The Leafs' signing of Patrick Marleau essentially signals an end to the rebuild and into an age of win-now, being a legitimate playoff contender. The Leafs have quite incredible depth at forward, specifically on the wing, so ideally they'd be looking to trade some of that depth for defense. In a perfect world, the Leafs would trade with a partner from the other conference, but if there's no good fit, you look for a team in a different place. A team currently going through their own rebuild that are looking for young NHL-ready players and will not be a legit playoff threat, at least for the next couple of years. That's why I believe the New Jersey Devils are a weird, but perfect fit.
Why would the Devils ever make this deal? Well, they tried quite hard to land Kevin Shattenkirk, and solely based on the numbers, Gardiner is actually better and younger and still has 2 years left on a very team-friendly contract. In addition, the Devils lack young offensive wingers. Kapanen has legitimate top-6 potential while Soshnikov has top-9 potential. Both are NHL ready but won't be able to find work with the Leafs' depth. Plus, the Devils have a ton cap space and a ton of contract space.
The devils top-4 would be Andy Greene, Jake Gardiner, John Moore and Mirco Mueller. A lot of Devils will almost certainly say that Damon Severson is untouchable, and although that may be true, I do honestly believe the young talent the Devils are gaining upfront, not to mention the addition of Gardiner, will sure as make up for that loss. In addition, the Devils are rebuilding so they will have plenty of opportunity to lose and keep collecting good prospects through selling and the draft.
It'll take better players to give up Seves. He might not be an All-Star defender, but he's the Devils best D bar none and is only 22 years old. Maybe that trade works if hes on a team with better depth, but it's ganna take being insanely overpayed for them to part with their defensive cornerstone. Gardiner and Kapanen are great and would no doubt benefit the Devils, but not worth a great defender for 12 or so years like Severson could be.
your opening suggests having 27 goals scorer, 46 point marleau each of the past two years makes leafs a legitimate contender. I wish you could explain how. rookie brown had 20 goals and 36 points and he didn't see a lot of PP like Marleau did. to me the leafs have overpaid a previous star and with a plus 35+ signings gives no change of cap relief in a buyout or LTIR. 6.25m could have spend a lot better....like Markov in a position of need.
a terrible signing especially if it affects the signability of one of marner, Matthews or Gardiner in 2019.
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