Broken Record Part III : Leafs never should've signed John Tavares

[Artorius Horus T]

The signing that destroyed everything, pushed a very promising, contender team of the future,
off the cliff, that was one game away from 2nd round, it was 100 ready team.

That Leafs had it all and..and it broke Leafs regular season records, it WOULD HAVE
done better next season in the next play-offs, what happened??? Dubas happened.

| oh by the way...it wasn't the coach who was the problem |

He dismantled that roster, gave unproven young star forwards, ridiculous contracts,
forcing several key players to leave the team,...

I mean, for one example, who right minded GM gets rid of the absolute fan favorite,
key locker room spirit player; Leo "Uncle Leo" Komarov,...no one does that!!!, ever!!!

Under Trotz Leo plays for Isles 1st line at these play-offs!!!!,
leads the play-offs in hits and supports that 1st line whole 200 feet of ice.


That signing started an avalanche, bolder rolling down the hill rather,
chain reaction. Panic happened after that game 7 loss, mistakes, really bad ones were made
and who knows how far backwards those decisions took the Leafs franchise.

Its not Tavares fault, far from it...after Dubas was put to GM position, all odds were off
no one knew what was going to happen, good or bad...unfortunately for all of you Leafs fans
it was the latter.

The title says its all because of Tavares signing,..but it really comes to the decision
of putting Kyle Dubas to that General Manager position, that changed the
history what was suppose to be written, who made that decision?
So it goes even further down....deeper,...

The Leafs problem lies so deep, its scary really, Leafs needs new owners
owners with a clear vision, total cleaning...clensing...is a must, everything
needs to be changed...i would even thinking of changing the logo and colors
if i was the owner.

Superstition...Curse...all what not, call it nothing but nonsense,
but i think you can look back at franchises that have totally changed
their franchises, to the looks and, the team name even, been successful.

Good luck TML, and good luck TML fans.
I hope best for you.

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

Agreed. Tavares was invisible all series against the Habs.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Tavares was about as productive this series as Matthews and Marner were.

 

[TheNumber4]

Remember when the Leafs did the following?:

Signed the most highly sought after and most expensive head coach in the League -> Leaf fans planned the parade

Signed the most highly sought after and most expensive free agent -> Leafs fans planned the parade

Convinced or tried to convince everyone including Matthews that he was generational. Made Matthews want to get paid like a generational player which in turn made Marner feel like he was entitled to something close cause he is pretty close to what Matthews brings -> Leafs planned the parade

Agreed that the Tavares signing could be where everything started to go south. But don’t pretend you guys didn’t want this. You wanted it, you got it.

 

[Mikeshane]

I thought they missed Kapanen this season who they could have kept without JT.

 

[Bounces R Way]

We can't and we won't

 

[TheNumber4]

I thought they missed Kapanen this season who they could have kept without JT.

Still can’t believe they cut ties with Kapanen. Skilled, fast, high motor, young, lots of ceiling left. Leafs really had an embarrassment of riches at one point, now they are just rich and embarrassing.

 

[lawrence]

I think they should have not signed Tavares, Kept Kadri as a 2nd liner, and use that extra cap space on other depth players.

 

[RMimagery]

Still can’t believe they cut ties with Kapanen. Skilled, fast, high motor, young, lots of ceiling left. Leafs really had an embarrassment of riches at one point, now they are just rich and embarrassing.

Very clever.

 

[c9777666]

I think they should have not signed Tavares, Kept Kadri as a 2nd liner, and use that extra cap space on other depth players.

why? So he can get suspended again?

 

[lawrence]

why? So he can get suspended again?

well at that time, he wasn't a hardened criminal yet.

 

[benedictTavares]

This thread will end well

 

[Soundwave]

In fairness it's easy to say this but if any team had the available cap room and a 27/28 year old Tavares is saying he wants to sign with you, it's hard to say "no".

 

[boredmale]

They should follow the Islanders blueprint and sign guys like Leo Komarov and Matt Martin

 

[Matty Sundin]

I’m a leaf fan and I been saying this since we signed him but everyone was so caught up in signing such a star player like Tavares. John Tavares was basically an impulsive buy like some kid putting money down for a nice car and later realizing hes crippled by the payments he’s making.

It’s not even anything against JT, who is a fine damn player but he wasn’t much of a need and he was gonna be expensive and overpaid due to ufa and should known our younger players were gonna command similar dollars.

 

[FMichael]

Regardless of what happened this past evening...It’s comforting to know that the Maple Leaf players are enjoying their chicken tendies while admiring their participation medals...With extra sauce mind you.

 

[Vegeta]

Still can’t believe they cut ties with Kapanen. Skilled, fast, high motor, young, lots of ceiling left. Leafs really had an embarrassment of riches at one point, now they are just rich and embarrassing.

Seriously. Kapanen is one of the players that stands out the most on the Pens. I wouldn't be surprised if he was a core piece that we held onto as Crosby and Malkin bow out.

 

[jcs0218]

Tavares was a luxury they didn't need.

Then his signing was compounded by giving the rest of the young core so much money.

If you are going to spend 50% of your team's salary cap on 4 forwards, then they had better all be top of league and elite players.

Because you can't afford a proper 3rd line or a solid 6 man defense when you have 4 forwards making 50% of the salary cap.

 

[thaman8765678]

Matthew's is to most blame. I just don't see him as an elite playoff player.

He looked awful.

 

[William Hylander]

Biggest problem is Mitchell and Auston looked at his deal and said, I'm better than him give me that deal. Wrong timing. You could have told them no heres 8 mill and you'll like it... if they found another deal as RFAs the NHL rules make it easier on the team who can't match.

They could have built a team around Tavares and 8 first round picks if it came down to it. It was Dubas failing to realize this that actually screwed this up.

 

[WarriorofTime]

They gave Tavares "throw the book at him" money, on top of paying Matthews and Marner like elite of the elite players. Add to that a big contract for Nylander. On their own, those moves are all defensible but as a whole it leaves them with 3 of the top 7 highest paid players in the NHL that are all forwards and has left their cap situation a total mess. They're just a badly a managed team. It was obvious at the time that Tavares wasn't what they needed given what they already had. I don't really buy the whole "30 teams would have done it in a heartbeat if Tavares wanted to join." He's a great player and all, but teams need to take a look at their situation as it stands with their roster and their go-forward cap situation and decide if a player at that cost level is worth pursuing. It's not like a McDavid-level player. Dubas also got absolutely hosed in contract negotiation by Matthews and Marner's agents. I guess the feeling being that Matthews is a generational-type talent worth that after his ELC, but then he's gotta produce more in the postseason to justify it. And then when you pay Matthews that, you set the bar for Marner as well since their production is linked with each other so you end up giving him something fairly close to what you gave Matthews. So now collectively, you're spending way too much on your forward core and forced to cut key depth pieces and it makes it really hard to build a Defense, unless you get really lucky and some guy you drafted in the 2nd round or whatever pops through as a bonafide #1 DMan that you can take advantage of on a cheap deal for a while, which is obviously highly unlikely and doesn't seem like it's going to materialize any time soon.

 

[boredmale]

I always thought the mistake when they signed Tavares is they should have turned around and either traded one of Manner or Nylander for a top pairing defenseman

 

[KingJoffrey]

It was very stupid signing right before important RFA negotiations. Without Tavares signing I doubt that Matthews gets 11.6 and Marner 10.9.

Well you can't blame the players. There was that idiot who gave them those contracts.

 

[scud9]

Every team would have signed Tavares if they had gotten the chance. I can't blame Toronto for signing Tavares. But what you can criticize is, how thin the D is. And is Rielly really a 1A D? Was Bogosian the answer?

 

[Theodore450]

Said this then and it becomes more obvious as time passes. Ok you sign him, then as a gm do what’s necessary and move a high priced winger. But nope Dubas thinks he can fill the rest of the roster on a budget and sell players like be a Gm in an EA game. Nobody playing on the leafs has a chance for a payday.