Toffoli, Iafallo, Forbort, Hagelin, Phaneuf, Campbell, ect.
Trade some of them for picks to make space and pick up people IN FREE AGENCY. LA as a whole draws interest in players.
If you ever look at some of my posts. I've drawn out many options.

I'm not even going to read all of that. I lost interest when you said Muzzin is past his peak. His peak is right now he's never been better. He's better than Doughty right now. Do you even watch him every game? You're talking out of your ***

I'm not going to say that the Leafs D is any of that, but replacing Ozzie with "Muzzie" Muzzin is quite a big jump!

Age vs Performance with NHL Skaters

Calm down
D peak at 24, and the decline accelerates at 30.
Trust me

The Leafs gave up players that will play a multiple of the minutes Muzzin has left in him
1st + 2nd + 3rd is essentially what we paid, our fans have turned down much better players at that price

If you want to distill my reaction, it's that the Leafs are done standing still and waiting for the Bruins to bulldoze us in the first round.
We are now openly spending assets for short term improvements.

Problem is after your core is gone you've got nothing coming through. Are the kings bottom of the league? Yes. Are the Kings in a position to turn it around this season? No. So as GM what do. Hope they turn it around next year, maybe get into the post season and then play a team that is better built to "win now". Or trade away some of your better players now to get some you and maybe have a run in a few years once Doughty and Kopitar have taught the new kids how to play pro.

Detroit retooled and retooled and retool and where did it get them. First round exits for how many years? Not winning cups but not drafting to highly either. Blake is doing LA a favor

How does Toronto sign everybody? Somebody's getting traded.

eg:

The Kings last won the Stanley Cup when Muzzin was 23.
Muzzin's points peaked the next year when he turned 24. +10 points on just the PP, and another 7 from more minutes at 5on5 for a career high 41 points.

He's a bit heavier and thus a bit slower, so his dropoff will be faster than someone like Karlsson for example.
Ideal counter-examples would be Chara and Byfuglien, but look again at their numbers. You pay UFA dollars, and they are half as good at the end of a contract as when they signed it.

Not really sure what you are trying to prove. Your examples are of players who got paid top $$ and signed long term when they became UFA. Muzzin is solid defensive D and making only $4M as a UFA AND only under contract for 1 more season. Leafs dont have the cap space to afford a UFA making $7.6M and up.

A GM holding the most interest is smart to be patient, and I would bet it's around some RHD this year. Dubas could have saved himself a 1st round pick if he only wanted to add Muzzin, but he put it away early.

So we can surmise:
Dubas is prepared to spend more on another addition, probably a RHD (eg 2 picks + roster + prospect)
Nylander is untradeable before July 1st, but they'll get a good offer with multiple pieces that smooth out the current surgery because they don't need a specific return
Gardiner is probably gone. He can't be extended due to Marleau, so Dubas will hopefully continue to be proactive and salvage something (unlike with Bozak, JVR, ...)
Winning a playoff round sets the stage for Matthews and Marner contracts, and cleanses the memory of Nylander winning by holding out

The complication is that trades can't happen when teams are on their week off (new this year).


We've got a good team because everyone knows it's clear who is expendable and who is not. Gardiner/Zaitsev/Johnsson/Lindholm from the roster.
TDL is February 25th this year, it's going to be crazy in Toronto

Sure a GM can be patient, but there is no way Muzzin is moving without the first round pick. Hes not a pending UFA, he still has value if LAK decided to hang onto him into the draft or even next trade deadline. And im sure other teams would have offered just as much at the deadline.

Dubas stated Nylander is a core piece and won't be traded. Never know but its highly unlikely he will move after July 1.
Gardiner is definitely gone now. Muzzin is a cheaper replacement next season. I don't see much value in moving Gardiner at the trade deadline, but never know on that. Misewell have a free rental.

Hopefully Zaitsev gets moved so we can free some space. Right now theres $4M in cap space not including performance bonuses, so definitely will be interesting to see what Leafs do on the 25th.

I think you're confused about what I believe.


Objectively:
We will extend Muzzin, we paid a 1st+2nd+3rd for a reason. I like Muzzin just fine.
But because of his age, LA wins the trade in the long term and TOR wins the trade for the first 2-3 years

I believe:
It's not a bargain price, but we chose to outbid rather than lose another year to Boston.
It is only a good deal if we bring in a RHD of the same caliber.
That one will cost even more. I'm fine with that, there's no trophy for 8th place and this is our best shot with a young Matthews and a young Marner.

This is a serious change from trying to win every trade over the long term, investing in picks+prospects at the expense of the current roster.
We are leaving trade fantasy land, where you can win simply by holding out and badmouthing any deal that isn't a landslide in our favour.
We are taking the first steps into the reality of trying to win the Stanley Cup now.
It is going to be a big adjustment for the pigeons who will have to admit Gardiner and Zaitsev don't cut the mustard, and what acquiring real top 4 D costs in the market.
Hopefully any moves Dubas can manage will take the team higher all the way to the Cup before the wave crashes and we start again.
We can't stop now that we've started, there's no refunds on Muzzin.

Can you show me some posts that had Muzzin fetching this much from the Leafs? Don't pretend we won the deal in both the short and long term by puffing up Muzzin and downplaying the assets we gave up.
We got the best price we could while still getting what we needed.


That would be nice, but:
(a) every GM always denies a trade before it's done. For the sake of the player in case it falls through, for the sake of the team so other GMs don't lowball them
(b) If the Leafs bring in another player like Muzzin, there's incentive to rebalance/restock the prospect pool and to manage the roster for the cap with extensions to Matthews and Marner and Kapanen

Dubas will get full price for Nylander, extend the Stanley Cup window, and make an example of someone who held out against a rookie GM (even if his destination were as good of a team, he won't have the same profile to earn the same income from ads)

You can't build a team through free agency. No top free agent like Karlsson or Panarin is going to willingly sign in a team with an aging core when there's much more greener pastures in a good area and a competitive team such as Vegas and San Jose. And trading Phaneuf for value? LMFAO. Good luck.

Idk, problem for TOR was RD, no? If you're going to spend your 1st rd pick + prospects, you'd think you'd go and get a RD. Muzzin is a LD. Sure if we're thinking for next year this makes sense, with Muzzin being a cheaper and better replacement to Gardiner, this a big win for TOR. But in the context of trying to win this year, don't see how this is solving the problem, Leafs going to have 2 lefty's on the right side (Hainsey and Muzzin)?

so for me I'd say fair deal. Muzzin is still an upgrade on the Defense (which is still needed, no matter what side he plays). LAK gets the future assets they wanted for moving a Vet.

Not quite. He's simultaneously the best and the worst.

any person here that thinks this trade isn't good for the leafs is an idiot. Enough said

What do you mean trades can't be made during bye weeks? I agree, Gardiner is gone, butMatthews will probably want 10M+, Marner will want a lot, and Kapanen's having a good year, so he might want a lot of money. Maybe 4.5-5.25 or so. I don't know if it's gonna work. Somebody will need to be traded.

Conversely, any person here that thinks this trade isn't good for the Kings is also an idiot....which is why it's a fair trade. a 1st rd pick with 2 prospects (that are 2nd rd picks) is a great haul for a Veteran Dman whose a UFA in about 1 year and a half. But yes, I'd also say it's a good deal for the Leafs.

They really had to trade Muzzin here. They had a lot of leverage w/ TOR. The Leafs were desperate for a top 4 defensive D. Muzzin checks a lot of boxes for Dubas and the Babcock. It's not like TOR is giving up a top 10 pick for a rental. Late 1st rounders are not nearly as valuable as many people think.

Gardiner is gone. He's essentially a rental for the rest of this season. I also think Nylander will be traded this summer.

Kings do need a rebuild. And with all those heavy deals, Kopitar, Doughty, Carter, Quick, Kovalchuk, Martinez, Brown, Phaneuf, it looks like it'll be awhile before it's over.

Good deal for both teams. Leafs get defense and Kings get parts for their rebuild. Don't know if this will put the Leafs over the edge though.

These prospects are a bunch of unknown. This return seems very underwhelming for LA since Muzzin has 2 years left not just 1.

I'm against the trade and not from a Toronto at and point. Kings needed Muzzin. Now our blue line is completely totaled.

You don't know anything about the Kings. Every smart kings fan with hockey sense knows that they just need a retool. Watch every Kings game for 10 years then talk to me.