Put Horton on LTIR and you have enough for 2 more roster player. What happen to the great Jake Gardnier he needs to be on the team. People will not be happy about that.

What I don't understand about Leaf fans, (I'm also one, but think different than most) is how everyone wants to take money away from Nylander so they can keep Johnsson and Kapanen or Gardiner or some other depth piece. Nylander is the 5th or 6th best player on TO.

Matthews
Tavares
Marner
Rielly
Nylander
Andersen

Those are the most valuable players on the team. They all drive play and make those around them better. They are the ones that should get paid the big bucks, well maybe not Andersen, I think goalies shouldn't make much over 5 million in most cases, but that's a different rant.

It'll take around 7 million to get Nylander to sign for 8 years. Just do it, it'll be much better than giving him 2 years at 5.5 and then signing him to an 8 year 10 million dollar deal. He'll score a point a game as soon as this season and getting him locked long term is the smartest move for the team and player.

He won't be brought back, he'll demand 6+ and that's about 3 million too much for what the team should be paying him. Dermott will surpass him in the very near future and then he'll be 3rd pair on this team. Let him go.

People are actually happy about not having Gardiner there.. The issue is that Timashov, Gauthier, Nielsen, Kaskisuo are not NHL players and he forgot to sign about 5-6 more players and bring up Grundstrom who is going to be a beast and Liljegren.. and another 2-3 players. Leeafs would be fine capwise

You don’t belong on this site you actual make sense. Great Job. Nice talking to people that understand.

I really like Nylander but I see what Pasternak and Larkin signed for and I think what I signed him for is reasonable. Tml can use their financial muscle to do things to make this contract more appealing (front load, signing bonuses vs salary) to make this more appealing than you typical (in this instance) 6.75 avg salary.

Leafs will be able to put Horton on LTIR in the summer of 2019, so that's 5.3m in more cap space. LW Grundstrom is on the team for sure. Doubt if Holl or Nielsen will be NHLers. Borgman, Rosen, Ozhiganov, much better possibilities.

Thanks and I don’t disagree, I didn’t spend too much time on third pairings and fourth liners, but was looking more at just how much wiggle room leafs have after signing their core.
One thing that constantly gets mentioned is the LTIR and I thought teams had to be cap compliant before start of season (which is before LTIR kicks in).

Of course teams have to cap compliant. But teams don't get "punished" for having injured players. Leafs want Horton on the roster in 2018/19 because it allow them to pay their 4.5m in Performance Bonuses in 2018/19.
In 2019/20 the Leafs will need all their cap space, and because the the players on ELC will now be on regular contracts the Performance Bonuses will only abut 400,000 which is easily carried over to 2020/21.
So in 2019/20 the Leafs can spend to the 83m cap and also have Horton on LTIR with his 5.3, cap hit.....for a total of 88.3m

I think this pattern of thinking really originates in your personal philosophy of what constitutes a good playoff team. Some people may value quality depth and a balance in cap spendings between defense and offense, whereas other people might believe in a more top or defense heavy team, where most of the cap spending goes. I personally believe that the truth lies somewhere in between.

There is a case to be made in regards to your argument that Toronto could potentially hurt more from trading or losing Gardiner more so than Nylander. Mind you, I'm not stating that Gardiner is a better player than Nylander, we both know this to not be true. But with Tavares, Marner, Kadri and Matthews all on the roster, the Leafs would still score a lot of goals and still have an okay defense with Gardiner on board. The same would most likely not be true with Gardiner gone and Nylander still on the team. They would score even more goals, but their defense would be exposed. Elite centers like Tavares and Matthews are fully able to elevate the point production of their wingers (Hyman, Marleau, Brown, Kapanen and Johnsson etc).

With that in mind there's a valid case to be made that the Leafs given the right deal could actually benefit from redistributing some of their cap space from offense to defense. Their roster is currently very top-heavy on the forward side, whereas the defense still presents some question marks. As a Caps fan I know all too well what can happen when you build a top heavy team at the expense of good defense. It usually works in the regular season only to fail miserably come the playoffs.

Now I know that trading Nylander isn't quite the same as lowballing him in contract extensions, but I believe that the idea originates in a much similar philosophy. That or they are simply undervaluing him greatly.

I hear what you are saying and in the right circumstance, I would pull the trigger on moving Nylander if it brought the right can back in return, but how many 22 year old defenceman are of equal value to Nylander? Not many, and the ones that are will cost more than Nylander and therefore it makes a trade almost impossible.

Now back to the lowballing of money. Fans are loyal and they want their favourite players and they want them all, and that's why guys want to lowball Nylander (Who unfairly is pegged as way below Marner, I think he's right there with him.) and give money he should get and spread it out to secondary guys because they like them. I've had so many arguements about depth guys and how you need proven depth guys to win and then they talk about Kapanen and Johnson as proven depth guys. Which is hilarious considering neither of them have played a full season in the NHL yet. My question is this, does losing Nylander or bridging him only to pay way more in 2-3 seasons make more sense than giving him an 8 year deal that results in losing one of Johnsson or Kapanen?

In my opinion, you lose one of those guys if they play too well and want too much money and then sign Nylander for 8 years. Who's easier to replace? Nylander's elite 5v5 game or one of the depth guys?

With Grundstrom, Engval, Bracco etc all looking like they could earn a chance to be a depth guy. I'd rather replace depth with cheaper depth than lose an elite offensive force. (His 5v5 advanced stats are in the top 25 in the league.)

I agree with you and I believe that this argument of sorts boils down to the devil I know versus the devil I don't. If Kapanen or Johnsson or both were to have career years, this discussion would very likley be a lot more ambiguous. Some Leafs fans seem to take this player emergence for granted.

I very much recognize this thought pattern as a Caps fan from when Kuznetsov first came over and many Caps fans came calling for the team to go all in that season, slotting Kuznetsov in as their 2C, this despite the fact that the guy was yet to play his first NHL game. Now Kuznetsov did eventually emerge and this season was a testament to that, but many forget that he 'only' had 37 points in his first full season, not counting the 9 points in 17 games the season before.

I agree that Nylander are right up there with Marner and IMO any deal below 8 million a year, accounting for cap inflation, would be a bad deal for Nylander, unless he takes less for the sole purpose to win.

The bridge versus long term scenario is very intruiging though. Do you bridge him for 2-3 years and save some cap space for that limited duration or do you go all in for 8 years directly and save cap space long term? There's a case to be made that a bridge deal could benefit the team long term. He would be 25-26 at the end of a bridge deal and another 8 year deal beyond that would extend him to the age of 33-34. Extend him to 8 years tomorrow and he will be 30 at the end of the deal and still due for a new multi-year deal ranging into his mid 30's. It's an interesting scenario for sure. I think I would go for the long term deal of 8 years myself. It appears less risky long term.