Its possible that Kapanen prices himself out of the team, but in that scenario there's no way he only gets a 5th in return.

Matthews can't make more than McDavid, plain and simple. Should be around 11-12.

Also, they could get a lot more than a 5th for Kapanen.

Still short a player boys, could set a new record for goals against.

As we all learned from the Nylander Contract, everyone in TO will end up getting paid 8 million more than they are worth......oh wait, Nylander didn't sign for the 8.5 everyone who hates the Leafs absolutely knew he wasn't going to budge from.

Next week Matthews will be demanding ownership of the team as a minimum.

Didn't want to overvalue the return. Not much leverage on the Leafs end of a deal for a players rights, the other team would still need to sign him. He will make to much money to keep on the team for sure.

Keep in mind the pressure from the NHLPA and Agents is to leap frog the contracts of your comparables. Yes Mac D should be higher paid, but reality is it doesn't always work that way.

"Matthews can't make more than McDavid, plain and simple. Should be around 11-12"

Because McDavid is going to win the cup by himself?

As good as Matthews is, he is far from McDavid. Nobody should be getting more than McDavid for at least a few seasons.

I'm not really sure what kind of point you are trying to make here...

You think a D core that is almost the same as todays D-core that is currently 4th best in GA/GP is going to be that terrible? Gardiner is apparently terrible defensively for most people. Him being replaced by Dermott and having Rosen/ Borgman take Dermotts 3rd pairing spot is a bit of a downgrade but not monumental. Hainsey this year is terrible and having Liljegren take a second or third pairing spot on the team would be an upgrade for our right side over the current roster imo. That defense is slightly worse next year but as Dermott and Liljegren advance i think its better than our current defense. which is currently 4th overal in goals against. Granted Anderson has been excellent but so have all the goalies for all the other top goals against teams.