And inquiring minds ask once again, why would Muzzin waive to Seattle or the other non-playoff teams Leaf ACGMs post daily?

There's a reason why Larsson and Muzzin both have NTC's.

Seattle has a bigger LHD logjam than Toronto does. Larsson is literally their only top 4 RHD on their roster

If Tampa was able to move McDonough when he has an NTC, why is it out of the question for Larsson and Muzzin to move with NTC's?



People move to non-playoff teams all the time. Plus Seattle's situation isn't so bad. They got Beniers and Wright coming up.

That's a good point, I didn't really consider that when I made the trade

Jake Muzzin is 33, he is exactly where he wants to be to have a final run at a cup. He put a NTC on his contract because he knew the Leafs window would be open.

McDonough was moved because there were teams lined up to take him off waivers. They did him dirty, and their locker room will suffer for it and so has BriseBois legitimacy.

Have a team that is willing to take him off waivers, but McDonough had a far better season than Muzzin did last year.

It's not true that players waive their NTCs to go from a contending team to a non-contending team "all the time." I'll bet you can't come up with 3 examples in the last 5 years. Moreover, speaking of bets, if you think that Seattle is going to have a sniff at the playoffs this season or the next, there are a lot of wagers I'd like to place with you.

McDonagh didn't sign his current contract with his current club. Larsson and Muzzin did, when they could have gone anywhere.

Okay, you got me, I can't name 3 examples off the top of my head in the last 5 years.

I didn't say Seattle is gonna make the playoffs soon but I think Beniers and Wright are pretty good for them to build around.

So do you think Dubas is stuck keeping Muzzin this year and just move him next year when his NTC becomes a Modified NTC?

So would you say that Dubas is keeping Muzzin his year and moving him next year when his NTC becomes a Modified NTC?

I love this. I don't think it's possible, but as a fun dream, I dig it.

Almost positively, Holl and Kerfoot are easier to move. Sign an RD with the space you allocate, give Sandin enough time so that you can trust him eating 18-20 minutes a night. Move Muzzin next season.

A commonality in a lot of trades people make with Seattle on here!

No, I'm saying that you've got two problems with any Muzzin trade. (This one has a third -- Larsson's NTC -- but that's not important to this discussion.)
(1) Muzzin's NTC.
(2) Muzzin's value to the other team and its cap space.

The general impression is that Muzzin is an Ontario guy and he probably doesn't want to uproot his family unless he's going to go to a contender for the Stanley Cup. Therefore, although this is speculative, the generally-accepted "wisdom" is that Muzzin isn't likely to waive for a bottom-feeder like Anaheim or Arizona or Chicago or Seattle or similar no-hopers. How he would feel about nearby Buffalo or Detroit or Ottawa is unpredictable.

A player can have different value to different teams, and that difference can vary widely. To Toronto, and to a similar contender needing a solid defender (especially one soft at LD), Muzzin is still quite valuable. (My personal opinion is that it would be a serious mistake for Toronto to trade him away because I don't see how you're going to replace him -- in particular, the LD UFAs left are a pretty sorry lot.) But to a team which isn't getting near the playoffs this year and unlikely to make them in 2024, what's the future benefit of having him on the team? Going from 27 wins to 31? So his value to non-contenders is pretty minor compared to his appeal to the contenders.

To me, the most likely scenario is something like the Mrazek transaction, whereby Toronto moves back in the 2023 draft in return for moving Muzzin. But that presupposes Muzzin proves us all wrong and accepts a trade to a team willing to do that and able to afford his cap hit.

You make a good argument but I think it might be easier to move Muzzin next year without having to do what we did with Mrazek.

Muzzin has the same Modified NTC that Mrazek has (10 team no-trade list)

However, unlike Mrazek who had a dreadful year last year, Muzzin's performance is typically acceptable. So I think it will be do-able to find a trade with the 21 remaining teams in the NHL by adding a draft pick or a prospect as a sweetener to a Muzzin trade.

The reason that getting rid of the Muzzin contract this year is of some importance is that there is a log jam on the LHD side and Sandin doesn't see a spot for himself to play big minutes in the lineup. We could always get rid of Holl but that doesn't automatically solve the Sandin situation since he's not a RHD.

The anywhere else on Kerfoot will most definately be anywhere else as the Hawks are not giving up what they hope/expect will be a low 30's pick.