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

Montana said:
Couple thoughts on what he brings to the PP.

- best Leafs slap shot since Al Iafrate.

- will force defenders to shade towards him to protect against the shot, opening up more room for our elite talent to thrive….

- he also has a great wrister that I could see Tavares/Knies feasting on tip-ins.

- think they’ll both score some real easy rebound goals off bit Raddysh shots too…..not a whole lot of goalie gloved saves happening on his shots.
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Sure, but does he have a world-class skullet too? Didn’t think so.

Iafrate >>>
 
Mo should really retire as a Leaf. But I know he is/will be a whipping boy for the media/uninformed/boomers.

Mo for Pettersson straight up with money retained on Vans end.
 
Very excited about upcoming season, leaning positively towards "loving" Chayka's moves so far. Definitely in Presty's camp about hearing him say nothing intelligently - cards to the chest gets rid of some distractions, plus it gives the media the gears. 😁

So far, the kid's alright. LFG. 😊
 
Montana said:
Yeah, and if that’s what he wants we more than owe it to him…..he’s been a great soldier.
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He also doesn't really profile as the type of defender Chayka has been shown to value either. If you look at his in/out with Arizona he really seemed to prefer proper 2 way defenders for investing in. OEL, Goligoski, Chychrun. He moved off of defenders who were heavily limited at either end of the ice (Murphy, DeAngelo). Even the defensively oriented guys he brought in (Hjalmarsson, and Demers) were both nerdies darlings that weren't slowing puck movement down.

There doesn't seem to be much evidence that he puts value on a big minute guy who can't handle his end of the ice.
 
Just nice to know that the Maple Leafs again have a plan. It's not been talked about much by the GM, but the moves over the last 3-4 days sure seem to spell it out. Nice to have a GM willing to make a hockey trade outside of the deadline. Nice to know that there are still Toronto boys out there excited to pull on a Leafs sweater.
 
Pwner said:
Mo should really retire as a Leaf. But I know he is/will be a whipping boy for the media/uninformed/boomers.

Mo for Pettersson straight up with money retained on Vans end.
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I don't want to move Mo just for the sake of moving him, but... assuming how cooked you think Pettersson is... retained... it's interesting, especially with the potential Mats connection. Then when they move Knies for the 2nd OA+ they could have an all Swede 2nd line of Stenberg-Pettersson-Nylander. Need to find someone not named Domi to play with McKenna-Matthews.

Toronto reaffirms itself as the NHL franchise best associated with Swedish hockey and scores a lucrative IKEA partnership.
 
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Feyd said:
I don't want to move Mo just for the sake of moving him, but... assuming how cooked you think Pettersson is... retained... it's interesting, especially with the potential Mats connection. Then when they move Knies for the 2nd OA+ they could have an all Swede 2nd line of Stenberg-Pettersson-Nylander. Need to find someone not named Domi to play with McKenna-Matthews.

Toronto reaffirms itself as the NHL franchise best associated with Swedish hockey and scores a lucrative IKEA partnership.
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I don't think Pettersson is cooked per se. He's a bit of a more extreme example of what happened to Lindholm in Calgary. Clicked offensively above his talent level and then kind of fell to shit under the pressure for being a true #1C. Vancouver uses him in pretty ridiculous usage

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and there's probably a pretty good argument that he's a legitimately good #2C in there who was stuck in hard ass usage on a terrible team with no help.

The issue becomes though, what is that worth? He's been an obvious step down from the Larkin/Horvat class of lower end 1C's that are in that ~8.5 million a year range. He's probably more of a ~7 million dollar centre the last 2 years. Will Vancouver retain 4.6 million to get anything of value for him, or does the acquiring team say fuck it and get Vancouver to retain into the ~9 million dollar range and send fewer assets back?

Dunno, hell of a needle to thread. Probably worth considering though.
 
Not sure I'd make an investment like that when it could stand in the way of signing McDavid.

If I knew for sure McDavid wasn't coming, I'd be interested in him with retention.
 
So the rumours from the bullshit insiders are teams are asking VAN to retain around ~$3M. With max(50%) retention you could get him as low as $5.8M AAV but very doubtful VAN agrees to that. Also very doubtful Rielly agrees to go to VAN unless he puts the hometown/family thing above all else.

And in terms of McD, if that actually becomes a real option, it doesn't matter what you have on the roster you get it done. If Vegas can fuck around and make it work year after year the Leafs should be capable too. This ain't Tre anymore.
 
Feyd said:
So the rumours from the bullshit insiders are teams are asking VAN to retain around ~$3M. With max(50%) retention you could get him as low as $5.8M AAV but very doubtful VAN agrees to that. Also very doubtful Rielly agrees to go to VAN unless he puts the hometown/family thing above all else.

And in terms of McD, if that actually becomes a real option, it doesn't matter what you have on the roster you get it done. If Vegas can fuck around and make it work year after year the Leafs should be capable too. This ain't Tre anymore.
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They're always so fucky and hard to project but there's a world where a 3 way deal between SJS, Van, and us spreads retention over two clubs and we take less in return for Rielly to SJS.
 
Knies to SJ for 2nd OA, retention on EP, +something
Rielly +something to VAN for Pettersson (25% retained VAN, 25% retained SJ)

Draft McKenna and Stenberg or reach at D
 
Feyd said:
Knies to SJ for 2nd OA, retention on EP, +something
Rielly +something to VAN for Pettersson (25% retained VAN, 25% retained SJ)

Draft McKenna and Stenberg or reach at D
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If we had another pick in the top 5, after drafting McKenna, the play is for a dman.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
Not sure I'd make an investment like that when it could stand in the way of signing McDavid.

If I knew for sure McDavid wasn't coming, I'd be interested in him with retention.
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I dunno.

Especially after he signed that dumbass fucking two-year extension instead of just coming home this summer, I really have zero interest in this team making roster decisions now with a view towards signing McDavid if he maybe becomes available two summers from now. We shouldn’t hamstring ourselves that way.
 
LeafGm said:
I dunno.

Especially after he signed that dumbass fucking two-year extension instead of just coming home this summer, I really have zero interest in this team making roster decisions now with a view towards signing McDavid if he maybe becomes available two summers from now. We shouldn’t hamstring ourselves that way.
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If it was Petterson or McDavid and no other options, I'd be more inclined to adopt your view, but we have lots of other plays we can make that might be as good or better and leave the door open for McDavid when it's time.

Even just the Hayton idea is fine by me. Acquisition cost shouldn't be too high. $5M or so is way less than whatever Petterson nets out at after retention. And easily tradeable if we ever need room. Whereas Petterson will be more expensive no matter what, and carries a long term, so we could potentially get stuck with him and be handcuffed on other deals. Six more seasons is a long time, and honestly, even if they retain, how much are they going to eat for such a long term? $2M or $3M tops. Still an $8.5M or $9M player for six more years. Do we really need to take that risk?
 
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