30 Mar 2026 20:38:07
Islanders: Nylander and Carlo

Leafs: Cal Ritchie, Kashawn Aitcheson, 1st in 2026 and 1st in 2027

Ritchie gives us a good young up and coming Centreman, Aitcheson adds a unique blend of offensive prowess along with an ability to blow people up with huge hits at the blue line. I would then knock on Seattle's door, offer Reilly and the 2 firsts for Berky Catton and Tyson Jugnauth. We also end up with $20 million roughly in salary cap to chase a few UFA's. Alex Tuch has to be your number one target, I would also go after A.

J. Greer, the perfect nasty player we need who can also chip in 10 to 15 goals. He might be got at a pretty good number, then we take a complete leap of faith and again he will not go for a large number but maybe just maybe he can be healthy again and if we keep Matthews maybe they find a chemistry... Patrick Laine. Now we would have a nice mix of young and old with some prospects like Holinka and Hopkings and Danford and Chadwick working their way up the ladder eventually.

1.) 30 Mar 2026
30 Mar 2026 20:21:42
So for above my lineup would be:

Knies Matthews Laine
Tuch Ritchie Cowan
Tavares Catton Greer
Groulx Joshua Lorentz

Qualify offer Robertson, Quillan and Macelli and see if anyone offers higher if not. Keep the best 2 out of the 3 after training camp and trade the other.


McCabe Aitcheson
OEL Jugnauth
Tanev Benoit

McCabe and OEL get to tutor and watch the d-end of the ice for the youngsters.





Use either Danford or Chadwick as your number 7 D man. Possibly on rotational basis 2 or 3 game segments.

Woll and Hildeby in net

Domi - Trade for prospect or pick
Stolarz - Trade for prospect or pick
Myers - Trade for pick
Stecher - Don't sign

This is kind of a rebuild and retool all at the same time.

2.) 30 Mar 2026
30 Mar 2026 20:57:29
Laine is an absolute no. He’s a joke.

3.) 30 Mar 2026
30 Mar 2026 21:33:00
For a $2.5 or $3 one year, show me what you got. I would take the shot.

4.) 31 Mar 2026
31 Mar 2026 10:05:44
Laine is a guy you have to hide too much for him to be effective. Cal Ritchie is a nice player but he’s not a number 2, same with the D prospect.

5.) 31 Mar 2026
31 Mar 2026 10:28:25
That line up is a joke. Only good thing in these moves are getting 2 1st rd picks, but the prospects are bottom feeders. Suggesting to go sign Laine tells me you didn’t think this through enough.

6.) 31 Mar 2026
31 Mar 2026 12:53:46
Re: The Patrick Laine UFA offer. It would be based on a similar one that Mantha did with the Penguins. It would be a one year deal to let us see what you have left in the tank after the surgery. $2.0 to @.5 million with bonuses of $150,000 after every 10 games played. So a potential extra for $1.2 million on a full season. Now.... if he dogs it or doesn't produce he will be sat out once in a while which hurts his bonuses. If he really plays horribly, he gets put on waivers, if e is claimed we are off the hook, if he doesn't he gets sent down and if he refuses, Then he is suspended without pay and the salary cap hit is eliminated.

If he performs even at half the player he was in Winnipeg. Then we get a player than can still put up 30 goals a year. For that kind of money with low risk why not? Even if you put him on the third line but utilize him on the Power play that power play can still be lethal.

@ Goat. RItchie might not be a number 2 but he is knocking on the door and do we wait until he is a number 2 for the Islanders and they don't part with him? We need to grab some of these guys on the way up. He started slow but in the last 12 games (All pressure games while the team is in the playoff hunt. He has 10 points. )

@ Champishere2627 I expected you to slash this post and was not disappointed. However when you make statements like the prospects are bottom feeders and provide nothing to prove that it doesn't on your expertise. Just makes you look like a troller. I love a good debate and am sure I could have a rebuttal in response to why those 4 are bottom feeders.

7.) 31 Mar 2026
31 Mar 2026 13:42:14
I'm also a Laine. Leafs lack drive and a do anything to win attitude. Laine does nothing to solve that. It's like bringing in a way worse than Nylander as far as floating etc goes. Just stay away from that guy imo.

8.) 31 Mar 2026
31 Mar 2026 21:27:16
So you trade Nylander, just to get a less skilled, slower, heartless version of Nylander? No one in this world will ever change my mind on getting Laine. We all hate Willy's bad body language and how he gives up, this guy is worse than Willy for all those things.

Not picking on you, Suffering, as I’ve seen a few Laine trades now. This team needs a new identity and if Laine fits that mold, then I don’t want to be a fan anymore.

9.) 01 Apr 2026
31 Mar 2026 22:30:25
Oh, I agree with both you, Clarky, and you as well, RLF. But, in this NHL, as much as we dislike it, we still need those guys that can put the puck in the net. The trick is finding the right guys that balance out some of those players' defensive weaknesses. Like I said, for Laine he would be a one year low end contract and if it failed, then it's easy to cut ties and move on.

The 3 players that concerned me way more than Nylander or Matthews (They were both only -5 and -4 respectively, Willy as much as he at times has that body language and is not a hitter or sot blocker, is very sound defensively as he anticipates other teams' passes similar to the way Marner used too. ).... The 3 that concerned me were John Tavares at -25. He has certainly lost a step and is why we need some younger legs up the middle and he could be shifted to the wing but used for important defensive zone faceoffs, and Matthew Knies and Max Domi both at -22. Domi has never really been a strong defensive guy in his career anyway. That's why you don't see him on my above roster list. Knies... I was frustrated with in that, yes he has said he has been playing hurt, it hampered him somewhat offensively but not to the extent of his poor defensive zone coverage. He should have been taking the odd rest day for his knee issue. But in the long run at a -22 he was hurting the team not helping by playing hurt. One theory being floated is that by getting bigger and stronger by adding 15 pounds that he maybe went to far and the knees are rebelling at that extra weight. The knee structure can only tolerate so much.

Anyway, boys, all we can do is hope we get a GM and hopefully a president and coach that can put together a plan that changes the direction. It might be painful for a few years but it has to change.

My picks to turn it around.... President George McPhee , GM Ryan Jankowski and Coach would be Assistant Coach Jeff Halpern from Tampa Bay. He has learned from one of the best in Jon Cooper.

10.) 01 Apr 2026
01 Apr 2026 22:46:35
Cassidy is a no brainer for the coach. Charielli for GM if you can’t get Armstrong.

11.) 02 Apr 2026
01 Apr 2026 23:30:15
There is a reason No-one has hired Chiarelli as a GM since just over 7 years ago.

12.) 03 Apr 2026
03 Apr 2026 02:29:33
Islanders would have to be insane to give up two top prospects and two 1st round picks for a nearly 30 year old Nylander and a 3rd pairing defenseman in Brandon Carlo.
I do not believe they are that foolish.

I find in the majority of your proposals that you hugely overvalue the Leafs assets and/or undervalue the trading partner’s assets.

13.) 03 Apr 2026
03 Apr 2026 12:50:55
@ Watterfuffalo49. I am glad you recognize my eye for the prospects. Better than calling them Bottom Feeders like another poster lol. It's subjective, of course, on placing value on players and prospects. I think I am a pretty good judge on the prospects as I do follow the vast majority of them quite closely. I am not undervaluing the Islanders prospects in the least. I view them as very key pieces as do I the Seattle ones as well. Re: Nylander's value, I am keying in on the majority of insider posts where they value him for an established defenseman, a power forward and a 1st round pick to the right team looking for a top offensive player.

The Islanders would not be giving that up, but they would be giving up potential players that would fill that need eventually. The extra 1st round pick was not for Carlo, he was just a throw in to somewhat balance it out. OEL would be the one the Islanders want, but I think OEL would be a good mentor for younger D-men in Toronto along with McCabe.

14.) 03 Apr 2026
03 Apr 2026 14:44:22
Bottom Feeders. Bottom 6 will never be top 6 players. Deal with it. Ritchie not top center on any team.

15.) 03 Apr 2026
03 Apr 2026 15:51:48
Where in the post did I have Ritchie slotted as number 1 center? But we are not readers of the future so who knows. What I do know is he is comfortable in the NHL now. 8 points in his last 10 games in a playoff race shows that. I won't go into details about the other 3 prospects. Their resume speaks for itself at their ages.

By your logic any prospect should never have to spend time on the 4th line in their career. Funny thing is the most sought after UFA this year and you even mentioned to sign him is Alex Tuch who for the first half of his career was.... oh my a bottom 6 forward.