The big problem is we've once again overrated our players abilities. None of them are "superstar" types, not even Tavares and yet he's paid like one although he’s still the closest we have. Matthews has the potential but injuries are getting the best of him and he's a big-bodied marshmallow unfortunately. Nylander's stats were padded and consequently he was paid way too much, now has no reason to bust his ass and is just as soft as Matthews with less talent. Marner is great but undersized, soft and going to take up a huge chunk of cap. Our farm team is basically back to bare-bones talent-wise as well. We have no players really close to a Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, Kane, Doughty, Datsyuk, Toews, Marchand, Chara, Niedermayer, you name it. Tavares might be the only one close to one of those playoff warriors but there’s no other big name talents coming unless we make a big trade or tank again. It really is Tavares and the Islanders all over again but at least he takes pride in putting on his jersey now..
A huge mistake management made was grabbing Andersen at the time they did when they should have rode a few more years in the basement playing the likes of Johnny Bernier and the grinders, collecting assets and slowly developing their top prospects. Instead they've rushed things and have to dole out giant inflated contracts, creating massively unrealistic expectations for these players to uphold within the Toronto pressure-cooker. The fan-base would have been fine waiting another few years in the basement, but no, apparently we had to jump to win-now mode because we got the shiny #1 pick and a few players managed 60 points. This is a rushed rebuild all over again with a bit of bad luck to make things worse.
Too much of a Euro/OHL-vibe with this current team as well. You don't win a playoff round with a team that avoids physicality. Compare this team to past perennial cup-contending teams and you'll see we're far off from any of them and more akin to the San Jose choke artists of the recent decade albeit much softer. We drafted too many of the same types of players and the ones that should be the most dominant, are the most likely to get pushed around and stifled in the only times it matters. It's hard to see any realistic upgrades that would fully address this systematic problem either. Trading Nylander, Kadri and/or possibly Matthews would be a start while they still have any semblance of value but I mentioned realistic and this is not especially in Matthews case. Coaching change? Can't see that happening unless we really hit rock-bottom which we won't because we're setup again to be good enough to hover around that terrible void where we don't make the playoffs and don't draft high-end talent, like the previous two decades.
It’s a shame but it goes along with the Leafs curse. Get the #1 overall pick, get a player who looks like a sure superstar bet, turns out he’s incredibly soft, timid and injury prone. Suffers multiple injuries, exposing those weaknesses even more and slowly begins to show he’s clearly been overrated and has a much lower ceiling than anyone had anticipated. He’s nowhere near McDavid or even Crosby and it’s funny he was ever mentioned in the same breath as the Oilers superstar. Classical Leafs sensationalizing. When will we ever get to draft #1 again? To be fair, Edmonton's in a worse situation but I’d much rather have a player of McDavid’s ilk on board but their management is the definition of incompetence.
“Hot take central!”, don’t give a damn who thinks I’m trolling or being hyperbolic. I’m being realistic. You’re delusional if you think this team will win a cup with this core. Even when we were scoring at a torrid pace you could see there were major flaws in our game that would eventually be exposed and we haven’t even hit the playoffs yet, if we even make them. Not mentioning the embarrassingly pathetic defense either.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s the Leafs, we’re used to it.
But I’m full of **** and crazy right? Let’s just watch this play out and y’all can come back and roast me for this if they win a playoff round..nahhh
