General Hockey Talk - Injuries, signings, factoids + other news from around the league

Landeskog's apparently out for all of 2023/24. Huge blow for the Avs. They have a ton of players entering UFA including Johnson's $6M, Compher at $3.5M, Eller at $2.4M, etc. I'm calculating close to $18M off the books. Of course McKinnon's salary doubles and that $18M turns into $12M very quickly. It'll be interesting to see what they do. They seem like a team who will be looking for depth

They should pin the C on MacKinnon if Landeskog is going to miss another season.

Methot said this surgery was what ended his career. He couldn't come back from it at anywhere close to his full capability.

Methot still walks around with a brace -- not all the time but still. The thing about Methot, though, was that he also had issues with his hip/back, did he not? No two knees are the same, so hopefully Landeskog has a better outcome.

Ya and a dangly finger! Methot took a ton of abuse. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Landeskog. If he retires he's out a ton of money but at his cap hit, he's a huge liability. He may be a guy who ends his career on the IR, which is too bad given how good a player her is.

Just saw the Hague/Nurse fight. Nurse is an absolute unit

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:Ya and a dangly finger! Methot took a ton of abuse. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Landeskog. If he retires he's out a ton of money but at his cap hit, he's a huge liability. He may be a guy who ends his career on the IR, which is too bad given how good a player her is.

Was just reading an article where Methot was quoted on the above and he was (repeatedly) referred to as an "NHL tough guy". Granted, he was tough and sometimes rough, but the term "tough guy" has always meant a fighter or at least a plug who hits everything.

So the next couple of weeks are going to be wild. There will be changes in the Leafs organization and, of course, the deadline for the bid here. Who do you think is gone in Toronto? My guess is Shanahan on down are not safe. And they have to move quickly on this because not only is the draft comping up but you need to figure out if you are moving Matthews or if he's staying. If he's staying, then what do you do to shake up the core -- Marner or Nylander would be the obvious choice. Not a fan of either player, but I would probably pick Nylander to stay and move on from Marner; but then I'd hate myself for doing that. Overall, Nylander is still too much of a perimeter player, and Marner does outperform him most of the time. But considering the extra ice time Match gets -- to say nothing of playing with Matthews -- I would expect the difference to be greater. Marner does play more aggressively with more hits/blocks but, honestly, when/whether Marner hits it's not terribly important.

They may consider buying out Tavares as well. But I'd move on from Matthews first. You risk losing him in FA at the end of the year or signing him for even more money

The problem with these guys are finding a team willing to take on their cap hit and giving up assets for expiring deals. Matthews controls his destiny but I can see LA as a perfect fit for him. Lots of guys on ELCs in LA that immediately get a rebuild/retool started.

Tavares you're stuck with unless you buy him out. He was a mistake from day one.

Nylander if you can move for a 1st or a high end prospect and a pick I would do it

You also have to consider moving Reilly. 29cl and his extension is kicking in

The only way matthews leaves is if he refuses to resign but that won’t come till July.

Flo The Action wrote:The only way matthews leaves is if he refuses to resign but that won’t come till July.

Matthews is going to make $12M+ after next year. Toronto would be so stupid to do that. They can make a mega-deal with LA that keeps Toronto in contention while addressing so many of their needs.

To LA: Matthews (with an extension), Murray
To Toronto: Peterson, Durzi, Madden, Byfield, Vilardi, 2024 1st

Kopitar is off the books after next year and LA gets their 1C. Toronto gets a ton of young talent with upside, a stud RHD with contract control, and they get away from Murray. Peterson has an extra year on his contract but it gives them a chance to try him out.

Knies-Tavares-Marner
Vilardi-Byfield-Nylander
Robertson-Madden-Jarnkrok
XXXXX-Lafferty-XXXX

Rielly-Durzi
McCabe-Brodie
XXXX-Liljegren
Giordano

Samsonov
Peterson

Would be a fun team to watch

Plus Matthews gets to reunite with his buddy Beiber.

I don't know LA's roster makeup all that well but it would have Matthews down the middle with Kopitar, Danault and Lizotte. Turcotte, Kupari, Fagemo, Kaliyev, Thomas still top-end forward prospects for LA

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:The only way matthews leaves is if he refuses to resign but that won’t come till July.

Matthews is going to make $12M+ after next year. Toronto would be so stupid to do that. They can make a mega-deal with LA that keeps Toronto in contention while addressing so many of their needs.

To LA: Matthews (with an extension), Murray
To Toronto: Peterson, Durzi, Madden, Byfield, Vilardi, 2024 1st

Kopitar is off the books after next year and LA gets their 1C. Toronto gets a ton of young talent with upside, a stud RHD with contract control, and they get away from Murray. Peterson has an extra year on his contract but it gives them a chance to try him out.

Knies-Tavares-Marner
Vilardi-Byfield-Nylander
Robertson-Madden-Jarnkrok
XXXXX-Lafferty-XXXX

Rielly-Durzi
McCabe-Brodie
XXXX-Liljegren
Giordano

Samsonov
Peterson

Would be a fun team to watch

Doesn’t matter how you flip it, it’s not gonna happen. It’s a fantasy. They would be crucified by the fans. It be Gretzky to LA all over again.

Except Gretzky was a winner.

Matthews would be the easiest one to move but would hamstring them in the short term. It's the right move (for the right haul) but I don't know if they have the balls to do it. It would make things so much easier if Matthews just told them, "Nah".

Tavares is still a decent player, it's only his contract that's indecent. I'm not sure a buy-out is the way forward unless they are stripping it down to the studs and re-building from scratch. Otherwise just play him on the third line and PP.

Marner would also be not easy to move and, frankly, why should they?

Nylander would be the easiest to move after Matthews but he loves it there (or so he says) and wants to stay. Put him back on PP1 and slap a letter on him to keep him happy.

At the end of the day I think they need to move on from Shanahan, Matthews, Keefe and Dubas. Of course that's not gonna happen.

OK, we've got to discuss the Leafs. I'm so conflicted on this. Initially I thought Shanahan was being an uber-bunghole -- not only did he, essentially, fire Dubas, but he made sure to mention how Dubas decided he still wanted the job; was it really necessary to mention that? Just say they decided unilaterally to not bring him back or that it was a mutual decision. Let Dubas say he wanted to come back, or let him save face by saying his family decision was to not come back or whatever. But then I re-read what Shanahan said -- basically they offered Dubas a contract before his presser when he said he had to discuss with his family. When I first heard that I thought there's no way, in this business, you want a GM who prioritizes family/stress over running a franchise like the Maple Leafs (say those things behind close doors all you want but don't let it get around). But on top of that, when he finally said (through his agent) that he was coming back, he asked for a bigger salary than was already in the contract they had offered. Honestly, I can't blame Shanahan for saying Eff-off! Keefe *must be* next on the list. I see no way that he survives this.

All that said, this leaves the Leafs in a terrible situation 5 weeks before the draft.

And I still find it hard to believe that Shanahan has not been fired yet.

Penguins will seek permission to speak to Dubas. As far as I am concerned they can have Boy Blunder.

Dubas talking about how stressful being a GM of the Maple Leafs has been on his family and him and how he wasn't sure yet about his decision -- saying all this in front of a National audience, was very reminiscent of Jerry Maguire's "mission statement". While that could be "how you become great, man, hang your balls out there" it's also how you get fired in a very ruthless business. Roger Nielsen lost his job because he got cancer without consulting Clarkie first. You think prioritizing your family's stress level over a GM position is more forgivable?