This guy broke a couple trades at the deadline and if it’s true the Leafs should be all over it IMO

I too, am interested in playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Maybe an unpopular take but if I’m Treliving I’m bringing back Klingberg. He’s the exact type of DMan we need on the blue line.

Just sharing the section re: his tenure with the Leafs

The Athletic - $

Babcock’s success earned him one of the most prominent gigs in hockey as head coach of Team Canada. He won gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and 2014 Sochi Olympics. His international experience further bolstered his resume, and the Leafs signed him to an eight-year, $50 million deal in May 2015. It positioned Babcock at the premier job in one of hockey’s biggest fish bowls, and his deal was also heralded as an important benchmark in the fight to improve coaching salaries. At $6.25 million per season, Babcock reportedly made more than double any other NHL head coach at the time, and more than all but one Leafs player.

A little more than a month after signing with the Leafs, Babcock tried to influence who the team would take with its first pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, according to multiple team sources. Mark Hunter, the Leafs assistant general manager, lobbied for Mitchell Marner of the OHL’s London Knights, which Hunter co-owns. Babcock made it clear to others in the team’s hockey operations that he wanted a different player. Despite Babcock’s objections, the Leafs selected Marner fourth overall.

After the first period of Marner’s first preseason game, Babcock approached him in the tunnel and abruptly told him he was being sent back to junior — rather than sharing the news in a private meeting. Babcock’s approach, relaying the disappointing news after a single period, was viewed by some in the organization as unprofessional and callous.

Later that fall, in October 2015, Frankie Corrado was picked up off waivers by the Leafs from Vancouver. Corrado was excited to play for Babcock, knowing he had a reputation for helping players reach their potential.

“I have no idea who you are,” Corrado remembers Babcock telling him when they first met. He told Corrado to meet him at his office at the Leafs training facility the next day at 8 a.m. Corrado arrived early and knocked on Babcock’s door, but the coach told him he didn’t have time to see him. Corrado waited for an hour and a half, but Babcock never made time for him.

Corrado saw little ice time with the Leafs over the next few weeks, spending most games as a healthy scratch. But during practices, Babcock would quietly instruct him to go first in drills, so he’d have to push past star players in line — breaking hockey decorum — while awkwardly trying to explain that he was doing so per the coach’s instruction. Corrado felt Babcock was attempting to “sewer” him with his teammates.

Corrado said he later experienced panic attacks and threw up regularly before games because of anxiety, which he never experienced before playing for Babcock.

“It was cruel. It went on way too long and it did way too much damage to me,” he said. “I think he loves f—ing with people’s heads. I really do.”

Early in the 2016-17 season center Peter Holland lost his position to minor league call-up Byron Froese. Hoping to discuss the demotion, Holland went to Leafs practice early. He found Babcock eating his breakfast, and the coach told him he’d find him as soon as he was done. Nearly an hour later Babcock called him into his office.

“You’re here to remind me that you’re still on the team. But you’ve lost your job, and all you can do right now is show up in practice,” Holland recalls Babcock saying. “Now tell me what you came here to tell me, so you can go home and tell your family and your agent that you said what you wanted to say.”

Before a Western Canada road trip that November, Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello told Holland he’d be staying back while the team worked out a trade for him to a market where he could get more playing time. At a news conference in Edmonton the next day, Babcock gave reporters the impression it was Holland’s decision for him to not travel with the team.

“(Holland) met with Lou, had his agent on the phone and decided he wasn’t coming on the trip,” Babcock said.

Holland said Lamoriello treated him professionally, but Babcock did not. “I’ve played for hard-ass coaches who I really like and respect — because they still treat you like a person. My experience with Babs was that he doesn’t treat you like a human being,” Holland said.

Early in Babcock’s tenure with the Leafs, after team trainers completed player evaluations, ranking work ethic on a three-level scale — red, yellow and green — he called a meeting with players and the team’s training staff and projected the red reviews on a wall for all to see. Training staffers said they had been led to believe their evaluations would be confidential.

A similar incident involved Marner once he returned to the Leafs during the 2016 season. While the team was in New Jersey, Babcock made Marner rank his teammates from hardest to least-hardest working. Marner did, believing it was a confidential discussion. He placed himself at the bottom of the list. Babcock then took the list to several of the other players who were also at the bottom of Marner’s list. Afterward, two veteran players — Nazem Kadri and Tyler Bozak — confronted Babcock about the incident; they took particular issue with the coach treating a rookie that way. Babcock later apologized to Marner.

In the Leafs office, Babcock was known to chastise support staff workers if his routine was derailed or the environment didn’t meet his standards, former players and employees said. He often focused on one person in the office each day and hounded them repeatedly.

“When you work for Babs everyone is on their toes. No one is spared,” said one former staffer.

While coaching U of S, Babcock pushed back on reports that his leadership style was unsuited for the modern game. He blamed social media for unfair criticism and called the characterization of the incident with Marner “a complete farce.” He justified the ranking exercise by noting how well Marner played for the Leafs, telling Sportsnet: “Mitch Marner played great for Mike Babcock.”

“Anything in my life that I’ve done that I should be feeling bad about and I should apologize for, I’m good with that,” Babcock said. “I have to own it and I should do that. But some of the math doesn’t add up. It just doesn’t.”

Not sure if I can directly say the online store where I bought this from here, but compared to Fanatics or even Adidas-branded headwear, this particular collection (apparently called 47) is of much better quality. I was rather surprised.

Just going to include the intro blurb and the list of players. They're listed from 10 to 1 but I didn't include the numbers because I don't feel like fighting with Reddit's formatting of lists.

The Athletic - $

We could have gone 25 deep with forwards who would fit well with the 2024-25 Toronto Maple Leafs.

The free agent class this summer may be short on star power (as always). However, there are still a lot of useful players to be had. We wanted to narrow things down to 10, but could have swapped in any one of Matt Duchene, Jake DeBrusk, Sam Reinhart, Jake Guentzel, Anthony Duclair, Teuvo Teravainen, Michael Amadio, Joe Pavelski, Jonathan Marchessault, Teddy Blueger, William Carrier, Sean Monahan, Nick Cousins, Yakov Trenin, Jordan Martinook, Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, or Connor Brown.

Florida Panthers pest Ryan Lomberg would bring some energy and personality to the Leafs fourth line.

The Leafs’ biggest need up front is, arguably, a middle-six centre. They could also stand to bring in another top-six winger to replace or supplement Bertuzzi and/or Domi, both pending free agents, as well as more middle-six support on the wing, whether it’s more size to fit the style of new head coach Craig Berube or more scoring to help the stars up top.

A lot of what the Leafs might do in free agency will depend on what path is taken with Mitch Marner and John Tavares, the stars with no-movement clauses who may or may not be around next season.

Without further ado, the top 10.

David Perron

Position: Left and right wing

Evolving Hockey contract projection: One year, $2.4 million cap hit

Danton Heinen

Position: Left and right wing

Evolving Hockey contract projection: Four years, $3.6 million cap hit

Steven Stamkos

Position: Centre and left wing

Evolving Hockey contract projection: Three years, $8.4 million cap hit

Adam Henrique

Position: Centre and left wing

Evolving Hockey contract projection: Three years, $4.7 million cap hit

Viktor Arvidsson

Position: Left and right wing

Evolving Hockey contract projection: One year, $3 million

Alex Wennberg

Position: Centre

Evolving Hockey contract projection: Three years, $4.4 million cap hit

Chandler Stephenson

Position: Centre

Evolving Hockey contract projection: Four years, $6.1 million cap hit

Dakota Joshua

Position: Left wing

Evolving Hockey contract projection: Two years, $2 million cap hit

Tyler Toffoli

Position: Left and right wing

Evolving Hockey contract projection: Three years, $6.1 million cap hit

Elias Lindholm

Position: Centre and right wing

Evolving Hockey contract projection: Seven years, $7.9 million

Please use this thread to post ANYTHING you want! Memes, photoshops, anything that would normally be removed for breaking the low-effort content rule, is totally, 100% welcome here!

This will now also be the dedicated thread for Armchair GM posts as we noticed that those posts were bleeding into this thread regardless. Is there a free agent you want to see on this team? Is there a player that's rumoured to be on the move that you think GMBT should go after? Are there players on this team you want to trade away? Feel free to post about it here!

Normal moderation will occur, such as watching for personal insults, racism, and things of that nature.

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Get out there and have fun!

​

Looking for the latest Armchair GM Thread? Check here.

The Leafs will be heading into next season with some salary cap issues unless major changes happen. Unless major moves are made they will need cheap and effective players to fill the roster that don’t break the bank. Without speculating specifically who they could trade for because it could literally be anyone, I took an internal look at who could emerge next season on the roster.

A few possible players that could be moved to make additional cap space for signing and trades are Kampf and Reaves. They are making more than they should with their current responsibilities. Liljegren is also an RFA that will demand a few million dollars to resign. If the leafs can bring in significant defensive upgrades through trades and free agency we will likely see Liljegren traded and an opening in the bottom pairing. Here’s an internal look at the cheap and important young players we have now, and what we could see from them next season.

All of my stated % are personal estimates based on team needs and the expected opening roster positions.

The Forwards

Mathew Knies (100% starting in the NHL)

After his first full season as a leaf he has proved that he is going to be a great asset for the leafs as he continues to develop. In his first 83 games he has generated 36 points and is an effective player everywhere on the ice.

Nick Robertson (100% starting in the NHL)

Nick has been plagued with injuries early in his career which has hindered his development. He has produced 34 points over 87 games between 4 NHL seasons. Last season was essentially his first full season since turning pro and largely played middle 6. His work ethic and drive should help push him to the next level If he can stay healthy. Depending on who the leafs sign or trade Robertson should get middle 6 responsibilities with more time on the second powerplay. He has the skill to be a great offensive player that works his ass off, his biggest issue is staying healthy.

Easton Cowan (66% of starting in NHL)

This season he was the OHL Regular Season, Playoff, and well on his way to Memorial Cup MVP. 11 months ago he was drafted by the Leafs and was looked at as a bad pick. He has been proving all of his initial doubters wrong every time he has stepped on the ice since. He is a workhorse that is effective everywhere on the ice and useful in all situations. Last NHL preseason he looked very impressive and like he could have stayed on the NHL roster if we really needed him to. He is eligible for one more OHL season, but at this point he has accomplished everything he can in the OHL and playing another OHL season may not benefit him as much as making the jump to the NHL.

If he has a great preseason he should make the NHL roster. He comes in at $900k which is great for a team like Toronto that will be looking to have as much cap space as possible.

Fraser Minten (20% of starting in NHL)

Fraser Minten had quite an impressive preseason last year for the leafs, so good he got to stick around for an additional 4 games before getting sent down to the WHL. Fraser will most likely play next season in the AHL, he is a good defensive forward and can contribute offensively.

Even if he has a great training camp and preseason he be competing with Kampf, Holmberg, Dewar, Cowan and possibly Domi or other signings for a Center position. Realistically he will get his chances to play when players start getting injured and the leafs need a cheap call up option.

Roni Hirvonen and Alex Steeves (5% starting in the NHL)

There are an abundance of bottom 6 players on the roster that will make the team next season. Neither of these two players have excelled enough to earn a starting spot on the leafs. Both of these players will probably stay in the AHL to develop and receive the occasional call up when someone gets injured.

The Defence

Topi Nimela (50% starting in the NHL)

Nimela played his first North American hockey season last year on a mediocre Marlies team and did pretty well with 39 points in 68 games. He’s smaller for a defender but he is quick and decent defensively, he is also good passer with good vision, he can play bottom pairing with Benoit and on PP2.

His fate largely depends on who the Leafs bring in for next season. His immediate competition for that bottom pairing spot is Connor Timmins and Timothy Liljegren. Liljegren is currently an RFA and will certainly be asking for a few million dollars on his next contract if he stays as opposed to Nimelas $850K or Timmins $1.1M.

Cade Weber (5% starting in the NHL)

Coming in at 6’7”, this newly acquired monster is 100% a lockdown defender. He plays effective defence, skates well for his size, blocks shots, hits things that move. He will probably start in the AHL next season to start his pro hockey career. The Leafs are looking to improve the defence immediately and I don’t think there’s a situation where adding Cade to the NHL roster immediately does that. If he looks good in the preseason and AHL, he could get called up to fill in bottom pairing minutes if the leafs need him.

Noah Chadwick (0.5% starting in the NHL)

Going into last season 6’4” Noah Chadwick was considered a defensive defenceman with good hockey sense and passing abilities. He played for a mediocre Lethbridge Hurricanes and with his newly found offence he helped push this team to a playoff spot.

He put up 56 points in 66 games, he makes good passes and has a good shot, although he does prefer to pass over shoot. He plays great defensively, he was great at transitional defence and immediately turning defence to offence the other way. He was defensive lead on the PP and PK. His biggest issue is his skating, if he can make significant improvements in his skating he can take his game to the next level.

He will almost certainly return to Lethbridge next season to build on his previous season, but he has certainly established himself as a legitimate NHL prospect.

The Goalies

Dennis Hildeby (33% starting in the NHL)

Hidleby played his first full AHL season and played well. The Marlies were not an elite team last season and Hidleby performed well despite that. Hidleby’s immediate future is much in the hands of Treliving right now. Depending on how Treliving wants to use the cap space, Hidleby will either be the 1B behind Woll with a cheap veteran 3rd option, or he will be the AHL starter. Hidleby should end up seeing a few NHL games no matter what next season. He’s a monstrous 6’7”, takes up a ton of net, moves quite well for his size. If the leafs do not spend on goaltending and Hidleby has a strong preseason he could take the 1B role.

Artur Akhtiamov (5% starting in the NHL)

IMO Artur is the most intriguing goaltending prospect the leafs have in the system. He’s 22 years old and his stats from last season in the VHL (Russian AHL) and KHL are as follows.

VHL Regular Season: 19GP, 2.00GAA, 0.927SV% KHL Regular Season: 17GP, 2.50GAA, 0.921SV% VHL Playoffs: 21GP, 2.15GAA, 0.932SV%

If he transitions to North America next season he will most likely start in the AHL. His professional hockey experience is 110 VHL games played, 21 KHL games played. This makes him the most experienced professional goalie out of the prospects we have.

A lot would have to go right for Artur to take the 1B spot, Treliving would have to not trade for, or acquire a NHL starting goalie. He would have to play phenomenal hockey in the preseason and leapfrog Hidleby as the next leafs goalie in line to make the NHL. Artur could be the leafs star goalie of the future, I believe he has the highest ceiling out of any goalie in our system. But the leafs are deep in goalie prospects and he will have to fight and earn his spot just like Hidleby and Peksa.

Vyacheslav Peksa (0% starting in the NHL)

We will not see Peksa play in the NHL next season. He will get a chance to play his first full ECHL season. Peksa is looking to build on his first set of ECHL games. If he performs well he could earn some chances with the Marlies next season. He’s well behind Hidleby and Akhtiamov in development and will likely not get a chance in the NHL for at least a few seasons.

What the fuck?! 🤦🏽‍♂️

From The Province:

A source said Yeo, 50, was headed to a new opportunity “closer to home.”

Where the Toronto-born Yeo might be headed isn’t known, but one does note that his former associate coach in St. Louis Craig Berube has just taken over as head coach in Toronto. Berube was Yeo’s associate coach for a season and a half, before Yeo was fired midway through the 2018-19 season.

Sure seems like Mike Yeo could be on his way to join the Leafs coaching staff, likely running the PK unit like he did with the Canucks.

Please use this thread to post ANYTHING you want! Memes, photoshops, anything that would normally be removed for breaking the low-effort content rule, is totally, 100% welcome here!

This will now also be the dedicated thread for Armchair GM posts as we noticed that those posts were bleeding into this thread regardless. Is there a free agent you want to see on this team? Is there a player that's rumoured to be on the move that you think GMBT should go after? Are there players on this team you want to trade away? Feel free to post about it here!

Normal moderation will occur, such as watching for personal insults, racism, and things of that nature.

Otherwise, feel free to use this thread to share things like your new jersey, a photoshop of a Habs logo on fire, or a reaction gif to something going on in Leafs Nation right now!

Downvotes are discouraged for the most part, everyone's opinion is fair game in this thread.

Get out there and have fun!

​

Looking for the latest Armchair GM Thread? Check here.