Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Leafs offseason Dream Make-over

There's all kinds of arm-chair GM's like myself putting together some Leafs dream teams on the internet so I'll throw in as well. This is not very realistic so just enjoy it. Tell me if you think any of these trades is really unreasonable:

TRADES
1. Tomas Kaberle, Nik Hagman, Chris DiDomenico, 1st rounder (2010)
For Vincent Lecavalier.
Suppose Tampa decides to use their pick and take Tavares, go with him and Stamkos down the middle and move Vinny to save some $ right now and change the face of the team. This is a thick package which could be tough to match. Next.

2. Pavel Kubina, Alex Ponikarovsky, 1st rounder (2009)
For Joe Thornton
Overpaying for him? I think despite Wilson's comments, Joe Thornton is in play and a fat package like that is hard to say no to. Poni posted 61 pts this season, Kubina would replace 39 year old Rob Blake and the 7th overall pick is hard to turn down.

3. Jason Blake, Justin Pogge
For JS Giguere, 4th round pick
This is a legit rumour out there that Anaheim would deal Jiggy and a pick so they can save some $. They would want a goalie and a forward back. Done.

4. Vesa Toskala
To Colorado for their 2nd rounder (2009), 33rd overall.

Waivers/Demote To Minors/Trade for picks if possible
Lee Stempniak
Jamal Mayers
Jeff Finger (don't try to trade, just send him down, he's on a 2-way contract but his salary would come off the cap)

UFA's
1. Jay Bouwmeester - 12 years, $78 million. $6.5 million cap hit, front load it

2. Mats Sundin - 1 year, $750K

3. Brad May - 1 year, $700K

4. Jonas Gustavsson - 3 year entry level (with bonuses, $2 mil cap hit approx.)

5. Noah Welch - 3 years, $2.7 million. $0.9 million cap hit

RFA's
Mikhail Grabovski - 4 years, $8.4 million ($2.1 cap hit)
Ryan Hollweg - 2 years, $1.2 million ($600K per) 2-way deal only, or walk.
Jeremy Williams - let him walk

Line-up

Grabovski - Lecavalier 'A' - Kulemin
Stajan - Thornton - Tlusty
Stalberg - Sundin 'C' - Bozak
Hanson - J.Mitchell - May 'A' X - Hollweg, Stefanovich, D.Mitchell

Bouwmeester - Van Ryn
White - Schenn
Frogren - Stralman X - Oreskovich, Welch, Harrison

Giguere
Gustavsson

With that kind of strength down the middle and improved play by the younger support players this is a playoff team and a good team going forward. They'd fit under the cap, with the Raycroft and Tucker buyouts this would be a $53 million team roughly. A legit top line winger, or top 6 forward may have to be added before the deadline but I like it. How crazy are those trades? Let me know cuz I actually believe they are reasonable.

1 comment:

pezzz said...

Yeah I think the trades are good. This is barely a playoff team though. Very strong down the middle, but little firepower from the wings. The D is also not very strong past j-BO and Schenn. White and Van Ryn are good role d-men, but not exactly #2 and #3.

I doubt you'll be having a high 2nd rounder for Toskala though. Brygalov waivers, Huet (all-star) 2nd rounder...In the actual market, I'd say a 3rd rounder max, probably a 4th rounder. Especially considering the Avs can have Martin Biron or Nikolai Khabibulin for free on the UFA market, for about the same price tag as Toskala.