Norris had 35 goals and 55 pts in 66 games last year and is still improving.
11M Tavares had 27 goals lmao, he’s still better but not for long and he’s slow and overpaid.
Ottawa takes Norris and Stutzle over Tavares every single day of the week
Every day of the week, except unless we're talking 4 years ago.
He would literally be the best center the sens would have right now for the past 5+ years and I hate Toronto and their rodent fans who infest every thread.
If you think a 70+pt player is only a 2nd line C you took too many hits to the head and need to see a dr. Meanwhile Norris and Shane 10 career games pinto are elite Cs amirite???
Yes, Tavares is a much superior player to date and his ceiling is what we're hoping Norris and Stutzle will grow and achieve in terms of skill level. However, we're not looking to have to pay them 11M if they do achieve this and luckily we won't have to for the next 8-9 years. A chance we're gambling 8M on each young player (which is really a 1-2M loss if they underachieve as 60-70 pt player). But Tavares' cap hit will always be a sore spot for the Leafs and an easy point to chastise the fans about - e.g. the eventual cap casualties like Kadri, Hyman, Brown, Johnsson, Mikheyev and in the future possibly Engvall, Kerfoot. Most of these guys have gone on to show that they would have been formidable depth on other teams.
Basically what Ottawa is trying to avoid by signing early to not have to lose the likes of Formenton/Joseph/future depth.
Came here thinking there was news on DeBrincat but only see a pissing match about TML top line vs Senators. *sigh*