The leafs should _____ offseason thread

[Look Up]

They were certainly projecting their raises to core players with a cap increase in mind. Covid probably hit the Leafs harder than just about any team. A bad time to be giving out huge contracts.

They - Shanahan and Dubas - smartest guys in the league, came back to bite this team in a huge way.

 

[JAK]

Torontos cap flexibility, assets, etc would have not been impacted if the cap kept rising as expected but Covid ended that. The NHL cap should be 90-95mil right now but Covid froze it for half the Leafs prime contention window.

Every team has the space cap year in year out.

Some teams manages their cap properly, some teams do it year by year.

 

[WarriorofTime]

, but in a hard cap world, with 2 star players on ELCs? Any team in that position that could've signed Tavares at that time, does. No question about it.

People say this but I disagree. Any team could recognize they have their core pieces to sign and how redundant Tavares is from a need standpoint. Bad move then, bad move now.

 

[Leksand]

He is not directly responsible for on ice product. Toronto easily makes the playoffs every year and, on paper, should compete for the Cup. Taking it to the next level is up to GMs, coaches and players themselves.

And over the last ten years who is responsible for who the GMs, coaches, and players have been? If not Shanahan - who? At some point it’s the owners - like Dan Snyder is responsible for the quarter century failure of the Washington Redskins/ Football Team / Commanders.

Callahan always hears the music. Do you hear it?

 

[PWJunior]

They - Shanahan and Dubas - smartest guys in the league, came back to bite this team in a huge way.

It amazes me that there are still fans in Toronto that still worship Dubas with their sad shrines dedicated to him in their mom's basement.

 

[WarriorofTime]

It amazes me that there are still fans in Toronto that still worship Dubas with their sad shrines dedicated to him in their mom's basement.

How they changed up to “he was blocked from making the moves he knew he needed to” rather than accept reality that he didn’t do a good job was rather astounding.

 

[Very Stable Genius]

When Brock Purdy's next contract starts. Oh wait...

 

[AvroArrow]

How is Shanny to blame here? He is not their GM, not a coach, he doesn't even play for them on the ice.

Not like he's the president or anything who overlooks the way the entire organization is run.

 

[BobClarkesfrontteeth]

solution: throw a ton of money at Barry Trotz to leave Nashville and coach/manage the Leafs

This might have been Shanny's greatest mistake. When the Leafs were floundering last season late October/November like they always seem to with Keefe coaching they should have backed up the brinks truck to get Trotz. Keefe should have been let go after he was outcoached in the Montreal series by a Junior level coach. Shanny will fire him next week to save his job for one more year. High level management usually waits about a year before changing any high level managers to keep organizational continuity. So Pelly will let Shanny go after one more year of this nonsense. So Leaf fans better strap in for one more year of the core 4.

 

[DamonDRW]

Not like he's the president or anything who overlooks the way the entire organization is run.

His organization runs smoothly from the business perspective generating a lot of revenue. What else do you need?

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

This.

Their franchise was in incredible shape after the 17/18 season. In terms of cap flexibility, assets , potential, they were probably the wealthiest team in the league in player/picks assets. They lost key guys like Hyman and Kadri and burned so many assets and it has caught up to them.

I feel bad for the good Leaf fans out there, they got f***ed with horrific management.

Agreed, and I get the point some leafs fans make where it’s like “dude, most people would sign a hometown star to a reasonable deal”- right, and that’s why most people are impulsive fans and not GMs. GMs should look ahead just a bit and consider these concerns. I thought it was a problem right away, so did others.

 

[GAGLine]

They had Matthews and Marner on ELCs in 18-19. They had to take a swing at that. Then Tavares had his best season that year. Then they were up 3-2 on Boston. That was the year to do it.

Chicago did it early. Pittsburgh did it early. Edmonton tried to. At least some of the guys the team was built around still on ELCs.

They still had Kadri. They still had Hyman. They brought in Muzzin.

That they didn't get the job done, when they took that shot, yeah. Chicago had to re-tool a bit after 2010. Pittsburgh missed a lot of chances after 2009. The Leafs didn't get it done, but you can't fault them for trying to take advantage of those big name ELCs. I don't know who else was realistically out there to get in 2018, but in a hard cap world, with 2 star players on ELCs? Any team in that position that could've signed Tavares at that time, does. No question about it.

Spending on vets is one thing. Spending on a vet they didn't need is something else.

Toronto was 4th in the league in scoring in 2017-18. In 2018-19, Tavares had the best year of his career and Toronto finished...4th in scoring. They finished 3rd, 6th, 2nd, 9th and 2nd in the years since.

They were 12th in goals against in 2017-18. in 2018-19, they were 20th. In the years since, they were 26th, 8th, 20th, 6th and 21st.

The Tavares contract has kept them from properly addressing issues on defense and in goal. They had a couple years where they were top 10 in goals against but couldn't maintain that level of play due to cap issues and inconsistent goaltending.

 

[BLNY]

Shanahan has to go. Treliving would have a short leash under new President. Don't care how many years left on his contract. Keefe is gone.

Those should be the easy moves.

They have their first this year. No second or third. They don't pick until the 5th round in 2025. No second or forth round pick in 2026.

Fixing flaws in the roster will be much harder.

• EIGHT forwards played this year on either a NMC or a MNTC.
• Two of those are Bertuzzi and Domi however, and they're UFAs. Let them both walk.
• Giving Kampf and Jarnkrok multi-year deals with MNTC's is just foolish. They're 4th line fixtures for the next three years.
• Marner and Tavares each have one year left on their deals. They may as well ride out the year with JT. NMC or not, they should sit down with Marner. Time to move on. We'll do our best to get a deal done with a team you are happy with, but failing that you're coming down with a mystery injury and spending the year on LTIR. File the divorce papers.
• Rielly definitely needs puck-moving help while he's still capable himself. Brodie's contract is up. If they can't parlay Marner into a top 2-4 PMD, flip that $5 million for someone like Skjei maybe? Ghost on a short deal?
• Goal tending didn't cost them the series. I thought Woll and Samsonov were nearly full marks and played the Bruins very well. Samsonov is a UFA though, and it's fair to question whether or not you want to pay him $3 million plus going forward.
  

 

[HockeyWooot]

They had Matthews and Marner on ELCs in 18-19. They had to take a swing at that. Then Tavares had his best season that year. Then they were up 3-2 on Boston. That was the year to do it.

Chicago did it early. Pittsburgh did it early. Edmonton tried to. At least some of the guys the team was built around still on ELCs.

They still had Kadri. They still had Hyman. They brought in Muzzin.

That they didn't get the job done, when they took that shot, yeah. Chicago had to re-tool a bit after 2010. Pittsburgh missed a lot of chances after 2009. The Leafs didn't get it done, but you can't fault them for trying to take advantage of those big name ELCs. I don't know who else was realistically out there to get in 2018, but in a hard cap world, with 2 star players on ELCs? Any team in that position that could've signed Tavares at that time, does. No question about it.

They weren’t a Tavares away from legitimately winning it all though?

 

[BB88]

People can keep pointing to how good the roster is, but I rarely ever see teams go far in the playoffs when they just have one decent puck moving d-man and that’s it on the back-end.

& they just didn’t have many realistic scoring threats.

Marner, Tavares? Nope, you just don’t have to fear them when it’s go time. You are not going to win with 2 threats when other top teams can roll multiple lines that you have to be aware of

This is the 1st time I’ll really say it but Toronto 100% has to trade Marner

 

[SI90]

Is it fair to say this season was their most complete team in a while? I thought for sure they would be better suited for the playoffs this year. Maybe goaltending was still a bit of a question but their defense was solid and they got pretty strong Depth at forward with Domi and Bertuzzi.

Will be curious to see the direction they choose to go because clearly they need to re-tool a few things.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

They were certainly projecting their raises to core players with a cap increase in mind. Covid probably hit the Leafs harder than just about any team. A bad time to be giving out huge contracts.

Not really. Tampa suffered it most than any other team

 

[AvroArrow]

His organization runs smoothly from the business perspective generating a lot of revenue. What else do you need?

Can't tell if you're trolling or being serious

In case you don't know, the objective is to win the championship

 

[sansabri]

they'll run it again. what other choice do they have

 

[Channelcat]

With the Canes seemingly low balling Rod, does it present an opportunity for the Leafs? Rod was earning 600,000k until his latest extension bumped it to 1.8m. Gotta think MLSE would go considerably higher.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Gotta think Pelley's first big move might be finally sending Shanny packing.

Long overdue, he's been a complete bust.

I think Keefe goes first, I'm not against Shanny getting fired, It's certainly justified at this point, I just think Keefe is the bigger issue

 

[34]

McDavid in 5 games: 11 pts

Leafs Big Four in a 7 game series: 12 pts

McDavid played against Talbot. Get real. McDavid is a cherry picker. The Oilers are a trash team that have had a free pass the last 3 seasons in a row against the worst playoff team in the NHL. The Oilers would not even make the playoffs in the Atlantic. Skinner is garbage and the D is comical.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

McDavid played against Talbot. Get real. McDavid is a cherry picker. The Oilers are a trash team that have had a free pass the last 3 seasons in a row against the worst team in the NHL.

Loser team

hahahahahahahahahahaha

 

[DamonDRW]

Can't tell if you're trolling or being serious

In case you don't know, the objective is to win the championship

I guess you are a bit younger than I thought. The objective of any effort in this world is to generate revenues. Toronto is doing fine in these terms so our children will have a chance to celebrate 100 anniversary in 2067.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Run it back ! the boys had boo-boo's