• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

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

Preston said:
I hope they will still consider signing him if they strike out on some other things. Fits the age profile and nerdies say he's a quality middle sixer. If he could be had for cheaper, count me in.
Click to expand...

I would rather see them spend a bit more money on players who are actually analytically impactful like Marchment. Vanilla euro skill that is a dead nuts average type of player is fine as a complimentary piece and "worth" ~4 million but meh. We're adding an incredibly better version of that skillset in McKenna already for the top 6 already. I'm not convinced that we need that same skill set, in such a vanilla ass package, for the 3rd line.
 
leafman101 said:
Ok, but why is it data driven to spend $4 mill on an average winger to take ice time from Cowan/Robby instead of playing them and investing in a more important piece?
Click to expand...
Maccelli is 1 year older than Robertson fwiw. It's just potentially questionable asset management depending on what they do next. If they blow the doors off and add real talent, then I agree it's fine.
 
Preston said:
It's just potentially questionable asset management depending on what they do next.
Click to expand...

What asset though? We've been trying to trade him since last season and no one wants him. Utah was trying to trade him and only panic Treliving, after fucking up the Marner situation and then striking out on all of his plan b's (peterka, etc) was willing to pay anything of any value for him.

If no one values him, is he really an asset?
 
LeafGm said:
, despite having TWO of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares or Matthew Knies on his line for over 50% of his even strength ice-time (and at least one of them on his line for most of the remainder), didn’t even crack the 40 point mark. So, a big “meh” to him. No big loss at all.
Click to expand...

5v5 p60

1. Nylander 2.73
2. Maccelli 2.14
3. Knies 2.09

4. Tavares 2.03
5. Matthews 1.96
6. Robertson 1.85

7. Joshua 1.65
8. McMann 1.60
9. Cowan 1.44

10. Lorentz 1.33
11. Domi 1.30
12. Roy 1.28

13. Laughton 1.15
14. Jarnkrok 0.81



P1/60

1. Nylander 2.17
2. Matthews 1.70
3. Maccelli 1.58

4. Knies 1.48
5. Joshua 1.46
6. McMann 1.45

7. Robertson 1.44
8. Tavares 1.30
9. Cowan 1.15

10. Laughton 1.15
11. Domi 1.06
12. Roy 0.94

13. Lorentz 0.89
14. Jarnkrok 0.81
 
Preston said:
Maccelli is 1 year older than Robertson fwiw. It's just potentially questionable asset management depending on what they do next. If they blow the doors off and add real talent, then I agree it's fine.
Click to expand...


Robbys qualifying offer is $1.8 million though.

The question isn’t is Maccelli okay. It’s is he worth $4 million. That’s the only thing they answered.
 
leafman101 said:
Ok, but why is it data driven to spend $4 mill on an average winger to take ice time from Cowan/Robby instead of playing them and investing in a more important piece?
Click to expand...

Could be.

But btw robby's only a year younger and much worse on the nerdies.
 
leafman101 said:
Robbys qualifying offer is $1.8 million though.

The question isn’t is Maccelli okay. It’s is he worth $4 million. That’s the only thing they answered.
Click to expand...

That's fair - i think they probably offered him less than to sign (along with the AFP projections) and he just thinks he can do better on the open market.
 
Preston said:
Maccelli is 1 year older than Robertson fwiw. It's just potentially questionable asset management depending on what they do next. If they blow the doors off and add real talent, then I agree it's fine.
Click to expand...
There's a reason we got a 24 year old kid who hit 60 points for basically nothing last year, and now nobody even wants him for a draft pick.

They can be helpful in the regular season, and I expect a nonplayoff team to be interested, like Vancouver, but these aren't the kinds of guys who want in the postseason playing against Florida and TB. They get smushed.
 
I'm not saying this was an easy no brainer decision or anything. I'm sure this was debated heavily and it's possible the Leafs nerds didn't pick this one as a battle they needed to win because it's nothing franchise altering.

But I can't say I'm huge on losing one of their better offensive players from last year. I think they can and will aim higher though so I'll reserve judgment.

But I still hope that he's an option for them if they strike out on the other guys and other organizations don't want to pay him.
 
He's probably going to be hoping for some $3M+ deal that he likely won't find, and then be available if somehow we have a need for him. We already know he wants to come back since he's been vocal about it.
 
Remember when we got stuck with Ceci’s QO after the Zaitsev trade? No one wanted to pay him that. They couldn’t walk away. They were just stuck with him.

This creates optionality and flexibility.

They could even bring him back.
 
Technical question - now that he became a UFA a few years early, if he were to sign a 1 year deal, does he become a UFA or RFA next season?
 
leafman101 said:
Remember when we got stuck with Ceci’s QO after the Zaitsev trade? No one wanted to pay him that. They couldn’t walk away. They were just stuck with him.

This creates optionality and flexibility.

They could even bring him back.
Click to expand...

CC stunk tho.
 
They gotta sign Robertson to some 3 x $3M deal already. Enough with the yearly negotiation and give him some security and stability so that he can fully focus on his game. He'll reward us.
 
By the way, I think the Stecher signing signals that Chaykes has turned over every rock on available dmen and isn't really seeing much else to do.

I still don't really buy the Rielly thing. I don't believe he'll find a situation that makes sense or a replacement worth taking on. Unless he likes Andersson, then that would be an avenue. But I get the sense from his comments that he's not into him either, since when they asked him if he was maybe going to get negotiation rights on any other ufa early, he pretty definitively said no.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top