hotpaws
Registered User
- Nov 21, 2009
- 21,572
- 6,861
Every Leaf season begins with unbridled optimism, and the only thing that ends up spoiling the party is reality.
I think it pretty easy to see that we're entering year 7 of the current rebuild with a team that is still one of the weakest defensively and that finishes in the bottom 10 and has already handed out big raises to players that lead them to this level of results.
With 12 players and $50 mil locked in of $70 mil cap (or less) this would be a tight situation for a current competitive team to complete its roster with cheaper contracts and retain competitiveness filling 11 spots for Approx. $20 mil. Leafs are in this position with a team that is drafting 8th overall and according to advanced stats one of the worst performing teams, that surrenders among the most goals against and prone to collapse under pressure.
Sure its possible (and almost necessary) to replace Kulemin, Bolland and Raymond all UFAs with Ashton, Holland and D'Amigo on cheaper contracts to offset the leagues top contracts of Kessel and Phaneuf. However is that actually making the team better which is #1 priority or just the necessary moves to comply with the salary cap?
This is the key question isn't it.
It should be a very interesting off season , i don't believe Nonis survives another season if we don't make the playoffs .