The corollary of this Imo is that winning a cup is multifaceted. Luck or a hot goalie can do it. Building a team that can win a few cups in a decade, that's a different story.
I suppose I am pretty happy with this team yes or at least I am not convinced that not winning yet means you will never win, and I definitely do not believe that a trade for Playoff Success in exchange for any or all of our stars is available or possible. but my point was that describing e.g. Keefe continuing to grow as a coach or whatever as a sign of what a mess the team has become lacks perspective, as if barely 10 years ago ours was not the worst-run organisation in the league and seemed almost proud of that reputation. anyway
I think it makes sense to judge overall performance and I think playoff performance should carry more weight so yes, when playoff performance drops that has a substantial impact on the overall grade.
Supposedly McDavid took less, maybe not that much less though I don't really know. I wouldn't say those contracts are crippling though, the Matthews contract isn't even that bad and IMO it's Marners contract that stands out like a sore thumb.The corollary of this Imo is that winning a cup is multifaceted. Luck or a hot goalie can do it. Building a team that can win a few cups in a decade, that's a different story.
That said if we say Matthews is crippling our chances by taking so much money, the same should be said about mcdavid, for the record I don't know if you've said this, just putting it out there as it seems to flow with your points. Aside from Stamkos I cannot think of a star player that took less in fa.
I would say we are a better built team than the oilers. People say we are top heavy, but I think it's pretty close, mcdavid draisaitl rnh Kane and Hyman, but our defense is better and our tenders too.
Sorry if I hijacked your post Gary
Discloser: this is a post pub post and ppp's are notoriously sloppy
Its interesting, I took a look at their 3 year stats and McDavid/Draisaitl are much closer to - even above- their regular season in that sample.
It goes to competitive advantage. If Matthews (and Marner) are paid fair value but every other team can get their star players for less than their fair value, it is a disadvantage for the Leafs in a cap league. Yes his contract is probably going to be fine, but that's still not quite good enough when comparable players are leaving more on the table and signing for longer
I'm not convinced either, but I do worry that that might be the case. Dont know if you remember but there's a poster here who pointed to the way we played in JT's return to Long Island and said that that game showed that this team doesn't have what it takes. I have to say I think back to that from time to time and often think that he's probably right. When the going gets tough, this team has folded so often and while I'll optimistically leave the door open and say maybe this team can win, it's hard to see it happening at this point and I fear that guy had it right all along. Do you remember that game? It was incredibly embarrassing the way we played after all the hullabaloo surrounding JT's signing. It was a playoff atmosphere and the kind of game where you show JT what this team is all about, make him confident that taking all the hate from NYI fans was worth it, that this is a special team that he's now a part of. Instead we played like a team that has no spine and the stink of that performance has never really gone away.
I'm too lazy to do the math but someone else did not long ago for a few top players and the drop-off for M&M was huge compared to the others. Draisaitl, I believe his production has even gone up in the playoffs and not just up a little bit either. I wish we had a player like that, it's so frustrating to keep having good regular seasons and then getting out-goalied year after no matter what goalies we face.
I ran the numbers quick, so youre welcome to double check, but it seemed like Draisaitl was more consistent than McDavid. Even with the drop this year and heavy PP production, I thought McDavid's playoffs was fine this year and its tough to fault that type of production either way.
lol I'll agree with you on this one notbiased.
It's also the way they're coached.
97 and 29 only because shifting Drai to the wing is a way easier fix.
Truth is, McDavid has worked on his goal scoring to the point where he won the Rocket and surpassed Matty's 60 goals. Now we wait to see if Matty has another 50-60 goal season in him because you can bet McDavid might hit 70 next year.
Yup Matty is one of the best goal scorers to play the game but McDavid has passed him by IMO. Let's see if this past year for Matty was an anomaly or he reverts back to the 50+ goal scorer he has been. My guess is McDavid puts up 50+ g and 90+ assists for the next few years if he remains healthy. This guy may not have reached his ceiling and that is one scary thought. As much as I hate the Oil for stealing 99 and lucking into 97, it would not piss me off to see 97 hoist the SC.
