Germany on the verge of an upset in the quarters against the Swiss.
- mjones242

Evgeni Malgin will lead the Swiss to wictory.

Bertuzzi would work for me. Still young. He's probably $6M (or a bit more) per?
- The Law

I'll guess $6.7m, so in that ballpark (using Sam Reinhart has a model and he makes 8% of the cap).

So at first I was going to say you need a big guy in the top-6 - and while it would help, the biggest or heaviest guys in the league aren't necessarily that great. Now of the top-100 heaviest players in the league, these are the top-10 goalscorers: Mikko Rantanen, Leon Draisaitl, Tage Thompson, Alex Ovechkin, Timo Meier, Auston Matthews, Bo Horvat, Roope Hintz and Chris Kreider.

Kreider is really the only solid netfront presence there. The others are shooters.

Excluding the elite goalscorers (Ovechkin, Kreider, Tarasenko and Kopitar - who also aren't very net present with the notable exclusion of Kreider), these are the heaviest forwards in the league:

Milan Lucic, Nick Ritchie, Anders Lee, Anthony Mantha, Pat Maroon, Jordan Greenway, Marcus Foligno, Radek Faksa, Ryan Reaves, Aliaksei Protas, Julien Gauthier, Nicholas Paul, Charlie Coyle and Alexey Toropchenko.

And I look at those names and then I think: No one does it better than a healthy Gallagher - 5'9 and 186 pounds soaking wet. Michael Bunting could very well have been the next Gallagher and been more beloved by his hometown than attempting to draw penalties. It's not size. It's courage and the willingness to just be that much an asshat.
- Monkeypunk

Bunting gets pushed around a lot. He's easy to move. He's 6' (maybe) and looks pretty skinny. Listed at 190 but he doesn't look 'heavy' at all.

Compare him to Bertuzzi for example who's an inch taller and 5 lbs heavier but from what I've seen plays a lot heavier and 'bigger'.

Bertuzzi would work for me. Still young. He's probably $6M (or a bit more) per?
- The Law

The leafs only have $9.1 in cap space with only 7 forwards, 6 D, and two goalies signed (Samsonov is not one of them)

We’ll see if and who they trade but as it stands right now the leafs won’t be able to afford him.

I think the Leafs should get another higher end D that can tilt the ice offensively.

Other than Karlsson I have no idea who else is out there.

But I'd deal Brodie and replace him with that.

The athletic and Frank Serevalli came out with FA projections and both had him at 5.25Mx5.

6M would be too much. Not the going rate for 2nd line wingers.
- Santo_44

Still too much when a team only has $9.1 in cap space with 7-8 guys who need signing

Evgeni Malgin will lead the Swiss to wictory.
- AdamFrench

6(2g4a) pts in 7 games. Not a bad showing!

The Leafs could use his firepower.

The leafs only have $9.1 in cap space with only 7 forwards, 6 D, and two goalies signed (Samsonov is not one of them)

We’ll see if and who they trade but as it stands right now the leafs won’t be able to afford him.
- Dozzer

As of right now, yeah. Bear in mind that includes Murray's $4.6m which will very likely be bought out and reduced to $687k for this season, and Muzzin's $5.65m which is LTIR-space. So you're looking at about $19.3m in cap space.

I think the Leafs should get another higher end D that can tilt the ice offensively.

Other than Karlsson I have no idea who else is out there.

But I'd deal Brodie and replace him with that.
- Santo_44

I'm good with finding another offensive piece to the d-corps but this team also needs a stud shutdown defender.

Still too much when a team only has $9.1 in cap space with 7-8 guys who need signing
- Dozzer

Skewed number

Thats without muzzins 5.5m likely LTIR contract and the likely hood of them ridding themselves of Murrays contract

As of right now, yeah. Bear in mind that includes Murray's $4.6m which will very likely be bought out and reduced to $687k for this season, and Muzzin's $5.65m which is LTIR-space. So you're looking at about $19.3m in cap space.
- Monkeypunk

Yup. This.

The athletic and Frank Serevalli came out with FA projections and both had him at 5.25Mx5.

6M would be too much. Not the going rate for 2nd line wingers.
- Santo_44

well we have one at 11

As of right now, yeah. Bear in mind that includes Murray's $4.6m which will very likely be bought out and reduced to $687k for this season, and Muzzin's $5.65m which is LTIR-space. So you're looking at about $19.3m in cap space.
- Monkeypunk

Surely the Leafs can find a team to take on Murray for 1 season.

well we have one at 11
- drexel

Ya.

PPG is 2nd line.

Yeah, I agree. The game has evolved, but the officiating hasn't kept up and the DOPS is far too inconsistent to be an effective deterrent: you're basically rolling the dice every shift on whether you'll even take a penalty, let a lone a match penalty and a suspension... and if it's a suspension, is it going to be a light one like Pietrangelo's slash or a stiff one like Bunting's?
- gravyface

I'll show you a stiff one...and also, running it up the flagpole.

I'm good with finding another offensive piece to the d-corps but this team also needs a stud shutdown defender.
- mjones242

They had it in Gustafsson but barely used him; Timmins too is a decent puck mover. Decided to go heavy and couldn't break out unless it was Rielly.

I'll show you a stiff one...and also, running it up the flagpole.
- Zezel

No words are safe from your sexual predatory ways

wut if its treeliving

replace a GM who won 1 round in 5 years for a GM who won 2 rounds in 9 years
also trade playoff GOD mat kuchuck

things are looking up

The leafs only have $9.1 in cap space with only 7 forwards, 6 D, and two goalies signed (Samsonov is not one of them)

We’ll see if and who they trade but as it stands right now the leafs won’t be able to afford him.
- Dozzer

9.1 in space includes Muzzin's 5.6 and Murray's 4.6. Muzzin will be LTIR and Murray, assuming they can't find a trade, will be bought out at a cap hit of 600k.

They'll have about 19M in cap space if the Cap remains at 83.5. But, both sides have already reported a willingness to increase the Cap this summer. Sound like by atleast an extra 1.5M.

So, what's being reported is that the Leafs will likely have about $20M in cap space with 7F signed, 6D signed and Woll.

Sammy - best guess is about $3 - $3.5 for a couple years.

Of the 7F's they already have signed - 5 are top 6 guys. The bottom 6 won't cost big $$ to fill in. They've got room to add a very good top 6 guy if they want.

It's why Dubas said they've got lots of cap space this summer.

Bunting gets pushed around a lot. He's easy to move. He's 6' (maybe) and looks pretty skinny. Listed at 190 but he doesn't look 'heavy' at all.

Compare him to Bertuzzi for example who's an inch taller and 5 lbs heavier but from what I've seen plays a lot heavier and 'bigger'.
- The Law

If Bertuzzi is as bad defensively as I’ve heard he’ll become our new whipping boy by Christmas.

As of right now, yeah. Bear in mind that includes Murray's $4.6m which will very likely be bought out and reduced to $687k for this season, and Muzzin's $5.65m which is LTIR-space. So you're looking at about $19.3m in cap space.
- Monkeypunk

Thought Muzzin was already there, my bad. Either way if they buy out Murray that money will be spent on another goalie. The leafs don’t have the cap space to swing $5+ million at a forward without a move. Any notable money will need to be spent on D, unless they can move Brodie who is no longer looking like himself.

It’s what’s going to make June very intriguing. Let’s see where the leafs are sitting July 1 cause I won’t pretend to know.

wut if its treeliving

replace a GM who won 1 round in 5 years for a GM who won 2 rounds in 9 years
also trade playoff GOD mat kuchuck

things are looking up
- senstroll

Or hire an AGM that might be okay? Literally had that in Dubas.

You said it yourself the other day, try something different.

wut if its treeliving

replace a GM who won 1 round in 5 years for a GM who won 2 rounds in 9 years
also trade playoff GOD mat kuchuck

things are looking up
- senstroll

I’d be ok with Treliving. He put together a good team in Calgary. I think he got a great return for tkachuk under the circumstances. Their goaltending imploded last season and the players quit on sutter. Hiring sutter was his worst mistake.

Thought Muzzin was already there, my bad. Either way if they buy out Murray that money will be spent on another goalie. The leafs don’t have the cap space to swing $5+ million at a forward without a move. Any notable money will need to be spent on D, unless they can move Brodie who is no longer looking like himself.

It’s what’s going to make June very intriguing. Let’s see where the leafs are sitting July 1 cause I won’t pretend to know.
- Dozzer

In fact, they could sign 2 big pieces this summer they have so much cap space.

Surely the Leafs can find a team to take on Murray for 1 season.
- mjones242

That'll be on new guy. I just want new guy to be better at assessing goaltender talent. And I do say with due respect to Sammy, because he was far better than most people expected he would be - but Matt Murray didn't surprise anyone.

Gotta be honest - I don't think Treliving showed a whole lot of that talent recognition either. I'll also be fair to both him and Dubas: I think a GM is only as good as the analysts and scouts feeding them information. Let's say that Woll, Peksa and/or Hildeby do work out, then whatever they are doing in evaluating amateur talent is working. I don't know much about Peksa or Akhtyamov to be fair - both playing at what I think is basically an ECHL equivalent in Russia (the VHL)? I think they have KHL - VHL - MHL, and if the KHL is basically AHL-calibre hockey, then . . .

They opted to sign Peksa over Akhtyamov, but I couldn't say why!