Sad reality

[bodechek]

Let's face it, the majority of the core (namely Matthews, Marner and Nylander) are me first type of players. They don't give a damn about the team, it is all about how much money they can milk out of this team. Look at each and every one of them to grab more pieces of the pie (salary cap), making it more difficult to build a team. It is easy to judge skill, but not character. It is nice that the core four have skill, however, the past five years have proved that it take more than that for success in the Stanley Cup playoffs. You need more defence, role players (bottom two lines) and goalies. There is more to hockey than just scoring goals! Imagine for a moment if we still had other players on this team that the Leafs had to let go because of salary cap restraints. Had they been around, this team should of at least won a Stanley Cup by now. Until we have more players focused on a team concept, it will never happen.

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[ACC1224]

Let's face it, the majority of the core (namely Matthews, Marner and Nylander) are me first type of players. They don't give a damn about the team, it is all about how much money they can milk out of this team. Look at each and every one of them to grab more pieces of the pie (salary cap), making it more difficult to build a team. It is easy to judge skill, but not character. It is nice that the core four have skill, however, the past five years have proved that it take more than that for success in the Stanley Cup playoffs. You need more defence, role players (bottom two lines) and goalies. There is more to hockey than just scoring goals! Imagine for a moment if we still had other players on this team that the Leafs had to let go because of salary cap restraints. Had they been around, this team should of at least won a Stanley Cup by now. Until we have more players focused on a team concept, it will never happen.

Curious which players were let go because of the cap that if they had stayed they would have won a cup by now. Maybe they can get them back?

 

[pcruz]

Curious which players were let go because of the cap that if they had stayed they would have won a cup by now. Maybe they can get them back?

Hyman.

He's been the only true cap loss.

 

[ACC1224]

Hyman.

He's been the only true cap loss.

Good call, I would have liked him retained but wasn’t it the term that was the issue?

 

[Gabriel426]

Brown, Kap, AJ and Hyman definitely come to mind.

But that was expected even before they sign their post ELC deals. And to Dubas credits beside the odd COVID year, he did find good enough players to play with the core 4 on a very limited budget.

 

[Gallagbi]

Brown, Kap, AJ and Hyman definitely come to mind.

But that was expected even before they sign their post ELC deals. And to Dubas credits beside the odd COVID year, he did find good enough players to play with the core 4 on a very limited budget.

Kap and AJ seemed to be Covid related and truthfully both moves feel like a blessing now.

Hyman would have been great to kewp but i get term being an issue

 

[Gabriel426]

Kap and AJ seemed to be Covid related and truthfully both moves feel like a blessing now.

Hyman would have been great to kewp but i get term being an issue

Well, they might be better players if they stayed with the Leafs. The point I am trying to make has more to do with not having options to replace those players. Like when Kap and AJ left, who were the wingers that Leafs got to replace them?

Same with Brown even though Kap and AJ were coming up but they acted as JVR and Leo replacements.

 

[Arzak]

Tough call, all of them took as much as possible.
But why not? They saw Leafs paying a premium for JT.

It's madness to give 86 points, no hardware JT-11 and we called it a discount.

Bonus? We never had 1 C slot available for JT with Matthews on the team.
I saw teams overpay to fill the positions they need before, this was not it.


On a positive note, now we can compare Matthews 15x8 to JTs 11, and won't look that bad !!!

 

[Antropovsky]

Tough call, all of them took as much as possible.
But why not? They saw Leafs paying a premium for JT.

It's madness to give 86 points, no hardware JT-11 and we called it a discount.

Bonus? We never had 1 C slot available for JT with Matthews on the team.
I saw teams overpay to fill the positions they need before, this was not it.


On a positive note, now we can compare Matthews 15x8 to JTs 11, and won't look that bad !!!

Tavares was a finalist for the Hart trophy twice before the age of 25, plays center, was hyped as much as any 1st overall pick. Was Marner selected first overall? Was Marner a hart trophy finalist? A two time hart trophy finalist? Does he play center? Does he have good size? Tavares was a 27 year old UFA... UFAs contracts are typically higher. Anyone who had space would've signed Tavares to that contract. Matthews makes it to RFA and he's given the max by anyone with space to do so. Marner... Only Dubas gives him that ridiculous contract.

 

[BayStBullies]

Oh how useful, another person sharing their comment on the core in a new thread.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

I personally think the OP's wrong. The core absolutely wants to win. They just haven't figured out (or never will) how to do it.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Oh how useful, another person sharing their comment on the core in a new thread.

Yep. Already have threads on this, closed.