Trades and Potential Trades

Byufuglien Deal 5 Yrs, $7.6 Per with the Jets.

This tells me Ladd will probably be on the trade block.

 

wow! I really thought they would have moved him. Correction, should have moved him.

 

One sportswriter on CBS said the Penz should try to get him quite awhile ago. No thanx! Not at that price. He's not worth it, imo.......

 

I wish Buff was in a major market, he's good for the league.

I don't think he's good for winning. You can't put him in a 4 line system and you can't use him just as a role player...so teams are screwed. He also needs 20+ a night to get going and keep going and that results in annual breakdowns later in the year (or injuries).

I had high hopes for Cheveldayoff, he's busting out in my opinion

 

Phaneuf gets traded to the sens for cowan and others.

 

http://www.tsn.ca/maple-leafs-deal-d-phaneuf-to-senators-in-nine-player-trade-1.435458

This could open the logjam to start get some deals going. This is only a snap-reaction: I think TOR won this. I think J. Cowen can be a top-four for the next 7-8 years. I have not broken down the cap situation, but TOR is going to free up space this month, and they will not have an internal cap like OTT.

 

I heart Murray

 

Interesting on the cap, getting rid of phaneufs term is a win, I'm pretty sure they must've freed up some cap space, damn I miss capgeek.

 

Looks like somebody finally figured out that playing Karlsson 38 minutes a game isn't a good strategy.

Curious acquistion of Cowen, they have to flip him I think. He can't stay healthy but he should be easy to unload.
Lindberg could be a really sneaky-good acquisition, tremendous upside and he'll need a few more years to develop anyway imo.
Toronto gets a contract slot. Between that and eating salaries, it's good to see Toronto using all their strengths to finish the tear down.

Underwhelming return overall. That Gunnarsson retention is a real killer with their options as they're still using 2 of their 3 retained transactions. A 2nd is not likely worth much and Cowen/Lindberg are far from good long term investments. I really thought he might end up in WPG since they have such a deep system, guess the Buff contract took them completely out of the market for a big obligation.

For Ottawa, it's pretty simple, they need stability and to NOT rely on Karlsson for everything. Big risk for them but I think they did pretty well for themselves and they know exactly what they are and aren't getting. With Turris, Karlsson, Ryan, etc. in or about to hit their prime, they don't have much reason to cling to projects, injury risks, and picks outside of the top round.


My opinions on this might change after I think on it a little more.

 

http://www.generalfanager.com/teams/toronto-maple-leafs

 

Removing 5 years of Phaneuf's contract is a big win for the Leafs. I think they took on a lot more salary with the other pieces, but most of the contracts expire after '16-'17. They're probably a better team today, and they have a lot more cap flexibility after another season in the rebuilding mode.

 

Toronto's cap situation is pretty much terrible for this year and next after this acquisition.
The good news for Toronto fans is that they are definitely doing a complete rebuild.
The bad news for Toronto fans is that they won't have it all torn down until the end of NEXT season.

 

It's amazing that in one calender year, they did the unthinkable. They rid themselves of kessel, clarkson and phaneuf, that's $20M of cap space that was being used on garbage. One more to go, two years left on lupul's $5.25M deal, hope they do a buyout with that louse.

 

The shorter terms is something that works out perfect with the rebuild.

 

Ouch. Thats not a quick fix, reload situation? Toronto is going to go crazy!

Im not sure why, but moving Fanoof should just be the tip of the iceberg and I dont think anyone in Toronto should put the suitcases away just yet.

For some reason when I envision Shany, Babcock and Lamoriello in discussion on what to do to stop the bleeding... I cant see them being patient or passive. I think more is quickly on the way for the Leafs.

Just a hunch...

 

Now all they have to do is find 2 top pair dmen, a top line RW and number 1 center and a goalie that can survive the hell that will be in front of them for the foreseeable future.

This stuff is almost too easy.

 

This is the fun part of a rebuild, maybe rielly could develop into a top two, more high picks coming, I don't mind having reimer in there taking the beatings. They have five good prospects on the way up in marner, nylander, dermott, kappanen and brown.

 

TOR lives in an entirely different dimension compared to the rest of the league when it comes to the cap. Sure, they must abide by the same cap/floor rules, but otherwise don't really give a ('S!) about salaries. I think they may have become a better team in the interim, but getting out of Phaneuf's contract was huge.
I think they're just going about their rebuild in a different way than what most other teams would be permitted. They aren't going to be a SC contender next year regardless of what they do. But, after next season they will be in a strong position to do what they want. By then, many Marlies and other prospects should be ready to contribute for the Leafs.

Before this trade I don't think this do-what-they-want could be stated with confidence.

 

They just committed to patience, they have piles of dead mone on the books through next year.

Similar to:
where Buffalo was in 13'
Where Chicago was prior to lockout 1 in 2004 or where they were after the Chelios trade
where LA was coming out of lockout in 2005
Where FLA was going into the 10' draft,
Where PHI was last year
Where the Cubs were after 11' (Leafs fans can appreciate the comparison)
etc.

Long, long game of 'wait and see' coming up.