Weekly Takes - Monday, July 24th Edition (Retroactive to July 10th)

Weekly Takes - Monday, July 24th Edition (Retroactive to July 10th)

1. The Senators completely fumbled the Alex DeBrincat trade right from the get-go.

I will never understand teams who trade for a pending RFA, knowing they can accept a one-year qualifying offer to walk them to free agency.

I am all for teams taking a swing, more so a small market team like Ottawa, but this situation played out in a pretty predictable fashion.

2. I quite like the Marlies hiring of John Gruden.

He is a future NHL head coach and it could come with the Leafs down the road. Not since Sheldon Keefe have the Leafs had a coach in the minors that they can truly groom to take the next step, but now they do.

3. I found it interesting that the Leafs went out and hired Guy Boucher to be an assistant coach.

Brendan Shanahan has long been a fan, yes, but now there is a clear replacement in place for Keefe should the Leafs fire him midseason.

It is the right call, but I am surprised they did it.

4. Ideally the Leafs would have to come to terms with Ilya Samsonov beyond this season – as now he can walk into free agency a year from now – but if it means paying him only $3,550,000 for this upcoming season, then it is hard to complain too much.

And who knows? Maybe a year from now, Joseph Woll is ready to be the number one guy.

5. My Blue Jays trade deadline wish list, in order…

1. A right-handed, starting second basemen who can push Whit Merrifield to the bench

2. A number two starting pitcher behind Kevin Gausman

3. A left-handed reliever

Number three is certainly a luxury, and number two may be as well if the Jays think Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, and one of Alek Manoah/Hyun Jin Ryu can form a playoff rotation.

But number one is not a luxury – it is a must. The Jays not only need an impact right-handed bat in their lineup, they need to move Merrifield back to the bench to provide much-needed depth there.

All of this goes for naught though if the core internally cannot start playing up to expectations, though.

6. The Angels should trade Shohei Ohtani, even if they think they could re-sign him in free agency, because they are not simply one or two moves away from competing for a World Series anytime soon while he is still in his prime.

7. The Raptors need to re-sign Pascal Siakam or trade him, and it needs to happen now.

Going into training camp with neither happening would be malpractice, as he cannot walk as a free agent for nothing and the Raptors cannot afford a circus in what is supposed to be a new era for the team.

Either be all-in or all-out.

8. The Trail Blazers will probably do right by Dame Lillard and trade him to Miami, because a small-market team like Portland can’t exactly afford a bad reputation, but I am not exactly sure why trading him to another market would give them that reputation.

Dame is doing what he deems is best for him. Why should the Trail Blazers not act the same way and seek out the best possible trade for him?

9. Running backs are often injured and always replaceable.

It sucks, because it’s a taxing position in an already taxing sport, but no running back is worth a massive contract.