Toronto Maple Leafs Offseason Outlook

well everyone appearing to assume responsibility for what went down with the Toronto Maple lece but the biggest question is where do they go from here yeah I think it's time to really consider changes which was they haven't done in the past I thought they would I thought like Sheldon Keefe I thought two three years ago I mean we see coaches get changed all the time and they have been really loyal to Sheldon Keefe and he's been a good regular season coach but it just hasn't happened in the playoffs he said it himself it's results driven business so I'll be curious to see what happens with with Sheldon Keefe maybe it's time to make a coaching change uh and with those players I mean I look at it and Matthews isn't going anywhere he's the constant he's not going anywhere I think neander is not going anywhere new contract and and nander really like he's got some Swagger he brings some Edge to that group Taris has got one more year left on his contract and Marner is in the similar situation Taris is kind of at the you know kind of starting to move towards the end of his career Martin is still in the middle of it to me I think that theyve got to consider maybe moving Marner to create cap space to do other things for their team I don't know if they live another year with taras these guys have some control over all this right Sam I mean they have some no trade protection some contract protection in that it's hard to take on that kind of money in one year then moving forward to sign a longer term deal but I think that's where it'll go for me whether Brendan Shanahan comes back for example he's been there a long time he's kind of been overseeing all this what happens there I think tree living stays in place place cuz he's only been there one year they have a new head of the msle mlse group there with Keith P coming in he's going to be part of the discussion with the media on Friday from what the reports have been so Sam you're right up there I mean I think for me the guy to watch is what happens with Marner because I think he's the one you try to move if you can well and that's the interesting scenario because at $1 million you're probably going to have to eat some money and people know that in an expiring contract what are you going to give up in return for that player so that an interesting scenario tarus is in the very exact same position so a you'd have to be willing to eat money B you'd have to be happy with what you would consider a subpar return based on what the players history has been in the league so you're almost kind of stuck in the same spot now they have to address the defense situation you know they've been trying to piece meal that together for a long time they cut lightning in a bottle with Simone benoa they signed him to a 2-year deal at about 1.35 million for the next two years so he's a guy who's really a six or seven guy you got Morgan Riley you know he's going to be there I thought Jake McCade was really good but then there's a significant gap between those two and getting down to Simone benoa and you have to figure out what that Gap looks like how can you address it either from within or maybe on the back end you spend a few fewer dollars and hopefully that you get three four guys that you're going to have to pay a little bit but where do you find the money it's tough It's it's a very really difficult and where do you find those high-end defensemen too because you know usually want them you said it Catherine teams that draft them they keep them it's hard to keep them I mean very few become available I mean Alex petrangelo was one of the very few that became available he went to Vegas and look what happened they want to Stanley Cup with him so going to be a challenge can we focus on tarz for a second how realistic is it that he is a movable piece I mean there's no denying you know his age in the league his years his tenure you can see that 331 million cap hit as you mentioned you know Toronto will probably eat some of that but what would be a team that would be interested in the services of John tarz at this point I I think would be teams that would be interested but to to your point he's only got one year left on his contract so you're looking at having to extend him right if you acquire him and then what's the term on a player at that age right I mean team would probably say We'll extend you for two or three he would probably want four or five so you get into that that kind of battle I think Steven stamp Coast is in a similar battle in a similar age window right so that's a challenge the Leafs I don't think we're in a position to buy out to Varys because it's all signing bonus so there's no cap gain there that's the reason you would do it so they don't gain that H boy oh boy I think it's a great question because you look around I think there are teams would be interested in taras but would he be interested in going there and then they could they figure out a new deal there's there's three pillars and the three pillars they up against it they don't have a lot of money they don't have a lot of prospects they don't have a lot of picks yeah and so that puts uh tree living in a real difficult spot to try and move things forward it's going to be interesting no question between now and the draft and and then moving forward

Channel: NHL Network

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Id: uzcTRiWkE9g

Length: 4min 30sec (270 seconds)

Published: Tue May 07 2024