Official 2023 Anti-Leafs Thread

[The Waffler]

Not a big Dubas hater here, but these are the days I wish I still had Twitter.

 

[discostu]

The Leafs are such an endless source of entertainment.

I genuinely don't know what the thought process was with keeping Dubas around this past season if they didn't have a concrete plan on what to do in a scenario like this, when they were facing a critical offseason.

I know they didn't want to reward a lack of results with an extension, but, you can't leave yourself your GM without a contract and assume he'll just resign if you decide to keep him.

I've never figured out what role Shanahan plays, but I'd presume its his job to maybe prevent this type of thing.

 

[DJB]

And thus ends the saga of the most overrated GM in league history

Gifted two franchise players along with unlimited assets and funds, only to lose sight of how to win in the playoffs

I said it for years in here you don’t win with a buttery soft top 6, weak D and questions in goal come Cup time like the way Dubas built the Leafs

I’m sad he’s gone because I know nothing would have changed had he stayed

 

[Senscore]

The Leafs are such an endless source of entertainment.

I genuinely don't know what the thought process was with keeping Dubas around this past season if they didn't have a concrete plan on what to do in a scenario like this, when they were facing a critical offseason.

I know they didn't want to reward a lack of results with an extension, but, you can't leave yourself your GM without a contract and assume he'll just resign if you decide to keep him.

I've never figured out what role Shanahan plays, but I'd presume its his job to maybe prevent this type of thing.

Seems they were moving forward with bringing Dubas back until he asked for a raise.

Then Shanny blew a gasket and sacked Dubas, because ultimately this is his show. He's now made that abundantly clear.

 

[Six Assets]

spezza resigned. Absolutely need to bring him into the fold.

 

[Adrianopolous]

Haha little bi*** Spezza

spezza resigned. Absolutely need to bring him into the fold.

Absolutely not. Keep that clown out of here

 

[Union2017]

Spezza quit while he was the captain of the Sens. Then played for the Leafs and then joined their mgmt group. No thanks, I don’t want him in our organization. There’s plenty of fish in the sea.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

Spezza quit while he was the captain of the Sens. Then played for the Leafs and then joined their mgmt group. No thanks, I don’t want him in our organization. There’s plenty of fish in the sea.

Spezza didn't "quit". Sens fans stupidly made him a scapegoat because he wasn't a Selke nominee, which led Murray to trade him for a pile of nothing.

 

[otown]

spezza resigned. Absolutely need to bring him into the fold.

Spezza will either wait until Shanahan is sacked or follow Dubas to his new destination. One thing for sure, Spezza knows the inside scoop of what went down.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Spezza will either wait until Shanahan is sacked or follow Dubas to his new destination. One thing for sure, Spezza knows the inside scoop of what went down.

Big bully Shanny getting ready for big decisions. I also figure Dubas didn't want to break the core he made. The money said there must be sweeping changes.

 

[Union2017]

Spezza didn't "quit". Sens fans stupidly made him a scapegoat because he wasn't a Selke nominee, which led Murray to trade him for a pile of nothing.

I believe you are wrong. Here’s TSN’s Ian Mendez piece (and I believe he’s a bit more well informed than the both of us):

“So, all of this brings us to Jason Spezza's decision to ask for a trade last spring. On the surface, it's easy to lump Spezza in with some of the other controversial exits from this city. After all, he was the captain of the team for less than a calendar year when he asked Bryan Murray to be traded to another organization.”

Spezza's departure was rare mutual breakup - TSN.ca

With Jason Spezza returning to Ottawa tonight, there isn't that sense of pent-up frustration and anger from the fan base that we saw when Dany Heatley came back to town. Or even the swirling mixed emotions when Daniel Alfredsson rolled back in wearing a Red Wings jersey. Those departures were...

www.tsn.ca

We traded him, yes, but he asked for it and then later on chose to go to TML and not to Ottawa. He made his bed and I don’t want him back ever. No one player is more important than our team.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

I believe you are wrong. Here’s TSN’s Ian Mendez piece (and I believe he’s a bit more well informed than the both of us):

“So, all of this brings us to Jason Spezza's decision to ask for a trade last spring. On the surface, it's easy to lump Spezza in with some of the other controversial exits from this city. After all, he was the captain of the team for less than a calendar year when he asked Bryan Murray to be traded to another organization.”

Spezza's departure was rare mutual breakup - TSN.ca

With Jason Spezza returning to Ottawa tonight, there isn't that sense of pent-up frustration and anger from the fan base that we saw when Dany Heatley came back to town. Or even the swirling mixed emotions when Daniel Alfredsson rolled back in wearing a Red Wings jersey. Those departures were...

www.tsn.ca

We traded him, yes, but he asked for it and then later on chose to go to TML and not to Ottawa. He made his bed and I don’t want him back ever. No one player is more important than our team.

Spezza only asked to leave due to not being respected enough from fans

 

[Micklebot]

I believe you are wrong. Here’s TSN’s Ian Mendez piece (and I believe he’s a bit more well informed than the both of us):

“So, all of this brings us to Jason Spezza's decision to ask for a trade last spring. On the surface, it's easy to lump Spezza in with some of the other controversial exits from this city. After all, he was the captain of the team for less than a calendar year when he asked Bryan Murray to be traded to another organization.”

Spezza's departure was rare mutual breakup - TSN.ca

With Jason Spezza returning to Ottawa tonight, there isn't that sense of pent-up frustration and anger from the fan base that we saw when Dany Heatley came back to town. Or even the swirling mixed emotions when Daniel Alfredsson rolled back in wearing a Red Wings jersey. Those departures were...

www.tsn.ca

We traded him, yes, but he asked for it and then later on chose to go to TML and not to Ottawa. He made his bed and I don’t want him back ever. No one player is more important than our team.

That's lacking a lot of context.

He was 31 and didn't want to go through a rebuild at that stage in his career, and told Murray that if they were going for it, he wanted to be a part of it, but if they were going to rebuild, it was best to move him.

When he signed in Toronto, once again, he was at the absolute tail end of his career, and we were a mess. His decision was between being a mentor for some developing kids, unlikely to ever play in the playoffs again, or go to his hometown and play out his career with a legit shot at the cup.

Tough choice, I know, but he decided to go close to home and have a shot at a ring.

 

[Union2017]

Spezza only asked to leave due to not being respected enough from fans

Couldn’t care less. He was our captain, he chose to leave and then became the Leafs player and part of their management group. I have nothing against Spezza, like his personality and think he is a great guy, but he is not bleeding the Sens colours. Alfie was not respected either for a while. Respect is not granted, it’s earned. Maybe if he played with more heart and blocked a shot or two (like he did once he started wearing Blue and White), fans would respect him more. On top of that , he knew what he accepted by firstly being a professional athlete and then becoming a captain of our team.

That's lacking a lot of context.

He was 31 and didn't want to go through a rebuild at that stage in his career, and told Murray that if they were going for it, he wanted to be a part of it, but if they were going to rebuild, it was best to move him.

When he signed in Toronto, once again, he was at the absolute tail end of his career, and we were a mess. His decision was between being a mentor for some developing kids, unlikely to ever play in the playoffs again, or go to his hometown and play out his career with a legit shot at the cup.

Tough choice, I know, but he decided to go close to home and have a shot at a ring.

All good and I respect his choice. No hard feelings at all, honestly. And I understand all of that. However, he is not the Sens figure in my eyes. We have Alfie, Phillips or Neil for example.

 

[Micklebot]

All good and I respect his choice. No hard feelings at all, honestly. And I understand all of that. However, he is not the Sens figure in my eyes. We have Alfie, Phillips or Neil for example.

I don't need him to be "the sens figure", what he is, is a good hockey mind that can help any org he's with. I'm very sure he will be a very good GM for some team down the road, if along the way he does a stop here with us, it's to our benefit.

 

[bicboi64]

I never got the notion of Spezza thinking this team was about to rebuild.

The core was signed. Ryan, Turris, EK, etc... with cheap elc deals on the horizon, and signings like MacArthur made recently to ice a competitive team. If he thought he couldn't get paid fairly for his next deal because of Melnyk, that's valid, but the notion that we'd rebuild because of an underachieving year never made sense. Its part of why I was bitter about him telling Murray "if we rebuild I'm out". What indication was there that the team would rebuild. Just looks more and more that he didn't want to deal with the pressure of captaining Ottawa