@Sheppy regarding your post:
Marchand seems to be in his, Bergeron just had a career year, and Pastrnak at 6.6 million is a better deal than any Leafs player.
100 points in 79 games for Marchand last year, 85 in 68 the year before that.
79 in 65 for Bergeron this past season.
81 in 66 for Pastrnak
Krejci also had a career year.
Not bad for dinosaurs.
Not bad at all. I agree with you. I think the way the Bruins have been able to or will sign their recent stars (Pasta, McAvoy) is a direct correlation to how they were able to build their core and the money they allocated for them once upon a time.
The Bruins have won a Cup in the modern NHL. They are always in the playoffs. Their core (Chara, Bergy, Marchand, etc) were all signed when the league was under a different landscape. Agree?
When a team has their core in place, suddenly any new star players that come in can be put under a particular bar, for example, Neely could've told Pasta, f*** you, you are not signing over what Bergy and these guys make, followed by throwing a water bottle super fast lmao. Pasta would agree, because it's their culture they've developed, their core was set. He doesn't wanna piss off guys like Marchand, Bergy and Chara.
For the Leafs, if we're being honest, they've been shit for a long time. Their core only started recently, with the drafting of Rielly, Nylander, Marner, and then was finished with the lottery pick, Matthews. They saw an opportunity to add to Centre depth and they signed JT. This is all under a different time, a different landscape. But also, the Leafs didn't have an existing core in place. They had guys like Komarov, Bozak, JvR, etc. You can't tell these stars (all 20-22 years old), you're making less than those players because lets be honest, our core is better than those players.
So really, Shanahan and Co. hands were sorta tied based on how hungry the fans were to see success. They are not going to drive away all this solid talent they have finally gotten because of financial demands and anger the entire fanbase. It's hard to understand, but when you have such a desperate fanbase who's starved for playoff success and searching for the Stanley Cup, you gotta make important decisions. They are overpayments, but to them, they rather overpay their elite talent, than overpay their 3rd/4th line, or 3rd pairing.
Anyway, enough of that. How was your summer? I think we last spoke in the playoffs two years ago. You guys came so frickin close this year.
