Skinner is the better player at the moment.

Absolutely not from buffalo.

Leafs fans turn on their heros so fast. Sad.

JT was never my hero, I saw this was a bad signing from day one and have create many ACGMs to explain it over the passed 3 seasons.

Skinner had is up season, look out for next season, it'll be back down. He is one of those yoyo players. Always one good followed by one bad seasons.

Over under on Skinner's goal totals next season..... 17.

Eh, you're stuck with him. Can't imagine the hometown boy is in any hurry to waive his NMC.

1000 % agree.

time to find a way to LTIR

He had 2 bad seasons in a row, disturbing the equilibrium. By law, he will have another good season

Mrazek is another yoyo player, so the Leaf fans might wanna resist the temptation of saying cash dump him with good assets for no return (other than cap space).

Yeah can't see that happening, might even get a giggle from Adams just before the dial tone.

Buffalo isn’t trading Skinner for Tavares and then also giving you a mid 1st and a 2nd for that right

I'm sick of the people saying he won't waive..he grew up a die hard Leafs fan..he would waive so he's not remember as a downward spiral that never waived his NMC. He would waive if they asked.

HOWEVER, he will go somewhere that's still contending. San Jose, Nashville..I had a few other teams but I'm blanking now. It won't be an easy deal, but for those saying the Leafs are stuck, you're wrong. For those dealing him to a nobody team, you're also wrong. There's a middle ground that will be met.

I don't see Tavares wanting to leave. The Leafs were the 4th best team in the regular season. He's the captain of his hometown team.

Think it was Blues GM Doug Armstrong that had a good line, said something like "NMC's give the player more power than the owner". Tavares is a Leaf until he decided otherwise. Due to the structur eof the deal it's almost buyout proof as well

John Tavares isn't waiving his NMC for Buffalo, Nazem Kadri gets more than $7,000,000 x 5 years. And you've a 20 man roster and you're over the cap. Yeah so not happening.

One might say the only other city he’d consider waiving for might be Buffalo. He spent plenty of time in Buffalo growing up, and it’s not very far away from home there. That said, Buffalo has no reason to want that crazy contract of his, especially at that price.

I'd bet 100,000 on the over buddy

Guy has literally been a consistent 25-30 goal guy his entire career aside from playing 4th line and no powerplay under ralph kruger... not a yoyo player. Plus there is also the fact that there isnt a picture of skinner in leafs pajamas so there is no way dubas makes this trade solely because of that

IMO this deal is worth considering.
Jeff has certainly played beyond my expectations this year, not with his goals but with intensity he brings to the game.
John is paid more than Jeff but his contract expires two year earlier, so it may be in Buffalo's interest to increase the cap the next three years, to reduce it when Quinn, Peterka etc. ELC's expire.
Buffalo needs a player who can win FO's, only O'Reilly had a higher FO% than John this past year and had 6 more goals and 18 more pts than Ryan.
With Olofsson as John's LW, Victor may score more goals than Jeff did this year and could reach 40.

Looking at your trade you move Mrázek with the Vegas pick to get Colorado's first.
So Mrázek + Vegas 1st ~ FLA 1st.
I am sure most Sabre fans would like this even less but Tavares + Mrázek for Skinner + FLA 2022 first + Vegas 2023 2nd
Buffalo gets 2 top 15 picks in this years draft and another player help them reach the floor.

Bottom line I would not laugh at this deal as it gives Buffalo a top center while only trading away my favorite Sabre LW of all time and first in a soft draft.
Now you can all lambast me.

Well thought out, eating what 5.5m with Mrázek and the 2m from Tavares. Gives you options with Krebs and Mitts. Nicely done

Obviously, everything's contingent on Tavares waiving, but I think combining the two deals brings an interesting twist to the proceedings.

First off tho - I don't think that you get to dump Mrazek to Arizona by just swapping 1sts and dropping ~12ish spots. His contract being backloaded makes it the type of dump Arizona isn't looking for - they want higher AAV than salary so they get to the cap floor without spending to the cap floor. Mrazek is owed $4.2M and $4.4M on the 2x$3.8M he has left, so Toronto is going to have to pay to get a floor team to take him on. I'd say they have to put up a 2nd rounder to push him off for our old friend Future Considerations.

If you think Tavares for Skinner/mid 1st/mid 2nd is a fair deal, throwing Mrazek into it should bring the package to Mrazek/Tavares for Skinner/mid-1st. I honestly think that Kevyn Adams would have to think about that type of deal - as you said, Tavares only have 3 years left on his deal gives you a chance to be out from his big hit a couple years sooner than Skinners smaller, yet still pretty big hit - you're paying either player through their age-34 season, you're just accelerating the timeline with JT. You also have to factor in the idea that getting a high-scoring center like Tavares is more valuable than a high-scoring winger in Skinner, especially for an organization whose main forward prospects are mostly wings (Peterka/Quinn/Krebs).

I think there's a solid idea here, and there's also the fun added thought of JT in Buffalo adding a little spice to the upstate-downstate rivalry with the Islanders.

Will do, I have nothing against Tavares but I have zero interest in helping Toronto free up any degree of cap space. We save a year on Skinner's contract but gain 2 years of age and get a guy who has progressively become more invisible on the Leafs.

I'd agree that a 2C > all but the top tier of scoring wingers however I would fervently disagree that Tavares is worth 2mil more cap, a un-buyout-able contract, a 1st and a 2nd.