Let me be the first to tell you that Toronto says no and wont even entertain the notion.

Also, did Toffoli turn into a pumpkin? From my view you are getting ripped off. Jp is worth very little, Spooner sucks, and then there is a early 2nd (which if you're lucky, will turn into a... Toffoli).

Don't know enough about the pit trade but I think that's a hard sell with Carter's term.

Don't know alot about that last trade but I'm not sure caps do it. Might be wrong on this one so take with lots of salt...

Let me be the first to tell you that Toronto says no and wont even entertain the notion.

Also, did Toffoli turn into a pumpkin? From my view you are getting ripped off. Jp is worth very little, Spooner sucks, and then there is a early 2nd (which if you're lucky, will turn into a... Toffoli).

Don't know enough about the pit trade but I think that's a hard sell with Carter's term.

Don't know alot about that last trade but I'm not sure caps do it. Might be wrong on this one so take with lots of salt...

This was less about the returns and more for identifying which Kings players will be shipped out this trade deadline instead of later on in the rebuild.

Asking price for Muzzin is a 1st round pick and a "B" prospect, and a Toronto blogger identified their "B" prospects as Johnsson, Bracco, and Grundstrom. I'd be interested in hearing a rebuttal, but a 1st round pick and a prospect is the asking price. If not Toronto, a different team will pay it.

Toffoli hasn't been great this season. A 2nd and a decent prospect are likely what he'll fetch. Spooner is just a cap dump to make the salary work until the end of the season.

Pittsburgh's glaring weakness right now is their 3C position. Brassard hasn't been getting it done and Carter would be a significant upgrade. Without salary retention, Carter is worth a 2nd and a quality prospect. With 50% retention, the price goes up to a 1st. Brassard was thrown in as a camp dump. If they'd rather keep him and send him elsewhere in a different trade, that's fine too. Risk is mitigated for Pittsburgh because at a cap hit of $2.6M, Carter would be pretty easy to move later on if they decided to go a different direction.

The return for the Washington trade is the draft pick. Burakovsky's qualifying offer next year will be $3¼M, well more than he's worth based off of this season's performance. Honestly, I think the Kings would consider not qualifying him and letting him become a UFA this off-season rather than giving him that much money. If that happens, the Caps could re-sign him at a lower rate.

I actually think the Toronto trade is pretty reasonable. Toronto fans want to get a defenceman but are unwilling to part with anything to acquire one. If you're not willing to part with a 1st and or a prospect then you're likely not going to get any dman better than a bottom pairing guy and you'll go into playoffs with Ron Hainsey playing 20mins a night.

Johnsson is not a B prospect lol. He is the 1st line LW.

B prospect: Marchment, Grundstrom, Engvall, Brooks, Borgman, Woll
B+ prospect: Bracco, Moore, Rosen, Scott
A- prospect: Sandin, Liljegren

The Leafs prospects value chart

Level “A”

2019 first round pick - which will likely fall anywhere from the mid-20’s to 31.

2020 first round pick - which if dealt would have to be lottery protected to avoid any Ottawa Senators-like disaster scenario

Timothy Liljegren - 2017 first round pick (17th overall), 19-year-old blueliner with over 60 games of professional experience in the AHL.

Kasperi Kapanen - 2014 first rounder (22nd overall), 22-year-old winger has proved himself at the NHL level with 15 goals this season, and that may be the reason why the Leafs will not be interested in trading him.

Rasmus Sandin - 2018 first round pick (29th overall), 18-year-old defenseman who jumped from the OHL to the Marlies and scored 10 points in 18 games prior to playing for Sweden at the 2019 World Junior. (currently out injured)


Level “B”

Andreas Johnsson - The Calder Cup Playoff MVP started slow but now has 19 points with the Leafs and has the speed that most NHL clubs are looking for.

Jeremy Bracco - 2015 second round pick (61st overall), the highly skilled 21-year-old winger is pushing towards being a Level A prospect, he also has a Memorial Cup and World Junior Championship on his list of accomplishments.

Carl Grundstrom - 2016 second round pick (57th overall) - 21-year-old was key contributor on the Marlies top line with Johnsson and Miro Aaltonen on their run to a Calder Cup Championship and has continued to play well in his first full AHL season.

2019 or 2020 second round pick


Level “C”


Forwards

Trevor Moore - free agent signing selected as AHL All-Star, leads the Marlies in goal scoring.

Dmytro Timashov - skillful 22-year-old winger in his third AHL season, on pace for career-high in points.

Pierre Engvall - 22-year-old winger with NHL size and good speed, but is a project in need of more experience.

Mason Marchment - big 23-year-old winger who plays with an edge and whose skills have improved immensely over the last two years.

Yegor Korshkov - big skilled 22-year-old winger who has been in the KHL since being selected at the top of the second round in 2016. Unknown commodity who has never played in North America.


Defense

Calle Rosen - 24 years old, Swedish blueliner signed as free agent out of the SHL, leads Marlies in defensive scoring.

Andreas Borgman - hard hitting blueliner who play half of last season in the NHL.


Goalie

Joseph Woll - 2016 third round pick who won gold for Team USA at the 2017 World Junior and enjoying a good junior season at Boston College.

Ian Scott - 2017 fourth round pick. The 19-year-old made Team Canada at the 2019 World Junior based on his phenomenal performance this season with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders.

I didn't write it. Here's the post from the blog:

Okay, it is just wrong tho. Here is the current leafs lineup (at forward anyway, the D core is a pipe dream of mine). He is ~at Kapanen's level, maybe a step behind at most.
https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/984225

I think your definition and my definition of a prospect are different. If he qualifies for the Calder trophy, he's a prospect. Iafallo and Kempe were both prospects last year, despite both of them playing the entire season in the NHL. Only this season have they graduated to NHL regulars.

Johnsson is not a prospect... like at alll. He is the 1LW and has been very good (made every line he has played on better and he made the JT-Marner pair even better somehow.

Yes, but to put Johnsson and Kapanen into the same category as Bracco and Grundstrom is just... misleading at best.
If you want a Prospect for your trade, the guy is Bracco, not Johnsson, just so you know for the future.

Regardless something has to give if they're going to get a dman, especially one with term (as Dubas has said he would prefer) on a decent contract. Leafs have to re-sign/(replace the amount of ice time these players get) Mathews, Marner, Kapanen, Johnsson, Gardiner, Hainsey all with a projected $23M and Mathews Marner will likely eat up at least $19M of that. Of course they can move some guys like Brown, Kadri or Zaitsev to open some more space but then they will still have to replace a guy like Zaitsev with another dman. Good luck finding dmen in FA that are going to cost less. Every GM knows the cap situation Toronto is in and the quality young players they have outside of Marner Matthews and Nylander. This will be leveraged and they will have to give up more than a team with complete cap freedom would if they want to improve their D at the deadline. That being said they could do nothing and go into the playoffs with the defense they have and revamp the dcore in the offseason by trading a Kadri and/or Nylander.

Johnsson(2@2.5)-JT(11)-Marner(8@8.75)
Hyman(2.5)-Matthews(8@11.34)-Nylander(6.962)
Marleau(6.25)-Kadri(4.5)-Kapanen(2@2.75)
Moore(0.775)-Goat(0.675)-Brown(2.1)

Rielly(5)-Dermott(0.863)
Gardiner(8@4.5)-Zaitzev(4.5)
Rosen(0.75)-Liljegren(0.863) <--- (lil's aav is after this years slide)
Holl(0.675)

Andersen(5)
Sparks(2@0.850)

Total = 82.178
Projected cap = 83.000
Projected Space = 0.147

There is enough space to sign Gardiner, all you need is a depth forward, so you need to find like 500k. Marlies are in Toronto so you don't need to carry a full 23 man roster, 22 will do just fine (hell they can probably get away with less),

Johnsson(2@2.5)-JT(11)-Marner(8@8.75)
Hyman(2.5)-Matthews(8@11.34)-Nylander(6.962)
Marleau(6.25)-Kadri(4.5)-Kapanen(2@2.75)
Moore(0.775)-Goat(0.675)-Brown(2.1)

Rielly(5)-Dermott(0.863)
Gardiner(8@4.5)-Zaitzev(4.5)
Rosen(0.75)-Liljegren(0.863) <--- (lil's aav is after this years slide)
Holl(0.675)

Andersen(5)
Sparks(2@0.850)

Total = 82.178
Projected cap = 83.000
Projected Space = 0.147

There is enough space to sign Gardiner, all you need is a depth forward, so you need to find like 500k. Marlies are in Toronto so you don't need to carry a full 23 man roster, 22 will do just fine (hell they can probably get away with less),

I think those are conservative extensions for Marner, Kapanen, and Matthews. Not sure Gardiner accepts $4.5M either. There's a lot of worse defensemen making significantly more than $4.5M per season, including one on the right side of his pairing.

Gardiner is going to make more than 4.5M he's expected to get at least 6M on the open market, he will be the top D available behind Karlsson if he hits FA. I'd also be surprised if Kapanen doesn't get closer to 4M and Liljegren is a long shot to help/make the roster full time next year.

IMO if they don't plan on trading Nylander this offseason then they might as well move kapanen or johnsson along with thier 1st and possibly more to get a legit Dman with term on a good contract ie. Hamilton, Pesce instead of trading either one for an older dman like Muzzin.

And if they do plan on trading Nylander this offseason then you make a much smaller trade with one of the B+ prospects you mentioned and try to get a 4-6 Dman that can at least add depth going into these playoffs. Then you move Nylander in the offseason for a dman with a good contract and use the Nylander money keep both kapanen ($4ishM )and johnsson ($2.5-3M).

Most people think Gards gets a 6@6 (36 million). 8@4.5 is also 36 million, and considering his age at the time it doesn't benefit him much to go the shorter term. This is only an option if he wants to stay in Toronto (can for the same money if willing to go long) which is a lot easier if morons aren't booing him....

I'll defer to you on the Marner, Matthews, Kapanen extensions. I don't know enough about them to know what they'll accept. I think the $14M Matthews people are just as crazy as the $10M people.

However, $36M over 8 years and $36M over 6 years are not equal in value just because the grand total is the same. You forget that after the 6 years expires, he can sign another contract for those 2 years (he'll only be 34 at the time), and potentially get another $8-10M. Not to mention that he'll have a much easier time signing a new contract at age 34 than he will at age 36 if he goes for a 8 year term. If the Leafs want him for the extra two years, they're going to have to pay him for it.

Most people think Gards gets a 6@6 (36 million). 8@4.5 is also 36 million, and considering his age at the time it doesn't benefit him much to go the shorter term. This is only an option if he wants to stay in Toronto (can for the same money if willing to go long) which is a lot easier if morons aren't booing him....

Marner's number is way overblown. Reports say he asked for 8@9, but the Leafs said too much which is why they are waiting till the off season now. My number is 8@8.5, so I just put it in the middle. If you show him how it all works, considering he is a home town boy I don't think giving him almost exactly what he wanted is a huge stretch.

Matthews number plays with his actual number (the 34) and is about right for market value (I did a piece on it a while ago, will finish at season end, but here is the work in progress: https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/884206). Matthews has shown a willingness to work with the team, the only reason he is not signed yet is because we need to sign Mitch first to avoid Edmonton's mistake of overpaying Drai, So paying him more or less his worth is not a stretch.

Kapanen is actually a bit high. People forget that Connor Brown did exactly the same thing as Kappy 2 years ago, why Kappy would get so much more is beyond me. I added inflation and a bit as I expect Kapanen to beat Browns totals by a bit, same story with Johnsson.

And If we have to trade brown, thats fine, bring up Grundstrom for less than half the cost to sign the extra F.

The difference between Kapanen and Brown is that for one Kapanen will be a year younger than Brown was (I believe but not the main point anyways). The big difference is Brown was a 6th round pick that surprised people where as Kapanen is a 1st round pick that is expected to only get better with a higher upside than people view in Brown. I know offer sheets aren't common but the compensation for a $4M contract is only a 2nd round pick. Given TO cap situation it wouldn't surprise me if a team was willing to offer sheet Kapanen because I think every team in the league would be willing to trade a 2nd round pick for him right now.

Gardiner might be willing to work with Dubas a bit but I highly doubt he's willing to give up 1.5M a year. No agent would advise him to give up 2yrs of potential earnings. Remember Hainsey was given 2yr $3M at 36 yrs old. If Gardiner was able to get the same as a 34 yr old then he just gave up $6M to do the Leafs a favour. Not going to happen.

Liljgren could potentially crack the line up next year we will see but they will probably be looking at the defence the same way next TDL if he doesn't completely outperform expectations.

The difference between Kapanen and Brown is that for one Kapanen will be a year younger than Brown was (I believe but not the main point anyways). The big difference is Brown was a 6th round pick that surprised people where as Kapanen is a 1st round pick that is expected to only get better with a higher upside than people view in Brown. I know offer sheets aren't common but the compensation for a $4M contract is only a 2nd round pick. Given TO cap situation it wouldn't surprise me if a team was willing to offer sheet Kapanen because I think every team in the league would be willing to trade a 2nd round pick for him right now.

Gardiner might be willing to work with Dubas a bit but I highly doubt he's willing to give up 1.5M a year. No agent would advise him to give up 2yrs of potential earnings. Remember Hainsey was given 2yr $3M at 36 yrs old. If Gardiner was able to get the same as a 34 yr old then he just gave up $6M to do the Leafs a favour. Not going to happen.

Liljgren could potentially crack the line up next year we will see but they will probably be looking at the defence the same way next TDL if he doesn't completely outperform expectations.

I'll defer to you on the Marner, Matthews, Kapanen extensions. I don't know enough about them to know what they'll accept. I think the $14M Matthews people are just as crazy as the $10M people.

However, $36M over 8 years and $36M over 6 years are not equal in value just because the grand total is the same. You forget that after the 6 years expires, he can sign another contract for those 2 years (he'll only be 34 at the time), and potentially get another $8-10M. Not to mention that he'll have a much easier time signing a new contract at age 34 than he will at age 36 if he goes for a 8 year term. If the Leafs want him for the extra two years, they're going to have to pay him for it.

Hainsey had just won the cup as one of Pittsburgh's best Dmen and he played a game and position the Leafs badly needed, so it is kind of different.

Gards money is made with his offence, which is predicated on his speed. I don't expect he gets a huge amount more (or at least enough) to leave a city he likes (the booing is complicating this and I am more than a little pissed about it).

I actually agree about the offer sheets thing here. If there will be one, I suspect it will be Kapanen, not AM or MM. They could offer him the Dvorak contract and the Leafs would more or less have to take the compensation. The big thing is why would he leave a cup contender that has his best friend (willy) on it? Remember though, offersheets are not very likely at all.

Where someone was taken means very little, their production is what matters. I do think Kappy has a better ceiling, and is better, which is why I gave him almost half a million more on his bridge deal (inflation only adds like 140k). That is about market value for that kind of player.

The important thing to note is that he isn't giving up 1.5 per year. He gets paid the same amount. The only relevant thing here is that he gives up the 34 contract, which as I said wont be a big enough amount to make him want to leave a cup contender in a city he likes with his friends and etc. I will add that if he doesn't mind leaving, this is likely off the table (hence my hatred of the booing).

If Lily is not ready, just re sign Oz, or someone cheaper. Maybe put holl into the lineup.

Unfortunately where someone was drafted does make a pretty big difference. Should it make a difference? No not in a lot of cases but in reality it does that is why 1st round picks that don't pan out are often given 2nd 3rd and 4th chances while most later round picks have to scratch and claw to prove themselves time and time again. It is naive to think that where someone was drafted (especially when they are still young) doesn't have a huge effect.

On the Gardiner thing there is just absolutely no chance he gives up 2 years of potential earnings to stay where he is. If he really wants to stay in TO maybe he takes a minor discount on AAV.

Hamhuis 3.75M 2yrs = 7.5M Age 34
Hainesy 2.83 3yrs = 8.5M Age 33
Orpik 5.5M 5yrs = 27.5M Age 33
Daley 3.16M 3yrs = 9.5M Age 33
Streit 5.25M 4yrs = 21M Age 35

Some examples here and I'm sure there are a lot more if you go back over the past 5 years. The point is at 34yrs old there is still an opportunity to make a lot of money. No one in their right mind is going to bet against themselves thinking they will be useless at that point in their career, especially when they've averaged over 20 minutes a game for the entirety of their career up until this point.

Players have gone long all the time. it is not unusual. The most obvious examples being the now illegal contracts.
Yes, top round picks get more chances, but it doesn't affect their pay after their ELC stage. Look at what Yak got for his chances. Look at Johnsson, who is a 7th round pick and will make more than Brown who is a 6th round pick for a leafs example.

Players have gone long all the time. it is not unusual. The most obvious examples being the now illegal contracts.
Yes, top round picks get more chances, but it doesn't affect their pay after their ELC stage. Look at what Yak got for his chances. Look at Johnsson, who is a 7th round pick and will make more than Brown who is a 6th round pick for a leafs example.

They don't go long when they can make the same amount in a shorter term.
Yakupov struggled year after year. Kapanen has only improved, is already effective and everyone in the league can see the potential that is still there to get better.

They don't go 2 yrs longer taking them completely out of years where there is still potential to earn money when they could make the exact same amount in a shorter time frame.
Yakupov struggled year after year. Kapanen has already proven himself to be an effective player, and everyone in the league can see the potential for him to continue improving. He's on pace for 52pts.

Johnsson, Andreas
$2,500,000
Matthews, Auston
$11,340,000
Nylander, William
$6,962,366
Hyman, Zach
$2,250,000
Tavares, John
$11,000,000
Marner, Mitchell
$9,000,000
Marleau, Patrick
$6,250,000
Kadri, Nazem
$4,500,000
Kapanen, Kasperi
$4,000,000
Brown, Connor
$2,100,000
Gauthier, Frédérik
$675,000
Bracco, Jeremy
$842,500
Gardiner, Jake
$5,500,000
Rielly, Morgan
$5,000,000
Andersen, Frederik
$5,000,000
Dermott, Travis
$863,333
Zaitsev, Nikita
$4,500,000
Scott, Ian
$820,000
Holl, Justin
$675,000
Liljegren, Timothy
$894,166

CAP $83,000,000 CAPHIT $85,872,365 CAP SPACE -$2,872,365
12F 6D 2G

Almost $3M over the cap without any extra players on the roster and the same glaring holes on defense, probably even worse.
This is with Gardiner taking a bit of a discount.
Even if you save $500,000 more on Kapanen and Marner getting them at $3.5M and $8.5M they are still almost $2M over the cap with no extra players on the roster.
Sure you can move Brown and open up a bit more. And you can move Zaitsev but who is going to replace him. The defense will still have huge holes and there will still be a serious lack of depth.