Future of the team is incredibly bleak

[centipede2233]

I still have some hope, but if this continues, we need big moves in the summer.

What sucks though is that I'm pretty sure Bennett and Chychrun are going to stay on their teams.

Provorov could replace Rielly though. Not sure about Mitch and JT. There's not many C's in the free agent market. Maybe keep JT at a low price and go hard after both Ehlers and Boeser. Or maybe replace JT with Duchene at 3 million-ish.

First off, the leafs don’t need a soft supporting top 6 winger in boeser. Secondly, Duchene only likes state tax free teams like Nashville and Dallas.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Fair weather fan? We are entering year 10 of this crap and we have never won more than 5 games in a playoff run. We do not deserve to be compared to the Oilers, they have actually shown reasons to believe in their group.

I agree with you about the Oilers, but their fans are crying on a daily basis. They hate their team as far as I can tell.

Yes. I am not a fair weather fan. Of course I want them to be better, but I'll never stop cheering for them. Who am I supposed to cheer for? I refuse to be one of those self-hating closet leaf fans who live in southern Ontario and fly Red Wings flags on my car.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Also look at how old our blueline Will be in a few years and we have no first round pick until 2028. Better pray we hit on our second or third round pick this year

I pray that they hit on our 2nd and 3rd round pick every year.

 

[hotpaws]

Tavares isn't a core piece, he's only paid like one. We're probably better off without him, but again he's re-signing cheap. Said it before, I'll say it again. I have a family member that worked with his wife, he intends to finish his career here and raise his kids here, he has no interest in signing anywhere else. He'll probably be back on a cheap deal, I'm thinking 6Mx3.

6m x 3yrs is far from cheap for a player that shits himself every post season

also and this may come as a shock to some on this board . we are not obligated to re-sign JT regardless of whether he wants to finish his career here

 

[thewave]

You could do it if someone had the balls to do it. The issue is that every manager thinks their tonic can fix it. Just look at Treliving. He wanted time to "access what he had." - No need, Brad, we've seen it.

Also, the Rocket Richard means sweet f4%k all if he plays like crap in the postseason, either through normal circumstances or injury.

You're not wrong. I just feel like listening to Pink Floyd again. I mean.

Berube does not gel with the team makeup
Savard special teams stink
Pro scouts said Laughton was good?
Tre is chucking crap at the wall
Shanahan is reesponsible not accountable
Rielly is broken
Domi is broken
Marner is broken and wants paid huge
Depth players are not effective enough
Laughton seems like a non useful overpay
Tanev and OEL don't have much time
JT apparently wants term
Matthews is injured or something

Leaves us with...

Nylander who stopped competing lately
Knies who I can't complain about
Woll who is doing his best
Stolarz who is saving our bacon
JT has been ok. He is on both lists.
Tanev has been good as well.
OEL good enough
Carlo is getting better but who knows

That's all I got. I would still dump Berube right now for Boudreau or something and see if ignites them somehow.

 

[I am Canadian]

Our defense core is awful. We have 4x the same kind of player (Tanev, Carlo, McCabe, Benoit) with OEL and Rielly as the "offense", yet both are not producing anywhere where an offensive defender would.

There is a black hole of offense on the backline and the forwards just can't make up for it.

 

[I am Canadian]

I would be fine with giving Mitch 3 years and saving cap. Knies should be extended on a bridge deal as well.

Our defense only gets worse as they age into their later 30's. This team IMO has another 3, max 4 years before we need to rebuild or retool.

 

[DuncanMacpherson]

I pray that they hit on our 2nd and 3rd round pick every year.

We dont often have them. I’m surprised we have both of them this year.

 

[DuncanMacpherson]

I would be fine with giving Mitch 3 years and saving cap. Knies should be extended on a bridge deal as well.

Our defense only gets worse as they age into their later 30's. This team IMO has another 3, max 4 years before we need to rebuild or retool.

If Mitch is willing to do a 3 year deal i take that all day. Get the last of his prime years and let him walk before he loses his legs.

 

[mogs]

Oh come on Edna, we both know this team has no future!

 

[Gallagbi]

Fun fact, a few months ago this poster blocked for saying this.

The crazy part? Nothing happened in the last few months to impact our future outlook.

Around the thread, it was a bizarre year to go all in. We're playing poorly, haven't looked like an upper tier team most of the year by either the eye tests or stats. Goaltending was our biggest strength and that was largely held by a career backup who never handled a starters workload. We can rebuild fairly quickly with some smart moves, but I have little faith in the current management to do that well even if they decide it's best.

 

[m1ker]

I agree with some points but we still have valuable assets on the team such as:

Matthews
Nylander
Knies
Stolarz
Woll
McMann

We could easily get back as many draft picks if we wanted

 

[hullsy47]

You could do it if someone had the balls to do it. The issue is that every manager thinks their tonic can fix it. Just look at Treliving. He wanted time to "access what he had." - No need, Brad, we've seen it.

Also, the Rocket Richard means sweet f4%k all if he plays like crap in the postseason, either through normal circumstances or injury.

Agree with your post.but u can see what this team is like with avg goaltending and 20 less goals from austin mathews
This team may be a wild card team and this salary structure is more for a vegas or dallas or florida type
I think pelley stays ,but beyond that i can see nothing is off the table
At the very least the leafs have to be ready and look competent if mcdavid goes to free agency

 

[Commander Clueless]

Pro: We have some really talented star forwards.
Con: They cost so much we can't afford depth scoring. Also, they can't score...especially when it matters.

Pro: We have a top 5 locked up to very reasonable prices.
Con: They aren't very good. Also Rielly fell off a damn cliff. Also they can't score at all. Mostly because Rielly fell off a damn cliff.

Pro: We have a very good goalie tandem at a very cheap price.
Con: ....are they falling apart now?

 

[mjd1001]

The future of this team is the current roster and any tweaking you can do around the edges. The first round draft picks don't mean all that much to me (other than as potential future trading chips near the deadline but you have already done that to assemble this team).

They are going to be picking in the bottom 10 the next few years in all likelyhood. Less than more players picked in the bottom of the first round actually turn out to be meaningful contributors, and if they do, it is very, very likely that wouldn't be until after this current core has 'aged out'.

Unless there is a major career-threatening injury, the 'future' of this team is this year, next year, and maybe the next 2 after that. Those first round picks aren't going to impact that future.

 

[Leafshater67]

There is nothing supernatural about it.
It´s just MLSE´s managemente being unable or unwilling to smell the coffee and face the facts. It has been crystal clear for (at least) a couple of years now that our core group of superstars will not get the job done. Everything has changed around our core. Yet the core still remains unscathed
Lunacy.

They take the path of least resistance to ruffle the least feathers because if they go fkr a big move, fans and the media will tear them apart. Toronto sports media and leafs fans are the team’s worst enemy.

I hate the Nylander contract the most. They already had a very similar, better player on the team whose deal was up next season and had a NMC kicked in. They signed him to top dollar anyways ensuring they either continue the stats quo or lose Marner for nothing. Unreal.

 

[arso40]

They take the path of least resistance to ruffle the least feathers because if they go fkr a big move, fans and the media will tear them apart. Toronto sports media and leafs fans are the team’s worst enemy.

I hate the Nylander contract the most. They already had a very similar, better player on the team whose deal was up next season and had a NMC kicked in. They signed him to top dollar anyways ensuring they either continue the stats quo or lose Marner for nothing. Unreal.

Can we see your face cant tell if your being serious or joking marners not better than nylander period cause you play with better players in better situations doesn’t make you better Hes a smarter player better defender but I highly doubt Hes a better player we play to win a cup tell me who shows up to win this cup and I’ll show you the better player

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Pro: We have some really talented star forwards.
Con: They cost so much we can't afford depth scoring. Also, they can't score...especially when it matters.

Pro: We have a top 5 locked up to very reasonable prices.
Con: They aren't very good. Also Rielly fell off a damn cliff. Also they can't score at all. Mostly because Rielly fell off a damn cliff.

Pro: We have a very good goalie tandem at a very cheap price.
Con: ....are they falling apart now?

This is fair. I love the Leafs. I am grounded like you.

I'm not going to lose my mind because we don't win the division. The true measure will be the playoffs. We have to beat the best teams to be the best. It's pathetic if we hope to face Columbus in the first round.

We'll see what they can do. If our goalie can be better than the other team's goalie for 4 games, we might get somewhere.

I have my doubts too...

 

[TMLegend]

I said it in the PGT but this team is completely f***ed for the short/medium term if they can't get it done this year. A terrible prospect pool and no first round picks for the next three years means there won't be significant additions via the trade market for a while. They can't tear it down because of the NMC's/NTC's and even if they could convince them to waive they'll be getting pennies on the dollar for their best players since they'll be effectively choosing their destination. Add to that parts of the core are aging or showing signs of decline with no realistic replacements in the pipeline it's likely we've already seen the peak of this group and I legitimately have worries about the future.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Let's be real here. We have arguably 2 prospects of any note in Cowan and maybe Danford neither move the needle. We have no draft picks because we traded them all at the TDL. 2 of our 4 core pieces are UFAs and likely to walk for nothing. We have no #1 dman, hell no #2 dman.

We have NO future. The only possible move this offseason is to throw money around in free agency. For any long time fans, we've seen this story before. We will end up paying players like Komaserk, Lombardi, Armstrong, Connolly, Clarkson, etc big money in free agency and be trash but with a cap strapped team.

There is a very real chance we have gifted Bruins another top 10 draft pick. I am nearing my breaking point with this team.

A #1 for Carlo to win now i get it and would likely do same .. a #1 for Laughton sorry that was a massive mistake (would have only sent a 3rd rounder at best)

 

[Commander Clueless]

This is fair. I love the Leafs. I am grounded like you.

I'm not going to lose my mind because we don't win the division. The true measure will be the playoffs. We have to beat the best teams to be the best. It's pathetic if we hope to face Columbus in the first round.

We'll see what they can do. If our goalie can be better than the other team's goalie for 4 games, we might get somewhere.

I have my doubts too...

I was very confident in our goaltending not too long ago. A hot goalie can make a ton of difference in the playoffs.

However, there have been concerns raised in just the last few weeks.

I think we'll be facing Florida or Tampa first round. Likely from the wild card spot

 

[Leafs98]

I thought Tre has done a good job building D and goaltending. But the forwards will be a project. I dont really want JT or Marner back due to the cap issues and hopefully they can move Rielly. Then they need forwards, like 4 of them at 5mil , to play Berube's puck battle style. And they need to pay Knies. Retool is possible. P.s. is it time for an off season thread ? Any hope left ?

 

[AvroArrow]

6m x 3yrs is far from cheap for a player that shits himself every post season

also and this may come as a shock to some on this board . we are not obligated to re-sign JT regardless of whether he wants to finish his career here

We're going to need C depth, it's him or Bennett. People are saying Bennetts getting 8M, he's not that guy lol. Pass on him at that price. Those are the only 2 C's really available this summer.

He's still a near PPG player and is a 2C on almost every single team in the league. He's just not worth 11M, not a bad player.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I thought Tre has done a good job building D and goaltending. But the forwards will be a project. I dont really want JT or Marner back due to the cap issues and hopefully they can move Rielly. Then they need forwards, like 4 of them at 5mil , to play Berube's puck battle style. And they need to pay Knies. Retool is possible. P.s. is it time for an off season thread ? Any hope left ?

On one hand, I like bringing JT back. He took less to be here. He bleeds blue and white. I want players who want to be here.

I also don't think you'll get a more productive C in free agency to replace him. If Bennett wants to be a Leaf you explore that, but he can't score like JT. Other than that... What options are available?

On the other hand, we can't keep the formula the same either....


There's always some hope left. A hot goalie can make a massive difference and there's still time to iron out some kinks.

But it ain't crisp....

 

[HockeyVirus]

On one hand, I like bringing JT back. He took less to be here. He bleeds blue and white. I want players who want to be here.

I also don't think you'll get a more productive C in free agency to replace him. If Bennett wants to be a Leaf you explore that, but he can't score like JT. Other than that... What options are available?

On the other hand, we can't keep the formula the same either....


There's always some hope left. A hot goalie can make a massive difference and there's still time to iron out some kinks.

But it ain't crisp....

Here is what concerns me with JT. Everything I have heard is he wants to be here because his family is here, his kids love it here. He loves playing for the Leafs. All great things.

Where in any of that does he mention he wants to play here because he thinks he can help bring home the cup? All of the above sounds like the Leafs are a retirement community. Come live like a rock star for top dollar with no expectations of actually winning anything