Hawks can only retain on one more contract. I 100% understand TOR retained $1M on Lehner's deal last year, but TOR wasn't a seller last year and Lehner was a pending UFA. Very different situation for the Hawks this year. They can't do this.

NSH declines.

They shouldn’t.

Leafs have already talked to the hawks about retaining. They also retained 2.5m on Lehner.

If a Muzzinesque return is what it takes for NSH to move Ekholm, the 1st, Niemelä, Hållander part sounds fair. That leaves a 3rd and Anderson for Granlund, which is a little light. Plus the Preds would need compensation for the retained salaries too, of course.

Technically the Hawks ate the $2.5M. The Leafs took $1.1M. Not mathematically possible to be the other way around due to 50% max retention rules.

You’re right, my bad.

Niemela was named defender of the tournament at the juniors. So no he isn’t durzi. 1st and Niemela is better than what LA got. Anderson hallander and a 3rd for granlund is mite than he deserves.

Can’t see why the leafs would want to add granlund.

I think what happens when using the Muzzin return as a comparison for Ekholm proposals is that people tend to deemphasize the prospects, because Grundstrom and Durzi haven't amounted to much so far. At the time of the trade though they were both recent 2nd round picks, who held more value than they currently do. Sure Niemelä had a good juniors tourney, but it's one short tourney and it doesn't immediately vault his value to a 2nd yet.

Middle six forwards with scoring ability usually go for a 2nd or slightly more at the deadline. A 3rd and one of Hållander/Anderson (whichever one isn't being considered the second prospect in the Ekholm part of the equation) is less desirable than a 2nd.

Then there's still the matter of salary retention. The Preds aren't going to just give that away for free, because the Leafs really need it.

Granlund seems like a logical add for the playoffs to me. Ekholm is the one that doesn't make sense to me, from Toronto's perspective.

They were both b prospects. grundstrom was a grinder and durzi was drafted when he was 19... almost 20. Neither were good assets. Which is why leafs fans were so happy with the trade. I liked grundstrom but the guy had 3rd liner ceiling.

Preds are retaining 875k on ekholm 50% on grandlund. Which adds up to nearly nothing at the TDL. What kind of return do you want for 875k retained next year? Swap our 6th for your 7th???

Why is granlund logical? Leafs have plenty of players who can do what he does or better.

Selling granlund with “scoring ability” is a joke right? Must nhlers can score a goal here or there.

It's $1.875M the OP is looking for on Ekholm. It's not insignificant. A 1st and Niemelä is a nice enough start, but it's not quite enough for Ekholm for me. Hållander looks like he could be a bottom six regular someday, but I could take or leave him. He doesn't exactly push guys like Trenin or Pitlick out of the lineup. I'd take a 3rd over him. Anderson has very little value to me. Both Ekholm and Granlund will be of interest to multiple teams. I think the Preds will be able to find a better offer than this.

Granlund makes sense for the Leafs because everyone needs depth for a long playoff run. Injuries are going to happen. Even without them, Granlund's a better 2nd line option than Kerfoot.

No worries my man! I give you a lot of credit for saying that! I get stuff wrong too. Too many people on here would never admit overlooking something.

875k, look at the trade again.

Ekholm, Mattias ($1,875,000 retained)
Granlund, Mikael ($1,875,000 retained)

Copy pasted from the proposal.

“ 2021 4th round pick (TOR)
Chicago eats $1M of Ekholm's salary.”

Copy pasted right from the trade proposal.

I interpreted that to mean CHI is eating $1M of Ekholm's salary on top of the $1.875M NSH is. Maybe I got the OP's intentions wrong, but this Leafs team is over cap with just a 20 man roster without that double retention on Ekholm.

Can’t retain 1m on top of that. Would it be a leafs agm if they weren’t over the cap? Either way. 1.875m of retention isn’t all that costly especially with no cap coming back in the trade. I would say that equals out. Like I mentioned it’s next to nothing at the TDL. With leafs not using ltir right now this team would be cap compliant and the retention would really only be next season.

I thought the a team could only retain a max of 50% of a contract, but that a 3rd party could retain more salary on top of that. I could be wrong, but haven't been able to google a definitive answer one way or the other.

Regardless of how much salary NSH has to retain next year - even if there wasn't any - I'm just not a fan of the return for them. Still grateful for a rare Leafs proposal that doesn't have the Preds taking Kerfoot back though.

They can only to retain half of what is left. 1m is more than half of 1.875m.