Why did the Leafs let Mason Marchment go? Late bloomers appreciation thread

[Bear of Bad News]

All of the people talking about how dumb the Leafs are must have been taking a siesta during the trade itself:

Confirmed Trade: - [TOR/FLA] Denis Malgin for Mason Marchment

forums.hfboards.com

90% of the trade discussion is talking about Malgin, other than when the thread was bumped a year later (by some guy who wasn't around for the initial trade either - seems to be a theme).

 

[Golden_Jet]

Because Dubas sucks at building winning hockey teams.

Funny now that he’s gone, leaf fans think so.
TBF there were a few that saw he wasn’t that great when he was still there, but just a few.

 

[Sticksandsun]

My issue with the Leafs letting Marchment go was that he was clearly a late bloomer who was improving gradually but relatively substantially every year.

Yes, he was an AHLer and fourth liner at best when we traded him but he hadn't yet stalled in his development in any way. Did anyone think he was going to be this good? No, but was he most likely going to be better than the time we traded him? His development curve said yes - he was improving every single year.

He also brought a style of play the Leafs lacked for a while, funny how Knies is eerily similar to what Marchment has become.

Why can't more Leafs fans be like you?
Very good post above.

 

[Zbynek]

Dubas moment

 

[Glacious]

Leafs had him developing as a prospect for years before that . This very much was not just a 4 game sample size .

It was a bad trade not neccessarily because of Marchment himself and what he's become since but because Denis Malgin was such a nothing player already at the time of the trade. Just pointless to move a prospect you'd been developing for years for a guy like Malgin.

Seems you had a very different opinion in post #10 of the below referenced trade thread.

All of the people talking about how dumb the Leafs are must have been taking a siesta during the trade itself:

Confirmed Trade: - [TOR/FLA] Denis Malgin for Mason Marchment

forums.hfboards.com

90% of the trade discussion is talking about Malgin, other than when the thread was bumped a year later (by some guy who wasn't around for the initial trade either - seems to be a theme).

Things certainly change and hindsight is 20/20 but just thought it was funny to see the 180 so clearly.

 

[Peasy]

Funny now that he’s gone, leaf fans think so.
TBF there were a few that saw he wasn’t that great when he was still there, but just a few.

Changing opinions based on new received information is a great character trait to have.

There are still many people that defend him to death.

 

[serp]

Seems you had a very different opinion in post #10 of the below referenced trade thread.


Things certainly change and hindsight is 20/20 but just thought it was funny to see the 180 so clearly.

Well yeah i'm some random Stars fan who has no idea about Leafs prospects . Not sure i even looked at his elite prospect page back then lol.

It was a wrong opinion back then i will admit that now. Happy ?

 

[HockeyVirus]

Funny now that he’s gone, leaf fans think so.
TBF there were a few that saw he wasn’t that great when he was still there, but just a few.

Not sure if serious. Like most things, people had different opinions but the last few years Dubas was basically talked about nonstop and how terrible he was by Leaf fans.

I was a Dubas fan, I liked a lot of what he did. But objectively he failed to find the Leafs real goaltending and he failed to prioritize the defense, but had a coach who wanted to play the trap in the playoffs. Roster construction and how they played didn't match.

Treliving seems on the same page with his coach at least. Every GM has their issues though.

 

[Goose]

As a Leafs fan, good for him, glad he's found success and a fulltime gig in the NHL, but let's not pretend this is like the Rask or Kessel trades or something.

It was a low-level trade that took some time to bear fruit, nobody should feel like the Leafs got robbed or missed a diamond in the rough or something.

This is a very clear example of hindsight being 20/20. Leafs had Robertson and Mikheyev etc. and even guys like Der-Arguchintsev, who never panned out.

 

[Martin Skoula]

I think there are two things here:

- one Marchment didn’t have eye popping AHL production and his skating was a concern. Therefore many (on the Leaf board) felt his ceiling was limited to a fourth liner. But to Marchment’s credit he found success on a team who put in a successful position. I don’t know if he does the same thing in Toronto.

- at the same time a player of Marchment style didn’t fit they style if team Dubas and Keefe were trying to build. An up tempo team with speed and skill. As we saw this blueprint for the club was a failure.

Please let this myth die. Marchment didn’t fit the speedy team Dubas was trying to build by acquiring speed skaters like Tavares, Ritchie, Thornton, Foligno, O’Rielly, Lyubushkin, and co while trading away slow guys like Kapanen, Engvall, Johnsson.