The Habs should've never traded Sergachev. I know C's are hard to find, but that bright of a D is equally hard to replace.

That's Hilarious! Your projections are what YOU would do. The decision makers gave a 40 goal guy 9M. None of those three are worth those contracts. Sheary is barely worth 3M now, but YOU would give him 5?

He doesn't fit into their gameplan. You have to know how to play defense to fit into their system. I believe they could've got a better player than Drouin for Sergachev, but he's way to one-dimensional

I hate admitting this as a NJD fan, but the NYR (and NJD, actually) have done an incredible job at restructuring their organization during a rebuild. They're establishing a solid foundation through the draft and cutting dead weight w/o excessive buyouts. 14 months ago they were looking at a complete rebuild. Now, they're in a position to contend for a playoff spot and even have the cap space to make a major play for one of the top UFA's (maybe Panarin or EK). Teams like BUF, OTT, and LAK should watch and learn.

You're not? I guess it depends on your definition of 'cap hell', but from these eyes, the Leafs are certainly in cap hell. Why are you looking to unload Marleau and Zaitsev? Are they terrible players? No. You cannot afford them anymore. Maybe you can sign Marner, Kapanen, Johnsson. Are you going to be able to add to the roster? Or just be able to bring up young players to fill those departures? Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but you can't add anything significant from outside the organization.

To me, 'cap hell' means you can't add a player (i.e. a Panarin, Karlsson) that would add to your team.

The Sabres are certainly not in cap hell. They still have $20mm+ to add to their team. They could easily afford a Karlsson. I'm not counting on that happening, but it's at least possible. Why? Because the Sabres are not in cap hell. The Leafs are.

This league is headed for another lockout very soon.

No that's what I project they will do .... duh.

All I can say, can you really trust the group that traded ROR because they felt like they couldn't win with him? Look what this guy is doing in the SCF

Duh

I agree it is a very bad contract but 17 in the final 42 is a 34 goal pace so its not like he is waaayyy off on his production

"Cap hell" means you are selling players to free up cap. So yes the leafs are in "Cap hell" but just because u cant afford Panarin or Karlsson doesnt mean you are in "Cap hell"

I don't really like this signing, the money is one thing, but 8 years becoming automatic at this age is alarming. He is a very good goal scoring winger, and I don't mind paying a premium for goals, but years 6,7,8 of this deal could be rough.

That said, I don't get how so many think this deal has affected any of the RFA's, or even Panarin's signing. If it had been more money, then maybe, but Rantanen, Marner and Point were getting north of $9M anyway and are RFAs, hard to imagine a UFA on a 40 goal year getting $9M is changing their market Price. Panarin was always going to market for $10M+, so again, I don't think this deal pushes his, since he was going to be comfortably above it anyway.

Duchene is probably the player benefiting most from this deal, since it does create a price point to negotiate from.

Yeah, Buffalo would've been much better off having Cliff Pu play in the ECHL and then trading him for future considerations.

ooof
over paid, over protected, he's good.... just not this good.

I still don't believe it's worth 9 Million dollars a year. The contract is very bad in every way you look at it.

I agree. His 2nd half production isnt a good reason to discount it though.

Eeek to that contract. The first 3/4 years of the contract they will love it. The back end of that contract they will just hate it.

You know I mean on this contract

Pretty bad signing. Someone like William Nylander has produced and played better but is only paid 6.9 million dollars. Skinner is not worth Nikita Kucherov money.

Leafs aren't in cap hell because although they will be over cap this summer they still have assets that can be traded to be cap compliant . Sure Marleau has suddenly not worth next years contract, but all teams have some bad money. Gee the Sabres have Okposo 6m X 4 years. Zaitsev, a 3/4 Dman gets paid 4.5m, that's about the going rate..
Tampa, Leafs Winnipeg, San Jose, Pittsburg are other teams that can't bring back all their players from last year due to increase in cap mostly because of. their new RFA contracts
Sure the Sabres have cap space. Cause they are out of the playoffs team with below average players. Sure the Sabres have 20m in cap space. But still have to 7 players for a 23 man roste, so it's not like the Sabres are flowing with excess cap.

Matthews deal isn't remotely comparable to Skinner, not now, not out of ELC. Matthews entered the conversation as a top 3-4 goal scorer in the league within about a month of playing in the NHL, and right now is likely to enter next season as odds on favourite (or close to it) to win the Richard next year.

He signed a different deal than others out of their ELC's in recent years, but you also have to consider there haven't been very many comparable recently.

Looking at some players who were comparable, you have Stamkos, Tavares and Kane, whose deals look better for sure, but were considered monumental steals in hindsight. Crosby, Malkin both signed for more on 5 year (deals, in terms of CH%), which seems very reasonable. Kovalchuk got more, Nash got roughly the same. The deal is certainly no steal, but it won't be the reason the leafs have cap trouble. Overpaying a superstar by a $1M carries very little risk, that deal will be moved for full value if need be. Overpay a middling forward or D by $1M, you have a deal that it will cost assets to move. If Dubas strategy is pay superstars fair market value, and work harder to save money, and avoid bad contracts on secondary player deals, that strategy is extremely reasonable.

And still nowhere near contending status. Mittelstadt is a big wild card. He needs a breakout season next year. He needs to spend the summer in the gym so he can handle the physicality of the NHL season. Okposo has clearly been a disaster. All those big money UFA's have really crushed BUF over the last several years. You don't spend big on UFA's until you're ready to contend. Build through the draft. What's the point of finishing 9th-12th in the Conference? I hate saying this as a lifelong NJD fan, but the Rangers are in the process of a quintessential rebuild from the ground up. EDM is the West equivalent of BUF. Signing Skinner will hurt BUF in the long run. I'm certain of it.

Duchene at $8.5M+ AAV would be a mistake and he could cost even more. I think he'd be a great fit in MTL, but they're not there yet. Kevin Hayes could work, but it looks like he's gonna be a Flyer next season. Any other potential Centers? Could they look for a trade?

this is what happens when you're based in buffalo new york