Engvall is a good centre don't know why people say he can't play their

The contracts wouldn't have been hard to work around if the cap went up like it was supposed to so no, those big 4 contracts aren't what screwed us. Corona is

He's not a good 3C, especially considering he hasn't played any C at the NHL level yet

Have you even watched leaf games? He has played 3c and well

he did it a few times but I could tell keefe wasnt comfortable keeping him there. Hopefully keefe during the offseason will be able to decide how he will want the lines to be like and not need to tinker every game.

He has played at 3C, but it wasn't an overly successful venture.

Just give more minutes to Matthews and Tavares. Engvall can play there

one of the big 4 needs to go. the sooner the better. the team is too forward heavy. there is a massive hole on rd that should be addressed asap.

he hasn't *consistently* played at 3C- it was quite rare that he did, and he didn't amaze me there. All recent cup teams have had strong 3Cs, he's not a strong 3C.

yeah, i hate having 4 elite players locked up, hate it. We might have to trade depth!

need more grit in bottom six too.

You mean all recent cup teams have had playoff Vezna goalies

Great goalie, great C depth, and great D depth is how you win cups

Yea you can do that when you have cheap guys on elcs. Not when you spend 40mil on 4 forwards
Back to topic Engvall wasn't bad at 3c. He is still young. Next year I think he can fill that role

I don't. If the cap went up like it should have you easily would have been able to spend 40 mil on 4 elite forwards, it's not toronto's fault that this happened and that the cap is 6.5M short of what it was gonna be. And you can still fill out a good team without moving the big 4 or kerfoot, this team just wasn't done very well. Holl, Dermott, Johnsson and engvall are the expendable guys in my opinion. That gives you the money to get another top4 RHD and keep your 3c and some depth.

Yea and were gonna be in cap hell for the next 5 years

but you're just looking at the small bubble that is Toronto. every good team with good players is in cap hell- most teams that aren't in cap hell don't have elite players, or are soon to be in cap hell when certain deals expire. Every good team is having a hard time adjusting to a flat cap, as expected. Many teams also spend pointless money on bad contracts for bad players, which is something the leafs don't have- they paid their stars star money, and sure, with a flat cap, it won't be easy to fill the team out, but nor will it be easy for Tampa, just as it won't be easy for STL to resign Dunn and Pietrangelo, then Robert Thomas and Barbashev the next year. Almost every good team has these issues

It won't happen and we all know it.

Holl is the single most under rated defense men in the NHL imo. If you look at his basic and advanced stats you'll see that his contract is excellent and he is the ideal 2nd pairing defensemen. He puts up points offensively, he has good defensive game, he is a big body that makes hits, he is an all around great player. I'd also keep Engvall as he is a great penalty killer and for 1.25m he is a great 4th line winger. I personally think that Kerfoot and Johnsson should get moved for cheaper players like Donato and Jarnkrok who have better 2-way game and project players like Puljajarvi. Also, Dermott is still only 23 so he deserves at least 1 or 2 more years.

At least one of those big contracts will need to be dealt with eventually, but it is what it is. What is FAR MORE confusing are some of the contract structuring Dubas has used with non-elite players coming off ELC. It's insane that a kid with NO ARBITRATION RIGHTS, who is NOT going to be on your top line, ends up with a deal that's $3M+ that includes signing bonuses throughout the contract and a MNTC in the final year. It's foolish.