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2025-2026 Off Season Thread - The Rehappening

I think I remember warning about this last off season, but whatever. Cap is going to a billion dollars over the next few years, just lock him up for the 5 years and be done with it. We're pot committed now. If the org isn't going to trade him for Hagel 2 years ago, just get it over with and pay him.
 
$7m now is 7.3% of the cap. Knies coming off a 30gl/61pt pace season.

Some Forward RFA bridges:

E.Pettersson '21 (32gl/66pt pace): $7.35 x 3yrs (9.0%)
K.Connor '19 (34gl/66pt pace): $7.15 x 3yrs (8.8%)
M.Tkachuk '19 (35gl/79pt pace): $7.0 x 3yrs (8.6%)
M.Barzal '20 (23gl/72pt pace): $7.0 x 3yrs (8.6%)
B.Point '19 (43gl/96pt pace): $6.75 x 3yrs (8.3%)
P.Laine '19 (30gl/50pt pace): $6.75 x 3yrs (8.3%)
A.Debrincat '20 (21gl/53pt pace): $6.4 x 3yrs (7.9%)
D.Larkin '18 (16gl/63pt pace): $6.1 x 5yrs (7.7%)
T.Meier '19 (32gl/69pt pace): $6.0 x 5yrs (7.4%)
B.Boeser '19 (31gl/67pt pace): $5.875 x 3yrs (7.2%)
M.Domi '20 (20gl/51pt pace): $5.3 x 2yrs (6.5%)
P.Dubois '20 (21gl/57pt pace): $5.0 x 2yrs (6.1%)
 
The ones where it worked out aren’t great comps though. Pettersen and barzal signed after down years but both had ~ ppg seasons under their belt.

Connor had b2b 30 goal years.

Point and tkachuk were ppg guys in their signing years.

The other guys didn’t really give great value other than maybe Larkin (c).

You didn’t regret any of them. And I don’t think the leafs regret knies at 7 per for 5 but that’s still not a great signing.
 
The ones where it worked out aren’t great comps though. Pettersen and barzal signed after down years but both had ~ ppg seasons under their belt.

Connor had b2b 30 goal years.

Point and tkachuk were ppg guys in their signing years.

The other guys didn’t really give great value other than maybe Larkin (c).

You didn’t regret any of them. And I don’t think the leafs regret knies at 7 per for 5 but that’s still not a great signing.
Lock up your yutes , success rate is high

Trev just bend over and say AHHHHH
 
Cap is going to a billion dollars, we're pot committed. Just fucking do it.

But no, I'm not going to love the contract unless he takes a very significant step forward that I don't see the offensive chops for. He's going to be one of the better power forwards in the league even if this is just him though, so whatever, just pay for as long as you can get him signed for.
 
If Marner is gone they should spend his $14 mill on Ekblad and one of Duchene/Bennett/Nelson, or some other combo of 2c/1D available in a trade.

To spend his money on old wingers makes no sense. The only way you can lose marner and maybe become a better team is if you can get a 3rd line driving center, and the top pairing D they've been missing the entire Core 4 Era.
Duchene is three games into the third round and Marner still has more than double his points.

Nelson went goalless and 4 assists in the Avs' seven game first round loss. Though granted his playoff stats are pretty good otherwise.

Bennett is obviously the belle of the ball but is going to be swept off his feet by some silly number.

If we have to lose Marner, to keep pace we would almost have to get Bennett. And yeah, Ekblad might be a must if he's available. Can they free up enough room though to sign Knies and Tavares, while getting two guys to replace Marner's money? Because let's face it, no single player they will sign will make up for losing Marner. It needs to be two good guys, and Bennett and Ekblad get what, like $16M total?
 
The ones where it worked out aren’t great comps though. Pettersen and barzal signed after down years but both had ~ ppg seasons under their belt.

Connor had b2b 30 goal years.

Point and tkachuk were ppg guys in their signing years.

The other guys didn’t really give great value other than maybe Larkin (c).

You didn’t regret any of them. And I don’t think the leafs regret knies at 7 per for 5 but that’s still not a great signing.
It's an amazing signing, just for too few years.

A 22 year old beast like Knies doesn't come around often.
 
That last X post also mentioned Tre will be meeting with Marner this week to see if Marner definitely wants to go to free agency or if he’s willing to negotiate with us before then. So we should get more clarity in the next few days.
 
Duchene is three games into the third round and Marner still has more than double his points.

Nelson went goalless and 4 assists in the Avs' seven game first round loss. Though granted his playoff stats are pretty good otherwise.

Bennett is obviously the belle of the ball but is going to be swept off his feet by some silly number.

If we have to lose Marner, to keep pace we would almost have to get Bennett. And yeah, Ekblad might be a must if he's available. Can they free up enough room though to sign Knies and Tavares, while getting two guys to replace Marner's money? Because let's face it, no single player they will sign will make up for losing Marner. It needs to be two good guys, and Bennett and Ekblad get what, like $16M total?

Ekblad, Bennett, Tavares, and Knies for around 28m combined would be a pretty good summer considering how bad some of the possibilities here are.
 
Ekblad, Bennett, Tavares, and Knies for around 28m combined would be a pretty good summer considering how bad some of the possibilities here are.
If losing Marner, that would be a dream summer.

Half of it is as good as done, but the other half is going to be very tough to get done imo.
 
I don't think Ekblad or Bennett are particularly hard signs if we're willing to go 7 years
Bennett, though his style of play may make him washed up sooner than later, is still just 28 and at least a decent bet still on a long deal.

I wanted to confirm Ekblad's age just now, which I thought was like 33/34, and am shocked that he's only 29. I thought he came in around when Tavares did. Damn, he's going to get a nice long/rich deal from someone too.

Not sure both these guys come in under $16M, but if we can do it, that would at least make things very interesting next year.

Though it would shut the door on McDavid...and I'm still kinda partial to the idea of signing a couple of one year guys and roll the dice until getting a shot at the top prize.
 
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