Your 2023 first-round draft pick, and we retain 50% ($2,912,500).

I'd be okay with that, just want to ask you as well about Henrique's skating, is he like a slower skater or is he fast enough to keep up with the top guys on the leafs? Because slow skaters dont tend to work out here (Nick Ritchie prime example)

He skates better than Tavares if that's the question. He's no speedster, but he's not slow or loosing a step either, keeps up with our kids just fine and if he couldn't skate we wouldn't use him on the PK.

As far as payment goes, we'd be after a first, and short of that we don't see a need to move him given the extra year on his deal, he is one of our teams leading scorers year in and year out, so it's not a market value situation, it's a make us an offer we can't refuse situation.

Prospects in the Leafs system that would be of interest are Knies and Robertson (much less since he got hurt again, but he could be viewed as a high risk prospect) not particularly intrigued by anything else you've got in the tank. We also have multiple 2nds this year that can work out as part of a larger deal.

Just keep in mind, Kerfoot will carry zero value with us, I am not convinced we could "flip him for a third" as many leafs fans like to say, and given that would require retention, and we likely have better uses for our two remaining retention spots on our own UFAs.

Henrique really could be the perfect piece for the leafs. Only thing I'd wonder is if there's a way the leafs keep kerfoot, he's a very useful player and just improves the teams depth that much more if kept.

Maybe '23 1st + 3rd for Henrique?

That's an awfully rosy picture. Year in and year out actually means this season and last because 2 years ago he was on waivers and teams could have had him for free. That's the risk the Ducks are taking by keeping him and why they would move him while he still is their leading scorer. His value could plummet to near zero again as it has before in recent history. There is still a fair amount of risk there the Ducks would be holding on to.

Oh, look at you, still hung up on "we could have had him for free, why would we pay for him?"

Firstly, In the last 5 seasons, including his current contract (you know, the one he was placed on waivers for in the 20-21 season) He has finished the following in team points. 4th, 1st, 4th (in the season he was waived!), 3rd, and is currently 3rd amongst Ducks. Oh, wait, sorry, I said he was one of our leading scorers, that implies goals, not points, let me check my notes, hmmmmm........ past five seasons he is 3rd, 1st, 2nd (in the season he was waived!), 3rd, and tied for first this season. Yeah, sorry, your statement doesn't check out.

Secondly, even in this ACGM, Toronto is looking for retained salary, which we are willing to provide, at a cost. Cap space doesn't come free, and this year, it doesn't come cheap, particularly considering you are getting a full season of retention after this one, as Rico isn't a rental. He may not be worth a lot at 5.8 next season if its a rough year for him, but he will still be valuable at 2.9.

So yeah, given we don't have cap constraints next season, the crop of pending LW UFA's is crap, he is loved amongst our fan base, and we don't really have an internal replacement for him at the moment, we will hold out for our high price, or we will hang onto him until next season and ship him out as a rental for a 2nd and a ~B prospect, our risk is minimal.

Henrique on waivers says a lot more about Bob Murray at his lowest point as the Ducks GM then it does about the player. Case in point, immediately following that awful year for the whole team Rico was the captain of team Canada at the WC and scored over a point per game en route to Canada winning the tourney. If that's the risk sign me up.

Doesn't say much about the GM when no teams claimed Henrique.

But it says tons about a league's cap structure and a guy having a 6M AAV with 4 years of term. There was zero risk of Henrique getting claimed, it was a statement from Murray that he could and would treat anyone in however a crappy way he wanted.

While I am not arguing cost just adding perspective here, I do think it should be considered that he will not get the same offensive opportunities in TO as he does in Anaheim. The hope would be that he fit at 2LW and if he doesn't then he's in a bottom 6 that by design is very low event which will make his points plummet. Maybe he finds a good role and succeeds down there but if you paid a 2023 first in one of the best drafts in recent memory, for a 3rd liner who likely doesn't score more than 35 points, does that look good? When a team is bad, being the best scorer doesn't necessarily mean you'll do better on a better team, it often means your production will plummet because better players are getting all the prime offensive opportunities and they don't. That is likely the case for a lot of guys. That does effect the value.

If we were talking about a guy like Olofson who doesn't do much outside of scoring, getting pushed down to the third line and having points totals drop is a bad look, I would agree with you there. Rico plays a really complete 200 ft game, he would be relatively interchangeable between 2LW and 3C as needed, or god forbid one of your top 6 centers goes down with an injury in the playoffs, he can slot in at 2C.

We're also not necessarily dead set on it being the 23 1st, could be the 24 and something, could be the 23 and we send back a late 2nd so that you get a pick in the top 60.

there's a reason Bob isn't in Anaheim in charge any longer