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

To be fair, my source aka my ass has also confirmed that more than 1 west coast team would be willing to offer 2 firsts for Matthews.
 
Why exactly does Dallas want to move a #1 dman, that they paid as a #1 dman, who is 5 years yonger than Werenski, and will certainly be much cheaper, for another #1 dman?

Almost seems like they don't think Harley is actually a #1 D....
 
Preston said:

View: https://x.com/i/status/2071576101780852887

Shut up shut up shut up
Click to expand...



That just sounds like his opinion. And not like we haven’t discussed here what an ideal trade centerpiece Harley would be.

It still comes down to where Werenski wants to play, though. And what we’ve got to hope for is that Werenski would prefer coming to play here with Matthews over going to a Robertson-less Stars team.

And who knows—maybe there’s the bones of a three-way deal there where Columbus ends up with Harley to replace Werenski, Knies goes to Dallas to replace Robertson and we get Werenski.
 
LeafGm said:
That just sounds like his opinion. And not like we haven’t discussed here what an ideal trade centerpiece Harley would be.

It still comes down to where Werenski wants to play, though. And what we’ve got to hope for is that Werenski would prefer coming to play here with Matthews over going to a Robertson-less Stars team.

And who knows—maybe there’s the bones of a three-way deal there where Columbus ends up with Harley to replace Werenski, Knies goes to Dallas to replace Robertson and we get Werenski.
Click to expand...
The good news is, elliotte did mention that he doesn't believe Werenski will agree to go to San Jose. He also believes a trade is likely to happen this summer.

So it's a two horse race as far as I'm concerned!
 
Bourne:

The BIG question
What’s looming out there now is the spectre of a Zach Werenski trade. It seems almost certain that he’s going to play for Team Not Columbus next year, and rumours have it that the Leafs are one of the teams he’d be willing to play for.
That would be amazing for the Leafs construction of a truly revitalized D-corps, obviously.
The problem — or at least the main one of the few — is that the Blue Jackets sound like they want bodies back, not picks. So if you look at the Leafs and ask “that’s going to be who,” the answers I get are: Matthew Knies for sure, and Easton Cowan likely. Who else could it be for a team trying to trade the Norris Trophy winner? Remember that it won’t be Auston Matthews for several reasons, and William Nylander probably isn’t waiving for Columbus.
image.jpg

How close were Jets, Maple Leafs to making big draft-night moves?
Frank Seravalli joins Sportsnet Central to break down some of the biggest stories around the NHL, including whether Connor Hellebuyck or Matthew Knies could have been dealt on draft night.

Play Video
If the Leafs have to turf all the momentum they’ve been building with a young secondary core up front to get Werenski, how much better off would they really be?
Without those guys, up front it would suddenly be: McKenna – Matthews – Nylander (nice!), followed by…?
I guess Maccelli – Tavares - Robertson? Joshua – Groulx – Lorentz?
With Max Domi also out for the foreseeable future, and with hypothetically trading those two young players, the Leafs are immediately bad up front in a way UFAs can’t fix. It’s just too many good bodies shipped out to compete, so how else could they actually get Werenski?
Suddenly, there’s value in a guy like Tinus Luc Koblar, a second-round pick from 2025 who’s recently taken a massive step. The aforementioned Danford looks like he’ll be an NHLer, but I can’t imagine one Columbus is overly excited about just yet. They have two young goalies in Dennis Hildeby and Arturs Akhtyamov, who are real prospects, but the Jackets have Jet Greaves set as the presumed starter for years to come.
I just don’t know how the Leafs get Werenski AND get better overall by moving bodies.
Let’s say it happened. Dream world, they give Columbus the first they got from Colorado next year, another one in 2029, Koblar, Danford, Akhtyamov, a new Ferrari and six hugs per day per player for six years, I don’t know. Everything they can that still preserves their current roster. How THEN would the D-corps look?
To tease the next part of the conversation, let’s take Rielly out of the new lineup, too.
Now it looks something like:
Werenski – Raddysh
McCabe – Tanev
Ekman-Larsson – Andrae
Obviously, it’s a completely different D-core at that point. That’s a serious, playoff contender-level defence — though it seems something beyond unlikely.
You could make a case that they’d grab another UFA D, as the bottom pair still isn’t what you’d want with sending so many guys out the door, including Carlo.
July 1 has options in that category. There are giants like Vinny Desharnais and Jamie Oleksiak, there are mean ones like Logan Stanley and Erik Gudbranson (I do think they would stomach non-skaters/playmakers if they had some bite). Would Jacob Trouba come to Canada if Werenski and Matthews were going for it? Would Mario Ferraro or Andrew Peeke be into it? Veterans like Nick Jensen or Ian Cole? There’s actually a decent selection of depth defenders available through UFA, despite the lack of top-end talent.
I’m gonna pick Peeke here cause he’s six-foot-three, 28 years old and just averaged 19:30 per game for the Bruins while getting stuffed in the D-zone and fed top competition. The numbers weren’t great, but I’m just picking a guy here. He kills penalties and checks.
Now it’s:
Werenski – Raddysh
McCabe – Tanev
Ekman-Larsson – Peeke
(Andrae – Danford)
It’s worth noting that cap space is a non-issue. If they could get a guy like Ferraro, they’d be happy to pay him, I’m sure, and he’d be better than Peeke.
The name isn’t really important right now — it’s more about the way things are shaping up in the days ahead and what decisions we know they’re having to make.
The Rielly thing is still very much in the air. Like my Carlo points above, I’m not sure you’re immediately better just by subtracting him from the team. In fact, I’m pretty sure they’re not, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t do it.
image.jpg

Does the Raddysh addition make it more likely that Rielly goes or stays?
Sportsnet 590 The FAN hosts Sam McKee and Ben Ennis join the JD Bunkis Podcast to discuss whether they think the Darren Raddysh acquisition by the Maple Leafs helps Morgan Rielly’s cause to stay, or more pushes him out the door?

Play Video
The baggage with Rielly is real. He’s seen too much, and he’s handled big minutes, responsibility and leadership. To suddenly relegate him to a bottom pair, which is a terrible usage for his skill set, almost embarrasses him. Unlike Carlo, which was a choice, this is a trade that might need to happen just because it needs to happen.
All this doesn’t exist in a vacuum, but rather in the context of the greater league and all the other teams trying to do things too. You can’t just cherry-pick all the desired parts.
But these are all questions that now sit on the desk of GM John Chayka and his special advisor Mats Sundin. They’ve charted a new course, the D-corps already looks better and has room to get better still.
How much better – and at what cost – are the big questions fans are holding their breath to find out. If anything drastic is going to happen, odds are it will come in the week ahead.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
Bourne:

The BIG question
What’s looming out there now is the spectre of a Zach Werenski trade. It seems almost certain that he’s going to play for Team Not Columbus next year, and rumours have it that the Leafs are one of the teams he’d be willing to play for.
That would be amazing for the Leafs construction of a truly revitalized D-corps, obviously.
The problem — or at least the main one of the few — is that the Blue Jackets sound like they want bodies back, not picks. So if you look at the Leafs and ask “that’s going to be who,” the answers I get are: Matthew Knies for sure, and Easton Cowan likely. Who else could it be for a team trying to trade the Norris Trophy winner? Remember that it won’t be Auston Matthews for several reasons, and William Nylander probably isn’t waiving for Columbus.
image.jpg

How close were Jets, Maple Leafs to making big draft-night moves?
Frank Seravalli joins Sportsnet Central to break down some of the biggest stories around the NHL, including whether Connor Hellebuyck or Matthew Knies could have been dealt on draft night.

Play Video
If the Leafs have to turf all the momentum they’ve been building with a young secondary core up front to get Werenski, how much better off would they really be?
Without those guys, up front it would suddenly be: McKenna – Matthews – Nylander (nice!), followed by…?
I guess Maccelli – Tavares - Robertson? Joshua – Groulx – Lorentz?
With Max Domi also out for the foreseeable future, and with hypothetically trading those two young players, the Leafs are immediately bad up front in a way UFAs can’t fix. It’s just too many good bodies shipped out to compete, so how else could they actually get Werenski?
Suddenly, there’s value in a guy like Tinus Luc Koblar, a second-round pick from 2025 who’s recently taken a massive step. The aforementioned Danford looks like he’ll be an NHLer, but I can’t imagine one Columbus is overly excited about just yet. They have two young goalies in Dennis Hildeby and Arturs Akhtyamov, who are real prospects, but the Jackets have Jet Greaves set as the presumed starter for years to come.
I just don’t know how the Leafs get Werenski AND get better overall by moving bodies.
Let’s say it happened. Dream world, they give Columbus the first they got from Colorado next year, another one in 2029, Koblar, Danford, Akhtyamov, a new Ferrari and six hugs per day per player for six years, I don’t know. Everything they can that still preserves their current roster. How THEN would the D-corps look?
To tease the next part of the conversation, let’s take Rielly out of the new lineup, too.
Now it looks something like:
Werenski – Raddysh
McCabe – Tanev
Ekman-Larsson – Andrae
Obviously, it’s a completely different D-core at that point. That’s a serious, playoff contender-level defence — though it seems something beyond unlikely.
You could make a case that they’d grab another UFA D, as the bottom pair still isn’t what you’d want with sending so many guys out the door, including Carlo.
July 1 has options in that category. There are giants like Vinny Desharnais and Jamie Oleksiak, there are mean ones like Logan Stanley and Erik Gudbranson (I do think they would stomach non-skaters/playmakers if they had some bite). Would Jacob Trouba come to Canada if Werenski and Matthews were going for it? Would Mario Ferraro or Andrew Peeke be into it? Veterans like Nick Jensen or Ian Cole? There’s actually a decent selection of depth defenders available through UFA, despite the lack of top-end talent.
I’m gonna pick Peeke here cause he’s six-foot-three, 28 years old and just averaged 19:30 per game for the Bruins while getting stuffed in the D-zone and fed top competition. The numbers weren’t great, but I’m just picking a guy here. He kills penalties and checks.
Now it’s:
Werenski – Raddysh
McCabe – Tanev
Ekman-Larsson – Peeke
(Andrae – Danford)
It’s worth noting that cap space is a non-issue. If they could get a guy like Ferraro, they’d be happy to pay him, I’m sure, and he’d be better than Peeke.
The name isn’t really important right now — it’s more about the way things are shaping up in the days ahead and what decisions we know they’re having to make.
The Rielly thing is still very much in the air. Like my Carlo points above, I’m not sure you’re immediately better just by subtracting him from the team. In fact, I’m pretty sure they’re not, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t do it.
image.jpg

Does the Raddysh addition make it more likely that Rielly goes or stays?
Sportsnet 590 The FAN hosts Sam McKee and Ben Ennis join the JD Bunkis Podcast to discuss whether they think the Darren Raddysh acquisition by the Maple Leafs helps Morgan Rielly’s cause to stay, or more pushes him out the door?

Play Video
The baggage with Rielly is real. He’s seen too much, and he’s handled big minutes, responsibility and leadership. To suddenly relegate him to a bottom pair, which is a terrible usage for his skill set, almost embarrasses him. Unlike Carlo, which was a choice, this is a trade that might need to happen just because it needs to happen.
All this doesn’t exist in a vacuum, but rather in the context of the greater league and all the other teams trying to do things too. You can’t just cherry-pick all the desired parts.
But these are all questions that now sit on the desk of GM John Chayka and his special advisor Mats Sundin. They’ve charted a new course, the D-corps already looks better and has room to get better still.
How much better – and at what cost – are the big questions fans are holding their breath to find out. If anything drastic is going to happen, odds are it will come in the week ahead.
Click to expand...

I love that so many fans and media seem to think Chayka feels the need to "replace" Carlo with something similar.

They will never, ever get it.
 
McCabe-Raddysh
Andrae-Tanev
Mo-OEL


Carlo was at best the leafs 7/8 if they don't add anyone else, which seems unlikely.

Also Chayka specifically said they want to give the Marlies opportunities to earn a spot, so they aren't blocking Villeneuve/Danford with a "good #6" that costs $3.5 million and isn't a fit.
 
Andrae must be proving a difficult signing, and maybe a reason Philly traded him. You’d think they’d have locked him up soon after landing him.
 
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