carolina trade would never happen, thats a lot for simmonds, one year of a declining oft-injured guy for the ahl assist leader and there is no reason to make the stl and wpg trades. there is no need for the philly trade if you have hainsey. he is a good 3rd pair guy, just not good playing 1st pair minutes

well, rentals cost things. you also somehow shed 21 million dollars of zaitzev and dont have to give up a 1st or 2nd.

AHL stats are largely meaningless for NHL success. the very good players dont play enough games to lead the league in anything.

Read my explanation.....then you might have a better understanding. Hainsey is too old and soft for the minutes.

mcadam is pretty much a nobody but borgman is an ok prospect, he could turn into a 5 or 6 defenseman, he has the skills but needs to be developed more. there are teams who want and could use zaitsev, there are multiple teams who need a puck moving right defenseman. there is no need for simmonds and having gudas would be nice but he isnt worth giving up bracco

hainsey had a great game last night. he is a good 3rd pair d and good on the pk. if he isnt overplayed he will be much more effective. gudas might be a bit better but it isnt worth giving up bracco for a small upgrade. the leafs dont need toughness, look at how last night went

Binnington is up for good....Blues will need a minors goalie. Marlies need the skater depth.
Zaitsev ' s contract will be hard to move without adding a high pick or good prospect. Leafs are stacked at RW so losing Bracco is not damaging.
Simmonds and Gudas will add toughness needed in the playoffs, plain and simple.

many gm's value what zaitsev brings to the table. he is a solid player, just not the way babs uses him. look at his first season when he was put in an offensive role and got 30-40ish points. next season and the season after is when they will need bracco. he will be a good playmaker able to run the 2nd powerplay on a cheap contract. he can play both sides like most wingers on the leafs now so it doesnt matter if he is a rw, he will be a good player on his elc which is what cup contenders need. the leafs dont need toughness to give up assets for toughness, they could get their players to play tougher but look at how well they played lastnight.

AJ had a great game last night and for the past 7games Z has improved his defensive game, sadly still not physical .

Well according to reports, they've tried to unload Zaitsev for a while with no takers. He was good in year 1, but hasn't come close to that since. We can keep Bracco, but to offload Z, you'd have to give up a high pick or a mid round pick plus a Timashov or a Holl, for example. That has to happen if we want to sign our RFA next year.
You keep mentioning last night, a game which they lost, but you don't notice they don't hit? If not for Freddie, it would be worse. We need a D that can cover the slot and move bodies out of the danger areas.

I like Bracco...but more for his ability to play on the 4th line next year at under $850k on the cap. As a prospect, he's not really projecting to be more than a 3rd line winger.

Gauthier is junk and his value is derrived solely from the fact he fills a roster spot for under $700k

Zaitsev is neutral value at best, IMO. There might be a team willing to give him a go and there's lots who probably don't want to go anywhere near that contract.

In short...Philly can get a lot better offers than that package and the Leafs would probably be wise to keep those cheap contracts on the books for next year.

I like Connor Brown but he can't be the highlight of a package to Carolina for Pesce....can't imagine they'd go for this kind of deal and it keeps sounding like it's Kapanen or bust for a deal to get done with Carolina.

First things first holl isnt a prospect. 26 years old, he is decent but far from a prospect. Are we talking about the game about Washington where the leafs walked up and down the ice without much of a challenge. One of the best goalscorers ever did what he always does. Would adam mcquaid been big enough to reach out to the blue line and poke the puck away, no. Would those big guys be on the powerplay able to prevent either goal? now they wouldn't be on the ice much less able to catch up to either wilson or Connolly. The leafs got stopped by one of the best goalies in the league last night who had over a .950 savepercentage. The capitals were barely in the game for 2 minutes. The only reason they hit more was because they never had the puck, it is interference if you hit someone without the puck so the leafs didnt do that. The game would have been completely different if hyman scored that goal and didnt draw the penalty that Washington scored on.