Karlsson as an option, trades before firings, and who is on the block: Rumours

Karlsson as an option, trades before firings, and who is on the block: Rumours

Nothing is better for getting people back to talking rumours than completely tanking what should have been a positive road trip experience. Normally the west coast equals a few easy wins, some fun Instagram pictures, and Leafs fans complaining about late start times. This time we were just treated to the start time complaints.
In the spirit of finding the answer to the Leafs’ problems through trades, let’s dive into what is out there:
Erik Karlsson is available
Last week TSN ran an Insider Trading segment basically saying that anyone not named Tomas Hertl was fair game on the Sharks. A friend of the site, @KeithWhipp, is strongly lobbying for Timo Meier as the player the Leafs should be focusing on with the Sharks. I tend to agree with him on this. As for what has been put in digital print by Toronto Media, they are a bit more focused on the blueline and Erik Karlsson’s name is the one that came up from Kevin McGran:
The Sharks, I’m told, are already in selling mode, which brings us to Erik Karlsson. He looks like his old self and looks as if he’s auditioning for a trade. He’s a right-handed puck-moving defenceman who may be trending back to elite status. He’s only 32 with five years remaining on a cap hit of $11.5 million (U.S.). Say that in an ironic way and make a joke about how that cap hit would fit right in with the Leafs. That said, if the Sharks could retain half … and take someone ba …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

Can a stronger post-pandemic NHL open a wider window for the Leafs?

The thing most people don’t want to talk about when it comes to the Leafs is just how much the shifting of the league due to the pandemic absolutely wreaked havoc on their plans to contend. It doesn’t make for an interesting story to just throw up our hands and say “The flat cap is the problem”, but like, it sort of is. The nuked revenue due to the near-shutdown of the league since 2020 did damage to a lot of cap teams, but none quite like the Leafs. 
Management in Toronto thought they had a strong long term plan worked out when they signed Matthews and Marner to monster second deals on top of the Tavares money in the same calendar year of 2019. They did so banking on new television deals, more expansion money, and a forecasted salary cap number that should be in the range of 92-95 million right now. With everything that’s happened since, it sits at 82.5 million. Catastrophic for a team that wanted to get the most of a 5-6 year window before another re-up was needed. 
I guess the question now becomes, with what seems to be the most normal season to get going since the pandemic started about to start, can the league, and with it the Leafs, get back on track with their long term …

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Author: Ryan Fancey / The Leafs Nation

Shut it down. Patrick Kane to the Leafs would be a disaster

It’s definitely at the point in the summer where people are looking for something to talk about, and it seems that Patrick Kane rumours are how the hockey world is going to pass the time. Unfortunately when it comes to ways to make sure there is enough gasoline on the fire to make a topic stick you need to include Toronto as part of the rumour. As a fanbase Leafs are a dog on a bone that won’t let go and that’s why we probably need to bow out of the Kane talk early.
The narrative around the idea of Kane coming to Toronto seems to be largely Auston Matthews driven. Bringing in Kane shows a commitment to winning, bringing in Kane would allow the torch to be passed from one of the top producing American forwards to the next one. And my personal favourite is about how Kane would take a discount to continue to play in Toronto because he’d want to continue to play with Auston and that would help Auston get re-signed as well. It’s a fun little story for someone but doesn’t seem to …

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Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation