I feel Mantha is next in target list

And for those who asky why look what he did against FLA he pounded Cousins

Also 6'5 and over 200 pounds and plays the style Brad likes

McCabe does do that. Literally every scouting report on him says so and it often hurts him. Was painfully obvious in the playoffs last year and while he has been playing better, he still gets caught way too often to be a legitimate shutdown guy. Benoit has been a nice surprise but he is in not way anything more than a 3rd pair stay at home guy. Lybushkin is worse than both.

The Leafs have never had an amazing defence core. What kills them each year is Keefe never adjusting his game plan.

But this defence will get hemmed in and beyond Rielly and Liljegren, no one is going to handle that.

Leafs have had good Dcores lul

Rielly-Lybushkin
Muzzin-Brodie
Gio-Liligren
Holl

Rielly-Schenn
McCabe-Brodie
Gio-Liligren
Holl

Current Dcore has performed better these last few games especially since Brodie has been shifted to the left side

It's no accident they won 7 in a row including beating VGK, AVS, etc

Rielly and Lybushkin have worked well beforehand, Brodie-Liligren have been good and so has Benoit - McCabe

Jarnkrok was back at practice today, skating on a line with Tavares and McMann. In other words, he is taking Robertson's spot.

Best of luck to Robertson wherever he ends up. Good, hard working kid who deserves a real shot in this league. Just didn't work out in Toronto

Kirill Slepets, the next Kirill Semyonov??

He's someone to keep an eye on but I think he'd just gonna be there

The next Josh Pillar

I honestly wanted them to sign Pillar just to see what he could do, but it looks like he's just gonna be in USports for a while, not many players come from there. (3 total if I'm not mistaken?)

Yeah I think so too, always fun to have a new player to look at though

This is what I see rn with the ? being a position to fill

Knies-Matthews-Marner
Bertuzzi-Domi-Nylander
McMann-JT-?
Holmberg-Kampf-Jarnkrok

Rielly-Lybushkin
Brodie-Liligren
Benoit-McCabe

I hate it but yea Robertson be on his offwing and while there's a lot of good idk how he would fair vs. FLA or BOS.

Good options to consider for the ? = Mantha, Eberle, Buchnevich, Zucker, Smith, Granlund, Duclair, etc

If Leafs are eyeing Jensen then ret has to be involved and if your swinging for that try and get Mantha as part of the deal

Knies-Matthews-Marner
Bertuzzi-Domi-Nylander
McMann-JT-Mantha
Holmberg-Kampf-Jarnkrok

Rielly-Lybushkin
Brodie-Jensen
McCabe-Liligren

Extra: Benoit, Gio, Reaves

Not entirely sure what LA is doing, but they are a VERY interesting trade partner. If Roy is available, the Leafs need to be ALL over that. Plus, Robertson is from California, so connect the dots...

Also with Kaliyev reportedly being shopped, I would have major interest in bringing him in as well. Physical scorer that can fill Robertson's niche. Thats a guy that is due to break out any time soon, and Roy can be easily extended by Toronto. Id be super happy with a deal like that

None of those defence cores have been good enough. The Leafs look good against bad teams and don't against good teams. Colorado hemmed us in for most of the game but lost. Vs Florida or Boston, this defence is not good enough.

Because Keefe sucks

To add to this, Roy + Kaliyev and then a Duclair trade would set this roster up very nicely. Roy would be 50% retained by a third team to make the cap work, and the trade packages would largely consist of picks + non-roster players (like Abruzzese, Timmins, maybe but hopefully not Steeves, etc.) with the exception of Robertson

Bertuzzi - Matthews - Nylander
Duclair - Tavares - Marner
Knies - Domi - Kaliyev
Holmberg - Kampf - Jarnkrok

Rielly - Roy
McCabe - Liljegren
Benoit - Brodie

Woll
Samsonov

That is a roster with ample secondary scoring and a pretty stout defensive group. Duclair and Marner would be a dangerous duo

Once again why ruin the building chemistry of lines

Keep Bertuzzi-Domi-Nylander together, find a RW to play with JT and McMann and lower Jarnkrok

Same goes to Benoit-McCabe and Brodie-Liligren. Now im fine with lowering one guy if absolutely necessary but since those two pairs have been nice I dont see the need.

Also doubt LA moves Roy as they in a playoff race rn for 3rd/WC. Kaliyev meh why spend an asset when u got Robertson

If your going for someone eye an upgrade who can really add a nice touch to the third line. Buchnevich or Mantha for instance

Knies-Matthews-Marner
Bertuzzi-Domi-Nylander
McMann-JT-Mantha
Holmberg-Kampf-Jarnkrok

Rielly-Lybushkin
Brodie-Liligren
Benoit-McCabe

https://twitter.com/nylanderthews/status/1762554998062301371

So we found Kampf a new linemate now time for one more (if not Jarnkrok)

I like the defence better but I also feel we are much worse defensively up front

It should be worrying that the team is starting to buy in over the last 6-7 games.

The buy in should have happened at the start of the season because you know the saying "you are what your habits say you are".

Had this happened at the beginning of the season, it would be second nature by now but here we are.

Holmberg should have always been in the lineup but Keefe is Keefe

The only real subtraction from the forward group was Robertson who doesn't really push the needle defensively. I know Duclair is a bit of a blackhole, but Marner should be able to cover a lot of that. Replacing Reaves with Kaliyev is a wash too. I do agree that we could certainly use some more defense up front, just not sure who there is on the market that addresses that well

It's not a buying in, they are beating up bad and mediocre teams and got lucky against a couple of good ones. The big 3 win games on their own

I mean to be fair there were times when this kid played really bad and it was understandable he had to earn his spot again

And he has so thats good

I mean they tried to do a blockbuster back in NOV but Controy be stupid lul

He took MARKET VALUE for Tanev + Zadorov over blockbuster like return

Thats how u got blown away actual value vs. swindling jesus

Rielly-Liligren
McCabe-Tanev
Zadorov-Brodie