https://twitter.com/leafspr/status/1684232270704414720
Leafs to place Murray on LTIR
- Thread starter CarltonTheBear
- Start date
Murray on LTIR, assuming he remains there for the entire season, is the best case scenario for the Leafs.
If this is a situation where he could be ready to play later on in the season though they're just pushing the problem down the line.
If this is a situation where he could be ready to play later on in the season though they're just pushing the problem down the line.
Current roster/cap number after this:
Bertuzzi-Matthews-Marner
Domi-Tavares-Nylander
Knies-Kampf-Jarnkrok
McMann/Holmberg-Lafferty-Reaves
Rielly-Brodie
McCabe-Liljegren
Giordano-Klingberg
Timmins
Samsonov
Woll
That roster is still $450-500k over the cap, depending on the 12th forward. So another move is still required.
Possible options:
1) Waive/trade Timmins. This gives the Leafs just a 20-man roster and $600k of cap space that can't really be used.
2) Waive/trade Lafferty, replace with Gambrell (league min). This still puts the Leafs $84k over the salary cap. They would still need to waive/trade Timmins, but that would give them enough cap space to carry either a 13th forward or 7th defenceman who makes under $1mil.
3) Trade Jarnkrok. This gives the Leafs enough cap space to keep Lafferty, Timmins, and enough cap space to carry both a 13th forward and a 7th defenceman on the roster. So arguably hurts the roster the most since Jarnkrok is the more valuable player of the 3 but it provides the most cap space/roster flexibility.
4) Screw it, trade all 3 of Jarnkrok, Timmins, and Lafferty. This gives the Leafs a 20-man roster with $2.3mil in cap space if Treliving had his eye on either a different middle-6 forward option and/or a physical defenceman.
Bertuzzi-Matthews-Marner
Domi-Tavares-Nylander
Knies-Kampf-Jarnkrok
McMann/Holmberg-Lafferty-Reaves
Rielly-Brodie
McCabe-Liljegren
Giordano-Klingberg
Timmins
Samsonov
Woll
That roster is still $450-500k over the cap, depending on the 12th forward. So another move is still required.
Possible options:
1) Waive/trade Timmins. This gives the Leafs just a 20-man roster and $600k of cap space that can't really be used.
2) Waive/trade Lafferty, replace with Gambrell (league min). This still puts the Leafs $84k over the salary cap. They would still need to waive/trade Timmins, but that would give them enough cap space to carry either a 13th forward or 7th defenceman who makes under $1mil.
3) Trade Jarnkrok. This gives the Leafs enough cap space to keep Lafferty, Timmins, and enough cap space to carry both a 13th forward and a 7th defenceman on the roster. So arguably hurts the roster the most since Jarnkrok is the more valuable player of the 3 but it provides the most cap space/roster flexibility.
4) Screw it, trade all 3 of Jarnkrok, Timmins, and Lafferty. This gives the Leafs a 20-man roster with $2.3mil in cap space if Treliving had his eye on either a different middle-6 forward option and/or a physical defenceman.
dappleganger
Well-known member
Waive Reaves or Timmins. Doesn't anyone think both wouldn't clear? If you take Timmins you HAVE to play him (or press box him) and who in their right mind would want to pick up 3 years of Reaves?
If Treliving thought 'we'll give Reaves 3 years so no one will claim him on waivers.' Kudos.
If Treliving thought 'we'll give Reaves 3 years so no one will claim him on waivers.' Kudos.
CarltonTheBear said:
Buyout window closed due to no one placed on waivers.
By my calculation they have 21 roster players (not on LTIR) and are $0.46 mil over the cap.
They could start Knies with the Marlies without exposing another Leafs player to waivers.
They could waive Timmins, McMann, or Lafferty to get below the cap.
They could trade a player to get below the cap.
I suspect a trade because they need a physical dman to replace Holl/Schenn.
If Murray starts the season on LTIR and a few weeks later says "I'm ok to play now ...", they have a BIG cap problem. At his age, it is hard to imagine Robidas island appealing to him. $8 mil 2023-24 salary is almost untradeable with no cap space to retain and no signing bonus eating a bunch of it. I suspect they're just kicking the can down the road hoping for some sort of a break.
Dappleganger said:
Well, they aren't waiving Reaves so just scratch that possibility off immediately.
Lafferty and Timmins are both interesting waiver possibilities though. If their cap space gets used on someone else (physical D) It might be worth keeping them with the expectation they'll be going on waivers at the end of camp. If they clear, that's solid depth at no cap hit on the Marlies. If right now teams are only offering very minimal returns then passing on those could be worth the waivers risk.
cw said:
My gut tells me that if this wasn't a "he's finished" situation then the Leafs would have still tried to force a buyout on the grounds that he was "cleared" to play in Toronto's last hockey game. Murray and his camp could contest it, and eventually something probably gets settled with an arbitrator but his contract is still bought out.
LTIR'ing him now with the possibility he'll still play this season is a massive, massive risk.
CarltonTheBear said:
The part I'm having trouble with: he was cleared to play towards the end of their playoffs.
And now, suddenly, his career is over?
What happened?
My guess:
Leafs Management calls "Matt's agent? We'd like to buy Matt out"
Matt's agent "I'll get back to you ..."
...
Matt's agent "Spoke with Matt. Matt isn't feeling good. He's still a little wobbly. So you can't buy him out. He needs the full $8 mil for next season."
To go from cleared to play to career is over is a pretty big jump with no additional injury ... they may have a massive risk.
What choice did the Leafs have?
Buyout? Can't, he's hurt and it might cost him millions.
Trade? Can't trade that $8 mil salary without giving up a 1st plus plus because they're desperate and everyone knows it
LTIR? Houston, we have undertaken a massive risk ... cross your fingers ...
cw said:
Well it's worth pointing out players get "cleared" to play in the playoffs all the time when they're still hurt. It's pretty much impossible that Murray was 100% at that time. And that also could have played a role in Woll getting the nod ahead of him after Samsonov's injury.
It's also possible this doesn't necessarily mean his career is over. A year off properly recovering and rehabbing whatever lingering issues that he's been playing through over the years (with probably the best medical team in the NHL) while still collecting his full salary could end up actually extending his career a little bit.
Guru Tugginmypuddah
Well-known member
I don't think the issue with Murray is a strictly physical one.
Bill_Berg
Well-known member
He was probably not 100% in the playoffs and just wanted to play. Now he wants access to a year's worth of Leafs medical stuff, and the full 8mil, so he's willing to call it quits on this year. Then he can use the year and the Leafs medical services to prep for a comeback next year.
dappleganger
Well-known member
Murray gets more money if he isn't bought out so I could see why someone would be in favour of that. If there's an injury to one of the guys with a higher salary Murray could even come back from LTIR.
dappleganger
Well-known member
CarltonTheBear said:
What about the waiving of Spezza where it was apparently known if he was claimed he wouldn't report and it wasn't to put him in the minors, but strictly for cap reasons. I wouldn't know why that wouldn't be a possibility with Reaves.