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Speculation: Leafs rushed the rebuild

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hotpaws said:
I agree but our top 3 C's can easily chew up 55 mins a game so realistically we really don't need a 4th line C for more than a few mins a game and giving Babs one of his favorite toys can only lead to trouble .
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Personally I don't like wingers taking faceoffs especially on the PK, Hyman isn't bad at it but I'd still rather have a natural center taking those draws because with a winger taking faceoffs you will ALWAYS be at a disadvantage.

Glendening fixes that
 
SnizzMitch said:
Without Tavares, we don’t make the playoffs this year, especially with the way Matthews is playing recently..
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Leafs made the playoffs last year with Bozak as the #2/3 centre. I swear Tavares' Legend grows everyday in Leaf land - remind me again what has Tavares actually won ?
 
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LEAFANFORLIFE23 said:
and that is why unlike some I DO want Glendening so that Lindholm at Goat don't play.

Ennis Glendening Brown perfect 4th line
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That 4th line we can fill cheap with a good player in the offseason rather than paying Glendening 2 mill when we’re already bleeding in the cap department

Usually 4th line quality UFAs are available and you might even find a vet who wants a cup shot come in dirt cheap.

Just duct tape it through the playoffs. Please no more knee jerk reactions like signing that Matthews deal. No reason that couldn’t wait if that was Matthews best price. An offer sheet would be almost impossible for a team to realistically facilitate and come out ahead.

You can’t just think of this season and I especially wouldn’t because there’s too many holes on the team keeping them from true contention. Plus there’s many other better teams even Tampa within our own division, then there’s always Boston this year. Making the leafs clear cut best would literally gut the future.

Just ride it out in the playoffs and see what happens maybe they get lucky. I doubt many predicted Pits the first year they won
 
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Leafs87 said:
That 4th line we can fill cheap with a good player in the offseason rather than paying Glendening 2 mill when we’re already bleeding in the cap department

Usually 4th line quality UFAs are available and you might even find a vet who wants a cup shot come in dirt cheap.

Just duct tape it through the playoffs. Please no more knee jerk reactions like signing that Matthews deal. No reason that couldn’t wait if that was Matthews best price. An offer sheet would be almost impossible for a team to realistically facilitate and come out ahead.

You can’t just think of this season and I especially wouldn’t because there’s too many holes on the team keeping them from true contention. Plus there’s many other better teams even Tampa within our own division, then there’s always Boston this year. Making the leafs clear cut best would literally gut the future.

Just ride it out in the playoffs and see what happens maybe they get lucky. I doubt many predicted Pits the first year they won
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That's the thing as far as the east goes there aren't nany better teams there is Toronto and Tampa and that's pretty much it.

As far as the west goes there isn't a team I don't think they Can't beat.

Tampa, Tampa is the obstacle
 
Why are people suggesting they're going to trade Nylander to get kapanen or Johansson? That's not going to happen. If they have to depart with when of those guys, so be it. Every top team in the league has to depart with guys they don't want to. Such is life under the salary cap.
 
hotpaws said:
we make the playoffs and make them easily without Tavares just like we did last year without him

lets not start ****ting on the team like the Islanders fans did for a decade to make JT's light shine brighter , JT's having a very good year but he's still been only our 3rd best forward
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JT has been the best forward. Most consistent and brings it every game. Only a blind person would think differently.
 
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Everyteam plays the game to win besides tanking teams and they tryed to curb that with lottery picks. We lost to a team that is trying to win. This happens the sky's not falling.
 
You guys kill me. So we rushed the rebuild....and a few years back it was being said Toronto fans could not handle a rebuild. The irony!!

Leafs are fine. You guys like to reach for straws and throw arrows at guys. If anything, this team was devoid of medium to lower round successes in the draft from previous regimes. Sure we had Reily, Kadri and Nylander but what else? JVR for Schenn?

This takes time. Once Dermott takes another step and Sandin and Lilly progress a little further we are what we are. A very very strong centre and forward core and a little weak on the back end. Zaitsev should not be on the ice under a couple of mins in a game and that was evident in Montreal. Dubas will have to find a home for him as well as making the d-core better. Other than that....this is our team and I think they can win a cup in the near future. They have to grow now and become playoff tested.
 
Notsince67 said:
JT has been the best forward. Most consistent and brings it every game. Only a blind person would think differently.
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I agree. Some people seem to lack the insight of what a quality veteran player can bring to this team. Marriner has been great but JT has gotten to spots where a play can be made, like Saturday night. JT was a great add.
 
Notsince67 said:
JT has been the best forward. Most consistent and brings it every game. Only a blind person would think differently.
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only a blind person doesn't see who's driving that line and creating the majority of the scoring chances as well as the player who's above the puck in he O zone in a position of support if/when the puck turns over and goes the other way
 
daveleaf said:
I agree. Some people seem to lack the insight of what a quality veteran player can bring to this team. Marriner has been great but JT has gotten to spots where a play can be made, like Saturday night. JT was a great add.
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JT basically hangs around down low near the net like he always has while Marner creates the play , they benefit each other and that has nothing to do with JT being a vet .

the ot goal Sat night was created by Marner sucking two guys to him and opening ice for JT to be open when he drove the net , beauty shot but without Marner creating the play the goal doesn't happen
 
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Throw More Waffles said:
I screamed about this... SCREAMED about it... after the leafs 7 rookie team snuck into the playoffs. This was less than ONE year after we were told to "prepare for pain". I said that the rebuild WASN'T done. That we needed to improve our defensive prospect depth. But that MLSE wouldn't be able to control themselves and the rebuild would be over. And then (OF COURSE) the Marleau contract was signed, sealing our fate.

MLSE will never be able to not see the short term playoff profit margin. It will never go away. EVER.

And now we got too good too quickly, inflating our young players stats, making them sign for unprecedented numbers. This rebuild got royally ****ed up. Most leaf fans won't accept it yet. We've already been through so much, and they just can't accpet it. But they will. We pay unproven players far FAR too much money right now, and we won't be able to acquire the depth to make deep playoff runs.
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I have to agree with this. If Matthews is worth 11.63 million now how much is he going to be worth if he actually wins a trophy or two over the next 5 years? 16? 18? 20? Matthews will not be a Leaf at the of his contract. Anybody who says this is a team friendly deal and not massive over pay on the part of Dubas is delusional.
 
Matthews34 said:
I have to agree with this. If Matthews is worth 11.63 million now how much is he going to be worth if he actually wins a trophy or two over the next 5 years? 16? 18? 20? Matthews will not be a Leaf at the of his contract. Anybody who says this is a team friendly deal and not massive over pay on the part of Dubas is delusional.
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I think Matthews is gone to Arizona after this deal. But, hey at least we'll have an old and overpaid Tavares. /s
 
There is no overpay or underpay. He paid him what he had to pay him. Trying to lowball your potential franchise Centre is not a good tactic.

Not sure why everyone thinks they know better and could have negotiated a better deal.
 
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LEAFANFORLIFE23 said:
That's the thing as far as the east goes there aren't nany better teams there is Toronto and Tampa and that's pretty much it.

As far as the west goes there isn't a team I don't think they Can't beat.

Tampa, Tampa is the obstacle
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Tampa is better. They’re almost like a better version of us. Although when our stars mature I think we can go toe to toe.

Boston and Washington are a diffiuclt matchup for Toronto too
 
Serious question. If you were playing a game like NHL 15 when the Leafs fully bottomed out and you looked at that roster the day you opened the game in September 2014 and then compared it to the roster currently in NHL 19, how many people would be upset with that? It's basically a 4.5 year difference so I'd say a 5 year plan worked out so far. Also, I don't believe "rushing" a rebuild is how it workd when it puts a team in a clear 5+ year championship window. I'm going to have to disagree with the OP.
 
Sherpaderp said:
Why are people suggesting they're going to trade Nylander to get kapanen or Johansson? That's not going to happen. If they have to depart with when of those guys, so be it. Every top team in the league has to depart with guys they don't want to. Such is life under the salary cap.
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It's not going to happen.
 
Leafs just need to complete the build. It’s not rushed but not finished IMO.

You build down the middle, on D and in goal.

Currently:

Down the middle (success)
Matthews
Tavares
Kadri
4C Lindholm/Goat/Glendening? it’s good

D (weak on the right side, ability to shut down opponent cycle and withstand physical element in question).

Left D
Rielly
Muzzin
Gardiner
Dermott
Hainsey

Right D
Zaitsev
Oz

Goal (success)
Andersen

Wingers (good blend of skill, aggression, forecheck, physical, speed is lacking).
Too many passive or white collar wingers.
Marleau,Nylander,Marner,Johnsson,Kapanen.
While some do their best to forecheck, they are much too light, easily knocked around and beaten in puck battles down low and on the wall. 1 or 2 need to change. Missing blue collar, hard ahead drivers.

Support in Hyman/Brown/Moore is fine.
 
The only thing we should have done last was trade jvr and bozak.

To me we werent ready for the playoffs.

Could have used those assets to grab a dman.
 
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I for one miss the days of being a borderline bubble team and trying to figure out the cap problems.. should’ve tried harder to keep guys like Clarkson and bolland at 5+
 
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