The only year the leafs were expected to make the playoffs with Lou was 2018
Not sure why anybody would be surprised that both Brisebois and Dubas worked in NHL front offices and were Calder Cup winning assistant GMs prior to becoming NHL GM.
Matthews has just now learned to compete in the playoffs and finally understanding what it takes. Due to the roster construction he had to over compensate, but there’s potential and he’s changed from laughing at being rag-dolled to smashing Sergachev’s face into the glass.
Exactly Matthews and Nylander in particular were not the players they are now under Dubas and Lou. Marner I think had a better transition to pro hockey in terms of being more complete from the start
There wasn't even an "internal cap structure" or contracts of any kind that would be relevant to Nylander at the time of his signing, unless he was talking about past post-ELC contracts the team signed - which also wouldn't have been very relevant to him. League-wide post-ELC comparables were exclusively cited during Nylander's negotiations, and his resulting contract aligns with post-ELC comparables around the league, not with UFAs or anybody on the team. UFA contracts are not comparables for post-ELC contracts, just like forward contracts aren't comparables for goaltender contracts. You must have misheard or misunderstood.
Not really.
He didn't have 20 years, and some of the years he did have were just as director of legal affairs in an entirely different era. Dubas has also been in hockey for a while, and like Brisebois, was a Calder Cup winning assistant GM prior to becoming a full NHL GM. Both had more management experience and accomplishments than Sakic, so maybe he's the outlier?
100% right
I blame Dubas for signing Tavares when we didn’t need him and for not being aware enough to realize that Marner and Matthew were going to ask for such high contracts………thats his dam job.
Tavares filled an organizational weakness, and was a big add to our team at a reasonable UFA cost for no expended assets. He knew Matthews was going to get a big contract, and while he may not have expected Marner to break out to the ridiculous extent he did in 2018-2019, that AAV range still would have been budgeted for. Whatever constraints you think we have are a result of the pandemic-induced stagnant cap, not the contracts themselves, and it's not Dubas' job to magically know when a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic is going to hit and turn everything upside down.
Why would we have to go "all-in" to address obvious weaknesses and not add cap anchors?
Their resumes are virtually identical.
Nothing happens in a bubble. It's naive to think the Tavares deal had no effect on the Matthews and Marner negotiation strategies.
Based on how he has done business in Long island, I'm not convinced Lou would have handled it better.
Intentionally? That's one more for your conspiracy list.
No team would hold Marner back a second year. He deserved to make the team out of camp.
Perhaps not, we'll never know but it never needed to be one or the other anyway.
And that's exactly what Dubas tried to do with Nylander... Until it came down to the last day and the question became, was Dubas wiilling to risk flushing a season in which Taravres and Marner were scoring like crazy and Matthews was doing great down the drain?
