Still gotta deal with the classic Marner for Tkachuck though.

Appreciate the insight! My initial thoughts is that I like the contract as well.

And replace him with who. For what Muzzin does nobody can replace that and the guys who can either make way more than him or are on teams with no desire to trade.

Hes having a bad start but its pretty evident hes playing through an injury.

This would have been fine, but still scary a year ago, now its well below the market and looks good in a relative sense. The argument against the deal is whether or not any smart GM should be willing to go long term on bigger name D at all right now. I fell like some GMs will do really well building their D on lesser names for lesser cost, and reallocating their money up front but with the prices we saw lesser named D traded for this summer, maybe that's not possible either. So in a league where every D is overvalued by everyone, I think this is a good deal, and less than expected on the market, but whether or not he can actually be worth the total cost of the deal feels like a coin flip.

Forgot about him

OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN

Contract's fine but it's hard to think that everyone of the top dogs in that team will come back considering their cap.

Not sure this is the case. Even if the cap is flat again (likely, but some rumors of a $1M increase), the Kessel dead cap of $1.2M covers about half of this pay increase in the early going. With Ritchie and Kerfoot being expensive depth pieces, the Leafs could move one or both without too much trouble to free up cap for Jack and keep the depth intact. They have a bit of a bridge with Bunting and Simmonds on for an extra year each, Robertson likely ready for full time duty, and Spezza likely back at league minimum. I think they have more flexibility in the medium term than people realize.

I think the biggest questions will be about Muzzin. He hasn't looked himself at all this year, and even if he rebounds, if you have Sandin moving up the depth chart, and Rielly now signed long term, will this offseason be the time to move on from Muzzin while there may still be teams willing to take on his cap hit for leadership, grit and cup experience. He isn't owed a lot of actual money after July 1st, and it could be a situation where moving him before a complete falloff starts to make sense if what we have seen so far this year is a glimpse into what that fall off could look like longer term.

Dermott. He had the same thing last season. He is injured too much and leafs can’t continue to cut dollars from depth. Muzzin is the logical option.

Dermott in top 4 never works especially in the playoffs. Unless he is paired on his offside with a guy like Muzzin or Rielly that is. Even so we have seen it before Dermott-Holl just aint a good pairing as both guys weaknesses are in full view.

Muzzin has a full NTC

Assuming the cap stays flat again....Toronto will have nearly 60% of their cap taken up by 5 guys.

Did anyone else catch the full nmc built into this? brutal.

Well... He has a full NTC and despite a bad start, he was one of our best Dmen the last two years and one of the more underrated Dmen in the league.

Only assures that MR is a Leaf longer than KD.

I think it's a good contract considering Reilly will be well worth his AAV until 23-24 & the window of TOR : with Matthews & Nylander at good value until 23-24, they'll go all in with their big 5 to reach the Cup. Like it or not, I think it's a fair bet.

He was our best Dman 3 years ago. Bad season last year and worse this year. He will have control over where he goes but I do see a Muzzin trade as likely.

It’s not likely a guy with a full NTC gets traded. He probably doesn’t want to leave.

Good deal. The term is scary but will be fine given the AAV and Rielly can still produce well for the next 4-5 years.

At this pace Ben Chiarot will be the best UFA defenseman

Voted yes simply because it will stop all the awful Rielly to LA trade nonsense.

I hate to be this guy, but now instead of the Rielly trades, everyone is going to focus on Jack Campbell. He’s the next pending UFA under the Toronto media’s microscope.

Oh, it's definitely an overpay. Money and term and full NMC from front to back.

I agree. How much do you think the fact that he’s always been a Leaf factored into the contract? (Drafted in 2012, has has been with the Leafs ever since)

Thank goodness we aren't letting him walk for nothing.