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The Official 2026 Off-Season Thread: Revenge of the Nerds

Blueman said:
What kind of lineups are we thinking with McKenna next year? Which of Robertson or Cowan will be in our top 6?
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Tough to say without seeing what our 3C situation shakes loose as.

I know this will shock everyone, but I think Robertson should be given a legit shot in the top 6. He's the better offensive generator of the two (1.85 P/60 to Cowan's 1.44) but Cowan is more of a 2 way player and would probably be good on a moderate usage 3rd line.
 
zeke said:
but is he "significantly upgradeable" is a real question.
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hejust isnt in the long term plans. and seems like he would have solid trade value.

They don’t have to dump him, he’s fine. but they do need to turn over most of the D over the next few years so it’s an easy opportunity to manage your assets and get value with new bodies coming in.

He won’t make or break anything though.
 
MindzEye said:
Tough to say without seeing what our 3C situation shakes loose as.

I know this will shock everyone, but I think Robertson should be given a legit shot in the top 6. He's the better offensive generator of the two (1.85 P/60 to Cowan's 1.44) but Cowan is more of a 2 way player and would probably be good on a moderate usage 3rd line.
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Agreed, we need to see Robertson have that shot regardless, even if Cowan would be better for the top 6 even right now.
 
leafman101 said:
hejust isnt in the long term plans. and seems like he would have solid trade value.

They don’t have to dump him, he’s fine. but they do need to turn over most of the D over the next few years so it’s an easy opportunity to manage your assets and get value with new bodies coming in.

He won’t make or break anything though.
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He's kind of our best overall D right now. If we want to immediately contend next year, we can't just lose him for futures unless we have a solid replacement. Best approach is to stack the D with ufas as best you can, see which kids are knocking at the door, start the season and then deal from any oversupply.
 
MindzEye said:
Net rating thinks so. 42nd in offensive net rating, 97th in net rating.

Even if the upgrade isn't particularly "significant", the replacement being younger would be a win unto itself.
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His +1.2 net rating in high end 2nd pair minutes and usage, especially on this year's leafs, says he was a solid #3 dman this year and i don't know that $3.5m can be much better spent than that tbh.
 
leafman101 said:
But even in your scenerio of waiting to trade D once you’ve built it up OEL is one of the first guys you move.
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Yes, but we should get there first before shedding anyone. Even if we sign two top flight guys to add to the corps, someone (or multiple someones) could get injured just like last year (Tanev in particular is a repeat risk) and leave us short. That's another reason why you need to get to the point of oversupply first.

Next year is really important. If there's any fire behind the smoke with Matthews, we have to get back to being a top of the conference team immediately. Which means we should keep our best players and add. We could get lucky and have Danford ready to go, or some surprise like Johansson kill it in camp, and suddenly have all the elements to put together a great package in say a 3 for 1 deal for someone really good.

I think Chayka and Mats actually have a relatively easy road ahead if they play it smart, thanks to 1st overall and a ton of capspace (even more with Domi out of the picture indefinitely). I don't want to take any steps backwards. The only guys we should trade off for picks and prospects, or in trades where we're picking up someone stealth, are the guys we want to get rid of - Maccelli, Carlo, etc.
 
Passing on McKenna only to watch him turn into a perennial 100-point player somewhere else would be a new and special kind of long-term torture for Leaf fans. Even if the player we end up instead turns into a nice, solid 2nd-tier type star player.
 
If it were pizza boy instead of burger boy, I think there's a real chance he takes one of the D over McKenna (likely trades down to 3rd-5th with an additional pylon coming this way as compensation).
 
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