Confirmed with Link: Tavares to Toronto (7 years, $11M AAV)

[Walshy7]

Haha yes like that, all though my post didn’t deserve a gif this epic

 

[saltming]

59 now? Ok done.

Damn typo!!!! I'm going to ninja edit it hahaha

 

[Trapper]

He is a smart kid.

Now I just need him to score 59 points so I can win my bet with @Walshy7
Hyman Tavares Marner gives me a lot of hope

I hope you win because we all win.
That's pretty steep though. We call that pulling a Kunitz.
20 goals may be possible hanging around Tavares/Marner though.

 

[Walshy7]

I hope youve seen the movie. One of my favs

No I haven’t but it most be good with a beard that majestic staring in it

 

[Walshy7]

Damn typo!!!! I'm going to ninja edit it hahaha

I quoted it so it’s in the either now. 59 points it is

 

[thewave]

I think deep down even our most hated rivals are doing this when they see our line up:

 

[saltming]

I hope you win because we all win.
That's pretty steep though. We call that pulling a Kunitz.
20 goals may be possible hanging around Tavares/Marner though.

It's really 50 points but ya lofty expectations.
59 was a big finger typo

 

[saltming]

No I haven’t but it most be good with a beard that majestic staring in it

It's old but a classic. Not your run of the mill western.

 

[BallardEra]

Apologies if this has already been posted. First comment had me howling:

 

[MJ65]

That's so funny - Grapes are sour I guess

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

That's so funny - Grapes are sour I guess

yikes that guy is delusional. Does he not realize Tavares will be under more pressure as a Leaf than to perform in front of the 5000 fans who showed up to Islanders games?

 

[Notsince67]

The lineup of jerseys in that picture are sooo sick

IMO it is easily the largest collection of talent ever on a leafs team, at least since around 1980 when I started watching hockey.

Anyone else notice that Nylander's gear is beside him? Hopefully a mentoring relationship is in the works

 

[al secord]

I can't remember a time in my life where the Leafs were ever considered "The easy way out" lol

 

[GodEmperor]

The other thing to be excited about Tavares is that IMO we are A LOT closer to the cup than we think:

1.Boston is a lot better team than most give them credit for, with a few small calls going their way (Marchand bway and Hedman slash), they could've pushed Tampa

2.The Leafs had what I would consider to be 6 blunders (using the inaccuracy, mistake, blunder metric where blunders are highest in severity) in the Boston series; Babcock playing Komarov, Babcock playing Komarov on the 1st line, Andersen's goaltending for 50% of the series being God awful finishing with a 900 sv percentage total, Auston disappearing and Willie disappearing, Gardiner being god awful and Naz's suspension

Let's dive into them:

Komarov is gone and we will NEVER have that issue again. Blunder solved

Andersen could theoretically still play really bad, but he is still a pup in goalie years and this should be a learning experience for him. Blunder has a lower chance of repeating

Auston and Willie disappearing, IMO this is actually an excellent learning experience for both of them and so I see the likelihood of this happening to be very low, plus they will likely still be getting better next year so them playing badly will likely look better in itself. ESPECIALLY within the context of this thread that we now have Tavares to take some top end matchups away from them.

Gardiner sucking could definitely happen again, but I would say the likelihood of him and Andersen simultaneously struggling as they did is not great. Hopefully Dermott can step up even more this year and we now KNOW that we can't grind Hainsey into dust in the season, so that should also help (as playoffs won't be a problem).

Naz's suspension is easily avoided and us having a better chance of crushing teams should help him stay sane.

Basically, DESPITE all of this we took the Bruins to game 7 TWO YEARS after we were dead last in the league and ONLY lost game 7 in the last 10 minutes....and ofc we added JT (what this thread is about obv).

I don't think we're cake walking through everyone, but simultaneously I really would not be surprised if we did, however I feel 100% confident that this team can now stand and compete with any team

 

[LeafFever]

I can't remember a time in my life where the Leafs were ever considered "The easy way out" lol

Yeah all we hear is how no one wants to play here because of the pressure.

And BTW, "Interesting Returns?". Leo Komorov and Matt Martin?

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[81Leafs50]

 

[Walshy7]

Anyone else notice that Nylander's gear is beside him? Hopefully a mentoring relationship is in the works

The location of the gear doesn't represent where they will sit in the season. It is just placing it there ti fit in a photo

 

[Phion Keneuf]

I guess subtraction isn’t their strong suit

 

[Daisy Jane]

I can't remember a time in my life where the Leafs were ever considered "The easy way out" lol

the easy way out of what?

 

[blueberrie]

John Tavares is a Maple Leaf

 

[Atomos2]

I guess subtraction isn’t their strong suit

 

[TmlHockeyFan]

I'm actually kinda curious to know what Cherry thinks of Tavares signing. He was talking crap about teams offering Tavares stupid money before the Leafs signing.

 

[The CyNick]

Dubas did build and manage the Marlies championship team though, which was something Tavares brought up as well Along with managing the development pipeline down to the ECHL.

Yes he did. A solid accomplishment. But I'm realistic about his impact. The majority of the impact players even on the Marlies he didn't acquire. It was a combination of Lou and Hunter primarily. So again, this is another one of those things that the koolaid drinkers are giving credit to Dubas, but the majority of the credit goes to the previous GM and head scout.

Now again, let's be very very clear here. I'm not saying Dubas deserves ZERO credit, just not as much as some people on here think he should get. And certainly not enough to sway someone to come here.

 

[The CyNick]

Hockey players, especially superstars, love comfort and don't like making big changes, and are also loyal to a fault. Superstars rarely ever leave the teams that drafted them unless they are traded or bought out. That alone was a huge advantage for NYI, Tavares had played 9 seasons there. Lou also had the 8th year, which nobody else could offer. It's not like he had nothing at all to work with.

And JT even said in April when the team had missed the playoffs that he still hoped things would work out with NYI.

JT left primarily for two reasons - 1. Arena Uncertainty 2. Teams chances of winning.

Do you think Lou with what two weeks on the job could sort out any of those things? Impressively he moved mountains and got the most successful coach of the previous season to sign with them. That's the type of thing a quality GM can do. He can't turn over the team in a matter of days to appease JT and he certainly can't build an arena in time for opening night.