crosby/Malkin in 15-16 when they won the cup accounted for about 25-26% of there teams salary cap and if Matthews signed next year for 10-11 million him an Tavares would take up roughly around the same (25-27%) percentage of cap space as Crosby and Malkin (assuming the cap goes up by at least a couple million by 2019 as expected). So its not impossible to win with a couple expensive players on the roster.

But like I said before I guess I can see where your coming from if you are Dubas and or a Leafs fan you would want Matthews at a lower pay annually but I'm thinking from Matthew's/his agent's perspective in that he will go in there and want Eichel/Tavares money (money which I personally believe he will get/deserve)

Ozhiganov is now signed for 800,000. this year his contract is 925,000. he is one year away being a ufa, he'll get a lot more if he an nhl player

I'm fine with differing opinions and to agree to disagree.

When Leaf fans talk Matthews they bring up Crosby, Malkin, and Mcdavid as though he is on their level, which he is not. And it's not even close. Winning a Cup with Crosby and Malkin eating up a quarter of your Cap is one thing, Matthews scored 1 goal in the playoffs last year, if he and Tavares are eating up 25% of the cap, the Leafs are doomed. That would mean Marner and Nylander would be another 20% as well.

Tavares is a good comparable to Matthews but not the 9 year vet that Tavares is now. Tavares is far more dominant and well rounded presently and no doubt Mathews will grow quickly, he still has a lot of growing to do as a player. Of course he will want Eichel money, I want Eichel money, but Eichel has no one to play with and his situation is very different. He threw a tantrum, the owner fired the coach and GM, and they signed him to his 80M contract.

There is no value to the team if they have to pay him 10M. They'd have to move out at least one other key piece, and more importantly, there are a dozen players in the 6-8M range that can produce the same that would be more valuable to the team at that salary.

From a team standpoint, would you rather have Eichel at 10M or Scheifele at 6M? Similar production, Scheifele appears to be the better player, and with that extra 4M you can improve elsewhere on your roster.

He's doubtful to make the team this year. He'll most likely make his $70k in the Ahl while a player like Holl, who signed a cheap 2 year, one way deal, will make the team rather than Ozhiganov who also has performance bonuses which triple his salary implications over Holl. He is also an RFA at the end of this one year deal.

Just like Johnsson, who made somewhere in the neighborhood of $250k last year, they'll take a lower one way deal that is cap friendly to the Leafs.