Seems like all they have to do is move one or two of the depth guys

Holl will be gone, so that saves you a little more than $1 million to give to Sandin.

I just made an ACGM for the Leafs next year and it all can work itself out, even if you must buyout Ritchie because no one wants him.

They are.

They have to find teams willing to take on Kerfoot & Holl which is somewhat reasonable (not easy though), but Ritchie wouldn't be of interest to anyone. Then you have to assume Engvall and Sandin sign those lowball offers.

Yes, the Leafs are in cap trouble....but so are a lot of teams. Doubt if the Leafs could even give away 2.5m Ritchie. Leafs won't be spending over 8m on goalies. Sandin and Liljegren won't be taking pay cuts.

Lilypad isn't in a position to ask for a raise, even by this season's end he'll still have less than 80 Nhl games played. Look towards a Dermott style 1 year deal.

And Mrazek and Ritchie were both awful signing by Dubas, a big swing and a miss.

There is the possibility Ritchie starts finding a groove and then his deal doesn't look bad. Considering he's only making 2.5, a big, hard hitting 30 point 15+ goal scorer isn't a bad contract.

Bro, has anyone taken a look at Tamp Bay’s cap situation?

I understand they’ve already won but like their cap situation is just as bad.

ya I dont see this team being able to really get any better given the cap troubles. Holl and kerfy can be moved but that's a loss anyways

The big take away from your comment me is, “already won”. If they Leafs even had a one long playoff run with this core I’d be happy. They won nothing and are handcuffed by the cap.
That Rielly contract is not going to age well

Like Muzzin?

Not sure that's the right move. Kerfoot is more likely

Imagine if Tampa or Washington decided to blow it all up 5 years into their build when they hadn't won the cup yet.

Not sure where you got blowing it up from. I just stated with Rielly’s deal kicking in next year the Leafs are in even more cap hell than before. At least now it’s really only been Kerfoot (3.5) Holl (2) Ritchie (2.5) that Leafs debate on which contract doesn’t hell them and if traded could free up cap.
For better or worse Rielly is going to be in the top 4 till 2027 (full NMC) and maybe in 2028 (10 team no trade list) they could move him. The cap is only going up by 1 mil till they hope 2025. You’ve got Campbell as your biggest FA this year. Matthews and Nylander in 2024. Then Tavares and Marner in 2025 when hopefully you see the escrow paid off and the cap jumps up a lot.
IMO I didn’t see the need to sign Morgan in season. Play this year out first. Jack Campbell should have been the priority first.

Both are priorities and the rest will be found elsewhere. Stars drive the boat. Having as many as TO has isn't the problem. Currently the worst contract on the team is Ritchie who won't look bad if he scores 15-20 goals or 30 points. Which absolutely can still happen. They can move what they need to to make it all work and keep finding cheap depth to fill in the blanks

Well for me always relying on barging reclamation projects year after year to fill in a roster is a terrible approach. It builds no continuity and is also a crap shoot.

My hope is the Marlies starting next year will start having guys pushing for spots on this roster. I wanna see this team succeed just as any other Leaf fan. But it’s getting extremely difficult to see this team win anything in a flat cap world.

Neither has Arb so basically GM has the advantage

Liligren probs gets what Peeke got in Columbus as both are rn in the same position 787,500k x 2 years. Sandin will probs either gets his QA on a 2 year deal or get a 1.55mill deal on a 3 year bridge.

TO is hardly alone in dealing with a flat cap. What they have that others do not have is a wealth of star players. Imagine being a team like the Islanders who have many 30+ year old players making 5+ million all of whom are likely to begin declining asap.

NYI - lost in conference finals, lost in conference finals, lost conference semi finals last 3 years. That’s a bad comparison.

It’s true the Leafs are not the only team that has cap issues. They are however the ONLY team with 3 players making over 10 million aav. It’s a flawed roster construction in a cap world. We’ve got 3 more years of this I guess to see it will work

I guess we should fault management for not predicting a flat cap and global pandemic. Also I don't care what teams have won a round or two. You win the cup or you don't. The Islanders have won jack **** in my eyes.

Of course not, they shouldn’t. But it’s unfortunately a reality and they are going to need to pivot from there approach.
If you are content with 1st round exits, that’s on you then. I’d gladly take multiple conference finals at lest then I’d now my team is making steps to the final goal 🤷‍♂️

Barring ridiculous injury troubles, I fully expect this core to get past the first round. And beyond

I appreciate your optimism. Not sure where it comes from but I wish for that too

No matter what happens. Its going to be up to Matthews, Nylander, Marner and JT to win it all. Its not about the Coleman's or Goodwards or other 3rd liners. Its the stars

Speaking of 30+ old players - both Muzzin + Brodie (33, 31 ) are signed for 3 more years at 5+ mill. They look like bottom pair defenseman this season and they’re supposed to be top 4 D. Good luck trying to move those contracts.

Then when you think it can’t get any worse, Dubas panics and gives a 29 year old defenseman an 8 year contract extension?!?! Rielly is a good #3 defenseman and he’s signed until he’s 36. It is soon going to be looked at in the same way as the doughty/Karlsson/Nurse contracts.

I couldn’t imagine my team having 3 albatross contracts on defense.