I cant wait for some one to comment about your goalie trade with Anaheim..... 'Cause damn....WTH.

Although I'm not saying that trades, the "develop from within" escapes me. The team is weaker with the trades, and the Leafs would unlikely make the playoffs this year, which goes against the logic of developing the team with playoff experience this year. At the team this year. Weaken at left wing with Jenner and two non NHLer Leipsic and Rychel. Hyman has yet to play centre with year. Valiev has played for the Leafs yet and DeMelo is on LTIR. And to trade Polak and Hunwick without NHL players to take their place. It would be a dreadful and discouraging few months in the season for the guys who want a change at a playoff run.
And all those minor leaguers the Leafs give up in trades, really have little or no value to the new clubs. If they were that good, they players would be seeing NHL time.

while I agree that we get weaker in the immediate future but its better to have one more sell off and accumulate a mass of assets and get younger. The two firsts would ideally help us address our right hand defensemen problem and our future pairings could look something along the lines of
Rielly-Zaitsev
Gardiner-Foote
Nielson-Liljegren
Dermott-Vailev

Essentially setting up the pairings for a decade and the forwards group as early as next year could look something along the lines of

Jenner-Mathews-Marner
Kapanen-Kadri-Nylander
Soshnikov-Tkachyov-Brown
Rychel-Gauthier-Hyman
Bracco,Lindberg, Johnson and timashov all still not in the line up
The purpose is to get the players that should be here long term and let them develop chemistry, at this point if the leafs make the playoffs, great, and it wouldn't be earth shattering that we make the playoffs with this line up considering how bad some of the other teams are playing in their conference. But I would much rather have the lineup I mentioned simply because developing for half a season this year and see the progress next year. Just the same way the sabres looked legit last year and crashed this year, the same can happen to the leafs.

Looking at the roster there is no other cap dump on the Anaheim's roster. I cringed having to take him back but at least its only till the end of the season and as bad as he is...he should be bale to play 5-10 games in the back to backs.

shab11: You know it's Foote of the WHL, not Adam Foote of 15 years ago. So you wreck the playoff run to draft a mid 1st rounder, who chances of being a NHLer is about 70%, but chances are being difference maker is lower than that. Wasn't for the "Foote" name, you and most others likely wouldn't know him from the other 217 players that are going to drafted this summer

Well if you take the goalies our and put Cayton Stoner that would work too.

@Shab101 Not sure how you'll get Liljegren, given that most experts have him going in the top 3, unless you're hoping for some sort of wild voodoo draft lottery thing...