How much faith do you have in the core 4?

[rumman]

I don't call taking every series to the limit every year "falling flat". It's dissappointing and not good enough, sure, but that's not falling flat.

It is when you can’t close out the series for multiple years.

 

[ToneDog]

the team that just won the cup for the 2nd year in a row paid $36m to it's top 4 players. seems like a good strategy.

Yup except Kutch's 9.5m AAV did not count against the cap during the season. Now let's see what they do when they have to include his cap hit during the season.

 

[PromisedLand]

i'll gamble on their super elite talent, and not give up on them at age 23.

trading the most talented duo in franchise history away at age 23 would be the leafiest leaf move to ever leaf.

LOL

These jackasses are making 11 AAV each and SUCK ASS in the playoffs. If they were making reasonable deals with term I might have agreed with what you are saying.

These guys cannot and will not ever make up for the team deficiency that is evident due to lack of dollars to spread around for quality depth

i.e. these jackasses are making so much money; we don't have enough money to spread for quality depth. And these jackasses are just not good enough to make up for not having quality depth. they never will be. how do I know? because their attitude and heart per 60 is of selfish and gutless people

 

[notDatsyuk]

what's the lunacy in carrying on with having one of the best rosters in the league again, exactly?

The team with basically the same core, but with various third and fourth line players, various second and third defensive pairings, and a couple of different goalies, hasn't been able to win a round in three years.

What's the lunacy in calling that "one of the best rosters in the league", exactly?

 

[PromisedLand]

literally 12th best scoring fulltime C in hockey both this year and the last 2yrs.

no bullshit there.

12th as a center okay... and where does he rank in terms of "salaries" for the center?

1) McDavid
2) Matthews
3) Tavares


yea... that is great bang for the buck. heck forget the bang for the buck; he is does not even rank the same given his AAV.

He is apparently paid like a top 5 center; but he cannot produce like a top 5 center. That my friend is INCOMPETENCE of your boy dubas f***ing up everything for the Leafs and Leafs fans

 

[ShaneFalco]

It's still the same excuses.....

We took team x to 7 games
Talented core
Unlucky
They'll get how to play in the playoffs next year
Top roster in the league

 

[ToneDog]

And had to have one of them sit out the regular season to make it work.

Even so, look at their supporting cast. We do not even come close.

 

[rumman]

It's still the same excuses.....

We took team x to 7 games
Talented core
Unlucky
They'll get how to play in the playoffs next year
Top roster in the league

We’ll be back here next summer rehashing the same storyline, of that I have no doubt.

 

[ToneDog]

LOL

These jackasses are making 11 AAV each and SUCK ASS in the playoffs. If they were making reasonable deals with term I might have agreed with what you are saying.

These guys cannot and will not ever make up for the team deficiency that is evident due to lack of dollars to spread around for quality depth

i.e. these jackasses are making so much money; we don't have enough money to spread for quality depth. And these jackasses are just not good enough to make up for not having quality depth. they never will be. how do I know? because their attitude and heart per 60 is of selfish and gutless people

Took the money after Shinny begs them to take discounts so he could surround them with better players. Talked the talk but can't walk the walk. That is on Dubas for buying what they were selling.

 

[TMLAM34]

not just bad luck. Matthews and Marner clearly did choke, again. Need them to produce.

I'd bet on them producing in the playoffs going forward, though.

Having Tavares in the lineup though would have given Montreal two very good lines to worry about opposed to always sticking their shutdown line on Matthews every single game.

Say Tavares lights it up a game or two, we probably would have seen Danault out on the ice against Tavares here and there giving some more room for Matthews.

 

[ShaneFalco]

So we need a goalie, a #1 or 2 d-man, more grit in the bottom 6, a Hyman replacement, and possibly a third line C

Simples!

 

[rumman]

So we need a goalie, a #1 or 2 d-man, more grit in the bottom 6, a Hyman replacement, and possibly a third line C

Simples!

A little grit in the top six wouldn’t hurt either, especially if Hyman’s a goner?

 

[zeke]

So we need a goalie, a #1 or 2 d-man, more grit in the bottom 6, a Hyman replacement, and possibly a third line C

Simples!

they don't need any dmen.

but they do need to sign or replace Hyman and Andersen with the $8.5m in capspace they have, and of course Kerfoot if he's gone too, in which case they'd have $12.0m in capspace.

 

[leafsfan5]

the team that just won the cup for the 2nd year in a row paid $36m to it's top 4 players. seems like a good strategy.

Their big 4 includes a top 3 player in hockey (Kucherov), the best defenseman in hockey and the best goalie. We have one player on that level while our big 4 makes 40 million......

 

[Mess]

So we need a goalie, a #1 or 2 d-man, more grit in the bottom 6, a Hyman replacement, and possibly a third line C

Simples!

If the Leafs lose Kerfoot then don't the Leafs essentially need an entire 3rd line and replace Hyman on the top line?

XXXX (Hyman ?) -- Matthews -- Marner
Mikheyev ---------- Tavares ------ Nylander
XXXX --------------- XXXX -------- XXXX
Simmonds ------- Engvall ------ Spezza

Those are the only 8 forwards Leafs have under contract currently not counting prospects.

This is the reason the Leafs can't go with the 7-3-1 expansion strategy as they don't qualify at present to protect 7 forwards and expose 2 with only 8 under contract.

 

[Luminiferous]

No faith. This core is not winning shit.

 

[Mickey Marner]

I think we need more grit and intensity from our 40 million dollar foursome most of all. I don't really have much interest in brainstorming new and creative ways to complement a core of players that won't pull their own weight. Whether it's Babcock or Keefe, Bozak or Kerfoot, Gardiner or Muzzin, Andersen or Campbell, Hainsey or Brodie, Lamoriello or Dubas, seems to make no difference. While I'd like a Barclay Goodrow in our bottom six, he's unlikely to make any more of a difference than any of our previous roster moves.

 

[zeke]

Yup except Kutch's 9.5m AAV did not count against the cap during the season. Now let's see what they do when they have to include his cap hit during the season.

true - toronto had no problem succeeding in the regular season with $40m to 4 players.

Let's see if tampa can keep winning as much as toronto now that they have to pay $36m to their 4.

 

[rumman]

I think we need more grit and intensity from our 40 million dollar foursome most of all. I don't really have much interest in brainstorming new and creative ways to complement a core of players that won't pull their own weight. Whether it's Babcock or Keefe, Bozak or Kerfoot, Gardiner or Muzzin, Andersen or Campbell, Hainsey or Brodie, Lamoriello or Dubas, seems to make no difference. While I'd like a Barclay Goodrow in our bottom six, he's unlikely to make any more of a difference than any of our previous roster moves.

THIS

 

[makbeer]

Tavares was 12th in PPG among fulltime centers this year. 12th over the last 2yrs, too. All with good underlying two-way numbers against top competition.

So he's an above average borderline top-10 1st line center.

he was 22nd in Centers in 5V5 GF with him on the ice last season and 34th among centers with at least 500m TOI in 5V5 GF% last season...and with his age and lack of footspeed he's definitely on the back half of his career coming off a brutal concussion.

If you want to call him a borderline 1st line C sure, but not for long, and he's going to be on the wing soon.

 

[rumman]

true - toronto had no problem succeeding in the regular season with $40m to 4 players.

Let's see if tampa can keep winning as much as toronto now that they have to pay $36m to their 4.

Tampa’s high price talent aren’t butter soft, nor is the rest of their team. They have elite players who compete and are willing to do the dirty work, Toronto, not so much…….

 

[zeke]

If the Leafs lose Kerfoot then don't the Leafs essentially need an entire 3rd line and replace Hyman on the top line?

If the leafs lose Kerfoot they have $12.0m to sign or replace Hyman, Andersen, and Kerfoot.

Their bottom 6 options (not including Kerfoot or his replacement) would include Mikheyev, Engvall, Simmonds, Spezza, Brooks, Robertson, Anderson, Hallander, Amirov.

 

[makbeer]

Also no way he is borderline top 10.

McDavid
McKinnon
Crosby
Bergeron
Barzal
Barkov
Aho
Matthews
Draisaitl
Point

That's 10 off the top of my head and he's not close to their level as a centre.

 

[zeke]

Their big 4 includes a top 3 player in hockey (Kucherov), the best defenseman in hockey and the best goalie. We have one player on that level while our big 4 makes 40 million......

we'll see how well they do this year when they lose the huge cap advantage they had this year.

 

[Mess]

Their big 4 includes a top 3 player in hockey (Kucherov), the best defenseman in hockey and the best goalie. We have one player on that level while our big 4 makes 40 million......

TB has 3 Star forwards (Kucherov, Stamkos and Point) which have Hart, Art Ross, 2 X Rocket Richard, and 2 X playoff leading goal scorer (Point) and 2 X playoff scoring leader (Kucherov) + Norris and Conn Symthe winning Dman (Hedman) and Vezina and Conn Smythe winning Goalie (Vasilevskiy) for a total cap consumption of $42.125,000 mil AAV

vs

Leafs 4 core Forwards (including a Calder and Rocket) + backup level/experienced goalie (Campbell) for a total cap consumption of $42,155,616 mil AAV.