Speculation: What was this Teams biggest mistake?

[mikeyz]

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'.

Hiring Dubas AINEC.

 

[Bust]

Lazy response because I was responding to a post of opinion without much fact.

Freddy can't handle pressure and he quit on the team.

I think you're delusional based on how you view the Islanders and Lou's ability, but once again, this is all your opinion, I just don't think there is any form of logic in it.

My man, everything on here is opinion. The question in the OP is asking for opinions…

Freddy did quit on us eventually, as I stated, “he was a monster for us, at first”. Lou would have had the stones to actually move Freddy.

Dubas had no balls, and held on as long as possible to prevent actually making a tough decision. That’s all dubas ever did here.

Ya, I’m delusional for thinking Lou is a better GM than dubas. Are you actually serious? 90% of hockey fans would take Lou over dubas.

The islanders are better than us and would beat us in a best of 7. 100%.

Well that’s a garbage take if I’ve ever seen one.

Nah man. That’s being real.

No one wants to face the islanders in the playoffs. They are built for it.

We’re out here focused on shinny still. We will get there, it will just take time.

Isles will bore you to sleep. I hate that team. But they would beat us. They have a top flight goalie, play a strong fundamental team game, and will go to war for eachother.

 

[notbias]

My man, everything on here is opinion. The question in the OP is asking for opinions…

Freddy did quit on us eventually, as I stated, “he was a monster for us, at first”. Lou would have had the stones to actually move Freddy.

When was he ever a monster for us?

He and Campbell have very similar numbers across their career as Leafs, both folded under pressure too.

Dubas had no balls, and held on as long as possible to prevent actually making a tough decision. That’s all dubas ever did here.

Ya, I’m delusional for thinking Lou is a better GM than dubas. Are you actually serious? 90% of hockey fans would take Lou over dubas.

The islanders are better than us and would beat us in a best of 7. 100%.

I don't think you've actually been following hockey recently.

 

[notDatsyuk]

You can only dodge this for so long....

Wanna bet? He's the champ.

 

[notbias]

Nah man. That’s being real.

No one wants to face the islanders in the playoffs. They are built for it.

We’re out here focused on shinny still. We will get there, it will just take time.

Isles will bore you to sleep. I hate that team. But they would beat us. They have a top flight goalie, play a strong fundamental team game, and will go to war for eachother.

Islanders are built for the playoffs, no one wants to play them...

Series wins in the last 3 years:
Leafs - 1
Islanders - 0

Built for it.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Like as in a dedicated thread on this board?

Let me assure you that theres a ton of Marner related talk stemming from his inflated contract, on these boards, online, podcasts, ext.

Marners current contract and (guaranteed) raise demands are a couple of reasons as to why he’s currently in the dog-house to a large portion of leaf fans.

Sorry - referring to this particular thread.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Marner was the only overpayment, Nylander and Matthews got market value.

Tavares you can argue about it being an overpayment or not, but we can call it one if you want.

I think Covid is a far bigger issue than a few million in overpayments.

I was referring to his comment about Nylander, Marner, and Matthews. I see all three as overpayments, with Marner the biggest and Nylander the smallest.

 

[ULF_55]

I was referring to his comment about Nylander, Marner, and Matthews. I see all three as overpayments, with Marner the biggest and Nylander the smallest.

Nylander's current contract will be as hard to live up to as the contracts handed out to the other 3.

 

[socko]

Matthews gets compared to Marner and Nylander too much. You can point out his flaws and he has them. But there is not a team in the league that wouldn't pay him his current salary. Not one. I can see the issue with his 2nd contract though. He got paid for potential which is always a risky deal. I think he had maxed out at 73 points. I think the move there was a bridge contract for him to prove he was an elite player.

 

[francis246]

Ok - rephrase it as "signing a GM with no NHL experience".

Does that make you feel better?

And it's got nothing to do with 'hating' Dubas. It's a valid criticism of Shanahan.

Dubas was an NHL AGM, he travelled with the leafs. He took on more responsibility but his role was Assistant General Manager & GM of the Marlies which is consistent with pretty much every other AGM in the NHL. Julian Brisbois was the GM of the Syracuse Crunch and AGM of the Tampa Bay Lightning at the same time.

I don’t even like the guys tenor here but we gotta stop trying to diminish his experience as an AGM.

 

[Leafs98]

So many ...but it's between JT contract and Kerfoot over McCann.

 

[Arzak]

Nice to have yet another thinly disguised Marner contract thread.

What could the biggest mistake be? Let me think about it for a second ...

Who forget to tell Mitch to play hockey in this thread? The answer might surprise you!

I'm not guessing, I'll just grab my popcorn and we'll see

 

[notbias]

So many ...but it's between JT contract and Kerfoot over McCann.

Kerfoot has better playoff stats and is responsible defensively.

McCann has to be one of the most overrated players ever on this board.

There's a reason he went for a 7th and a C level prospect.

Kerfoot was also never protected so the whole argument makes no sense.

 

[57 Years No Cup]

The biggest mistake to date is not getting rid of Marner before his NMC kicked in. 2ND biggest mistake will be to re-sign him.

 

[hurdemz]

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.

What were the other options?

 

[Byron Bitz]

What were the other options?

For a physical 30 goal 2nd line two way Center making only 4.5 for 3 more years there were all sorts of options. Could have got a good 2 way top 4 D and a 1st round pick.

 

[hurdemz]

For a physical 30 goal 2nd line two way Center making only 4.5 for 3 more years there were all sorts of options. Could have got a good 2 way top 4 D and a 1st round pick.

You're basically saying you dont know if there were other (better) options on the table, correct?

You're assuming.

 

[Menzinger]

I'm not going to say this was necessarily the biggest mistake, but the inability (or bad luck?) of the Leafs in not finding any impact player during the early period of the rebuild outside of the top 10 of the draft really was unfortunate.

Other teams have managed to find gems (top six forwards, top 4/3 D) and it's been a huge boost to their competitive chances..the closest the Leafs have come is Knies and unfortunately he wasn't taken until 2021.

Maybe Lilly turns into one. But we really could have used someone making an impact on the last 5-6 years

 

[Byron Bitz]

You're basically saying you dont know if there were other (better) options on the table, correct?

You're assuming.

It’s a pretty safe assumption

 

[hurdemz]

It’s a pretty safe assumption

It really isnt, but keep telling yourself that.

 

[Larcos_Unal]

Didn't Dubas say his biggest mistake was the sequence of signings? Waiting too long to deal with the RFAs while going out, signing Tavares and drastically raising the roof of our cap structure?

 

[Byron Bitz]

It really isnt, but keep telling yourself that.

your right, a 30 goal second line Center on a good contract doesn’t hold much value. Barrie and Kerfoot were the only options for the Kadri return.

Even Dubas stated that his biggest regret was the Tavares signing.

No he didn’t, read the full interview

 

[ULF_55]

I'm not going to say this was necessarily the biggest mistake, but the inability (or bad luck?) of the Leafs in not finding any impact player during the early period of the rebuild outside of the top 10 of the draft really was unfortunate.

Other teams have managed to find gems (top six forwards, top 4/3 D) and it's been a huge boost to their competitive chances..the closest the Leafs have come is Knies and unfortunately he wasn't taken until 2021.

Maybe Lilly turns into one. But we really could have used someone making an impact on the last 5-6 years

Didn't they find some ... and then move them for other players?
Maybe one homerun here.

Lamoriello's Grabner deal has to be up there with some of their historically bad deals.

Dakota Joshua

Carter Verhaeghe
Carl Grundstrom
Sean Durzi

 

[Fogelhund]

There are five players with full NMCs. From a 20 man roster that leaves 15. He has signed five new bodies (and re-signed a couple more).

Not counting non roster players like Cowan and Minten, he has potentially turned over 1/3 of the eligible players.

Yes, he has not yet traded a played he can't trade, but "nothing happened" is just incorrect.


Which NHL GM was he an assistant to before the Leafs signed him?

I mean... it should have been obvious what was being referred to. You don't understand that?

 

[Arzak]

That fellow with fake glasses, giving that other fellow with no balls $10.9M RFA contract and NMC.