Speculation: New GM if We Change Direction

[justashadowof]

A new GM could just as easily leave the high end talent alone to start. Opportunities to move high end players for the right returns may not be there this summer.

 

[EK392000]

no they didn't , Sid/Geno make 18m combined and they don't have a third player making 9m unlike the Leafs who have 3 forwards making over 33m

also Tavares is no where near the player that Sid and Geno are

I never said Tavares was better than Geno or Sid. All I said was the roster make up is similar.

That Pens team had four main offensive weapons (Sid, Geno, Guentzel, Kessel), a blue line with only one household name (Letang), and got great goaltending from Murray. Does any of that sound familiar?

 

[Garthinater]

I really do trust Dubas more than any other GM in this league.

Dubad inherited a 105 point team with 2 of the best rfas in the league.

After 3 years we have zero success while being right against the cap and with very few draft picks coming up.

Where does this misplaced trust stem from?

 

[Garthinater]

It's shocking how many are so attached to a proven failure of a gm.

Dubas started out as a player agent but had to quit due to his players switching to different agents.

He then inherits a 105 point team (franchise record) with 2 of the best rfas in the league and loads of cap space.

Fast forward and we still have yet to win a single series.

Compare that to lou who went over to a terrible islanders team and has won at least a round every single year.

I thought after we lost in 2019 that the dubas love would fade but after 2 more losses it is becoming ever more clear that some are not even leaf fans but instead are dubas fans.

 

[nuck]

Dubas IMHO assembled a fantastic team and addressed all the "issues" and deficiencies from last year. This was one of the best Leafs teams I have ever seen, I would go as far as to say the D was as good as the Rouse/Macoun/Ellet/Gill/Lefebvre days. That aside, if Dubas did a great job assembling the team, who is responsible for not executing? Coach/players or both?

If you assemble the team with the right pieces they can win. If you guess wrong about what the right pieces are then you don't win, so it is on the GM as much as the players. He assembled a good looking team that couldn't do it, so was it actually a fantastic team? You can't suck and blow at the same time so I think Dubas can't get a free pass. He had to see what was going on the same as we did, but the club stuck to its tailspin right to the end.

We blamed first round failures on the previous coach but the roster had more to do with it then some admitted. However Babcock losing to the favored 3rd and 4th overall Bruins with an assist from Kadri is not at all the same as Keefe getting choked out by the #18 Habs. If I have to select the goat here it clearly seems to be Keefe. I believe he overplayed his top guys until they were gassed when needed most. His failure to adapt a strategy that wasn't working compounded the problem and he rode the ship down, unable to defend against a popgun offense.

I like this lineup and but for the JT injury they should have gotten out of the division. Whether Dubas top heavy team build can ever succeed is still a legitimate question and this is his core and Keefe is his guy so the idea that this regular season secures his job doesn't sit well with me. However this first round fail is on the coach, and Gallant or Tortorella or Babcock or Carlyle would have not have gone out like this. So I agree with you a little bit, but the question was, if a new GM....?

So if a new GM is brought in to enjoy the fruits of KD's labor, Futa, or more likely MacFarland from Colorado. Drury perhaps from the Rags. None of them will reinvent the wheel, nothing will be blown up, and if they think the core needs to be tweaked they will do so with no concern as to Dubas loyalty or relationships with the players.

 

[17 Clark]

marner should be gone for like a dozen reasons.

Careful his daddy or lover club does not attack you lmao

 

[HoweHullOrr]

I believe they're all modified with Brodie's being the only backloaded deal. Mo and Muzz are both $3m/yr for the remainder of their contracts (averaged)

So really it looks like a lot of flexibility. I don't doubt the team planned for growth like most people, but there's some options they built in as protection

Muzzin & Brodie have NMC according to CapFriendly.

Toronto Maple Leafs - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

 

[Gallagbi]

Muzzin & Brodie have NMC according to CapFriendly.

Toronto Maple Leafs - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

The NMC ends this year for both, but it doesn't look like their NTC opens up for a few years. I misread that originally

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Maple Leafs autopsy thoughts: Where did it go wrong and what's next? - Sportsnet.ca

This is a decent article. Reading it about the PP makes me wonder if we should replace Keefe and not Manny.

Yes good article with some reasonable ideas. Thanks for sharing.

 

[horner]

They added the wrong kind of grit IMO.
We need grit like Gallagher, tkachuk, etc

Perry and Bennet
I said it before the deadline.
They are always crashing the net and pissing players off.
Perry always gets away with crap.


The coach needs to take some blame here and Dubas .
They never changed there game.
Dump and chase there dman had fresh legs .
Montreal new exactly what we were doing.
We always try to do something fancy with the puck .
3 goals scored on fancy plays .
The playoffs are about the safe play.
Engvall And Mik should be a straight line player dump and chase and hit.

 

[nuck]

If there is a move it should be one of these guys.

The top rising candidates for NHL coach, GM jobs

The top rising candidates for NHL coach, GM jobs

 

[Myopic]

Dubas inherited a 105 point team with 2 of the best rfas in the league.

After 4 years we have zero success while being right against the cap and with very few draft picks coming up.

Where does this misplaced trust stem from?

LOL...It's amazing how these dopes are still defending Dubas. He's basically bankrupted this team while putting his trust in a core that doesn't have what it takes MENTALLY to win. They don't have the ability to play consistently in playoff hockey and ALWAYS wilt under pressure.

The playoffs are a different style of hockey where the WILL to grind it out on every shift is hard as hell to do.

My god, how many more years do you all need to see this? smh

 

[ULF_55]

The core needs more balance.

Marner is paid franchise money and isn’t a natural goal scorer. Apparently doesn’t learn either because every year it’s the same excuse. Not ready, not motivated, whatever.

I’ll take less assists, less dangle, more goals, harder to play against. Nylander is a 30/30 guy at 7 million. We need to move on from Marner and find another Nylander. Like a Connor in Winnipeg. Around 6 mil. That gives us better balance up front and opens more cash for balance down the lineup.

That’s where we should start. Why am I to believe that next year against a stronger team these guys are just going to get it? They keep not getting it over and over.

I am in agreement there.

The return on marner could be a difference maker.

Matthews is a sniper, and decent center, he doesn't need an elite winger to get him goals, when they already have someone who passes as well as Nylander in the line-up.

Nylander seemed to drive the lines he was on during the playoffs, without Tavares. He took the step forward, had people saying good things about Kerfoot. ;-)

For spitballing I suggested someone like Elias Lindholm from Calgary, center/winger whatever you want him to play.
Doesn't have to be him, but someone who has a very good game. (Some talking heads thought he was the Flames best player this year).

And that leaves money to bring in other pieces, although I think replacing Rielly is the second goal. Maybe not moving him, but moving him down.

 

[Arzak]

So if a John Tavares caliber center was available this off-season for $11 million, you'd sign him?

he the best UFA in what the last 25 years? You can see players going UFA. C of his caliber in nowhere.

as a thought experiment I guess you would have to. Keep the best out of 3, ship remaining before his NMC kicks in.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

If there is a move it should be one of these guys.

The top rising candidates for NHL coach, GM jobs

The top rising candidates for NHL coach, GM jobs

Trevor Georgie and Ryan Hardy are Dubas-lite kind of guys, but I don't know how well they would perform in a league with parity. Both benefit from a ton of resources and top prospects going out of their way to play for them (i.e. Josh Lawrence and Peter Reynolds were top 5 talents that Saint John was able to get at 15 and 21 respectively because they would only play for their hometown team; Chicago has a lot of those cases as well with a super rich owner, and you can just see what happened with Greg Moore with the Marlies to know that doing well in Chicago =/= doing well in the pros).

Dubas did not have those same kind of resources and privileges in the Soo. In fact, players somewhat ignored the Soo because they weren't a great team and they were not exactly in the really fancy and desirable locations that some guys want (i.e. GTA or Southern Ontario). That is why Dubas receives a lot of praise.

 

[Jozay]

Someone with experience but not a f***ing dinosaur

 

[Gallagbi]

Perry and Bennet
I said it before the deadline.
They are always crashing the net and pissing players off.
Perry always gets away with crap.


The coach needs to take some blame here and Dubas .
They never changed there game.
Dump and chase there dman had fresh legs .
Montreal new exactly what we were doing.
We always try to do something fancy with the puck .
3 goals scored on fancy plays .
The playoffs are about the safe play.
Engvall And Mik should be a straight line player dump and chase and hit.

Mik and Engvall were that. They rarely if ever focused on making skill plays. Most of the time their line was focus on getting pucks deep and getting on their D.

 

[67leafs]

Mik and Engvall were that. They rarely if ever focused on making skill plays. Most of the time their line was focus on getting pucks deep and getting on their D.

How’d that work out for them?

 

[Gallagbi]

How’d that work out for them?

I thought they were fine, can't think of a goal against they negatively impacted and they each had a hand in a goal for or two. Given both were projected for our 4th line, I don't have an issue with that

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Is Dumbas still gonna be GM? Didn’t catch the presser.

 

[ShaneFalco]

The core needs more balance.

Marner is paid franchise money and isn’t a natural goal scorer. Apparently doesn’t learn either because every year it’s the same excuse. Not ready, not motivated, whatever.

I’ll take less assists, less dangle, more goals, harder to play against. Nylander is a 30/30 guy at 7 million. We need to move on from Marner and find another Nylander. Like a Connor in Winnipeg. Around 6 mil. That gives us better balance up front and opens more cash for balance down the lineup.

That’s where we should start. Why am I to believe that next year against a stronger team these guys are just going to get it? They keep not getting it over and over.

Not only do they fail to get it, they fail to bring their best effort at crucial times

 

[Trapper]

Not only do they fail to get it, they fail to bring their best effort at crucial times

Trying to tell Leaf fans the core is the problem is like trying to tell the Mayor of Amity Island he has a shark problem.

 

[rumman]

No way to fit Petro in at 8.5+ without moving a significant piece. We should go after Hamilton and hope we can get him at a COVID discount.

Not a fan of Hamilton, doesn’t fit the cap either imo

 

[Boxscore]

Dubas will be here next season. /thread

This. He's going nowhere, unless the board fires Shanahan along with him.

 

[rumman]

Trying to tell Leaf fans the core is the problem is like trying to tell the Mayor of Amity Island he has a shark problem.

Perfect analogy Trapper.....