Why the need to buy out Marleau? He has value. I doubt he waves his NMC to go to NYC to get bought out. Then again, maybe that's the only way he does it, so that he can then go wherever he wants to play for a discount?
If you could elaborate on that move, it'd be appreciated. He's on the books, he could really mentor this young forward group

I think he accepts the trade on the contingency that he gets bought out and can return to the west coast where his family is moving to.

I think that all of these deals are generally realistic. Maybe a few alterations, but the bones are there.

I can see this happening.

Can I ask who we're trading up for with Montreal Pick?

I think there will be someone who falls farther than expected who will interest the Rangers like Krebs, Kaliyev, Newhook, etc.

That's a fair assumption. However, that being said, he seems to love it in Toronto. If he were to return on a cheap deal in Toronto (very feasible) I could see the league looking into cap circumvention and collusion between the two teams. Definitely an interesting tactic, though.

1 huge problem with this... You move from 2nd to 3rd round to dump 2 years of smith but get Kappy for 1 year of Marleau? I don’t hate most of these moves individually but there is clearly an issue that moving smith should cost just as much you get for taking Marleau

Leafs arent attaching Kapanen to marleau

Be that as it may, I highly doubt MTL trade down.

Why not? I mean- maybe they won't....and I can understand if you are not happy with the value exchanged in this trade- just realize that Tor has some heavy lifting to do to move Zaitsev, sign Marner, sign Kapanen, sign Johnson, and fill out their defense...all the while in Salary Cap hell. Again- I understand if you resent others trying to take advantage of your team...but several teams will be competing for some of the Leaf's assets to get them the relief they need...so I'm sure Tor will make out fine...but until then, all options on the table.