Brad Treliving- 1st year complete.

[Gabriel426]

Some certainly did regress, but that's why you want to bake in some options. We also had guys with career years like AM and Willy.

Our roster lacked versatility and cohesion.

What’s scary is that JT would had look much worse if it wasn’t for Willie’s career year

 

[Gallagbi]

What’s scary is that JT would had look much worse if it wasn’t for Willie’s career year

Maybe, I think the natural concept would have been to shift him to LW of/when he struggled but we killed our C depth. You'd also consider sheltering him and giving offensive minutes but that's trouble with a struggling 4th line and an offensive 3rd line needing help

 

[Gabriel426]

Maybe, I think the natural concept would have been to shift him to LW of/when he struggled but we killed our C depth. You'd also consider sheltering him and giving offensive minutes but that's trouble with a struggling 4th line and an offensive 3rd line needing help

At this stage, JT is better playing shelter mins on the 3rd line with speedy wingers.
He really should not even be on PP1.

 

[Racer88]

Can you describe what competent management means and why you think the person who led Calgary to where they are is competent?

I don't think there is a chance even you can spin this.

Delusion is the only way someone can think last year was a success.

I consider last year just another failure in a line of about 8 in a row .
Hopefully they can correct a few of the major issues with the cap balance but I suspect we will have to wait at least 1 more year until Tavares’s 11 million is off the books and Marner most likely walks to FA.
I honestly think it’s going to take a few years to fix things

 

[Racer88]

Despite the core four collectively producing more than they ever have, while taking up the lowest percentage of the cap that they ever have, and despite the team benefiting from the most internal graduates to the NHL since 2016-2017, we got worse in points, wins, regulation/OT wins, regulations wins, goal differential, and expected goal differential. Treliving failed his top priority last year to address the top-4 of our defense, with Muzzin lost to injury, Holl departing to UFA, and Brodie/Giordano facing potential declines. We shifted money from defense/goaltending to forward, when we should have done the opposite. And we didn't even get forwards that could help support our rookies and young influx. Treliving focused so heavily on "snot" and went to misguided and problematic targets that featured some of the worst defensive players in the league.

Our defensive results predictably dropped off, and we ended with the worst expected goals against in the Matthews era (and worst ranking in half a decade). Our goaltending also fell off, and mixed with the defense to produce the worst goals against of the Matthews era. We abandoned the PK, and our defensive results and goals against on the PK were also the worst of the Matthews era.

Offensively, we scored a bit more at 5v5 while generating less, and scored a bit less on the PP while generating more. More should have been expected with the shifting of cap to forward, the influx of cheap depth, and a career year for our collective core.

In the cheap, deep depth area, I think he's done okay. Benoit was a nice 6D find, even if he did kind of luck into it after waiving him. I like the Holmberg re-signing and the McMann re-signing. Jones gave us a stretch of good goaltending as a third stringer. Above that cheap mark, we've had some problems though, and this is not historically unusual for Treliving, so that gives me some worry for this offseason and beyond when longer-term decisions are being made.

Samsonov didn't turn out well, but I don't disagree with Treliving's choice to re-sign him after the year he had had. If anything, one could question his decision to stand pat on goaltending throughout the year and into the playoffs. Domi turned out alright for 1 year at 3m, though he did come as advertised in terms of his defense, consistency, and discipline, and a lot of consideration had to be given to sheltering him in the lineup. I like that we kept Matthews and Nylander, but if people were enraged about the previous contracts, I don't know how Treliving isn't torn to pieces for ones that are unquestionably worse. And if Treliving is going to flip flop and gut this core, not only is that a stupid decision, but it should have been Nylander before one of our two best players; especially if this was the cost to keep him.

Bertuzzi was bad. 5.5m for a 44 point pace in a top 6 role. He's the most expensive non-core forward we've had in the past 5 years, and he'd rank 13th in P/GP. Flubbed so many chances and prime shots. Zero defense and completely one-dimensional. Klingberg was horrible. Bad and broken down before he came. Massively overpaid. Bad while here despite massive sheltering. Injured, and never replaced. Reaves was horrible, and given a stupidly long contract for his age. Trading Lafferty was bad, especially within the context of replacing him with a worse, older, slower player. Kampf was overpaid, and signed despite not being given a lineup that he could be successful in.

We spent 6 draft picks and a prospect at the deadline, and didn't really get anybody that moved the needle. Instead, we essentially just cloned Benoit twice and had a limited, one-dimensional bottom pairing defenseman on every pairing; killing our transition ability from the back-end.

And for those that only care about outcomes in the playoffs, that was also worse than last year. There's some context to be had, just like every other year, but it's also not a great sign that our xGF% was the worst it's been in years, and our 5v5 xGF% and overall goal differential was the worst it's ever been. Even with Woll being spectacular and handing us two wins. And unlike past years, against a team that whimpered out in the next round.

Overall a really disappointing year, and it feels like an unnecessary waste of this core's prime. I am concerned about Treliving destroying this team, with the organization showing signs of returning to the short-sighted mistakes of the past. How ironic that in the mid-2000s, we needed the core to waive their trade protections to protect the future. Now, we need the core to hold strong on their clauses to protect the future of this team. I am also concerned about Treliving making long-term UFA signings. The damage was limited to one destroyed year last season, because most significant signings were 1 year deals (funny how the "mercenary" narrative hasn't come up in the last year all of a sudden, but I digress..). Treliving hasn't shown a great history of mid-tier UFA signings or proper handling of stars, and that is what we're looking at this offseason. They're also the things that can most easily derail a team.

Fingers crossed that year 2 is better. None of the 3 in management positions inspire much confidence, both from their actions as Leafs and their history. I'm cautiously optimistic about Berube, though it largely feels like they just made Keefe a scapegoat after re-signing him, to protect their own jobs. We do have some more promising prospects coming in this second wave, and continued growth of our graduates this past year. That's something to look forward to.

Soooooo basically you want Dubas back so we can spin our wheels for 5 more years. You need to watch Florida to see how far away from being a cup team we are especially our core 5 are

 

[ToneDog]

Did you actually read that novel?

Soooooo basically you want Dubas back so we can spin our wheels for 5 more years. You need to watch Florida to see how far away from being a cup team we are especially our core 5 a

If only Dubasites would disappear like Dubas' teams do in April. If only.

 

[Racer88]

Did you actually read that novel?

If only Dubasites would disappear like Dubas' teams do. If only.

I found the Cole’s notes ……but seriously I started laughing at the part where our core produced more relative to their lowest cap hit percentage at last that’s what I think I read lol

 

[notDatsyuk]

Did you actually read that novel?

It was certainly fiction, or maybe fantasy.

 

[Bomber0104]

Did you actually read that novel?

If only Dubasites would disappear like Dubas' teams do in April. If only.

Imagine thinking this was the year the Leafs started to fail.

Every single f***ing year of Dubas was a fail.

Yes they "improved" so much from Lou's team that lost to the Capitals in the first round and then proceeded to lose every year after to teams of virtually any quality, any play-in round formats, blowing series leads to underdogs 3-1.

Yes, this was the year it all started going south.

Absolute loser denial.

 

[Bomber0104]

Soooooo basically you want Dubas back so we can spin our wheels for 5 more years. You need to watch Florida to see how far away from being a cup team we are especially our core 5 are

So basically, someone's trying to gloss over the fact the previous GM put an absolute loser team together that failed miserably and somehow blame the next guy for not pouring fairy magic powder to fix their loser ways in a single off-season.

At this point I expect nothing less from supporters of that idiot, but no they're still going to be losers, because that's the way the imbecile loser sports-management degree stick-boy ex-GM designed the team to be.

No evidence it will ever change until the loser-ex GM's NMC's free the team of the ability to change course.

Just quoting because this is such a well reasoned post. I think it's time to move on from the core and am willing to assume the risks it comes with, but we need a lot better moves than we saw last year. It felt like a step backwards for the team overall

Brian Burke.

I'll say nothing more than that, EazyB97

 

[Gabriel426]

Did you actually read that novel?

If only Dubasites would disappear like Dubas' teams do in April. If only.

I find that they are more engage in April as they can continue to show us stats and graphs to prove that Leafs were just unlucky.

 

[Racer88]

Just quoting because this is such a well reasoned post. I think it's time to move on from the core and am willing to assume the risks it comes with, but we need a lot better moves than we saw last year. It felt like a step backwards for the team overall

Other than the “well reasoned post” part I agree with everything else you said. I too am concerned about Treliving ability to handle this shift correctly.
I worry that Tre was hired by Shanny simply because he would align with Shannys failed vision of our team.

I wish the new big boss had fired Shanny right away and put in new president who would in turn search out or steal the best GM possible.
Let’s do it right this time.
I know, wishful thinking

 

[Dekes For Days]

I think a lot of players didn’t play as well as the year before too.
TJ, Sammy and JT. Esp JT and Sammy.

Some players played better. Some played worse. Tavares produced less (in part due to Bertuzzi, and while providing better defense), but that was more than countered out by Matthews, Nylander, and Rielly producing more. Our core 4 collectively produced more than they ever have. Brodie fell off, but that was countered by a full season of McCabe - who went on to be our best defenseman in the playoffs. Samsonov performed worse, but not only did our goaltending beyond him play better, but Samsonov's performance was also distributed in a way that it didn't meaningfully impact our record. Our record with Samsonov actually improved relative to last year. There is no justififcation for us getting worse. We should have easily been better. Our decline is on Treliving, his failure to address areas of need, his misguided vision and targets, and his failure to react to issues properly.

Soooooo basically you want Dubas back so we can spin our wheels for 5 more years.

Obviously, I'd prefer the better GM back, that actually improved our team within a more difficult environment, had proper vision and reasoning behind his moves, addressed areas of need, and fixed mistakes. But that's obviously not happening, and my post wasn't about any of that. It was about the actions and decisions Treliving has made over the past year, how they have hurt us, and based on his career history and performance here thus far, my concerns about this offseason and the team-destroying potential that exists.

You need to watch Florida to see how far away from being a cup team we are especially our core 5 are

We're not far away, but we're certainly further away than we've been the past few years. I'd like to not continue that downward trajectory.

 

[Nineteen67]

Soooooo basically you want Dubas back so we can spin our wheels for 5 more years. You need to watch Florida to see how far away from being a cup team we are especially our core 5 are

They’re a long way away and may never be in a position to win but they are closer than been in the past 5 yrs. I still think one or two of the teams below them are closer to eastern final than the Leafs are.

 

[ToneDog]

I am wondering, if Tre botches the Marner deal, are we gonna blame the previous GM for handing him that contract which is forcing the Leafs to move on from Mitch? Asking for Kyle's wife and kids.

 

[IPS]

I am wondering, if Tre botches the Marner deal, are we gonna blame the previous GM for handing him that contract which is forcing the Leafs to move on from Mitch? Asking for Kyle's wife and kids.

I think the Marleau contract ruined the Leafs for about 5 years so we can go with the Leafs being ruined for atleast the next 10 years if that happens.

 

[socko]

I was just reading about Dubas on the Penguins board. Seems that they're figuring out what a complete fraud he is faster than we did here. Some are begging to hold onto their draft picks. I should probably feel pity, but nah.

 

[Trapper]

I am wondering, if Tre botches the Marner deal, are we gonna blame the previous GM for handing him that contract which is forcing the Leafs to move on from Mitch? Asking for Kyle's wife and kids.

At this point, for me, the only way Tre can botch the Marner deal is giving him 12+ million.
Get the best deal you can in trade and I will be good with this chapter ending.

 

[notDatsyuk]

I am wondering, if Tre botches the Marner deal, are we gonna blame the previous GM for handing him that contract which is forcing the Leafs to move on from Mitch? Asking for Kyle's wife and kids.

"We" is very inconsistent.

If Tre doesn't trade Marner for both McDavid and Makar (both 50% retained), a couple of posters will say he botched it and Dubas is God.

If Tre signs him for $12M (or signs him at all without a trade), a fair number of posters will say he botched it, but was handicapped by Dubas' many errors.

I feel sorry for his wife and kids - since he said he wouldn't move them, and they still here while he's in Pittsburgh?

 

[Maple Leaf]

I thought we were the wealthiest franchise but we have bargain bin management

 

[HamiltonNHL]

wealthiest franchise

All teams have equal cap space.
Dubas would throw it away with overpays.

Like it was super key to keep this shitty core.

If Marner told me he wanted 10.9 I would have drove him to the airport with his ticket to Arizona.

 

[Suntouchable13]

All teams have equal cap space.
Dubas would throw it away with overpays.

Like it was super key to keep this shitty core.

If Marner told me he wanted 10.9 I would have drove him to the airport with his ticket to Arizona.

Lol, I agree with you 100%

 

[ToneDog]

All teams have equal cap space.
Dubas would throw it away with overpays.

Like it was super key to keep this shitty core.

If Marner told me he wanted 10.9 I would have drove him to the airport with his ticket to Arizona.

He only accepted 10.9 after Leafs leaked what he was turning down and the fanbase went ballistic.

 

[Maple Leaf]

How did lame florida win a cup and not the leafs

 

[HamiltonNHL]

He only accepted 10.9 after Leafs leaked what he was turning down and the fanbase went ballistic.

Loser organization.

Hockey is dead in Ontario.

So sad.

NHL hockey sucks.

How did lame florida win a cup and not the leafs

Balanced cap structure.