Byram is not going anywhere

Nylander will have a lot of value. But he is a 1 year rental. Byram alone would have more value than him since he is an RFA with a lot of team control.

I don't understand this fascination with Bowen Byram. The guy has had really bad injury issues and he's only 21 years old. On top of that, he hasn't even been that effective when he does play. At this point he's still a major question mark. He could either be injury-riddled for the rest of his career, fizzle out as a solid top-4 defenceman, or become a top pairing D, which is very unlikely at this point.

Tell us you haven't really watched Bo Byram without telling us you haven't really watched Bo Byram.

Avs decline bigly.

There's two reason the Leafs are going nowhere fast.

One, they don't have a legit number one defenseman. I suppose this deal is trying to address that, but I don't see Byram as a number one.

Two, they have three of the worst contracts in the league. In fact, the Matthews and Marner deals may be two of the worst in league history. Not only are you paying $11M each to two players that have collectively only hit 100 points once in their careers, but both contracts walk them to UFA before they turn 30, which means you're going to have give them raises on those ridiculously bloated deals to extend them. The idea that they would actually consider swallowing the highest AAV in the league for Matthews is completely insane, and only in the Vortex of Nonsense that is Toronto would they even consider this. These contracts are so bad, you'd have to treat any trade for either player as partial cap dumps at this point.

And then you give Tavares $11M, a local guy who probably would have happily signed for 8 per.

If Dubas is responsible for these contracts, there is now way he should be back as GM. It's Toronto, for crying out loud. You could ice the Coyotes in that market and they'd still be sold out for decades. Don't believe me? Go back and look at their history in the 80's, when they could barely make the playoffs in the Norris division and were filling Maple Leaf Gardens every night. There is no reason for the Leafs to be handing out contracts that pay players on their potential, nor should they have the need to be overpaying to attract and keep talent.

And if it was Shanahan that handed out those deals, then he should be fired.

Sorry Leafs' Nation, you're still the hot mess you've been since the 70's, and you're probably still another generation at least away from winning the Stanley Cup.

Ehh, Colorado is NOT doing all that. Replace Byram with Girard and you'll be on the right track.




Ooh. Don't be too certain about that, my friend. If the Avs don't work fast, he will be ripe for the OS picking.

That's a massive overpay

Offer sheets don't happen nearly as much as armchair gm's on capfriendly like to think they do. Even if they struggle with the cap, they'll take a hit with their forwards before they let a player like Byram go.

Now Girard is probably more likely to be moved.

Never said an OS was an everyday occurrence. But it has gone down twice in the last four offseasons, and one of those players was not as tempting as Byram is. And sure, they will take a hit somewhere else to keep him, but if he goes and signs an offer sheet the clock will start ticking. And then everyone knows they're desperate, and suddenly they have to agree to a fleecing to get right. It's certainly not out of the question.

They shouldn't do it even if it changed to Girard. OS is about the only real likelihood of Byram moving though you're right.