It’s crazy that they let McCann go for nothing
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Dubas had many opportunities to grab a center and let them go or didn't trade for them the same with dman.
McCann kept Holl and kerfoot instead
Sam Bennett always showed up in the playoffs
Nick Paul
Toews
But because dubie always went all in at the deadline we never had the assets
ULF_55
Moderator
Be best to trade him or just waive him rather than sit him on the sidelines for months.
McCann isn’t a center, but he would have definitely solidified our left side. Imagine having McCann - Knies - McMann - Lorentz lines 1 to 4. Dubas royally f***ed that one up.
Machinae
Registered User
It was a mistake in hindsight for sure, but at least get the context right.
Kerfoot was not kept over McCann. They went 4F / 4D / 1G instead of 7F / 3D / 1G.
Holl was kept as the 4th D and they moved a prospect and a 7th round pick to Pittsburgh (the ultimate losers in all of this) for McCann so that they could expose both Kerfoot and McCann and guarantee they kept one of them.
Yes, Holl was not worth keeping in the end. If not for the McCann move, they would have lost Kerfoot instead. If they kept Kerfoot/McCann + another forward, they would have lost Holl and had a gaping hole at RD.
hamzarocks
Registered User
There was no gaping hole at RHD
This is a dumb narrative dubas fans were trying to create then
In 2021 we had Lilijgren who was supposed to be NHL ready amd a quick transition to top 4RHD. He had been cooked for 4 years in the AHL and a few NHL games at that point.
Holding Holl made no sense unless we didnt believe in Lilijgren and thought he wasnt able to be more than 5-7D for the next two years.
It was terrible asset management for a guy who already showed he struggles away from Muzzin.
Dubas needed to trade Holl for a few picks and then leave Kerfoot exposed and sign/acquire a D to be able to be picked up in the expansion draft.
If we went 7-3-1 it should have been
Matthews
Marner
NYlander
Tavares
McCann
Forward 6 (Spezza)
Forward 7 (kerfoot)
Rielly
Muzzin
Brodie
Dreakmur
Registered User
ULF_55
Moderator
Yep.
Seems Berube never liked him from the beginning.
No coach nor GM is perfect.
From the condensed game yesterday (was tied up in something last night couldn't watch), it doesn't look like the current Leafs defense is all the good anyway, with or without Liljegren. Again, only watched the condensed target practice the Bruins held in the Leafs zone, so it was just limited highlights of being overwhelmed in the Leafs zone.
Machinae
Registered User
Liljegren? The guy they are trying to give away right now and won't even play over Philippe Myers? He was the answer?
Thinking they didn't have a gaping hole at RD is unbelievably stupid. You're biased against the guy because Holl flopped and McCann went on to elevate his role in Seattle, but don't think for one second right handed dmen didn't have value. They are hard to find and/or replace. McCann was traded for a THROW IN prospect and a 7th round pick. 30 teams in the league did not beat that offer or value McCann higher than their 7th best forward / 4th best d-man. Pittsburgh gave him away for nothing and lost Brandon Tanev on top of it, which was a monumentally stupid decision, much more so than Toronto. Give up your pathetic narrative and move on.
hamzarocks
Registered User
Again, you are talking out of your ass.
The narrative that lilijgren wasnt a top prospect and player the leafs highly valued back in 2020-2021 is nothing but lies to defend the Dube for this mistake.
He was our top prospect along with Sandin. Both were talked about to be top pairing level players for the leafs withing a few years from 2021.
You can not use hindsight and what occurred after the deal to pretend that the situation then didnt exist. Otherwise we know how ass Holl really is and how horffiic dubas was at assessing talent for bottom pairing D-man (did it again with graves in the pens).
McCann had 84 pts in 141 games as a Pen or ~48 per 82 pace over 2.5 seasons. He was a very promising 2nd line player we got due to Pens exposed depth weakeness ahead of the expansion draft.
The reason that trade was talked about being so good was b/c we leveraged the Pens who were in a tough spot due to many expansion elgible forwards in their team.
They protected
Crosby
Malkin
Rust
Guentzel
Kapanen (who had 30 in 40 for them and they viewed as a great future player)
Carter (NMC and 11 in 14 for them)
Blueger
McCann was a player who got let go due to numberw game by the Pens. Pens management missassed choosing Kapanen over McCann but he wasnt a dump. They would have been smarter losing McCann or tanev instead of both yes but we got the chance to expose their weakness and we f***ed it up big time
Neither Holl or Kerfoot are players a playoff team should look to have on their rosters.
Dubas botched the McCann move after a being great to bring him in.
He overthought things and cost is a top 6 LW
Dreakmur
Registered User
It’s better than it has been since Muzzin went down… but even still it’s just mediocre.
Gilmour1996
Registered User
- Oct 16, 2022
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Justin Holl was, by definition, the "gaping hole at RD".
Rare Jewel
Patience
Maple Leaf
VIP
- Sep 18, 2009
- 9,631
- 4,909
No hindsight is needed at all in this instance. Most of the fanbase knew right away.
It’s only 9 games in I know, but I’m hoping we have a MAJOR retool next summer. Not sure how much more I can watch when it comes to Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares and Rielly. Especially if they get knocked out first round yet again.
Sign and trade Marner.
Let Tavares walk.
Trade Rielly.
Keep Matthews and Nylander.
Sign and trade Marner.
Let Tavares walk.
Trade Rielly.
Keep Matthews and Nylander.
Dubas did nothing to strengthen our RHD situation, which is why he held onto Holl, to cover his own ineptitude.
Dubas set us years behind at Centre and RHD, and McCann was a consequence of it.
Goalies, RHD, Centre, all Dubas glaring blind spots.
Dubas really had no concept of how to build a hockey team.
Dubas set us years behind at Centre and RHD, and McCann was a consequence of it.
Goalies, RHD, Centre, all Dubas glaring blind spots.
Dubas really had no concept of how to build a hockey team.
Can’t believe he got scooped up almost instantly after being available. I bet the Penguins are starting to regret that.
