What the Toronto Maple Leafs SHOULD HAVE Done This Summer

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a terrible off-season, in my opinion.

I believe that those who like what the Toronto Maple Leafs have done this summer are overrating name-brand players and underrating the players who left.

The calculous just doesn’t make sense otherwise.

Tyler Bertuzzi was a glorious signing, but he’s never had a season as good as Michael Bunting’s best season (by WAR, not total points), and Bunting was paid 900K last year.  The average person likely thinks Bertuzzi is way better, but at best this is a marginal upgrade, and when you account for the $4 million difference between their salaries the Leafs do not improve.

Max Domi isn’t close to Ryan O’Reilly on his best day.

Ryan Reaves isn’t as good as Noel Acciari, not to mention Alex Kerfoot.

John Klingberg had negative value last year, while Justin Holl was a top-four defender who won his minutes on an elite team.  Even if somehow you can make yourself believe Klingberg is better, he isn’t better than Holl + Schenn + Gustafsson.

So, longstory short, the Leafs are much worse than they were.

Here is what I would have done differently.

What the Toronto Maple Leafs SHOULD HAVE Done This Summer

If I was the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, this is what I would have done:

• I would not have signed Kampf or Dylan Gamble, and I’d have $3.175 in extra cap space right now compared to what the Leafs really have. 
• I would have traded Ilya Samsonov for a draft pick, and I would not be going to arbitration against him right now.
• I would have  publicly declared that Matt Murray and Joseph Woll are my goalies for next-season.
• I would have retained Erik Kallgren as my 3rd goalie instead of letting him go to New Jersey.  This would have cost me the cap space I saved by not signing Dylan Gamble. I would have $2.4 million more space than the Leafs have right now.
• I also wouldn’t be worried about signing Samsonov, as my goalies are set and I won’t have to spend assets to unload Murray, who is perfectly good when healthy.  Either way, I don’t care because I’d want to play Woll 60 times anyways.
•  After pressure from my front office, Marc Giordano would announce his retirement.
• I would have let all the players who walked walk, and I’d have signed Tyler Bertuzzi to the same contract.
• I would not have signed John Klingberg or Ryan Reaves, or Max Domi,  and we’d have $10.9 million in cap space (this includes the money saved by not signing Kampf).
• I would trade Calle Jarnkrok, T.J Brodie, and Sam Lafferty and a first round pick to San Jose for Erik Karlsson.  The combined salary of the players I trade is $8.25 million, and Karlsson costs just an extra $3.25 (or roughly one Max Domi).
• I believe San Jose would accept this trade because I am talking on the full contract and they don’t have to retain anything.  To be honest, I’m not even sure it would cost a first if they aren’t retaining anything.
• At this point I have $7.65 million more than the Toronto Maple Leafs currently have, and I’ve added a hall of fame, blue-chip, #1 defenseman to my lineup.
• They are currently $3.206 over the cap (*accounting for Jake Muzzin being on the long-term injured reserve) which means under my stewardship, they’d actually have $4.4 million in cap space.
• I would also meet Nylander’s demands and give him a solid $10 million for the max eight years.

My lineup would look like this:

Knies- Matthews- Marner

Bertuzzi – Tavares – Nylander

Robertson – Hirvonen – McCann

Steeves – Holmberg – Abruzzese

Rielly – Karlsson

McCabe – Liljegren 

Niemela – Timmins 

Woll/Murray

This lineup not only is vastly superior to the Leafs current lineup, but it’s infinitely more flexible, and there is $4.4 million in cap space.

The beginning of the season would be an extended audition, and everyone in the bottom of the lineup could potentially lose their job to  walk-on at camp or another prospect.  The internal competition will propel the team to greater heights, and at the trade deadline we’ll be able to make some moves for areas we need help in.

In the meantime, has one of my AHL players blossomed into a star? Maybe.  Who knows.  In this version, I take the big swing at the elite player who actually makes a difference, and I save my cap space until March when it goes much farther, and by then I’ll know what I need.