Team is way better with him

Didn't Bozak state he was willing to take a sizeable discount to stay with Toronto? Might have been 4 million instead of 5

I don't think you say no if a ufa like JT wants to join your club. Especially if he's willing to do it for 2M less per year than what was being offered on the market.

But if you drop JVR's 7M, Bozaks 5M, and Z's 4.5M that's 16.5M to play with to cover 3 roster spots. I think we find a long term partner for Rielly with that money.

I cant see JT going anywhere. Same for AM. But I can honestly see everyone else being in play at some point if they keep putting up efforts and results like last night. The leafs cap structure is unorthodox and outta whack. If that recipe isn't a winning one, it needs to ge changed.

Zaitsev would still be gone I can't remember a single nice post any leaf fan made about Zaitsev and I agreed with most of them.

You never ever pass on an opportunity to sign a superstar like JT. If you need to fill out other roster spots, sign cheap players or draft and develop well

I think the Rangers situation with Panarin is similar in that he doesn't make perfect sense with where they are in their rebuild but if he wants to sign with you you almost have to jump at the chance.

Yep, that seems like a great comparable. When an opportunity arises to improve the club I think the gm needs to act. Even if that opportunity isn't the perfect fit. There's rarely a perfect fit available but that doesn't mean you turn down guys like Panarin or JT. Every team would be happy to have guys like that.