They may have brought in bits and pieces, but Tre was the first to commit to that style. He understood that you can just add a couple guys and change the dynamic.
He's not the first person in Leafs management to understand that.
He added Domi, Bertuzzi, Reaves, and Dewar up front.
Simmonds, Thornton, O'Reilly, Acciari, Lafferty, Clifford (twice), Bunting, etc...
He added Benoit, Edmundson, and Lyubushkin on the blueline. He also traded for and signed Cade Webber.
Brodie, Muzzin, Schenn, McCabe, Lyubushkin, etc...
Domi, Bertuzzi, Benoit, and Martin Jones were all good additions.
No one said they weren't, I said they were 50/50 and as you are about to confirm, they were.
He overpaid Kampf and Reaves a little bit, but nothing major. Both guys were still useful.
1) How did Kampf get here? 2) He legit didn't play in the two most important games of our season (and we played better without him).
Samsonov is tricky. He was an RFA, so letting him walk was pretty unlikely unless a clear better option is available.
It was a bad signing. He attached his wagon to the wrong horse and it showed.
Klingberg might have been useful while out powerplay floundered during the play-offs. Too bad he got hurt and we never got to see him.
How useful was he when he was here? Not at all. Then he was gone. Bad use of cap space. I'm fine with him making a mistake, but let's not try to pretend that a) it wasn't a terrible signing and b) that he was anywhere close to what we needed (or that he is particularly a hard nosed kind of player, that's kind of laughable).
He signed the two that should be kept. Marner and Tavares are the problems, so until he signs one of them, I'll believe he's making those changes.
He has literally extended everyone he has been allowed to, from players to coach (who finally got canned though the candidate pool is crap). Marner is likely going to be extended (and should) and Tavares will be off the books next year. So... the same thing that would happen regardless.
Extending the coach was a formality. Having a lame-duck coach is a horrible option, so it was either fire him or extend him.
Rod Brind'Amour and Carolina seem to be doing just fine with that situation.
Nothing's changed, it's just an older guy with glasses who talks about snot more often.