Kaps not for sale and those are bad Matthews and Marner contracts

Give Matthews 6@9 ish ( yes this is fair, you are overpaying otherwise)
Marner then gets 8@8.5 ish.
Everyone is happy.

One of Kapanen or Nylander is dealt this summer - denying that is lunacy.

Matthews will not sign for less than 10 no matter the term, this I promise you.

Term kills AAV. Why would Matthews make more than
Eichel on way less term? That is the whole point of a shorter deal.

And why Kap or nylander? The cap is 83 million, keep you best players and move the worst ones first lol.
Move brown or zaitzev before you have to move players like Kappy or Nylander. There is no basis for your opinion that one HAS to be traded.

Haven't you been paying attention to player contracts? they sign based on % of cap at time of signing, not comparable hit. Almost every insider is suggesting Matthews will make over $11m even on a 5 year term so i've probably gone too light here...

I'm not saying Kap or Nylander have to be traded for cap reasons alone, they have to be traded because the Leafs spend far too much money on Fwds and not enough on D. One of those two guys will net you the most value coming back, the Leafs need to find more quality defenceman this offseason - unless you think Dermott, Rosen, Zaitsev and Holl make up 2/3rds of a contending teams blueline?

The analysts are saying he is asking for 11aav. The info comes from agents and the like, not the leafs, who are an exceptionally tight ship. That 11 is likely the max he gets, and more than likely gets less. They said Nylander wanted 8.5, he got 7 (1.5 less). I'm saying that if Matthews is asking for 5-6 at 11, he likely gets 1-1.5 less (5-6@9.5/9.34-10)

Eichel a cap hit is 10.6 AAV this year with inflation. So the % argument doesn't disprove anything I said.

The leafs spend more than multiple recent Cup winners on the D core. How much you spend is irrelevant. Imagine thinking that Matthews sucks and that the leafs need a centre upgrade because Matthews makes .925aav. it sounds stupid, but that is essentially the argument you just made for the D core. Players, not AAV/hit is important.

Dermott has proven himself a top 4 dman, Rielly and Muzzin (the guy you forget about) are a capable #1-2 d pair. Zaitzev issue is mostly his contract, he is a 4-5 dman, who could likely be a full time 4 if babs stopped burying him in the D zone.

So yes, I think the leafs d core is fine for a contender. The pens won with #1 dman Ron hainsey 2 years ago lol.

Muzzin-Rielly
Dermott-Zaitzev
Rosen-oz/Holl/Liljegren when he gets a mid season call up.

That's pretty good for an offense focused team man.

Well 11.634x5 looks like you are extremely wrong...

As for the D core, I just flat out disagree. Dermott has proven he has the potential to be a 20+ minute guy but hasn't gotten there year and I think Zaitsev is over used right now and causes issues. I would not feel remotely comfortable with Dermott-Zaitsev as my 3-4 especially with 2 rookies as my 5-6...

D and Z have looked surprisingly good when they were out together in the top when gards was out hurt. and Dermott gets 17 mins already, adding a pp or pk slot is the difference. Babs already plays him top 4 5v5 ice time. But I don't think that matters because...

The AM contract.... Z has to be gone right?
I like the AAV, but I HATE the term.
I have been saying (along with many others) that a 7-8 year deal (7 always seemed the most likely as a compromise number but whatever 8 is more fun) would be around this AAV.
Considering we got the AAV, I am alright with it. The term is... Well we better have a cup or two is all I will say.

So I wouldn't say I was really wrong, so much as I get the term wrong.
Still an overpay for 5 years tho... 5!
I could live with 6 at this, and I woulda liked 7... but 5?!?
That means we have 6 runs with the core. Doobie better make it count.

I agree 5 years sucks, he'll be asking for $15 on the next contract if the Leafs win the Cup. And now the worst part is Marner has every right to ask for ~$10m

Yes, I would try to move the Z contract. It's the only bad contract, I think you could replace him with someone for 2-3m and use that extra 1.5m somewhere useful.