Équipe: 2019-20 Maple Leafs de Toronto

Date de création initiale: 25 janv. 2019

Publié: 27 janv. 2019

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

The roster below barely works...no trades other than moving Brown out...maybe save some more coin if you leave Gauthier at 4C and only trade Connor for a pick.

But this doesn't take into account performance bonus overages...which the Leafs are likely to do if they add players at this year's deadline.

For the most part, Dubas plays his cards close to the vest...but he has a knack for dropping info about his strategy from time to time.

My interpretation from either obvious or subtle things he's said:

1. Nylander is not going to be traded (at least not anytime soon)
2. Gardiner is almost certainly gone next year unless some major trade sheds a ton of salary cap or Gardiner wants to take a deal well below market value...likely both need to occur for him to be a Leaf next year
3. Sandin and Kapanen ARE available for trade. Why even bother saying this unless teams are asking for them and you want other GM's to know their current offers aren't up to snuff
4. He wants Marner and Matthews signed ASAP
5. He wanted Marner signed first but that went nowhere so no he's moved on to Matthews...who is more willing to sign in-season

6. This is the key for me....Dubas doesn't want to make any short-sighted trades....ideally this trade deadline any deals aren't for rentals...but he can't make trades for players with term until Matthews and Marner are signed. Essentially...you can't finish the 2018-19 roster until you have the framework complete for the 2019-20 roster.

THE LEAFS DON'T HAVE CAP SPACE TO ADD SALARY AT THE DEADLINE!

Right now they are in a position to carry over performance bonus money on to next year's cap. Every dollar added to the 2018-19 roster will essentially get carried over onto next year's cap unless the team finds a way to end the season with about $3.7m in cap space. They currently have less than that.

I don't think Dubas can commit to carrying over performance bonuses to next year unless he knows what wiggle room he's likely to have after Matthews and Marner are signed...

..so... if those guys don't get signed before the TDL I don't think we can expect any major acquisitions to the current roster. Yes..it's possible he sees a deal that's to his liking and pulls the trigger...opting to trade whatever complimentary pieces in the off season needed to get under the cap...but that can't be plan A.

Second issue.....why do we automatically assume Marner gets less than Matthews? Marner has been the better producer and more consistent over the same period of time. The only things that separate them, really, are that fact that Matthews is big and plays C, while Marner is small and plays RW. Why wouldn't they look at this like Toews/Kane or Getzlaf/Perry?

Are these guys not worth the same coin? For me...a fair number to get both guys signed is $22m. For me, that is ideally $11m each but most (including myself), think it's closer to $12m and $10m. I think everyone wins if Marner, Matthews and Tavares are all locked up for the next 6yrs at $11m each. It would be crazy..but the leafs would have 3 of the top 4 cap hits in the league this way....I'm just hoping both guys see how difficult it is to build a winning team by looking at Edmonton and McDavid...and both opt to take less than their perceived worth.