2022/2023 Trade Speculation and Rumours

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

Maybe it's just me but Mackey - Stone sounds like a decent/average 3rd pairing around the league.

It is.

We went into the offseason looking to replace Gudbranson and Zadorov. We replaced Zadorov with Zadorov and instead of replacing our 5/6 defenceman we added a top pairing defenceman. If we didn’t go through all the guys wanting new teams, I very much doubt we would’ve acquired a defenceman before filling the top 6 forward hole.

Weegar, Tanev, Andersson, Kylington, and Zadorov is a good-great top 5 around the league. If two of those guys go down we still have Stone, Mackey, and Valimaki playing spot duty. Having Hanifin obviously puts it over the top.

Top 6 RW was a sore spot last season, too. It’s great we swapped Gaudreau and Tkachuk for Huberdeau and Kadri, but that didn’t fill the hole. Gotta give to get, and right now we can stay in great shape by giving up a defenceman to get a RW.

[Heavy Jack]

It would be amazing to land a true top 6 RW to push this team over the top and honestly a Hanifin package makes the most sense as it would be dealing from a position of strength it’s just a matter of who has that RW and who needs a LD.

[Flaming Horse]

Who are these Gaudreau and Tkachuk guys, people keep mentioning.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

Maybe it's just me but Mackey - Stone sounds like a decent/average 3rd pairing around the league.

That isn't decent IMO, more like replacement level.

But let's say someone in the top 4 gets injured, liked Tanev for instance. Now you have Stome in the top 4, and a bottom pairing of Mackey-Valimaki or Mackey-Meloche.

Having Kylington, Stone, Mackey and Valimaki in your starting 6 is bottom of the league bad.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Heavy Jack

It would be amazing to land a true top 6 RW to push this team over the top and honestly a Hanifin package makes the most sense as it would be dealing from a position of strength it’s just a matter of who has that RW and who needs a LD.

Top 6 RW is really 2nd line RW = the 6th best forward on most teams at best. Like a Conor Garland or Eberle or Anderson. Don’t like it.

[Heavy Jack]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Top 6 RW is really 2nd line RW = the 6th best forward on most teams at best. Like a Conor Garland or Eberle or Anderson. Don’t like it.

I agree, if you look at the top RWers in the game the ones that would be considered available are few and far between and wouldn’t make sense in regards to a Hanifin package. Garland and Eberle in no way are worth Hanifin let alone a package for Hanifin as I suggested. Nylander or Pasternak would be the player I’d want to see added in a Hanifin package and there just isn’t a fit there for the Leafs or Bruins.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

That isn't decent IMO, more like replacement level.

But let's say someone in the top 4 gets injured, liked Tanev for instance. Now you have Stome in the top 4, and a bottom pairing of Mackey-Valimaki or Mackey-Meloche.

Having Kylington, Stone, Mackey and Valimaki in your starting 6 is bottom of the league bad.

I feel like you’re not counting a player. If we trade one of our top 4 D, Stone is still 2 injuries away from the top 4.

Weegar
Tanev
Hanifin
Andersson
Zadorov
Kylington
Stone/Mackey/Valimaki

I think the idea was that, we’re injuries to occur and our bottom pairing was Stone/Mackey, then they would be decent. I think that holds true.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I feel like you’re not counting a player. If we trade one of our top 4 D, Stone is still 2 injuries away from the top 4.

Weegar
Tanev
Hanifin
Andersson
Zadorov
Kylington
Stone/Mackey/Valimaki

I think the idea was that, we’re injuries to occur and our bottom pairing was Stone/Mackey, then they would be decent. I think that holds true.

But now you will have a Zadorov or Kylington playing bigger minutes. We have first hand experience of what happens when a guy does down like Tanev did in the playoffs.

We already have 3 top 6 wingers. I think that's why having a deep clear cut top 3 center iceman is important.

In the salary cap world teams will have holes but I think the holes we have can be masked.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

But now you will have a Zadorov or Kylington playing bigger minutes. We have first hand experience of what happens when a guy does down like Tanev did in the playoffs.

We already have 3 top 6 wingers. I think that's why having a deep clear cut top 3 center iceman is important.

In the salary cap world teams will have holes but I think the holes we have can be masked.

Both of which are more than capable of doing so.

Imagine if Tanev went down in the playoffs last year… and he wasn’t our best defenceman. That’s where we’re at this year. It’s different. And if Weegar goes down, we have Tanev. And if both go down, we’re screwed with or without Hanifin.

We’re talking about trading our 3rd or 4th best defenceman (whichever you want to argue) for someone with 1st or 2nd line scoring ability.

Huberdeau, Lindholm, Kadri, Mangiapane. That’s it for guys who can count on offensively or where offence is a big part of their game. Coleman is great but he’s great for his defensive play, he’ll chip in on the scoresheet too. Toffoli is a giant question mark. Backlund in anchoring the 3rd line.

Would you rather see Ritchie play on the top line again? That seems worse than having Kylington play top 4.

[BigRed]

Originally Posted by Flaming Horse

Who are these Gaudreau and Tkachuk guys, people keep mentioning.

Never heard of 'em. Must play in the other conference or something.

[Sandman]

If someone in the top-4 goes down, we aren't stuck with Stone, Mackey, Val, or even Zadorov. Kylington moves up. That's not bad. Even if Z moves up, that ain't bad either. Tanev is the key, and he's the one in the top-4 we don't really have a placeholder for (at least come playoff time). The other 3 could be replaced temporarily by Z or OK without a major problem.

And remember, OK and Tanev were said to be one of the top-5 tandems in the league....

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Both of which are more than capable of doing so.

Imagine if Tanev went down in the playoffs last year… and he wasn’t our best defenceman. That’s where we’re at this year. It’s different. And if Weegar goes down, we have Tanev. And if both go down, we’re screwed with or without Hanifin.

We’re talking about trading our 3rd or 4th best defenceman (whichever you want to argue) for someone with 1st or 2nd line scoring ability.

Huberdeau, Lindholm, Kadri, Mangiapane. That’s it for guys who can count on offensively or where offence is a big part of their game. Coleman is great but he’s great for his defensive play, he’ll chip in on the scoresheet too. Toffoli is a giant question mark. Backlund in anchoring the 3rd line.

Would you rather see Ritchie play on the top line again? That seems worse than having Kylington play top 4.

Will this top 6 winger replace Hanifins 45 points? We still have a capable defence to put up points.

Toffoli is a question mark. He came in on a high and looked awful to end the season and playoffs. I wonder if it's a conditioning issue that rest and a summer of training can rectify. He's been a consistent 20 goal guy even last year.

I still hold on to Hanifin with those questions marks. We are a injury away from disaster.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Sandman

If someone in the top-4 goes down, we aren't stuck with Stone, Mackey, Val, or even Zadorov. Kylington moves up. That's not bad. Even if Z moves up, that ain't bad either. Tanev is the key, and he's the one in the top-4 we don't really have a placeholder for (at least come playoff time). The other 3 could be replaced temporarily by Z or OK without a major problem.

And remember, OK and Tanev were said to be one of the top-5 tandems in the league....

The conversation has been regarding a Hanifin trade. So Kylington would already be in the top 4. And an injury would force either Zadorov or Stone to join him.

For me, having a solid D core is more important than the 3rd player on a line. Each line has a solid core with Huberdeau-Lindholm, Mangiapane-Kadri, and Backlund-Coleman. Finding the right mix to compliment those pairings is all that's necessary IMO. a guy like Toffoli is probably looking at being around 30 goals, playing with Huberdeau. I don't want to weaken the D, just to acquire a guy that might be able to put up 35-40

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

We are a injury away from disaster.

With or without Hanifin, this is just simply not true.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

It is.

We went into the offseason looking to replace Gudbranson and Zadorov. We replaced Zadorov with Zadorov and instead of replacing our 5/6 defenceman we added a top pairing defenceman. If we didn’t go through all the guys wanting new teams, I very much doubt we would’ve acquired a defenceman before filling the top 6 forward hole.

Weegar, Tanev, Andersson, Kylington, and Zadorov is a good-great top 5 around the league. If two of those guys go down we still have Stone, Mackey, and Valimaki playing spot duty. Having Hanifin obviously puts it over the top.

Top 6 RW was a sore spot last season, too. It’s great we swapped Gaudreau and Tkachuk for Huberdeau and Kadri, but that didn’t fill the hole. Gotta give to get, and right now we can stay in great shape by giving up a defenceman to get a RW.

Exactly where I'm at, too.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

The conversation has been regarding a Hanifin trade. So Kylington would already be in the top 4. And an injury would force either Zadorov or Stone to join him.

For me, having a solid D core is more important than the 3rd player on a line. Each line has a solid core with Huberdeau-Lindholm, Mangiapane-Kadri, and Backlund-Coleman. Finding the right mix to compliment those pairings is all that's necessary IMO. a guy like Toffoli is probably looking at being around 30 goals, playing with Huberdeau. I don't want to weaken the D, just to acquire a guy that might be able to put up 35-40

You make “finding the right mix” sound easy.

Last season it was tough to get anyone outside the top 4 F going. Toffoli was the only other guy who hit 20 or more.

We replaced two 40 goal scorers with two 30 goal scorers. Better players all around, but Toffoli has to do more than hit 30 (something he’s only done twice) to make up for it.

The goal differential between players we lost and players we added is around 30, which puts us in the middle of the pack. We already allowed the 3rd least goals of anyone in the league (only a few goals off 1st), so I’m not sure how better defence overcomes that loss in offence. We need a little more.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

That isn't decent IMO, more like replacement level.

But let's say someone in the top 4 gets injured, liked Tanev for instance. Now you have Stome in the top 4, and a bottom pairing of Mackey-Valimaki or Mackey-Meloche.

Having Kylington, Stone, Mackey and Valimaki in your starting 6 is bottom of the league bad.

The OP mentioned it as a pairing after an injury. In that example I assumed that Kylington/Zadorov - Stone is the 3rd pairing. In which case we are an injury away from a Mackey - Stone pairing.

Said pairing is still pretty decent in my eyes especially after an injury. It would be in the 13-18 range in terms of 3rd pairings around the league in my eyes. Now if we get two injuries in the top 4 then yes we’re screwed… just like any team would be.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I feel like you’re not counting a player. If we trade one of our top 4 D, Stone is still 2 injuries away from the top 4.

Weegar
Tanev
Hanifin
Andersson
Zadorov
Kylington
Stone/Mackey/Valimaki

I think the idea was that, we’re injuries to occur and our bottom pairing was Stone/Mackey, then they would be decent. I think that holds true.

Your list includes Hanifin. He’s gone in that scenario. So Kylington is already in your top 4. Your bottom pair is Stone/Zadorov. Another injury and one of them is top 4. Stone Mackey is a terrible bottom pair.

All to get a Josh Anderson level player.

[SeanCharles]

Weegar-Andersson
Kylington-Tanev
Zadorov-Meloche
Valimaki-Stone
Mackey

What is so bad with this group?

An injury and Zadorov moves up.

[Flaming Horse]

I would be shocked if Hanifin is moved now. I would think with the flames brass it is not even thought about. They didn't get this depth to trade it away now. The only way I see something happening is after July 1 2023 and they think he could be a tough sign or want to much. They need to salvage something for Valimaki. Other than him I could see maybe OK but I don't even see him being moved right now.