Speculation: What was this Teams biggest mistake?

[ACC1224]

Every team has missteps, some more than others.
What do you feel was the biggest mistake this team has made? (Limit your response to post lockout/salary cap introduction)

I can think of a bunch but not sure yet which I feel was the 'biggest'.

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[Gary Nylund]

Nice to have yet another thinly disguised Marner contract thread.

 

[Kazparov]

The biggest mistake was trying to rush success instead of allowing the core of the team to develop.

If you're looking for 1 move which exemplifies this it would be signing JT. Since that caused a cascade of internal salary comps , which blew out the budget, cost us from keeping many good players we already had and didn't lead to winning.

But man there's lots of mistakes made all trying to force success instead of letting the good young core struggle. Trading too many pics, bad salary cap structure, letting the wrong players walk etc

 

[Peasy]

Tavares signing.

Bringing in one of the biggest FA signings in who knows how long, all right before you need to re-sign all your high profile offensive stars was just such a short sighted move. Did not one person in this org fight back and say, we just gave this guy 11m, what is stopping Matthews from saying he deserves that since he is already on his level? Or what is going to happen to Marner's point total while we staple him to this new 1C we just brought in? That move also made them rush and think that they were ready to compete which resulted in pissing away assets every year.

That summer derailed this entire group, and best chance we had at accomplishing something. Shits basically in the bin now. Will ride it out for the next 4 years before the inevitable re-build happens. But ownership will probably try and not do another proper re-build for as long as possible

 

[ACC1224]

The biggest mistake was trying to rush success instead of allowing the core of the team to develop.

If you're looking for 1 move which exemplifies this it would be signing JT. Since that caused a cascade of internal salary comps , which blew out the budget, cost us from keeping many good players we already had and didn't lead to winning.

But man there's lots of mistakes made all trying to force success instead of letting the good young core struggle. Trading too many pics, bad salary cap structure, letting the wrong players walk etc

I think the Tavares signing will be near the top of many lists.

IMO, any Exec would have signed Tavares here so that doesn't weigh as big for me. The managing of those 'internal salary comps" that came from that signing was the bigger mistake.

 

[Byron Bitz]

It made sense to trade Kadri but not getting the right return for him was our biggest mistake. He was a great asset and there were a lot of options in terms of return we could have got, Dubas chose two guys that were not a good fit for this team.

 

[TMLegend]

Continuing to bet on a core that has a mountain of evidence against it that it won't work come playoff time. Should have been blown up in 2021 after they massively choked vs Montreal in my opinion.

Signing Tavares was fine in a vacuum. Adding an elite 1C at the time for nothing but cap space is quite the coup and should have been enough to take the team to another level. If Matthews and Marner weren't such playoff duds we'd be having a very different conversation regarding Tavares.

 

[ToneDog]

Drafting, building around and betting everything on 3 me first, soft, spineless, scared, selfish and highly skilled players pretty much sealed their fate. No matter what you did after that or do going forward, that trio is never winning you a Cup IMO. @Kazparov sums up the majority of the rest of their mistakes.

After a 1 and 8 playoff series record, they want to be paid around $36+m to continue the charade. All three are not players you tie the cart to in the playoffs yet we've signed two of the three and the third wants his money, refuses to leave and is pretty much untradable.

Thank you Shanny for 10 years of utter incompetence. Keep up the good work.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Hiring Kyle Dubas to be the GM.

 

[Nineteen67]

Shanahan hiring Dubas to learn on the job. The apprentice GM then signed Tavares setting an internal cap that put them in a precarious situation that they have never tried to correct.

 

[Kazparov]

The biggest mistake was trying to rush success instead of allowing the core of the team to develop.

If you're looking for 1 move which exemplifies this it would be signing JT. Since that caused a cascade of internal salary comps , which blew out the budget, cost us from keeping many good players we already had and didn't lead to winning.

But man there's lots of mistakes made all trying to force success instead of letting the good young core struggle. Trading too many pics, bad salary cap structure, letting the wrong players walk etc

Actually probably #1 mistake actually was hiring a rookie GM

 

[ACC1224]

Actually probably #1 mistake actually was hiring a rookie GM

Ultimately everything leads back to Shanahan.

 

[ACC1224]

I think most would agree that the first mistake was trading Rask. How much of a ripple did that have?

 

[notbias]

Not anticipating Covid.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Failing to recognize the increased importance of drafting in the cap era for a long time is probably #1, as it was a big part of wasting the first decade.
Damaging our current era with the tire fire of last offseason that left us with a downgraded GM at a critical time when this team actually had a chance to win is probably #2.
I don't think individual moves can match the wider impact of these era-defining mistakes.
Maybe Rask, considering how stupid it was at the time, how important goaltending is, and how much we've struggled to find a replacement for 2 decades.

 

[TMLegend]

I think most would agree that the first mistake was trading Rask. How much of a ripple did that have?

Left them searching for a goaltender for over a decade. Although there's no guarantee Rask becomes anything close to what he was in Boston if he was developed in the Leafs system.

The first Kessel trade might have been stupidest thing the Leafs have done post lockout.

 

[ACC1224]

Left them searching for a goaltender for over a decade. Although there's no guarantee Rask becomes anything close to what he was in Boston if he was developed in the Leafs system.

The first Kessel trade might have been stupidest thing the Leafs have done post lockout.

IMO, Goalies of that quality will be studs no matter how they are developed.

Yeah, that's another good one that I had forgotten about. Crazy how long of a list there is.

 

[The Shadow]

Signing Dubas - which led to various issues including hiring Keefe who was unproven, bad contracts, trading many picks (Foligno for a 1st )

 

[Nineteen67]

Not anticipating Covid.

I think a much bigger mistake was letting the agents use the internal cap as a negotiating ploy and then beating the crap out of the GM at the negotiating table.

Covid didn’t help, how could they foresee having to face such juggernauts as CBJ in a play in series and TTOE in a playoff series. There’s no amount of planning that could get them over those humps.

 

[Nineteen67]

Signing Dubas - which led to various issues including hiring Keefe who was unproven, bad contracts, trading many picks (Foligno for a 1st )

Shanahan >>>> Dubas >>>>> Abandoning the rebuild too early. All related.

They couldn’t build a team that could win even when gifted the Covid years.

 

[francis246]

It made sense to trade Kadri but not getting the right return for him was our biggest mistake. He was a great asset and there were a lot of options in terms of return we could have got, Dubas chose two guys that were not a good fit for this team.

This is my top choice. The return for Kadri was abysmal. They basically gave him away. In the long run we could have afforded Kadri. I would have moved Kapanen and Johnsson way before moving Kadri.

My second choice would be, not staggering the ELC contracts better. Nylander and Marner were good enough to make the NHL in 2015/16. I think if we had burned a year of their ELC contracts that year we would have gotten both on cheaper 8 year deals. Instead of having our 3 best players expire at the same time. Was just bad management of those elite ELC players.

 

[TMLegend]

This is my top choice. The return for Kadri was abysmal. They basically gave him away. In the long run we could have afforded Kadri. I would have moved Kapanen and Johnsson way before moving Kadri.

My second choice would be, not staggering the ELC contracts better. Nylander and Marner were good enough to make the NHL in 2015/16. I think if we had burned a year of their ELC contracts that year we would have gotten both on cheaper 8 year deals. Instead of having our 3 best players expire at the same time. Was just bad management of those elite ELC players.

Small nitpick, but Nylander played 22 games in 15/16, burning an ELC year.

 

[notbias]

I think a much bigger mistake was letting the agents use the internal cap as a negotiating ploy and then beating the crap out of the GM at the negotiating table.

Covid didn’t help, how could they foresee having to face such juggernauts as CBJ in a play in series and TTOE in a playoff series. There’s no amount of planning that could get them over those humps.

Yes, the reason Covid didn't help is because of having to face Columbus, not because they priced in cap increases to their salaries as every single contract negotiation does, and then the cap went stagnant.

Genius-level analysis.

 

[Peasy]

Yes, the reason Covid didn't help is because of having to face Columbus, not because they priced in cap increases to their salaries as every single contract negotiation does, and then the cap went stagnant.

Genius-level analysis.

How come the leafs were the only ones to really suffer then lol?

 

[notbias]

How come the leafs were the only ones to really suffer then lol?

Because they signed all their big contracts right before covid lol

Other teams suffered too, but some suffered worse than others, not sure a team got it worse than the Leafs.