Sandin back with the Marlies

[Frank E]

I think there's probably a mandate to get past the first round this year, and if they feel Sandin can be a difference maker, I think Dubas brings him up. 

And where does he play?

Are they keeping Muzzin past the deadline if he doesn't sign?

You said it yourself, there's probably a mandate to get past the first round this year. I can't see a top-10/100-point team selling assets.

I agree to a certain extent, so if they keep everyone, I'd say they fit him in even if for Dermott's minutes. 

Or they scratch Ceci, and figure out who can play the right side decently enough between Dermott and Sandin.

 

[Guilt Trip]

I think there's probably a mandate to get past the first round this year, and if they feel Sandin can be a difference maker, I think Dubas brings him up. 

And where does he play?

Are they keeping Muzzin past the deadline if he doesn't sign?

You said it yourself, there's probably a mandate to get past the first round this year. I can't see a top-10/100-point team selling assets.

I agree to a certain extent, so if they keep everyone, I'd say they fit him in even if for Dermott's minutes. 

Or they scratch Ceci, and figure out who can play the right side decently enough between Dermott and Sandin.

They've got a replacement for CC... Liljegren. We've got a month and a half to speculate what Dubas is going to do.

 

[lamajama]

Does burning a year affect the expansion draft protection plans?

 

[herman]

Does burning a year affect the expansion draft protection plans?

Not for either Sandin or Liljegren. Sub-20 seasons in the AHL do not count as professional seasons (they?re loans from European teams).

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Or they scratch Ceci, and figure out who can play the right side decently enough between Dermott and Sandin.

Ceci may have been bumped out of the top-4 but Keefe is still consistently playing him on the top PK pair. That's not just something he's doing out of the goodness of his heart, he must think that Ceci is the best option for that role. He's not leaving the line-up unless another PK'er is replacing him, and that won't be Sandin.

 

[Coco-puffs]

https://twitter.com/koshtorontosun/status/1214613024029528073

For now

Four more games....

???

Burns a year of his ELC. Already played in 6.

I realized after I posted this that my post might be misunderstood. 

I'm not necessarily worried about burning the first year of his ELC- which would also happen in four more GP. 

Four more games was the number of games I'd wait until calling up Sandin.  I'd like to keep his GP under 41 this season.  If he plays less than 41 games this season, he remains an RFA for an additional year.

 

[Coco-puffs]

Burns a year of his ELC. Already played in 6.

It's funny, I know conventional wisdom says you should avoid burning off a year of an ELC in these situations. But imagine if the Leafs gave Nylander and Marner 10 games in the first year of their ELCs before sending them back to the OHL/AHL instead of having both of them see their first year slide. Imagine they both negotiated their 2nd contracts a year earlier in their careers. Hindsight is 20/20 and I don't recall anybody suggesting the Leafs do this, but there's a pretty darn good chance our cap situation would look a heck of a lot different than it does today if that happened.

In Marner's case, a year earlier would have made a big difference- BUT- that year where he wouldn't be on his ELC and would be in the first year of his deal would have meant not icing as strong a group.  The fact that we didn't get past the first round anyways probably means in hindsight who cares, but at the time everyone would have been upset we didn't have Marner on his ELC for an additional year.  We may not have been able to sign Tavares.

In Nylander's case, I highly doubt we would have burned two years of his ELC for 10 game and 22 game seasons.  If he had only had one full season, there is very little chance we'd see a long term deal, he would have been bridged because we didn't know what we had, and we'd probably be coming to the end of that bridge deal this season and probably be paying more for him starting next season.

 

[herman]

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2020/01/09/rasmus-sandin-i-think-the-toronto-maple-leafs-have-one-of-the-best-if-not-the-best-development-teams-in-the-world/

It's going to be so fun when both Sandin and Liljegren make the jump

 

[Hobbes]

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2020/01/09/rasmus-sandin-i-think-the-toronto-maple-leafs-have-one-of-the-best-if-not-the-best-development-teams-in-the-world/

It's going to be so fun when both Sandin and Liljegren make the jump

One thing I always liked about the Ken Holland approach in Detroit was letting players over-ripen in the AHL. When they'd finally come up they'd be lights out amazing on those stacked Wings teams' 4th lines/3rd pairings and then push their way into more prominent roles (or be traded for very high value returns). That's how that franchise kept up their 25 year run of being in the playoffs and it's something that I wouldn't mind at all if the Leafs emulated. When guys come up and get into the roster, they ought to be ready to play and contribute as "real" NHL players, not just temporary Marlie fill-ins. You want to feel like it would be criminal to send them back down (like in Engvall's case).

Sandin had a really good camp and deserved that brief taste of the NHL game to start off the season, but I think he definitely needed this extra year (or at least partial year) getting big minutes and big responsibility with the Marlies, and then also his WJC experience. Maybe he'll get himself back up with the big club before this season is through, but I wouldn't be heartbroken if he was left to percolate until next autumn when he ought to be physically ready to make the jump too.

Liljegren I think had a real shot to make the team this year and then had a really disappointing, sub-par camp so they decided to give him another year in the AHL rather than 10 minutes a night as a 3rd liner. With kids this age you really don't want to kill their confidence, and the Leafs really don't have the roster to shelter any of their D at present.

I think it will benefit both of them to have to wait that extra little while so when they finally make it, they're (over-) ready to blow the doors down.