Where do you guys get the idea that a contract has to be front loaded to be traded? Teams still have to take on his cap hit.
- shack67

Because then a broke ass team can acquire him and pay him less actual dollars but use the cap hit to reach the floor. Plenty of teams are doing this with LTIR players. Makes it way easier to trade him.

Absolute trash goal by Boston to tie the game.
- GreatGigInTheSky

They heavily rely on their PP. It's a good thing for them that it's super good.

Probably only have a handful of even strength goals this year, or at least it seems that way

Because then a broke ass team can acquire him and pay him less actual dollars but use the cap hit to reach the floor. Plenty of teams are doing this with LTIR players. Makes it way easier to trade him.
- JohnFergusonJr

By the trade deadline there’s not much left to pay anyway. And the leafs probably want to wait until then to make personnel decisions.

Mikheyev Matthews Marner
Johnsson Nylander Kapanen

By the trade deadline there’s not much left to pay anyway. And the leafs probably want to wait until then to make personnel decisions.
- shack67

Should have dumped him before he even played a game. Everybody knew he was poop.

It's not, it's the trash defense at least 50% of the time.
- JohnFergusonJr

Blames Hutch for every goal and now it's the defence 50% of the time, make up your mind

Absolutely love that Reeves literally caught useless (frank)heads first punch of their fight.

I don't get why he's listed as one
- dmnted

Set up his agent during those tough negotiations. Centers get paid more. Thus the juicy contract he ended up with. I guess they haven't adjusted it yet.

Because then a broke ass team can acquire him and pay him less actual dollars but use the cap hit to reach the floor. Plenty of teams are doing this with LTIR players. Makes it way easier to trade him.
- JohnFergusonJr

You still have no idea if the Leafs could even do that if Ceci accepted his QO.

Absolutely love that Reeves literally caught useless (frank)heads first punch of their fight.
- GreatGigInTheSky

6% of voters are Scott Sabourin and his family.

You still have no idea if the Leafs could even do that if Ceci accepted his QO.
- Santo_44

I don't know why you let him get you so worked up.

1. Ceci didn't accept his QO. His QO was $4.3m. He had also not declined it yet. The QO is valid until the first day of arbitration hearings.

- I don't know this, but a QO, reasonably, would logically be straight salary with no signing bonus (btw, there is no provision in the QO form to allow for the structure of a bonus payment).

2. Ceci did have arbitration rights, and it was rumoured that he was likely to elect for it, and it was further speculated that he would be awarded $5m by the arbitration process.

3. The Leafs agreed to pay Ceci $4.5m, and they could have structured that contract however they wanted to.

My guess here was that Ceci didn't want the contract front-loaded because his agent knows that he has diminishing value. Playing 1 year on a better team might increase his value - or at the very least stop it from free falling to $1m in his next contract - but playing with a contract that is very movable to a poorer team might see Ceci end up playing for another team in as poor of a state as Ottawa (or Ottaw again) that isn't going to help boost his value.

Edit: QO's are valid until July 15; arbitration begins July 20.

I don't know why you let him get you so worked up.

1. Ceci didn't accept his QO. His QO was $4.3m. He had also not declined it yet. The QO is valid until the first day of arbitration hearings.

- I don't know this, but a QO, reasonably, would logically be straight salary with no signing bonus (btw, there is no provision in the QO form to allow for the structure of a bonus payment).

2. Ceci did have arbitration rights, and it was rumoured that he was likely to elect for it, and it was further speculated that he would be awarded $5m by the arbitration process.

3. The Leafs agreed to pay Ceci $4.5m, and they could have structured that contract however they wanted to.

My guess here was that Ceci didn't want the contract front-loaded because his agent knows that he has diminishing value. Playing 1 year on a better team might increase his value - or at the very least stop it from free falling to $1m in his next contract - but playing with a contract that is very movable to a poorer team might see Ceci end up playing for another team in as poor of a state as Ottawa (or Ottaw again) that isn't going to help boost his value.

Edit: QO's are valid until July 15; arbitration begins July 20.
- Monkeypunk

Good post, like always...!

After all it was the Leafs that probably needed this deal the most. The 2.1M they got in cap relief because of this trade was essential for getting Marner signed...

Feels like getting out of the Zaitsev contract was the lesser priority (?)

Should have dumped him before he even played a game. Everybody knew he was poop.
- JohnFergusonJr

You speak with a tone of authority that is in direct contrast to reality.

I don't know why you let him get you so worked up.

1. Ceci didn't accept his QO. His QO was $4.3m. He had also not declined it yet. The QO is valid until the first day of arbitration hearings.

- I don't know this, but a QO, reasonably, would logically be straight salary with no signing bonus (btw, there is no provision in the QO form to allow for the structure of a bonus payment).

2. Ceci did have arbitration rights, and it was rumoured that he was likely to elect for it, and it was further speculated that he would be awarded $5m by the arbitration process.

3. The Leafs agreed to pay Ceci $4.5m, and they could have structured that contract however they wanted to.

My guess here was that Ceci didn't want the contract front-loaded because his agent knows that he has diminishing value. Playing 1 year on a better team might increase his value - or at the very least stop it from free falling to $1m in his next contract - but playing with a contract that is very movable to a poorer team might see Ceci end up playing for another team in as poor of a state as Ottawa (or Ottaw again) that isn't going to help boost his value.

Edit: QO's are valid until July 15; arbitration begins July 20.
- Monkeypunk

Yup, read a good article from The Athletic on this.

The Leafs actually planned on playing Ceci all along. What's not helping is Rielly's play: a struggling Rielly paired with a work-in-progress Ceci just doesn't jive right now.

Again, it's still super early, we're not even at the 10 game mark yet, but I think when Dermott gets back (well, not right away; he'll probably start with Holl on the 3rd pairing) we'll see a shuffling of the deck.

What's kind of annoying is that we now have Holl playing well, so we have a "crowded" right side in the bottom pairing.

Having said that, if they're prepared to take some risks and mix it up: Rielly-Holl or Rielly-Barrie could work out well.

Good post, like always...!

After all it was the Leafs that probably needed this deal the most. The 2.1M they got in cap relief because of this trade was essential for getting Marner signed...

Feels like getting out of the Zaitsev contract was the lesser priority (?)
- 21peter

I think if there was any market for Zaitsev that was advantageous they'd have taken it. There were rumours of "multiple offers". I'd bet Edmonton would have offered Lucic, for instance, but that's not going to help the Leafs.

Getting out of 4 additional years of Zaitsev, I think, was a huge impetus for the deal. They probably could have received something for Connor Brown that was better than him being used to offset Zaitsev's contract duration (honestly, though, while I'd hoped for a 2nd, I think a 3rd was probably more likely), but I think there was a definite intent to move his $2.1m no matter what.

No but seriously, I think the Wild might be worse than the Sens.

The dude still has another year left after this season.. Chicago really messed up on that one.
- PatC80

3 cups bro.

No but seriously, I think the Wild might be worse than the Sens.
- Scabeh

The Sens have some really good, exciting young players. Two or three years away from seriously contending.



The Wild... have a nice personality.

Yup, read a good article from The Athletic on this.

The Leafs actually planned on playing Ceci all along. What's not helping is Rielly's play: a struggling Rielly paired with a work-in-progress Ceci just doesn't jive right now.

Again, it's still super early, we're not even at the 10 game mark yet, but I think when Dermott gets back (well, not right away; he'll probably start with Holl on the 3rd pairing) we'll see a shuffling of the deck.

What's kind of annoying is that we now have Holl playing well, so we have a "crowded" right side in the bottom pairing.

Having said that, if they're prepared to take some risks and mix it up: Rielly-Holl or Rielly-Barrie could work out well.
- gravyface

One of the harder things with these evaluations is that we don't really see some of these guys against tougher competition, so how they fare in those situations is so suspect.

We all thought Dermott was ready, and while I think by the end of last year he was looking pretty decent in top-4 match ups, certainly for the first month or so he was looking outmatched. Dermott has the ability to get better. I'm not sure Holl or Marincin or Schmaltz or whoever you name here of our castoff defensemen have the ability to play against that level of competition without being eaten alive.

To contextualize that comment, I was wondering how a shake-up of Rielly-Holl, Dermott-Barrie, Ceci-Muzzin would work - if you could blend the minutes a little more. Truth is, though, that with Babcock being stubborn, we probably won't see much change.

The Sens have some really good, exciting young players. Two or three years away from seriously contending.



The Wild... have a nice personality.
- Steven_Seagull

Im not quite as optimistic on the Sens as you....and as for the wild personality, ill leave this here

https://www.tsn.ca/minnes...team-after-loss-1.1382994

The Sens have some really good, exciting young players. Two or three years away from seriously contending.



The Wild... have a nice personality.
- Steven_Seagull

Fletcher and Fenton (frank)ed the franchise and fanned the flames of failure for future fans.

The Sens have some really good, exciting young players. Two or three years away from seriously contending.



The Wild... have a nice personality.
- Steven_Seagull

I'm not trying to crap on the Sens - but I think they are more than two or three years away. Looking at their youth, they have Chabot and Brannstrom on the backend (the latter of which is still an unknown, but should be good). They have Tkachuk and White up front. There's also Batherson, Formenton and Abramov as guys who should probably make the NHL. I'm not sure who in that group, outside of maybe Chabot, is a game changer who can bring an elite level play to the table.

The Sens have some really good, exciting young players. Two or three years away from seriously contending.



The Wild... have a nice personality.
- Steven_Seagull

I get you... the Sens can hope for Chabot, Brannstrom, Tkachuk to be stars in the league and help them become relevant again. It'll take a while but the hope is alive.

Who can the Wild turn to for hope? Their best players are over 30 and aren't performing.... their only bright spot might be Dumba and he has his own shortcomings defensively.....

There's nothing to look forward to except that obviously very good pick that's coming in 2020.

I'm not trying to crap on the Sens - but I think they are more than two or three years away. Looking at their youth, they have Chabot and Brannstrom on the backend (the latter of which is still an unknown, but should be good). They have Tkachuk and White up front. There's also Batherson, Formenton and Abramov as guys who should probably make the NHL. I'm not sure who in that group, outside of maybe Chabot, is a game changer who can bring an elite level play to the table.
- Monkeypunk

I really like Tkachuk too, maybe Brannstrom could be good, but other then that I agree, I dont see any great pieces for contention in the near future.

I'm not trying to crap on the Sens - but I think they are more than two or three years away. Looking at their youth, they have Chabot and Brannstrom on the backend (the latter of which is still an unknown, but should be good). They have Tkachuk and White up front. There's also Batherson, Formenton and Abramov as guys who should probably make the NHL. I'm not sure who in that group, outside of maybe Chabot, is a game changer who can bring an elite level play to the table.
- Monkeypunk