Quote:
Originally Posted by GullFoss
Can someone explain to me why Toronto would want to trade Kapanen? Is it just for the cap savings (to add to back-end) or to acquire a defenseman for the back end?
I think Dubas is stupid, but he can't be so stupid as to trade Kapanen for a rental defenseman or one he could acquire as a UFA. It also doesn't make sense to trade a top-6 player that's making $3m a year, just because "he's buried in the depth chart" unless you're taking back a young defenseman who's equally underpaid.
If you have a $3m player that is ready for a top-6 role, you make room for him by trading a higher priced contract. It would make far more sense for the leafs to trade Marner, Tavares, Matthews or Nylander for a high end defenseman (or two).
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Yes. Seriously. There's no way Dubas is trading Tavares, Matthews or Marner and while I think he'd trade Nylander, I don't know that other teams value him as much as the Leaf fans do. Plus, he sunk a lot of goodwill into getting Nylander signed.
Just as you wouldn't trade Kapanen for a young underpaid Dman, I think teams with a young underpaid top 4 Dman wouldn't trade that asset. I wouldn't trade Andersson, for example. If it's true Minnie is looking to trade Dumba, maybe that would work, but Dumba makes $6M and that doesn't fit the Leafs' cap, especially when replacing Kapanen's $3.5.
Hamonic is only 29. If the Leafs could sign him for a contract similar to the one he's making now, he shores up their D, doesn't cost too much and they possibly have another asset to go along with it, since you probably add something like a conditional pick or a prospect, or maybe a bottom 6 forward (Reider fits their team I think or maybe they think they can turn Janko around).