Please Grade Dubas on today's Free Agent Pickups.

[rumman]

Only the ones who do not want to see it or are being paid to do damage control won't admit it. So sad where we are after the caps series.

Pretty much. No money to even entice players to join the gong show.

 

[Twine Tickler]

Honestly I think he gets an A for this. to me it is not just the players he brought in, but more so the resisting the pressure to shoot from the hip and sign a bad deal for a player on their back 9.

As much as we love Hyman, and the thought of him on any other team still makes me weep, it was the right call to move on.

Our team on paper is going to be worse than it was last year no question. But there is a lot of unknowns that potentially could pay huge dividends. Robertson could easily score 30 goals if he plays in the top 6. He could also be dogshit and get sent down. The one thing we know is that we still have very high end talent, we didn't need any more of that in UFA. Bringing in a big name UFA at a ridiculous cost would only hurt us in the years that follow. Next offseason we have Timmy, Sandin, Mo, and Jack up for renewal. All of which will likely be playing at a level this upcoming season that exceeds their current cap hit. Signing coleman to 4.9AAV, or Shwartz to 5.5AAV, or Saad at 4.5AAV, or resigning Hyman...etc are deals that would further complicate the ability to get those players resigned if we chose to do so. It may not have been a sexy "July 1st", but it was 100% the right call. And not the type of long term foresight that you'd expect from a GM who is on the hot seat.

Bunting could easily generate the same production as the Coleman, Schwartz and Saad, yet he comes at a fraction of the cost

Kampf is the exact player we have needed for years. The AAV is likely 250k higher than where it should be. But he fills a whole we have had for years, so beit.

Mrazek is the ideal tandem goalie for Jack. He will split the load like he has done his whole career, and will likely mean jack plays 45games or so. Hard to imagine Jack will see a huge pay day next year for only playing 45 games.

Kyle's moves didn't necessarily make our roster better than it was a year ago, but it wont handcuff us in the years that follow. I think that deserves a ton of credit, because most GM's in his spot would be throwing a hail mary and eventually f*** us.

so far I am ok with what has happened personally.

 

[AvroArrow]

We don't have a top 6 LW. F

 

[Muston Atthews]

Considering the deals for Saad and Hoffman, Kyle did a shit job on the forward core

 

[The CyNick]

Can't get into Harvard Law with those grades.

 

[janesy12]

Wasn't watching what other teams did yesterday but heard that Bruins signed Ullmark, foligno nosek and haula. We lost Hyman and signed scrubs. SMFH.

Also re-signed Hall to a very nice contract, and all signs point to Krejci being re-signed to a fair deal as well.
Florida added an excellent player in Reinhart.
Tampa lost some key guys, but will have no problems making the playoffs.

We'll be in a battle to make the playoffs IMO.

 

[Mickey Marner]

A preemptive 'C', I guess. Our roster looks worse and several teams we're competing with for a playoff spot improved. Maybe he has a rabbit up his sleeve, but I think his strategy of running back the same team and expecting a different is Pejorative Slured.

 

[Phion Keneuf]

Solid B on signings. Would’ve loved to see a trade to get a top 6 LW though.

 

[janesy12]

We don't have a top 6 LW. F

Our best LW right now is Alex f***ing Kerfoot.
He's scored at a 34 point pace since arriving in Toronto.

Our other LW options are
- a 19 year old rookie
- a 25 year old with 26 total NHL GP, had some great numbers in his rookie season, while shooting at a ridiculous 25+% pace. That will obviously fall.
- a 6'5" winger with 90 total NHL GP and who has scored at about a 24 point pace in his first 2 seasons.
- a 26 year old with 93 total NHL GP who has scored at a 48 point pace in his first season, and has fallen completely off the tracks since cutting his wrist on a skate. Scoring at a 26 point pace last season.

I don't see any Art Ross candidates there.
The team got worse, whatever way you want to look at it.

 

[T_Cage]

Solid C, he didn’t fail, but he didn’t succeed either

bunting signing was good….kampf was meh, Marek was too much money for a meh goalie. And can’t complain about the 750k guys cause we can bury whoever doesn’t make it

still need a 2LW

 

[darrylsittler27]

This team isn't as good as last year's.

 

[LaPlante94]

Hard to give a fair grade. Made some good signings to help out the depth which is what we needed most. I'm assuming if we keep Kerfoot we're gonna be putting him at LW in our top 6 100% with Kampf becoming the 3C. Tbh though, that Ho-Sang PTO if it works out could make this a pretty damn good offseason. Then there's still guys out there like Ritchie, Tatar, Galchenyuk, Kase, Gusev and a few others I could name but idk if they'd sign as cheap as we'd need them to sign for.

 

[FreeBird]

This team isn't as good as last year's.

Go back three years and check the roster compared to now

 

[Metal God]

D only cause he filled most of the players that left, and Bunting.

 

[Trapper]

How can you properly grade Dubas without seeing what is going to happen.
The guy is searching desperately for 1 million dollar guys to brace his team of 4 guys taking half the Cap. We have no idea how it will look.

The biggest move will be the goalie.

 

[rumman]

Can't get into Harvard Law with those grades.

But Brock will take you………

 

[Wafflewhipper]

$13,000,000 in our forward contracts after the big 4 lol. What a joke. $850,000 cap space left wow. He better think about changing his Moto to can’t & Wont. That’s 10 contracts including Kerfoots $3,500,000.

 

[2 Slick]

You know your forward depth is really thin when your secondary scoring is supposed to come from guys like Mikheyev, Simmonds, Kerfoot, Spezza, Bunting and a few other plugs. The top 4 will put up big points, but they can't do nothing in the playoffs. I've watched them try for half a decade now and it's been nothing but a comical mess.

They find new ways to lose in sheer epic embarrassing fashion year after year. Up 3 games to 2 against Boston, lost, facing a garbage team in Columbus in the qualifying round, choked, up 3 games to 1 against a bottom feeding Montreal, managed to lose games in new humiliating ways unseen before.

Nothing has been changed. Same top 4 D, same goaltending to a lesser extent, same top 4 forwards, no Hyman, bunch of plugs for the rest of our forwards. I like Spezza and Kerfoot, but they aren't game changers.

Boston got even better, other teams around us improved big time. Toronto will absolutely struggle to even make the playoffs.

Their powerplay was garbage too. I don't see that changing with the same powerplay coach and same core group.

I'm not excited for this upcoming season one single bit. Not because I am a naysayer, but because I've been tricked for way too many years now. My eyes are wide open. This group will not be doing anything different than the status quo that they are.

Gets a massive D from me.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

I built a better team at the mock trade deadline eating gummies and drinking beer haha

 

[Donnie740]

How can you properly grade Dubas without seeing what is going to happen.
The guy is searching desperately for 1 million dollar guys to brace his team of 4 guys taking half the Cap. We have no idea how it will look.

The biggest move will be the goalie.

The same way I could point out the Tavares signing was a catastrophic mistake the moment it was announced.

Dubas has made the same foolish error again this year, locking up a mediocre back up goalie for three years at $3.8m per.

I can tell you right now that $3.8m boat anchor is going to prevent them from keeping Reilly or bring in a comparable defenceman to replace him.

 

[Macallan18]

Hyman, Bogo, Foligno, Andersen out. Hard to say we’re better with what we brought in. Net negative.

Devil's advocate here (the crazy optimist as my wife says)
Hyman, yes a loss, but crazy pricing, glad we didn't chase him. The fact Edmonton is paying him these dollars says it all.
Bogo.... bottom pairing defenceman, easily replaceable. He doesn't move the needle at all.
Foligno.... seriously? WTF did he do for us? How losing a big fat zero a loss? I hated this trade when we made it, hate it more now, what a waste of draft picks. I wanted Hall who was cheap. Typical blow your brains out on the last day of trades, same way teams blow their brains out on FA day, like Edmonton.
Andersen... a complete disaster, and probably going downhill from there, and clearly has more than physical injury issues.
on the positive side
Bunting....big improvement over an ailing, old injury prone Foligno. Could be the bargain of FA day
Mrazek.....big improvement over Andersen and cheaper, like this a lot, and he is really our backup, Campbell is fine as a starter
Bogo.... just not that hard to replace, Lilly could easily be better, Menell will challenge for the spot as well
Kampf is a solid addition, a real shutdown centre for the 3/4 lines, that penalty kills and takes faceoffs, something we lacked

I suspect everyone is still pissed at our first round loss the the Habs and expecting a miracle fix on FA day. That can only fixed with tweaks, because it makes no sense to gut our top 4.

 

[NJG]

Without moving one of the big 4 or a guy like Rielly (which Dubas made clear he wasn't doing) there was pretty much nothing Dubas could do with UFAs to actually make a meaningful change bar trading Kerfoot too.

I don't get why he isn't shopping Rielly... He has one more year left before you can't afford to re-sign him unless you move out a bigger contract... So why not trade him now before another Hyman situation happens.

 

[Macallan18]

I built a better team at the mock trade deadline eating gummies and drinking beer haha

enhanced gummies?

 

[TMLAM34]

Does anyone else find it a little weird how all the players we lost aside from Freddy played with heart and passion? Hyman, Bogosian, Foligno, even Galchenyuk?

I wonder if that says something about this core group where players who play the game the right way end up leaving a core that is supposedly suppose to be one of the best in Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares.

 

[TMLAM34]

I don't get why he isn't shopping Rielly... He has one more year left before you can't afford to re-sign him unless you move out a bigger contract... So why not trade him now before another Hyman situation happens.

Well we’ve already let guys like JVR, Bozak, Gardiner and now Hyman walk for no return, why not add Rielly to the list?!