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Future of the team is incredibly bleak

notDatsyuk said:
Right - there's no guarantee that letting them go and bringing in other players will make the team better (or worse), but if we don't consider 'the same' to be good enough (another discussion entirely), and don't expect a sudden improvement from them, then why repeat what isn't working?

The future is bleak if we don't make major changes (of which those two are the only likely candidates), so why not try major changes?
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The time to make major changes was 2021-2023.

Doing it now means we are losing a star for nothing and relying on a UFA market with a rising cap, a ton of demand and not a ton of supply.

You can certainly argue they might as well try now, but it's a bad time. High chance of getting worse.

Sure, make the attempt. We might have no choice now. But the future looks pretty bleak either way.

And yes I hope I'm wrong and they just go ahead and have a big run this year.
 
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Commander Clueless said:
The time to make major changes was 2021-2023.

Doing it now means we are losing a star for nothing and relying on a UFA market with a rising cap, a ton of demand and not a ton of supply.

You can certainly argue they might as well try now, but it's a bad time. High chance of getting worse.
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I think this is right. If there was ever going to be major surgery, it should have happened after the Montreal series. Not firing Keefe after that series was a monumental mistake. Easily Dubas' biggest blunder.
 
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Evilhomer said:
I think this is right. If there was ever going to be major surgery, it should have happened after the Montreal series. Not firing Keefe after that series was a monumental mistake. Easily Dubas' biggest blunder.
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Agreed.

Instead Dubas and Shanny gambled this core would have a breakthrough. Unfortunately, that gamble did not pay off so far. In fact, not even close.

One more spin of the wheel this postseason. Let's hope they hit the jackpot cuz we're out of chips.
 
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Is it fair to say that winning the division and still losing in the first round is the nail in the coffin for "some pending UFAs"?

It's the only try-something-new this core has left in their pocket.
I just envisioned this scenario for the first time. You spend all season for years hoping to win the division and avoid the powerhouses you're jockeying with. Losing anyway would be so demoralizing.
 
QJo said:
Is it fair to say that winning the division and still losing in the first round is the nail in the coffin for "some pending UFAs"?

It's the only try-something-new this core has left in their pocket.
I just envisioned this scenario for the first time. You spend all season for years hoping to win the division and avoid the powerhouses you're jockeying with. Losing anyway would be so demoralizing.
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I see your point. Toronto has to beat the best to be the best. I have no idea how they could position themselves to make the playoffs easier. Unless several teams die in a plane crash, I can't see any of it being easier.

I think this team needs to avoid avoiding.

I think they have more depth in places now more than they ever had before. Hopefully that being goaltending. Let's see how this plays out.
 
QJo said:
Is it fair to say that winning the division and still losing in the first round is the nail in the coffin for "some pending UFAs"?

It's the only try-something-new this core has left in their pocket.
I just envisioned this scenario for the first time. You spend all season for years hoping to win the division and avoid the powerhouses you're jockeying with. Losing anyway would be so demoralizing.
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The Leafs won't lose to Ottawa or whichever team gets the first wild card spot. In the meantime, Florida and Tampa will beat each other up nicely.
 
Commander Clueless said:
The time to make major changes was 2021-2023.

Doing it now means we are losing a star for nothing and relying on a UFA market with a rising cap, a ton of demand and not a ton of supply.

You can certainly argue they might as well try now, but it's a bad time. High chance of getting worse.

Sure, make the attempt. We might have no choice now. But the future looks pretty bleak either way.

And yes I hope I'm wrong and they just go ahead and have a big run this year.
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Absolutely we should have made major changes several years ago.

Doing it now means exchanging two good players who can't get it done when it's important for cap space and the potential for better.

Sure there's a chance of getting worse and a chance of getting better. But if 'the same' isn't your objective then why settle for that?

I'm not convinced that the future is bleak: we have our two best players signed for a few years, solid goaltending and improved defence, and a better coach. If we can dump two of the worst contracts this off-season we have a decent chance of doing better next year.
 
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Ianturnedbull said:
Before Columbus? Toronto was pretty bad that season. They didn't qualify for the playoffs. Because of a covid shortened season, they were allowed to a have a mini-series with Columbus.
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Should have seen the confidence on here before that series.

Even more so before the Montreal series. :laugh:

I was a part of that group so I can't complain much but I've learned my lesson. No way would I look past the Sens in a first-round matchup and guarantee a win.
 
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notDatsyuk said:
Absolutely we should have made major changes several years ago.

Doing it now means exchanging two good players who can't get it done when it's important for cap space and the potential for better.

Sure there's a chance of getting worse and a chance of getting better. But if 'the same' isn't your objective then why settle for that?

I'm not convinced that the future is bleak: we have our two best players signed for a few years, solid goaltending and improved defence, and a better coach. If we can dump two of the worst contracts this off-season we have a decent chance of doing better next year.
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I agree with your approach, but I think the "why not do this because the other thing sucks" is....well, kind of bleak. :laugh:

Hopefully they just go on a deep run and we don't have to worry about it yet.
 
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notDatsyuk said:
Absolutely we should have made major changes several years ago.

Doing it now means exchanging two good players who can't get it done when it's important for cap space and the potential for better.
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Potential for better, but the fact is of the Big 4, you're keeping the two who tend to be VERY streaky...
 
notDatsyuk said:
Absolutely we should have made major changes several years ago.
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The two most important changes in Toronto were getting rid of the minor league coach and the junior league GM.

Should have been done years ago, but now the Leafs are finally ready to move forward without those two clowns holding the team back.
 
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Lightsol said:
Potential for better, but the fact is of the Big 4, you're keeping the two who tend to be VERY streaky...
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They are also the two who score goals.

Between the two of them over the last almost 5 seasons they have accounted for over one third of the goals and almost one third of the game winning goals (they are tied for the team lead).

Yes, goal scorers, or more correctly goal scoring, tends to be streaky, but it's what wins games.

Btw, over those 5 seasons Mitch has ony 5 points more than Matty and only 24 more than Willy.
 
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HockeyVirus said:
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.
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Let's be reality.

We've been in win mode for 7 years. So far a failure. Yes, it's going to crash out eventually, like the Penguins at the moment. It's 4-5 years away.
 
Squiffy said:
Let's be reality.

We've been in win mode for 7 years. So far a failure. Yes, it's going to crash out eventually, like the Penguins at the moment. It's 4-5 years away.
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Nah. These things don't happen overnight. penguins didn't just become terrible. They spent 2-3 seasons in mediocrity barely making the playoffs and being an easy out in round 1, no where close to making it an even series.

Leafs are close to that point. We are 1-2 years away from fighting just to make the playoffs
 
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HockeyVirus said:
Nah. These things don't happen overnight. penguins didn't just become terrible. They spent 2-3 seasons in mediocrity barely making the playoffs and being an easy out in round 1, no where close to making it an even series.

Leafs are close to that point. We are 1-2 years away from fighting just to make the playoffs
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The Leafs will probably win two Cups in the next 3 or 4 years. After that, yes, the team will start to degrade. That's how professional sports works.
 
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Evilhomer said:
The Leafs will probably win two Cups in the next 3 or 4 years. After that, yes, the team will start to degrade. That's how professional sports works.
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You are clearly selling us short. We will absolutely 100% guaranteed win 4 cups in a row and then decline.
 
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