Franson or Kadri, If you could only keep one who would you pick?

Nonis is making me wish we had Burke back. The buyout of Grabovski (their best centre at driving possession and who ended up paired with one of the facepunchers), the stupidity of giving a guy with more than 40 points once in his career a 7-year deal (I don't care if he's a good ole' Tyranna boy or not- the contract has "future boat anchor" tattooed on it- please let me be wrong...please). Tack on Bernier for Frattin and Scrivens (and eating $500K in salary which is just stupid for the sake of being dumb...I'll point out that Reimer has A BETTER SAVE PERCENTAGE WITH A LARGER SAMPLE SIZE and is cheaper...$1.8mm for Reimer to $2.9mm for Bernier), overpayment for Bozak (who makes Kessel worse and whose vaunted faceoffs compared to the now-bought out Grabovski translate to ONE FACEOFF EVERY 2 GAMES)...I picked the wrong summer to quit drinking. Plus overpayments for facepunchers, giving every RFA a qualifying offer (thus the additional overpayment today for Mark Fraser which wouldn't be as bad if you fired either Orr or McLaren into the sun)...this would have been the year to make sure you have the dollars for next summer when Kessel turns UFA (he's going to easily get around $7-8mm per year...guys who score get paid, and he scores...a lot) along with Phaneuf (although his current $6.5mm isn't far from what he'll get). The Leafs had plenty of cap space if managed properly...and we saw how that worked out. F***. Tack on letting MacArthur walk.

The lesson is this- possession wins games (Chicago and Boston were top-five in possession). The Leafs were at the bottom this year, so sure- let's go ahead and buy out our best possession forward.

The Leafs have a 24-hour window (per the CBA) for a traditional buyout this week once their arbitration cases are all settled (thanks to James Mirtle and Elliotte Friedman for confirming). They can buy out Liles (getting him in a trade was good...giving him a five-year extention was one of Burke's dumbest moves) but it's the old fashioned buyout.

If they buy out or trade Liles (for garbage) they can keep both. Hate to say it but if I have to pick gotta keep Kadri. The Leafs have depth on defence in the system (but please...do not rush Morgan Rielly...please just let him play in the W this year) and Ranger is a nice (and thankfully cheap) pickup. Rielly is not 20 so it's either the WHL or NHL this year.

My "hope" is that they can convince Kadri to take a bridge deal (like Subban) knowing in 1-2 years (assuming continued production) he'll ring the bell money-wise.

Luckily Tim Lewicke hasn't done anything stupid like...OH GOD HE DID WHAT?

If I was only able to keep one it would be Kadri. But both will be signed. Look to Kadri signing a bridge deal in the $2.5 to $3MM range much like Subban did last year and Wheeler the year before. If he has another good year then he will reap the rewards. As for Franson Leafs will sign him to a workable contract in the $2.5MM range probably something like $7-$8MM over three years. A contract that would be highly tradable if a deal for Liles couldn't be resolved.

Remember that Leafs will want to break camp with Rielly on the team for the allowable 10 games. Because of the bonus implications of his contract his cap hit will be about $900K.

There are many more moves in Nonis hand before this team has his finger prints.

In spite of my long suffering STH fan of the Leafs opinion I applaud most of Nonis' moves this season and last years'.

American English is full of loanwords. Between our status as a cultural melting pot and a relatively young nation (230 plus years, nearly a hundred of which have included nigh instant communiation, is not much time for linguistic drift) our language is full of words borrowed from other cultures. To make matters worse, the rules for our language were ret conned. English was not standardized until 1755 when the first dictionary tried to emphasize it's traditional Latin roots, a process made difficult because it is in fact a Germanic language.

http://www.topcapshome.com/

Its a long summer, teams can go over the cap in the offseason as long as they are under it come regular season, there will be a trade/buyout of another player to free up space for both Kadri and Franson, most likely would be Liles and his 3.8 million dollar cap hit, both Kadri and Franson will be getting bridge contracts in the neighbourhood of 3 mill each, why do you think Nonis loaded up on defenders? Nonis signed Ranger to a deal and there are so many young defenders we have who are NHL ready. Leafs will get both of them locked up.

Nazem Kadri

If it were me I'd resign Franson and here's why:

I believe defense first systems wins you championships, a top 4 blueliner IMO is more valauble then a 2nd liner. That being said were going to sign both and you want to know why? Nobody is going to offer either guy a contract sheet so that means Kadri/Franson have two choices play for the Leafs (on Nonis's terms) or sit out the season thats what it boils down to.

Tough. I'd keep Franson because Kadri would probably be easier to trade (http://theleafsnation.com/2013/7/27/no-its-a-bad-i... )On the other hand, I'd keep Kadri because the Leafs have Morgan Rielly upcoming, good O-dman prospect that can replace Franson. My final decision though, would be to keep Kadri. I believe he is Phil Kessel's future #1 centre.

I would really like to believe they can keep both. Even buying out Liles (not compliance, a traditional one) gives them 3 extra million of cap space for this season to devote to Franson, Kadri, and whoever is called up to fill Liles roster spot (perhaps Paul Ranger). Though this could create problems in the future, ex the 2.375 hit for Liles buyout in 15-16. Tough stuff

LEAFSFAN29 PREACH. How are there Leafs fans content with those moves, I don't know

Kadri...kid has mad talent. On the other hand Bozak was just resigned so...idk really. Add Bolland to the mix also, actually I would resign Franson. Tough spot to be in though.

what i think happens is nonis makes a trade getting rid of liles for a pick, freeing up some space so we can sign both. we can't afford to lose either of these guys their part of our future... unless we get something really really good in return

if i could only keep one I would keep Franson. Not to disrespect Kadri who is a really talented player but scoring has never been the leafs problem and we only added more scoring this offseason. Defence is still the core issue here and franson is a typical stay at home defensman with an amazing shot. However, i feel that both of them will get signed and the leafs will do a non-compliance buyout on liles or trade him to free up some cap space.