From jerseyjinx in reply to bern: "You want to trade Zibanejad, Panarin, Shesterkin, Perreault, Lindgren, and 2 1sts for Matthews?"
Doubt AM is made available, but yes, I would do that ^.
Not gonna happen b'c bread, close to end of his deal and recognizing he doesn't get huge $$$$ offer here, to avoid embarrassment, I could see he waives.
Zib not likely to waive. But if he gets we are moving bread + Shesty + Trouba to stay ahead of the cap, he might relent if Leafs going all in can be a finalist for cup next 2-3 yrs.
While some youth would have to be sacrificed, 4 pieces older than 25 are returning value.
And the above deal helps us open spots for guys who could contribute now/w'in next 2 seasons -- Garand, Scanlin, Othmann, Berard, and gives mo mins to deserving Edstrom, Rempe
Bern, I actually do like reading your elaborate trade proposals but this is just nuts!
I like AM but this puts way too much pressure on the younger players while still keeping Trouba around who has the worst contract based on performance IMO. And you're trading away our best prospect on top of this.
I'm in agreement with you that in a hard cap situation you have to make use of younger (cheaper) players but trading away some of our top vets takes us out of our current window to win IMO. AM is a very good player but I don't even think I'd give up these assets for McDavid.
Panarin, Zib and Shesty are key pieces to our current squad with Lindgren a tier below but still important. Also, how does this trade work from a cap standpoint for Toronto? Maybe I missed something but I doubt they can take on all these guys without significant retention on our behalf.
If the current squad underperforms in the playoffs again, tough decisions will certainly need to be made but I believe those decisions start with Trouba, Goodrow and Lindgren. Shesty all depends on the $ amount.