It's over. We went "all in" at the deadline and we lost. We've gone "all in" several years in a row, in fact, and all we've got for the effort is the Globe and Mail calling the Leafs a humiliation fetish. No matter how many ways you skin this cat, this group doesn't work and cannot get it done.
What I am writing here is that letting Marner walk as a UFA is not enough. It does not cut out the rot, it is just the dead appendage that finally fell off the corpse. No, the whole core is rotten, and they are so rotten that all five of our "big guns" must go. The failure of this team demands a complete exorcism. This core, these players, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, and Rielly, they are FIRED. They do not play here any more, they no longer sell jerseys with their name on them. They are fired.
So many people will talk about the "value" of these guys. As if they're providing value when we need them to lol. But okay, they have value as assets and I'm proposing that it doesn't matter what we get for them. If the best offer we can get for Matthews is a 4th round pick from Utah, I say we take it, that's just how fired these guys are. It doesn't matter if we're trading these guys at their lowest, that's the cost of going all-in, and that's a cost that we should pay gladly.
I ask of you all, what is the value in getting these losers away from Matthew Knies, our lone bright spot and focus of hope? Do we want him to continue to learn from them?
What is the value in creating a culture of accountability amongst the players? We've replaced every single player around them multiple times. Three GM's. Three coaches. Yet these five guys are still here. Do you really want to keep trying with various configurations of three or four of them?
I tell you, the only value they have left is in their public executions and the value of what might grow from the ashes of this dumpster fire. That these men took this team to the woodshed in contract negotiations and then humiliated themselves annually in the most important games, is inexcusable and demands that they be pilloried. If by shipping the bums out (and a Rielly buyout) gets us only Future Considerations, I take that trade in a heartbeat because it puts us back on the path to a franchise that has dignity.
Frankly, the "value" that people are talking about is the value of being able to avoid fear. Fear of missing the playoffs, fear of years of futility, fear of watching Marner embarrass us when he comes to town in a Ducks jersey. Well guys, we're at the end of a decade of futility and Marner (and the other four) regularly embarrass us while wearing Leafs jerseys and I think that's worse. We fans stuck around through a decade of suck, but it's this core that has made my friends and family start throwing in their towels. What is there left to fear that this team does not already inflict on us every May? If Harry Potter can learn that the only thing to fear is fear itself, maybe we can too.
That we will regress without the big guns to lead us in the regular season, or that we even might miss the playoffs is irrelevant. That we have no first round picks until Marner's kid graduates high school is irrelevant. That the Bruins will get to pick Dougie Hamilton 2.0 with our pick is irrelevant. What is relevant is that these guys are fired and it is up to the team to pick up the pieces and move on. No more half measures, no more p***yfooting around the issue. It was time to pull the plug years ago and delaying has only made it worse. Time to pay the piper.
This team cannot again become a serious team until we have had an entirely fresh start. Fire each and every one of the core five.
Fire them with extreme prejudice.
What I am writing here is that letting Marner walk as a UFA is not enough. It does not cut out the rot, it is just the dead appendage that finally fell off the corpse. No, the whole core is rotten, and they are so rotten that all five of our "big guns" must go. The failure of this team demands a complete exorcism. This core, these players, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares, and Rielly, they are FIRED. They do not play here any more, they no longer sell jerseys with their name on them. They are fired.
So many people will talk about the "value" of these guys. As if they're providing value when we need them to lol. But okay, they have value as assets and I'm proposing that it doesn't matter what we get for them. If the best offer we can get for Matthews is a 4th round pick from Utah, I say we take it, that's just how fired these guys are. It doesn't matter if we're trading these guys at their lowest, that's the cost of going all-in, and that's a cost that we should pay gladly.
I ask of you all, what is the value in getting these losers away from Matthew Knies, our lone bright spot and focus of hope? Do we want him to continue to learn from them?
What is the value in creating a culture of accountability amongst the players? We've replaced every single player around them multiple times. Three GM's. Three coaches. Yet these five guys are still here. Do you really want to keep trying with various configurations of three or four of them?
I tell you, the only value they have left is in their public executions and the value of what might grow from the ashes of this dumpster fire. That these men took this team to the woodshed in contract negotiations and then humiliated themselves annually in the most important games, is inexcusable and demands that they be pilloried. If by shipping the bums out (and a Rielly buyout) gets us only Future Considerations, I take that trade in a heartbeat because it puts us back on the path to a franchise that has dignity.
Frankly, the "value" that people are talking about is the value of being able to avoid fear. Fear of missing the playoffs, fear of years of futility, fear of watching Marner embarrass us when he comes to town in a Ducks jersey. Well guys, we're at the end of a decade of futility and Marner (and the other four) regularly embarrass us while wearing Leafs jerseys and I think that's worse. We fans stuck around through a decade of suck, but it's this core that has made my friends and family start throwing in their towels. What is there left to fear that this team does not already inflict on us every May? If Harry Potter can learn that the only thing to fear is fear itself, maybe we can too.
That we will regress without the big guns to lead us in the regular season, or that we even might miss the playoffs is irrelevant. That we have no first round picks until Marner's kid graduates high school is irrelevant. That the Bruins will get to pick Dougie Hamilton 2.0 with our pick is irrelevant. What is relevant is that these guys are fired and it is up to the team to pick up the pieces and move on. No more half measures, no more p***yfooting around the issue. It was time to pull the plug years ago and delaying has only made it worse. Time to pay the piper.
This team cannot again become a serious team until we have had an entirely fresh start. Fire each and every one of the core five.
Fire them with extreme prejudice.
