News Article: Auston Matthews - August 1st., Contract Crickets

[ULF_55]

Who parks for one hour? Strange criteria.

For reference, if I take a daughter and we order food to our seats.

Parking - 15
2 Tickets - 182
2 sandwiches- 36 (Braised beef grilled cheese is great)
Water - 7
Can of Heineken - 18

$18

Here's what beer prices are like at Leafs' games this season | Offside

The crazy thing about the beer prices at Leafs games is that they're actually under inflation, going up an average of $.50 from last season.

dailyhive.com

You have HST there now?

Here's how much Flames fans will pay for beer at the Saddledome | Offside

The Calgary Flames are back in full swing, and fans can get into full swig with a variety of beer at the Saddledome this season.

dailyhive.com

Just GST here.

 

[andora]

Soooooooo stupid

 

[Boxscore]

I like the future of their goalies with U-P L and Levi. If one of them hits they're set for when their window opens.

Levi is an outstanding young goaltender. Of course, we never know with goalies until they prove it in the NHL, but he projects to be an absolute stud. The Sabres are building the right way. They traded their own greedy headache in Eichel for better depth pieces and team players. They also stole Thompson and have drafted extremely well.

 

[Nineteen67]

Levi is an outstanding young goaltender. Of course, we never know with goalies until they prove it in the NHL, but he projects to be an absolute stud. The Sabres are building the right way. They traded their own greedy headache in Eichel for better depth pieces and team players. They also stole Thompson and have drafted extremely well.

Two young stud Dmen doesnt hurt either.

The 2017 and 2018 drafts were missed opportunities for the Leafs to grab a core defenceman, especially now with all the potential superstars in the East

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Soooooooo stupid

I’m really starting to wonder if this is going to get done before training camp starts at this point.

What a greedy bitch this guy is.

 

[Stephen]

What about the Raptors? They were pretty good defensively for the 2-3 year lead up to getting Leonard and he was also pretty damned good 2-ways.

I don't think the Toronto Raptors have ever had the kind of appeal to NBA players as a destination to build a James Harden style run and gun team.

 

[Stephen]

Levi is an outstanding young goaltender. Of course, we never know with goalies until they prove it in the NHL, but he projects to be an absolute stud. The Sabres are building the right way. They traded their own greedy headache in Eichel for better depth pieces and team players. They also stole Thompson and have drafted extremely well.

I have my doubts that Levi can be their franchise cornerstone right out of the gate.

 

[andora]

I’m really starting to wonder if this is going to get done before training camp starts at this point.

What a greedy bitch this guy is.

Lol I should have quoted. I was talking about beer prices

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Lol I should have quoted. I was talking about beer prices

Lol I see. Yeah 18 bucks for a f***ing can of Heineken is outrageously stupid, no arguments here.

 

[Canadian Finn]

isn't the $18 buck heineken for a king can, which is larger than the 500ml tall boy?

 

[Gabriel426]

There was some chatter on the radio before the MLB trade deadline about how when the Blue Jays opened up the vaults to sign Roger Clemens way back in the 90s there wasn't much of an uptick in gate receipts for when he started. Here was a premier free agent acquisition, playing a defensive position and it didn't translate for the Toronto audience.

I think that line of thinking has informed a lot of the offensive driven, star focused builds across sports in Toronto. Our current collection of stars on the Leafs is really a gold standard in that respect. The challenge has been surrounding them with a championship cast.

How is Clemens a defensive position signing? He was literally the most dominant pitcher when he signed with the Jays. Wasn’t he CY winner when he was here?
The Jays just wasn’t good compare to their championship years.
As for being offensive driven, don’t think scoring 1 goal in 5 playoffs had anything to do with surrounding them with a better supporting cast.

 

[notbias]

I'm fully on board with a retool. Our present roster is going to shit the bed, there's going to be drama. Part of me is excited for the fireworks. The overpaid, entitled children heading up our roster need to be boo'd out of town, along with captain underpants... The sooner we all move on to players that give a shit about winning, the better.

Curious to know how we'd re-tool when we have overpaid players who don't care... they are cap dumps the way you are describing them... if you know this, clearly the other GMs know this, so how do we re-tool? We have to wait out their contracts and then suck for a few years to build up draft capital, and then go for it based on your superb analysis.

 

[Stephen]

How is Clemens a defensive position signing? He was literally the most dominant pitcher when he signed with the Jays. Wasn’t he CY winner when he was here?
The Jays just wasn’t good compare to their championship years.
As for being offensive driven, don’t think scoring 1 goal in 5 playoffs had anything to do with surrounding them with a better supporting cast.

As I recall, the discussion on the radio came out of a hypothetical Jays pursuit of Shohei Ohtani and the conversation drifted into how you were basically acquiring a 2 for 1 dominant offensive and pitching star, how it might be a massive draw at the gate. Conversation rolled into how when the Jays signed Roger Clemens back in the 90s the team realized there wasn't any real uptick in fan attendance whenever he started. The conclusion is basically you can't charge this town for defense, pitching, etc. because Toronto is supposedly not interested.

For a couple of decades now the Jays and Leafs have always had "marketable" offensive players independent of team success.

 

[Boxscore]

I have my doubts that Levi can be their franchise cornerstone right out of the gate.

Good chance we won't be elite out of the gate, but if he can be as good as someone like a young Carter Hart, he'll be good enough to help the Sabres take the next step. Even if his upside is ultimately a Mike Richter type (which I think it is) it will take him 3-4 years to reach that. But he'll get better each year.

 

[Boxscore]

Curious to know how we'd re-tool when we have overpaid players who don't care...

If we decide to blow it up and restart -- be it sooner or later -- the first thing we need to do is begin building around players who absolutely love being Toronto Maple Leafs. And I'm talking legit commitment and desire to be fabrics of this organization long-term, not just love the big paydays and all the celebrity fanfare that comes with it.

As far as I'm concerned, the two players who truly love the Leafs more than the rest are Rielly and Nylander -- it's just a feeling. Matthews is an American kid who loves the huge money, short-term deals, and all the hoopla, but he'd love that anywhere, and likely more in places with less pressure. Marner is a tricky one, but I think he uses the "I'm from here" narrative to leverage the Leafs into paying him more. Same with Tavares. He wanted to come home so bad, yet he only did it for the 2nd largest cap hit in the NHL when he knew darn well what we were building and that his contract would "set the tone" for the young stars moving forward.

The next time around, I want players who bleed blue. Players who love this club, city, and history, the way Wendel, Dougie, and Mats did. Players who want to commit and spend their careers here without pulling their teeth. Players who realize how lucky they are to have the chance to represent the Toronto Maple Leafs. Players who are willing to put it all on their line for fair compensation, yet are willing to give as much as they take. It's been a one-way street for our superstars around here.

 

[notbias]

If we decide to blow it up and restart -- be it sooner or later -- the first thing we need to do is begin building around players who absolutely love being Toronto Maple Leafs. And I'm talking legit commitment and desire to be fabrics of this organization long-term, not just love the big paydays and all the celebrity fanfare that comes with it.

As far as I'm concerned, the two players who truly love the Leafs more than the rest are Rielly and Nylander -- it's just a feeling. Matthews is an American kid who loves the huge money, short-term deals, and all the hoopla, but he'd love that anywhere, and likely more in places with less pressure. Marner is a tricky one, but I think he uses the "I'm from here" narrative to leverage the Leafs to pay him more. Same with Tavares. He wanted to come home so bad, yet he only did it for the 2nd largest cap hit in the NHL when he knew darn well what we were building and that his contract would "set the tone" for the young stars moving forward.

The next time around, I want players who bleed blue. Players who love this club, city, and history, the way Wendel, Dougie, and Mats did. Players who want to commit and spend their careers here without pulling their teeth. Players who realize how lucky they are to have the chance to represent the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Tavares/Rielly/Gio, that is your new core. Nylander is not concerned with the crest. Off to a terrible start for the rebuild.

 

[Boxscore]

Tavares/Rielly/Gio, that is your new core. Nylander is not concerned with the crest. Off to a terrible start for the rebuild.

Absolutely no on Tavares. He's a bigger fraud than Matthews or Marner in terms of how much he loves it here and is willing to give to the team. He was the one responsible for starting this dumpster fire of foolish spending and playoff underachieving. Ultimately, it was Shanny and Dubas most responsible, but Tavares leveraged this team as well as anyone while publicly spouting some sob story about "coming home."

Tavares and his agents used the, "Well, he really wants to play for the Leafs so you'll have to convince him" ploy to get other teams to overbid on him. Then they took the overbids back to the Leafs and said, "Well the Sharks are willing to do 13 mil a year, so..."

The whole "Tavares Sweepstakes" and flying him all over the place was a clown show. Him and his reps played the Leafs like a fiddle and we took the bait. Sure, he was happy to come here... because we overpaid him lol.

 

[notbias]

Absolutely no on Tavares. He's a bigger fraud than Matthews or Marner in terms of how much he loves it here and is willing to give to the team. He was the one responsible for starting this dumpster fire of foolish spending and playoff underachieving. Ultimately, it was Shanny and Dubas most responsible, but Tavares leveraged this team as well as anyone while publicly spouting some sob story about "coming home."

Tavares and his agents used the, "Well, he really wants to play for the Leafs so you'll have to convince him" ploy to get other teams to overbid on him. Then they took the overbids back to the Leafs and said, "Well the Sharks are willing to do 13 mil a year, so..."

The whole "Tavares Sweepstakes" and flying him all over the place was a clown show. Him and his reps played the Leafs like a fiddle and we took the bait. Sure, he was happy to come here... because we overpaid him lol.

So you want people who bleed blue and white, except for the guy who probably does more than anyone else on the team... got it, makes sense.

He was offered more money two other places.

 

[Racer88]

I’m really starting to wonder if this is going to get done before training camp starts at this point.

What a greedy bitch this guy is.

It could easily streach into next off season.

 

[notbias]

I’m really starting to wonder if this is going to get done before training camp starts at this point.

What a greedy bitch this guy is.

The Leafs released the number that they are offering? Or is someone overreacting?

 

[thewave]

The new plan is to try and win and hope they don't walk.

 

[Gabriel426]

As I recall, the discussion on the radio came out of a hypothetical Jays pursuit of Shohei Ohtani and the conversation drifted into how you were basically acquiring a 2 for 1 dominant offensive and pitching star, how it might be a massive draw at the gate. Conversation rolled into how when the Jays signed Roger Clemens back in the 90s the team realized there wasn't any real uptick in fan attendance whenever he started. The conclusion is basically you can't charge this town for defense, pitching, etc. because Toronto is supposedly not interested.

For a couple of decades now the Jays and Leafs have always had "marketable" offensive players independent of team success.

My point is Pitcher cannot be seen as a defensive acquisition.
I completely disagree with what the host of the radio said.
When Clemens was signed the Jays as well as the league were trying to get fans back after the lockout in 1994 and the Jays at that time was a horrible team.
Toronto fans in general are not diehard Baseball, Basketball, football and soccer fans. Jays fans ain’t Leafs fans where even if the team completely suck, we still buy jerseys and games will be sell out.
Like all markets winning will attract fans, just look at Argos and even TFC, when they are winning or in the Finals, fans will suddenly start showing up without being able to name 2-3players on the team.
From a marketing stand point, it is much easier to market offensive stats than defensive stars bc HRs, Goals, Touchdowns…. But I find it very naive and unprofessional to use Clemens signing and Jays attendance as a metric to support that argument since it was over 20yrs ago. As social media didn’t even exist back then.

 

[Stephen]

My point is Pitcher cannot be seen as a defensive acquisition.
I completely disagree with what the host of the radio said.
When Clemens was signed the Jays as well as the league were trying to get fans back after the lockout in 1994 and the Jays at that time was a horrible team.
Toronto fans in general are not diehard Baseball, Basketball, football and soccer fans. Jays fans ain’t Leafs fans where even if the team completely suck, we still buy jerseys and games will be sell out.
Like all markets winning will attract fans, just look at Argos and even TFC, when they are winning or in the Finals, fans will suddenly start showing up without being able to name 2-3players on the team.
From a marketing stand point, it is much easier to market offensive stats than defensive stars bc HRs, Goals, Touchdowns…. But I find it very naive and unprofessional to use Clemens signing and Jays attendance as a metric to support that argument since it was over 20yrs ago. As social media didn’t even exist back then.

I'm not too interested in getting into a debate with you about other people's definitions of whether baseball pitching counts as defense (it's certainly not offense), but I do agree with the general premise that the Toronto teams have made a calculation that the paying audience would prefer flashy offense to defense, pitching, etc. as the foundation of whatever build we're talking about.

 

[geo25]

It could easily streach into next off season.

Like I have repeatedly said....I won't believe it until it's done....and, my spidey sense tells me there's a strong possibility of him moving on...

 

[Boxscore]

He was offered more money two other places.

And they were two less desirable places, with less chance to win, and less supporting cast. The Leafs should have let him go there or test how much he really wanted to come to Toronto, and they did neither. McDavid was the newly highest paid player in the league at 12.5 mil. The "rumor" was the Sharks offered Tavares 13 mil lol. I don't know what's more foolish -- the Sharks actually offering that or us being duped into believing it was actually offered (just because the media said it was)?

Could you imagine being such a desperate team that you are willing to pay John Tavares (and his career high 86 points and zero playoff success) more than Connor McDavid? lmao.

Tavares did the Leafs zero favors by signing here for 11 mil per. Zero. And the Leafs had to learn that the hard way. What I find amazing is that the same fans haven't learned from this and want to keep recreating the problem by overpaying Matthews and eventually Marner.