Depending on who does offersheet, there might be a deal to be made instead of 4 1sts also a possible few roster players to join also in negotiations along with a couple firsts or prospects

Brassard at 2 mil will make every team other than Pens in on him.

If Marner left for a offer sheet, the Leafs probably wouldn't 8m on Skinner. Can't see Vegas doing that trade. . Stralman would stay in Tampa for that price. For interest what is magically price that some team overpays for Marner and what is this magical team(s).

How about edmonton add Larsson and TOR send them Kadri as well

Will it? He fell off a *cliff* this year at an age where alot of people cease to have bounce back years.


No one, the thought of a team giving up 4 1sts AND 11+million in cap space is insane. But people are so convinced it's coming and that Marner has unlimited leverage to ask for anything because if the Leafs don't pay up he'll leave and they'll be doomed.
Iunno if Tampa still wants Stralman either, this was also a *rough* year for him. I suppose if you think Vegas wouldn't agree you can use 1 of the 1st round picks from the offer sheet. You can almost think of Stralman as a placeholder the same way I'm malleable about who the 3C is. There's a bunch of people that I wonder about ending up as buy-low candidates this summer. Carl Hagelin maybe

I find it interesting that for all the media hype on Marner getting an OS, all the Marner =12M comments made on this site, and the narrative that the leafs need to cave to Marner's demands, that we rarely, if ever, see AMGs where Marner gets an OS, or a team trades for him. Why? Because it really isn't a likely situation, and as such, at some point Ferris's bluff is gonna get called and Mitch comes in at a reasonable number based on leauge wide comparables.

But I like to think I have an open mind. I'm more than willing to have someone prove me wrong..

Yeah, I'd like to think that even if it happened it wouldn't be the worst thing. I don't know that this team is dramatically worse (or better) next year and for the years going forward. Assuming that's the case kind of drains Marner's leverage. 4 1st round picks can be used to re-do this with a better 3C as well. Maybe cap crunch shakes someone like Adam Lowry loose or a different 3C with salary retention.

I think he'd be a great bet for leafs

Could also be betting on Bracco (questionable) or Kapanen (way less likely than Bracco even, IMO) to drive a weaker center on the 3rd line as a safety net to it not working I guess. Hope that 1 of the bets pays off

4 1sts is alot of currency and it would be really hard to say no to.

I have a feeling that lots of stuff could shake loose this offseason. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out..

Sure someone could offer sheet Marner but realistically will any team offer THAT more much to Marner that he would consider attractive to leave the Leafs. On this site many of these offer sheet to Leaf players are just anti Leaf sentiment IMO. Or it under the misconception when they the say "The Leafs can't afford to sign all of their RFAs". Fact is they can sign all their RFAs this summer, then they are going to have to work on a trade or two to be cap compliant. Tampa will over the cap when they sign Braydon Point, I don't think all these Leaf haters believe that Tampa isn't going to sign Point and just let him walk as an unsigned RFA. Of course the Tampa signs Point and works out the cap later. (Jets with Laine. Connor and Trouba are in the same situation.)

Yeah, I think you're exactly right, Pal. There's more than a few teams that are in a similar situation, and once one of those ufa/rfa dominoes fall things will start to dort themselves out rather quickly. I mean, does no one play poker anymore?

But given that there are so many teams that need to swing some pieces to make the cap work I think we're in for an offseason that could be quite dynamic and fun..

Also..

Marner = 12M

Yup! Marner = 12M. I read it on the internet so it must be true...

I'm of the belief that you can give Marner the Kucherov treatment - sign EVERYONE else around him and box him into a number (like a 6mil AAV bridge if you wanna go that route for 2-3 years or 8.5-9 long term depending on what you want). Either has to sign for that, wait for an offersheet or sit.

If Leafs had done had not caved to Nylander, (and Matthews) maybe we wouldn't be having this silly 11, 12m talk with Marner. I'll never know why the Leaf thought Nylander was 6.769 AAV when the precedent had been said by the superior Pasternak at 6.67m or even Larkin at 6.1 was a good comparable. Heck 25 goals 25 assist Reinhart signed for two years at 3.625m
Agree with you there might have a "sitting" Marner. Gee at the time of the Nylander signing the Leafs were on a 120 point season pace. The Leafs were had huge leverage against Nylander last fall.

I was advocating for that type of approach a few months ago. Its risky, but not without merit.

The primary reason that I'm for that angle is that I really don't like the idea of one player handcuffing a team for planning purposes.

In hindsight, which is always 20/20, I think it woulda been the best move to sit Nylander for the season, and come back and negotiate this offseason.

I mean, there was a real argument that Nylander and Marner were neck and neck up til this season. Bad timing for Nylander that his contract was up first, and I respect why his camp played hardball given the cap picture.. because he has no trade protection as an rfa, and that they likely knew that Marner's numbers would go up because him playing with JT was part of the pitch to land Tavares .. meaning Nylander could very likely get trade, and he still might..

I don't think Dubas "caved"so much on the contract, as he did with the process.. if Nylander sat this year it'd be awfully hard for his camp to compare himself to Marner and that leverage wouda evaporated. And you're right, the leafs weren't hurting without him..

As for AM, I really don't know what to think of his contract. The ceiling for that guy is really hard to figure.. he could be one of the most dominant players in the leauge if he puts it all together. .

I don't think Marner is in the same hemisphere as AM.. and I love the dude! But that's just my opinion

I disagree. The Leafs were like a 103.5 PDO team at the start of December without him (that's even below the 12-13 Leafs). If by not hurting you mean winning then sure. But if by not hurting you mean playing well... then no. No team in the past decade has finished a full season with a 103.5 PDO (Corsica doesn't go back further). They were going to get worse whether he came back or not. Going from 103.5 PDO back down to 101ish territory had nothing to do with Nylander. Much was written of this in November/December.

Well, its kinda a moot point and we're still out in round 1, with cap challenges moving forward..

Riddle me this.. if every Leaf rfa makes bank how do we get better and move forward?

I had a bit of an aha moment awhile ago.. we make Armchair Gm Posts, and yet many posters put up agms that reflect an agents point of veiw. Funny that discrepancy..

Anyways, its hard to make the arguement that having Nylander in the lineup this year, given the contract holdout, made the team better. We still lost to Boston in round one. We didn't improve..

Also, yes. I do mean winning is a good thing..that's kinda the whole point.

Vegas decline they don't have the cap space