Weekly Takes - Monday, July 11 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, July 11 Edition

1. Here is a list of free agents I would like to see the Leafs go after this week, ranked in order, by position. (I am not including free agents that will be out of their price range)

Forwards…

1. Mason Marchment (2nd Line LW)

2. Dylan Strome (2nd Line LW)

3. Andre Burakovsky (2nd Line LW)

4. Evan Rodrigues (3rd Line RW)

5. Ryan Strome (3rd Line RW)

6. Vincent Trocheck (3rd Line RW)

7. Frank Vatrano (4th Line LW/C)

8. Victor Rask (4th Line LW/C)

9. Johan Larsson (4th Line LW)

10. Zach Ashton-Reese (4th Line LW)

11. Max Domi (4th Line C)

12. Tyler Motte (4th Line C)

13. Vincent Hiostorza (4th Line C)

14. Vladislav Namestnikov (4th Line C)

15. Colin Blackwell (4th Line C)

16. Trevor Lewis (4th Line C)

17. Tyler Bozak (13th Forward/4th Line C)

18. Nicolas Deslauriers (13th Foward/4th Line LW)

Defencemen…

1. Ian Cole (If the Leafs move out Jake Muzzin)

2. Brett Kulak (If the Leafs move out Justin Holl)

3. Ilya Lyubushkin (If the Leafs move out Justin Holl)

4. Justin Braun (If the Leafs move out Justin Holl)

5. Mark Pysyk (If the Leafs move out Justin Holl)

Goaltenders

1. Darcy Kuemper (As a starter)

2. Jack Campbell (As a starter)

3. Braden Holtby (As a backup)

Ville Husso would have been my top target prior to signing with Detroit, while Marc-Andre Fleury would have been my third target.

I would love to see the Leafs take swings at Valeri Nichushkin, Nino Niederreiter, or Claude Giroux, but that is a pipe dream.

2. Kyle Dubas trading down a bit in the draft to get out of Petr Mrazek’s contract is another example of Dubas recognizing a signing gone bad and not doubling down on it.

He got out of the Nick Ritchie contract with ease and now the Mrazek contract. You never want to sign bad contracts but it happens. You better know how to get out of them and Dubas has done a great job at that.

3. The trading of Mrazek all goes for naught though if Dubas trades for Matt Murray, unless there is some serious salary retained and only if he is coming here to be a backup goalie.

If Murray is the Leafs opening night starter in October, it will only be a matter of when, not if, the Dubas era comes to an end.

4. The Senators hit it out of the park by trading for Alex Debrincat, who is a true superstar.

If any team is going to knock the Bruins out of a playoff spot in the Atlantic, Ottawa may very well be that team.

5. It is tough to truly analyze Kirby Dach given the team he played on the last two seasons but there has been nothing in his game to write home about, whether it be on the offensive or defensive side of things.

It is a trade worthy of making if you are Montreal given the price of doing business was Alexander Romanov, who has all the makings of being someone that is on waivers in the next two years, but let’s relax on the Dach hype.

6. The thing with the Blue Jays is, yes, they need to add a starting pitcher, a couple of notable relievers, and a bench piece, but the biggest thing that will take them from being a playoff team to a World Series contender is having their best players play better, for as simple as that sounds.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, and, as of late, Teoscar Hernandez, have all played great, but they need to perform like the All-Stars that they were last season.

And Jose Berrios needs to have a massive turnaround.

7. The Panthers trading pennies on the dollar to land Baker Mayfield is the definition of a low-risk, high-reward trade.

I still think there may be something there with Mayfield and in the case of the Panthers, this is the kind of move they have to make as no top quarterback is ever going to sign there as a free agent and they are too good to bottom out for a high draft pick.

8. I wrote in the offseason that Toronto FC should not have brought back Alejandro Pozuelo, but they did and he ended up rebounding from a down-year, allowing TFC to flip him for something rather than losing him for nothing.

That is a win, more so given he is being replaced by Federico Bernardeschi, who will now give TFC one of the best attacks in all of MLS.

There are still moves that need to happen (a goalkeeper, centre-back, and midfielder is a must) but things are coming together exactly as planned for TFC, even if it does not result in success here in 2022.