I'm getting slightly restless only because there's a part of me worried that they've just spent the last 10 days debating the pros and cons of Treliving. But if there's a wide range of worthwhile candidates they're legitimately considering, and especially if some of them aren't available to talk yet (like McPhee and/or Nill), then obviously the hold up is justified.

https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1663722334245605376

Looking more and more like it's been the former.

DeSmith, Daniel Vladar (if CGY wants to promote Wolf), Pheonix Copley (if LA re-signs Korpisalo) and Eric Comrie (if BUF wants Levi to play) all jump out at me as goalies who could conceivable fit the 3G role and pass through waivers based off their performance last season and cap hit. Wouldn't be shocked if the Leafs trade for one of them if Murray is moved.

You know if Dubas ends up in Pittsburgh I wonder if something around Murray for Casey DeSmith ends up happening.

Pittsburgh needs to address their goaltending this offseason. DeSmith kinda fell out of favour with the Pens late in the season and doesn't seem like a reliable platoon option goalie. With Woll's injury history Toronto will likely need to find a 3rd goalie who can both be relied on to play games and also get through waivers. DeSmith's history, performance, and cap hit makes him a pretty good candidate for that role. He has a $1.8mil AAV for this upcoming season, so with the Marlies it'd be just $650k in cap space.

Honest question: why would moving off the Murray contract imply some sort of asset going with him to make it happen?  Would the Leafs not be in a position to simply eat the last year of his contract and send him through waivers to the Marlies?  If the unthinkable happens and Murray remains healthy and plays well he'd be eligible for callup or that much more appealing as a potential waiver pickup. 

Murray being in the AHL only saves the team a little over $1M on the cap. For a team looking the squeeze the most value out of every available cap dollar, it's not the ideal move by any means.

I've always figured Murray was a definite goner this offseason but if the Leafs don't re-sign ROR they might honestly have more cap space than they can realistically spend considering how bland the UFA market is. So who knows. I guess there could be a chance they keep him at a $3.5mil hit on the Marlies until maybe deadline time or if another team finds themselves needing a goalie (or as just insurance behind Samsonov and Woll).

I'd do that trade...although I would wonder what kind of number Hellebyuck is looking for in his next contract.

Yeah, it'd be pretty big. Over the past 6 years he's had 3 Vezina nominations with 1 of them being a win, plus a 4th place finish in there as well. That's a pretty insane track record for a goalie.

The league also hasn't seen a goalie get a long-term contract over $6mil since the summer of 2019 when Vasilevskiy ($9.5mil) and Bobrovsky ($10mil) got their deals. Barring a disastrous 23/24 season I'd imagine he'll be looking for something in the 9's on a 6-8 year deal.

https://twitter.com/KevinWeekes/status/1663575619001516034

John Hynes has 1 year left on his contract with Nashville and incoming GM Barry Trotz (still weird) was non committal about his future with the team after their season ended.

Brunette would have been right at the top of my list for candidates to potentially replace Keefe if he got let go.

All this discussion around what is a Panther....what the heck is this schedule.

Game 6 ended last night on a Monday.  We don't start the Finals until Saturday.  Two days off between Game 3 and Game 4.  Two days off between Game 4 and Game 5.  Two days off between Game 5 and Game 6.  Game 6 and Game 7.

16 days if this series goes 7 games.  20 days between now and the potential end of the playoffs.  What even is this schedule.

There's a lot of time before the Finals start for a team to make a big GM hire without stealing all the spotlight from the games.

Look at our shiny new GM!!!  We ONLY got him because he got fired from his last job!  Isn't he great!?!?!?!?!?!!!???!!!?  He failed so hard at his last job that he was fired, but things will be different this time!  WE PROMISE!!!!

Does the same apply to the team that hires Dubas?

Same applies to a huge swath of all GM and coach hires.

Doug Wilson was never fired as a NHL exec.

https://twitter.com/friedgehnic/status/1663545889489817601

He spent 3 years as the HC of their AHL team prior to coming to the Leafs, so as Friedman says no real surprise here. Carbery could be a really good coach but I also don't think you need to be some sort of hockey prodigy to put together one really good PP unit with the guys he's had access to.

https://twitter.com/PR_NHL/status/1663375738685341698
https://twitter.com/PR_NHL/status/1663392350704480260

Nylander for Hellebuyck anyone?

Nylander is my favorite player and I say yes to that.

It's interesting. Not really sure what Winnipeg's plans are right now though. With Hellebuyck, Scheifele, and Wheeler all 1 year away from UFA status you'd think they'd be better off selling all those guys for futures (taking advantage of a weak UFA market this offseason) to try and do a quick retool with younger players. In that case, a Nylander trade wouldn't really make sense for them. If they're still adverse to a retool/rebuild, and especially if Hellebuyck signals he isn't interested in an extension, then yeah a Nylander (plus probably Samsonov) deal could at least be intriguing.

Doug Wilson, Dean Lombardi, Mike Gillis. The Leafs should interview all of these candidates and others. If it takes a bit longer and fans get restless, so be it. It doesn't matter as long as the Leafs make the right choice, or at least a good choice.

But they do only have a bit longer, not a lot longer.

I'm getting slightly restless only because there's a part of me worried that they've just spent the last 10 days debating the pros and cons of Treliving. But if there's a wide range of worthwhile candidates they're legitimately considering, and especially if some of them aren't available to talk yet (like McPhee and/or Nill), then obviously the hold up is justified.

Ideally though having someone hired by this weekend would be great. That gives them about 4 weeks until the draft/free agency.

https://twitter.com/dalter/status/1663275885607174146

Missed this over the weekend. Apparently Friedman reported that the Leafs have at least been in contact with former Sharks GM Doug Wilson. Wilson stepped down from his position as GM at the end of the 21/22 season citing health issues (after being on medical leave for most of the season). Last month Friedman reported that he could be looking to get back into hockey.

Not sure if there's mutual interest there but of all the names mentioned for the job he'd probably be right at the top of my list (if not the very top).

The longer this goes the less likely Treliving is their absolute #1 target... right?

Fine, I'll take just the 2OA pick. Cutting off Marner's next negotiation is its own reward.

Value wise it's certainly interesting. Big Clark for Sundin vibes. But I don't think either team shows much interest in it considering where they are at their respective building stages. Anaheim especially.