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

[LeafOfFaith]

Unfortunately, we're looking to trade two top six players and push people up.

 

[CH1]

That's deep bro.

Need a hug?

Haha. Thx. No hug needed, at least not today.

I was trying a (bad) riff on Plato’s line:
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle

 

[LeafGm]

I overall didn't like the moves yesterday. I will admit, however, that we are a way better team than last year. This team will make the playoffs; and at that point, you're playing with house money. Let's see what happens

I feel like that was already locked in by the moves the front office had already made by June 30th.

Then on July 1st we spent about $25M in AAV to not move the needle at all.

 

[leafman101]

I think other teams third lines get overstated, and the players the Leafs brought in are being underrated. Paul and Roslovic are clearly top 9ers. And have been on contending teams.

The Canes third line was Carrier-Staal-Martinook. Montreal has Newhook-Evans on their 2nd line.

 

[CH1]

Just looking at pure offensive production to see how we match up.

Note that MTL and BUF have a solid (but not huge) chunk of capspace left with these lineups still.


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not terrible tbh.

Mtl cap space gets a nice boost after next year with Monty and Josh Anderson and Gallagher leaving the fold

 

[Preston]

I feel like that was already locked in by the moves the front office had already made by June 30th.

Then on July 1st we spent about $25M in AAV to not move the needle at all.

Honestly that isn't easy to do. To sign basically the bottom 7 4th liners by the nerdies that were signed yesterday takes a special effort. That's impressive.

 

[LeafOfFaith]

I think other teams third lines get overstated, and the players the Leafs brought in are being underrated. Paul and Roslovic are clearly top 9ers. And have been on contending teams.

The Canes third line was Carrier-Staal-Martinook. Montreal has Newhook-Evans on their 2nd line.

Yeah, we are overreacting somewhat, but only because the promise of July 1 so far exceeded the eventual reality that we're collectively shellshocked.

Regardless, I would have way, way rather paid Marchment that money and term and had another offensive weapon, and kept Hildeby, than missed out on any good offensive addition, lose Hildeby, and go all in on Bob. But that was Chayka's top, top objective and so we were just on completely different pages on the path forward.

 

[CH1]

The Canes third line was Carrier-Staal-Martinook. .
Hockey

Ehlers was on their 3rd line on many nights

 

[leafman101]

Every team is going to have a ton of cap space for the for seeable future. Hopefully good players stop resigning only to demand trades later.

 

[Preston]

Roslovic couldn't even make Carolina's playoff roster last year. Let's not get overly rosy either. We're data driven here and the data don't like what they did.

 

[leafman101]

Roslovic couldn't even make Carolina's playoff roster last year. Let's not get overly rosy either. We're data driven here and the data don't like what they did.

I mean the nerd liked him and the coach benched him to be fair.

 

[hockeylover]

We’re gonna have 10m extra in space next year with like everyone signed. We can have an entire third fourth line if we want.

 

[axlsalinger]

I think other teams third lines get overstated, and the players the Leafs brought in are being underrated. Paul and Roslovic are clearly top 9ers. And have been on contending teams.

The Canes third line was Carrier-Staal-Martinook. Montreal has Newhook-Evans on their 2nd line.

Yup.

Also PK and defense aren't sexy, but they are important.

Also gotta bump up Matthews numbers on that chart by a lot, due to a combo of much more optimized coaching system plus giving him less defensive responsibilities (IF he's healthy).

 

[axlsalinger]

Ehlers was on their 3rd line on many nights

We're likely to have Easton Cowan on ours many nights.

 

[Preston]

I mean the nerd liked him and the coach benched him to be fair.

He was their best signing by the nerdies for sure. Not good enough for Tulsky to want to keep for free last summer, mind you. But he was one of their best ones. Basically a touch worse than a more expensive Maccelli in overall impact.

 

[zeke]

that was 2yrs ago. and he actually played solid minutes in 9gms and had a nice playoffs p/60 for them (though mostly p2s). but yeah.

 

[Preston]

He was a healthy scratch for 6 games that year, played 9, and they let Edmonton sign him for 1.5m. But I like signing a lot more now that I've seen the other guys they signed. No complaints on that one from me.

 

[leafman101]

Roslovic in the playoffs 5v5 the last two years:
15 gp, 0.72 ixGF/60, 0 sh%

 

[leafman101]

They have $1.4 mill in cap space with Domi on LTIR.

They are $97k under the cap with Lorentz and Stecher in the minors and Domi healthy.

Can't believe they figured that out without Pridham.

 

[zeke]

I think other teams third lines get overstated, and the players the Leafs brought in are being underrated. Paul and Roslovic are clearly top 9ers. And have been on contending teams.

The Canes third line was Carrier-Staal-Martinook. Montreal has Newhook-Evans on their 2nd line.

Paul has been on a solid trend to 4th liner - which he was last year. here's hoping.