Leafs Acquire Jake Muzzin
- Thread starter Deebo
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bustaheims
Active member
harps64 said:
Yeah. You're a couple days early there.
I am good with the deal. Just as I expected in my last post, Dubas acted early to get ahead of the curve. I didn't expect this early but I thought a week or so before the deadline.
Leafs could get Gardiner resigned under Carlton the Bear's scenario without giving up Brown (Hainsey will come off books), but I suspect it won't happen because Rielly, Muzzin, Dermott and Sandin give the Leafs four great options on the left side already without Gardiner. That would leave Zaitsev, Ozi and Liljegren for the right side. I see the Leafs still dealing or signing a top four right side guy and trading Zaitsev at some point. Of course the other option could be if they unload Zaitsev, sooner rather than later, keeping Gardiner and moving one of the left D-men to the right side permanently. I think a choice between Gardiner or Zaitsev may come down to the following factors: 1) How each perform this playoff season, A huge playoff from Gardiner might make a difference, though I am not expecting it 2) Could they get get Gardiner on the team friendly deal 5 million plus vs 6 million plus? 3) Could they actually move Zaitsev in a package that makes sense?
I actually like Ozhiganov and think he did pretty well his first season, but then so did Zaitsev, then he regressed. If Ozi can progress instead of regress, we might have something. He is a good passer, actually defends pretty well, and I haven't seen many glaring errors for a rookie, a few but not too many. If Leafs can't get Muzzin resigns after next year, that still leaves them with Rielly, Dermott and Sandin for the left side. But Marleau's contract will expire after next year, the the big two will be signed, so that leaves some wiggle room, along with anticipated cap increases. Kind of feel bad about this hurting probably Ozi's progression this season, but hopefully he can spell Hainsey a bit to rest him up for the playoffs.
Leafs could get Gardiner resigned under Carlton the Bear's scenario without giving up Brown (Hainsey will come off books), but I suspect it won't happen because Rielly, Muzzin, Dermott and Sandin give the Leafs four great options on the left side already without Gardiner. That would leave Zaitsev, Ozi and Liljegren for the right side. I see the Leafs still dealing or signing a top four right side guy and trading Zaitsev at some point. Of course the other option could be if they unload Zaitsev, sooner rather than later, keeping Gardiner and moving one of the left D-men to the right side permanently. I think a choice between Gardiner or Zaitsev may come down to the following factors: 1) How each perform this playoff season, A huge playoff from Gardiner might make a difference, though I am not expecting it 2) Could they get get Gardiner on the team friendly deal 5 million plus vs 6 million plus? 3) Could they actually move Zaitsev in a package that makes sense?
I actually like Ozhiganov and think he did pretty well his first season, but then so did Zaitsev, then he regressed. If Ozi can progress instead of regress, we might have something. He is a good passer, actually defends pretty well, and I haven't seen many glaring errors for a rookie, a few but not too many. If Leafs can't get Muzzin resigns after next year, that still leaves them with Rielly, Dermott and Sandin for the left side. But Marleau's contract will expire after next year, the the big two will be signed, so that leaves some wiggle room, along with anticipated cap increases. Kind of feel bad about this hurting probably Ozi's progression this season, but hopefully he can spell Hainsey a bit to rest him up for the playoffs.
Highlander
Active member
Why don't we start an I don't like the Islanders thread as Muzzin has never played for them (or us yet)
herman said:
Fun fact that might surprise people: Liljegren is a year younger than Durzi, playing top pairing minutes on a team that Durzi couldn't crack.
Also "teams being down on Liljegren right now" doesn't really mean that the Kings "chose" Durzi over Liljegren. I doubt that's how it went down.
Kin
New member
This sort of feels like the counterpoint to the whole "Isn't Dubas smart by getting an early jump on things". I'm sure St. Louis asked for quite a bit but what they may have wanted now vs. what they might accept with the reality of not making a deal staring them down the face might be very different. St. Louis might not be overly inclined to move Pietrangelo at all, which a Nylander ask sort of suggests, but if they are then what they're asking for now may not reflect his final price.
Kin
New member
CarltonTheBear said:
I'm assuming this refers to the Marlies but isn't there a big difference between "couldn't crack" and just the team thinking that maybe the OHL was better for Durzi and Liljegren had no comparable option?
That said, some teams not being high on Liljegren can't be a surprise. If everyone was super high on him he wouldn't have fallen in the draft the way he did.
herman
Well-known member
Nik the Trik said:
Durzi's situation was largely logistical*, wasn't it? Having him in the AHL (or assigned after to the ECHL) would require an ELC. He is an overager but still qualified to play OHL and Owen Sound still owned his rights so he couldn't be signed to a Marlies or Growlers deal directly.
* i.e. obviously if he was a slam-dunk blue-chipper, he'd probably get the ELC and take time from Jordan Subban and co., but he'd also have been drafted earlier by someone else.
Nik the Trik said:
Well Liljegren had that comparable option last year as an 18-year old and the Leafs decided to have him play in the AHL. I really do wonder what the option of him would be as a prospect if he went to the OHL instead and dominated.
Yeah, I don't doubt that scouts are down on Liljegren. And as fans maybe we need to readjust our expectations on him a little bit. But while Lilegren fell a few spots in his draft year, Durzi fell out of the draft entirely. So again I really just can't fathom why anyone would consider him a more valuable prospect than Liljegren.
herman said:
So sign him to an ELC?
herman
Well-known member
CarltonTheBear said:
If Dubas believed Durzi was better than Liljegren, then that would've been the thing to do. I like Durzi a bunch, but I don't see what the scouts are seeing here. The more likely reason is that Dubas walled off Kapanen, Johnsson, Liljegren, and Sandin at this level of return.
Kin
New member
CarltonTheBear said:
Well, specifically the Kings passed on Liljegren so it's no surprise that they might be one of the teams who aren't high on him.
That said, I do think that sometimes we underestimate the extent to which teams may sour on various prospects. I know we sort of think of prospects as this sort of commonly agreed upon ranking of players with some variation but it's very possible that the Kings, when they looked at Liljegren, basically came to the conclusion of "We don't think he'll make it" and were just completely uninterested.
Kin
New member
Also, and I know that Friedman could never include this in his thoughts because it would come dangerously close to resembling an opinion that might offend a source, but if the Kings really asked for a 1st + Sandin + Grundstrom then, quite frankly, that's a ridiculous ask on their part. I like Jake Muzzin just fine but that would be a better return than Erik Karlsson got.
Nik the Trik said:
The word the entire time was that the Kings wanted a 1st plus a prospect. I'd imagine after the Leafs balked at Sandin being included they countered with two lesser prospects instead of one.