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If you could control the Leafs, what would you do?

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hockeynorth said:
The bolded is why we need to integrate prospects ASAP. I believe next year we need to be lining up something like:

Bunting-Matthews-Nylander
Robertson-Tavares-Marner
Free Agent-Kampf-Kase
Holmberg-Spezza-Anderson

Sandin-Brodie
Rielly-Liljegren
Muzzin-Dermott
Click to expand...

I don't think the solution to their D is that simple, nor do I think dropping Holl to give Rielly a raise is sensical. Rielly, Sandin, Liljegren, even Dermott, all bring reasonably similar "things" to the table. Having all 4 of them in your healthy lineup alongside Brodie & a 33-year old Jake Muzzin doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

You're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place... the type of D that are growing are the ones you already have an abundance of... the type of d that are declining (notably Muzzin) bring the elements that you desperately need. I'm a huge Morgan Rielly fan, but if Travis Dermott or Rasmus Sandin can do most of what he does for a fraction of the cost, letting him walk is something that you have to consider.

As for prospects up front, the need isn't to get the prospects integrated.... the need is to get young, cheap players to help make a guy like Marner or Nylander expendable. The need is to get a 3rd line centre that can be underpaid because Tavares is overpaid. Obviously, if you're going to use prospects, that starts by getting them integrated.

If Robertson is that winger to come in and make somebody expendable -- that's awesome... but he's also quite undersized, and has had injury issues. The Leafs can't pin all of their hopes on him, especially as they didn't give him a chance this year.

------

If I go back to the premise of the thread, what would I do? I'd give it until game 20 to see what I've got. If it's the same bag of mixed results, then I think it's time to re-tool. In trading, focus on picks to get trade capital, unless they're prospects that you see a fit in your organization short-term.

- Marner to New Jersey for Pavel Zacha, Miles Wood, a 2nd round pick, and 3rd round pick (one this year, one next). Free up $5.5m in cap space this year.

- 2-3 of Alex Kerfoot, Nick Ritchie, Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev to anywhere for whatever draft capital we can get; or in trade.

- Use some of those 4, plus a guy like Liljegren, for a RW to fit into the top 6. Travis Konecny, Tyler Toffoli, Conor Garland, Alex Tuch, Drake Batherson, theoretically ideal candidates. Josh Bailey, Connor Brown, Rickard Rakell perhaps more attainable.

- Prepare for the loss of Rielly -- pursue a guy like Mackenzie Weegar out of Florida to push one of Sandin/Dermott into the #7 role temporarily, understanding that Weegar is there to take load off of Brodie & Muzzin.

Lineup as follows:
Bunting-Matthews-Nylander
Zacha-Tavares-______
Wood-Kampf-Kase
Engvall-Spezza-Simmonds

Rielly-Weegar
Muzzin-Holl
Sandin-Brodie
 
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Looking back its obvious our biggest issue have been the D and having no backup for Andersen, working him way too hard and forced him to play half a season with a groin injury that ultimatively meant we didnt have the stomach to give him a new contract because he couldnt produce with his injury and the corona season (this might have been a mistake looking at his start this season).

If we had our D and two goalies lined up, the rebuild would have gone much better. The rebuild is almost over now and the franchise have nothing to show for it before a new rebuild is needed. The usual Toronto thing.

I also strongly believe paying $40.5 million for 4 players that have not produced enough is horrible franchise management.
 
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keonsbitterness said:
No team is touching him for awhile, if ever.
Click to expand...
I know, it's a pipe dream. Leafs management is more concerned with branding than winning so they wouldn't consider it. But this thread is what I would do if I was in charge, thanks for paying attention.
 
Probably time for Haley Wickenheiser to walk the plank. Things have turned to shot since she came on board
 
If the ship is not righted in the next 15 games, I'd fire Keefe and Dubas hire Gabby or Quinn as interim coach and make Shanny interim GM. If that fails, fire Shanny in the summer, hire a new Pres and let him hire his coach and GM.
 
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ToneDog said:
If the ship is not righted in the next 15 games, I'd fire Keefe and Dubas hire Gabby or Quinn as interim coach and make Shanny interim GM. If that fails, fire Shanny in the summer, hire a new Pres and let him hire his coach and GM.
Click to expand...
I got some bad news for you......
 
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:) No I mean the guy who was fired by the Rangers when they cleaned house. There might be a better options but I'd have to post the position on Monster and see who applies. ;)
 
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ToneDog said:
If the ship is not righted in the next 15 games, I'd fire Keefe and Dubas hire Gabby or Quinn as interim coach and make Shanny interim GM. If that fails, fire Shanny in the summer, hire a new Pres and let him hire his coach and GM.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of the story of when Gerry MacNamara wanted to fire coach John Brophy.

He needed to go see the owner Harold Ballard first. When he got to the office to discuss firing the coach with Ballard, as Gerry entered the office, he found Brophy already sitting there.

What a power play that was.

Shanahan, being a bit of a sneaky player when he played, he has his power play plans all figured out.

Shanahan will fire the coach and fire the GM, a preemptive strike, solely to save his own hide. He appoints himself GM.

After that, all that was wrong with this team, they just blame those two guys fired, as they were the architects of that.

They will point the finger at Shanahan too, but at least he can say he acted to stop the bleeding, and will build a winner with the players he drafted.

Shanahan gives himself a second chance by firing his GM and the coach in an exacta.

If Shanahan can fire Dubas and the coach, without getting himself fired because he hand picked them, and is able to turn the team around, this power play will go down into Maple Leafs lore as a great moment.

Just like when Macnamara entered Ballard's office to fire the coach, only to find his is shock and horror that Brophy beat him to the punch.

:naughty:
 
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Polaris1010 said:
This reminds me of the story of when Gerry MacNamara wanted to fire coach John Brophy.

He needed to go see the owner Harold Ballard first. When he got to the office to discuss firing the coach with Ballard, as Gerry entered the office, he found Brophy already sitting there.

What a power play that was.

Shanahan, being a bit of a sneaky player when he played, he has his power play plans all figured out.

Shanahan will fire the coach and fire the GM, a preemptive strike, solely to save his own hide. He appoints himself GM.

After that, all that was wrong with this team, they just blame those two guys fired, as they were the architects of that.

They will point the finger at Shanahan too, but at least he can say he acted to stop the bleeding, and will build a winner with the players he drafted.

Shanahan gives himself a second chance by firing his GM and the coach in an exacta.

If Shanahan can fire Dubas and the coach, without getting himself fired because he hand picked them, and is able to turn the team around, this power play will go down into Maple Leafs lore as a great moment.

Just like when Macnamara entered Ballard's office to fire the coach, only to find his is shock and horror that Brophy beat him to the punch.

:naughty:
Click to expand...

I think you over-estimate Shanahan's guile and intellect. I'd put it more in Dubas' nature as a corporate climber to ingratiate himself with the higher ups. The MLSE front office is Kyle Dubas' battle ground. Shanahan is retired from his battle ground. Brendan Shanahan is closer to the male equivalent of that beautiful woman basking in a life of perpetual serendipity believing in the power of positive thoughts and how nice everybody is.
 
ruaware41 said:
First step would be to stop making the Leafs an extension of a certain political party and let the team unite as a you know team.

these woke dumbasses think they are oh so intelligent but the depth of their beliefs are really shallow and change every 10 years. Stop making everything political and just let them play hockey. Remember Muzzin before Toronto? He used to drill people all the time. Now it’s a rarity.
Click to expand...
Sorry. Drilling people shows toxic masculinity. And we just can't have toxic masculinity.
 
mydnyte said:
Our defense is what costs us most of our games, with the bad passes/giveaways and shift to shift brain farts

I move Marner for a stud D and try to get a forward prospect back with him and move out pretty much all of the current defense too.
I HATE our defense, except for Brodie, but, he'd be a good #3, not a top pair d-man
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So if you were the GM of the team with a stud D, you’d trade him for Marner PLUS a forward prospect? If I have the stud D, I’m not trading him unless I get at least two significant pieces, maybe more, back, not the other way around.
 
hockeynorth said:
The bolded is why we need to integrate prospects ASAP. I believe next year we need to be lining up something like:

Bunting-Matthews-Nylander
Robertson-Tavares-Marner
Free Agent-Kampf-Kase
Holmberg-Spezza-Anderson

Sandin-Brodie
Rielly-Liljegren
Muzzin-Dermott
Click to expand...
Robertson needs to prove he can stay healthy. That’s beginning to look like it could be an uphill battle.
 
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