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2026-27 General Trades & Signings

I don't have any empathy for Verbeek here, he's been in the game for decades and should have known this could happen if he didn't take action.

I have some empathy for the fans, and Verbeek should have dealt with this issue months ago...make a signing deadline of June 1, or else I'm trading the player.

I don't know how he deals with Gauthier if he chooses to keep Carlsson, and even then how that reverberates throughout the dressing rooom.
 
Frank E said:
I don't have any empathy for Verbeek here, he's been in the game for decades and should have known this could happen if he didn't take action.

I have some empathy for the fans, and Verbeek should have dealt with this issue months ago...make a signing deadline of June 1, or else I'm trading the player.

I don't know how he deals with Gauthier if he chooses to keep Carlsson, and even then how that reverberates throughout the dressing rooom.
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And people dunk on Dubas for signing 34 and 16 to those crazy second contracts.
 
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Guru Tugginmypuddah said:
And people dunk on Dubas for signing 34 and 16 to those crazy second contracts.
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Those guys, and even Nylander holding out until the literal last minutes, used their leverage.

It's their right within the CBA structure, and if teams like Philly are gutsy enough to play havoc with their cap/team structure, that's their right too. You don't have to like it, but that's just the way the agreement works.

And there's pressure on Carlsson too if he can't deliver as a 21 22 23 year old over the next few seasons...ask Mitch Marner about that...but I don't know how you don't sign that offer sheet if you're Carlsson, pressure be damned.
 
I hope ANA doesn't match. I hope the $18M PHI pays is considered a premium paid to get an exceptional RFA, and that $18M doesn't become the new standard for someone of Karlsson's caliber. As a Leaf fan, I want the cap to exceed most teams' internal limits.
 
Guru Tugginmypuddah said:
And people dunk on Dubas for signing 34 and 16 to those crazy second contracts.
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Verbeek doing something stupid now has literally nothing to do with Dubas and shouldn't stop anyone from criticising his tenure here or those contracts. How the Leafs actions from 2018/19 get shoehorned into the discussion of summer 2026 is beyond me.
 
Frank E said:
I don't have any empathy for Verbeek here, he's been in the game for decades and should have known this could happen if he didn't take action.
...
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I was looking at RFAs to poach before July 1 because the UFA market was so bad and I posted about doing that and that I expect GMs would exploit it.
So if a fan is recognizing that, why wouldn't a GM be looking at it and looking at his team's exposure?

Now, I didn't expect $90M offers (in part because Leafs were missing key draft picks - though $90M is not something I imagined) but Verbeek should have known GMs would be looking at all the RFA angles more than they had ever before because of the shallow UFA supply.

I haven't looked closely but up until now, he seemed to be doing an ok job. So, it is a little tragic for him personally.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
I started to wonder if they'd let him go considering the way it was structured (allows him to walk to UFA with Utah being unable to trade him) but I'm glad they matched. Otherwise I would have been upset the Leafs didn't make the offer sheet instead.
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For the foreseeable future - until the UFA market recovers, RFAs are not going to be the usual non event they have typically been in the past. I'm sure more teams will work to get them re-signed sooner.

There was no good way out for Utah. If they ever get the chance to return the favor to New Jersey ...
 
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