Alright, we’ve teased you all with “guys who just missed out”, retroactive looks at past votes, and a general summary of all the eligible players who did not make the Top 25. Today we’re getting to the meat and potatoes — at 9 am today we’ll be publishing our #25 Leafs player under the age of 25.

Last year our #25 was Rinat Valiev. Do you think our #25 this year is better?

Which raises an important question... how much do you hate Tom Wilson? Without even knowing who it is yet (unless you read this after 9 am and already saw who it is), would your rather have Tom Wilson — Cup Winner(TM) — or our 25th ranked player under the age of 25 on your NHL team?

The correct answer is always Fuck Tom Wilson.

Writing this on Sunday night, Kevin talked about the news that the Atlanta Braves — yes this is about baseball but stick with me I’m bringing it back to hockey I promise! — swung a trade where they included some of their international signing slot money. For those who don’t know because baseball is weird, they have a main MLB draft for players in a bunch of countries, but then they also have essentially a free agent period for teenage players out of a select number of other countries. However, the MLB in the last CBA basically put a salary cap on how much teams can spend on these international signings every year.

It’s funny because the Braves were severely punished by the MLB for pulling some shady stuff related to their international signings in the recent past, whereby they were not allowed to sign anyone this year. So they traded away slot money they weren’t allowed to use...? Sure.

Anyways, bringing it back to hockey. This sort of thing made us wonder what fun things the NHL can do in the next CBA that could be similar. Trading LTIR space? Trading SPC slots? Something that gives more flexibility for trades by letting teams use assets other than players, picks and retaining money. Let us know what you can thing up!

ONTO THE LINKS!

Back to Excited Hockey Podcast: Episode 27 - T25U25 and Twitter Wars | by Arvind and Fulemin

Getting to know the Leafs’ newest group of front office staff | by Ryan Hobart at TLN

Rasmus Sandin and Mac Hollowell: A Q&A with former Soo Greyhounds coach Drew Bannister | by Alec Brownscombe at MLHS

This past weekend also saw Nazem Kadri get married, and we were all blessed with a video of a bunch of Leaf players trying to dance the Dabke.

Have a great Monday everyone!

Which Leaf player is your “must have” if you found yourself in a dance-off vs your friend that’s a Habs fan?

Auston Matthews29
Mitch Marner109
Morgan Rielly33
Jake Gardiner32
Nazem Kadri82
Zach Hyman10
From The Branches