1. Not much a GM can do about a player refusing to sign. He wasn't arbitration eligible yet, and there is no other way to force a player into a contract.
2. Overall, the Nylander contract is not that expensive. $7M cap hit for a 60+ point C/W is not bad. Last year was crazy high due to the way the holdout is handled, but it makes the rest of the years lower.
3. Not much argument here, though I would add that AM34 got this much in large part because JT got $11M ....which was also on Dubas. Don't sign JT, AM does not have that comparable, so he takes less. (Nylander may have been influenced by the JT contract as well).
4. This contract also follows from the AM34-JT deals, don't do the first, the others are more reasonable.
5. Kadri did not fit in TOR any more. They moved him for a good deal, getting back a top producing D and a fair 3C. Problem is Babcock refuses to play guys to their strengths, and having Reilly means he can get away with not playing TBoobs right.
6. Locking up a proven 40+ point 3C on a fair deal for 4 years is not a bad thing.
Dubas has not been perfect, but not every move has been bad. Snowball effect on contracts from signing JT (to appease Shanny and the fans?) is the biggest issue.
1-2. There was something Dubas could’ve done with Nylander - trade him. Sure it stings, but he just signed Tavares and knew he had AM and Marner on the imminent horizon. If Nylander wasn’t agreeing to their offers and fitting in their team cap structure, you’ve got no choice but to trade him. Instead, he signed Nylander to a big money long term deal. Yes it’s probably a fair deal, but the fairness is irrelevant if it’s going to force you to sacrifice a better player in the future or hamstring your team the way it has.
3. I can understand/agree with the fact that the Tavares deal influenced the AM deal. But that doesn’t mean that you can give the farm to AM and the deal he got is not comparable to the deal Tavares got. There’s a huge difference between paying and an RFA v UFA, AND Matthews not only got more than JT, but also only 5 years.
4. At some point you gotta cut it off. Doesn’t matter if marner was influenced by the previous deals, this is the straw that broke the camel’s back. They had to trade Marner this off-season, or Nylander at the very least. Just because you made mistakes in the past, doesn’t mean that you should quadruple down on them and make another one.
5. I don’t agree that Kadri didn’t fit in TOR anymore. Yes he was under utilized (unsertandably so), but they were a better team with him. I do give Babcock some blame with Tyson, but fact of the matter is, even if he used him correctly, that would no solve their issues and improve their woeful defense. Barrie only contributes to that.
6. When couched in those terms, kerfoot’s deal doesn’t seem bad. But this fan base knows Kerfoot better than anyone and there are few if any of us that would’ve given Kerfoot that deal.