J J P not available for Brody

The Red Wings trade is interesting. I doubt either team offloads these players in their own division. I also don't know that Yzerman would disrupt his cap with Matthews's next contract being close to a max deal, and I'm not sure Matthew's offers a discount to very many teams. Yzerman historically offers deals lower than market value.

However, entertaining the trade, if Matthew's did decide to sign with Detroit at a discount, say between 10 million and his current deal, then this trade would make more sense for Detroit. Hurting the Leafs right now is the "down year" AM just had, so his value may have diminished some. I still think the offer from Detroit might be light by at least another 1st.

Rasmussen would be an ideal fit in Toronto, and would provide the talent needed for his cap hit in their structure. Wallinder is no joke when talking D prospects, but he hasn't played a single game in the NHL. You could basically be trading a top 5 center for a middle 6 C (or top 6 forward), a massive upside D with some risk, and two 1sts. It feels a little light on the trade.

Very neat proposal, and close to reasonable. I just think the contract extension might hamper any chance of this deal getting done, but that is the case for a lot of other teams, and there are only so many teams who will willing (or able to) pay AM's ask, so AM may be heading home as a UFA or taking a pay cut to win somewhere else

The value is certainly fine for a player of Matthews caliber, but I just don't see how a trade like this makes sense for Detroit, long term. Wallinder looks like he could be a stud, Ras has turned into a very good top 6 winger and who knows what those 2 1st will become. It's just giving up a lot of assets for 1 player, then if Matthews gets hurt, Detroit is really hosed. Just too much for a rebuilding team to give up for 1 asset, as amazing as that 1 asset is (and totally worth it value wise)

Valuation is more than fair for Detroit. It's a rip off, actually.

However, SY only makes the trade if he has certain confidence that AM will re-sign here at a reasonable rate. And I don't see that happening (more the latter than the former).

You aren't winning a playoff round with that defense either!

Yeah of course Detroit takes that unless Mathews just says he won't sign

I'd take Brodie but not for that asking price.

I thought Detroit would be a good fit as having another top C is a big need. Likewise, I'm a bit confused by Yzerman's rebuild strategy with some of the veteran (albeit talented vets) moves he has made. It feels like he wants to win sooner than later. I'm not sure who AM would consider a trade to but Detroit certainly has the legacy as a franchise that could be intriguing. Certainly a high flying Detroit team would be very marketable for AMs brand.

Not worth the trade off given Buffalo's young player pool?

Van fan lost in TML world. What is this "playoffs" you speak of?

No, Adams already stated, during Chychrun trade, he is not going to pay more because Sabres have great prospect pool. And any trade with Leafs should be taxed extra

Detroit easily declines. If a playoff cup chasing team wants to pay big money to acquire Matthews as a lottery rental, than maybe but a team that isn't pursuing the cup has zero chance of giving up this much for Matthews. The only thing of value Toronto can offer is 1 year rental of Matthews....nothing beyond that and thus the return should fall in-line as such.

He'd be the best rental in recent times by far. A better player than Meier who returned a first, 2nd, a solid prospect comparable to Wallinder and young NHLer comparable to Rasmussen +.

As noted, Matthews has a NMC so he chooses his destiny. If the Wings could acquire him, it would be wise to do so knowing he is opening the door to that happening. Therefore, knowing that interest, work toward keeping him. Not that hard to follow.

Not to mention the East is aging. Specifically the Atlantic so if Matthews moves and TO is less talented, Boston's cheap legends retire and TB battles some age, why not take a shot? Sure you could argue both ways given Sabres are taking the long route but there are different ways to get there. Detroit has the mix of young talent in the organization already.

As Jimbo said - Matthews has an NMC so anywhere he goes is of his choosing, and while I know you can't just assume an extension happens, you have to think there's a better chance of keeping him around when you're his handpicked destination.

As far as not being a Cup contender, well, Detroit hung around for a while this year before fading after the trade deadline. They finished 12 points out even after trading a top-4 D and a pair of top-6 forwards - you don't think that just adding Auston Matthews to the core already in place makes them a 95 point team? The trickle down effect is big - instead of going with a center lineup that's Larkin-Copp-Veleno-Czarnik like they did in the last game of the season, you can run Matthews-Larkin-Copp-Veleno/Rasmussen as your 4 centers, with one of Veleno or Rasmusssen switching to the wing and replacing the Matt Luffs of the world.

There's also the idea that if Detroit made a move for Matthews, I would have to assume it's not going to be the *only* one they make. They'd still have nearly $20M available in cap after this move, so they can easily go pick up some UFAs to fill out their roster and really position themselves as a Cup contender next year.

You're missing the point, Detroit is not a Matthews away from competing for the cup, regardless of what is happening in the east as they would need to get through the West to get the cup obviously. Detroit needs to keep their prospects and picks and continue building organically because they are a young team.

My point was, and I thought that it's clear, no team can trade a UFA and expect value beyond being a UFA. I realize matthews would be a huge UFA acquisition, but the Leafs will not receive more value than his rental market price (which is driven by the teams interested). His destination would have to be a team that is very well put together already, and somewhat young still. Think LA Kings as a good example or Seattle, etc. And to your point, that acquiring team would have to have the interest to resign Matthews at a huge price, and Matthews would have to have the intent to sign as a UFA with that team which is very very difficult to vet out, but the Leafs get nothing in terms of compensation beyond the 1 year.

A good demonstration of how things can backfire, look no further than when Debrincat was traded to Ottawa and that's as a RFA. Cat is by all measurements not matthews but he's a stud of a young player in his own right. Everyone thought that the Hawks got fleeced but here we are with Cat unwilling at this point to commit to an extension. In fact, I'm willing to be Cat ends up in Detroit.

See my response above.

Detroit is not ready for Matthews next season to push them into be a Stanley Cup finals team. Matthews is a great player, one of the best all-time, but he's not a cup proven leader that would necessarily have the mentoring effect you elude to IMO. Sure there's a trickle down effect based on his skill of course, but I don't think it's as big as you think due to not having the addition of being a playoff leader. You can see when you watch him, Matthews is still figuring out the playoff game and that is largely due to those around him but still is a factor. Matthews is probably good for 4 to 6 more points to any given team.

Detroit is way better off keeping their lottery pick and seeing where that lands before they consider moving it. What if it's a top 4 pick? Than no way, given Detroit's position, would I trade that plus another 1st, wallinder, and Rasmussen for 1 year of Matthews and a chance to resign him after a year.

No it just doesn't make sense to trade a young rookie forward who had a great first season for a D-man when we can just sign a UFA that will do the job, or acquire a D-man for much less of a cost