Canadian Division (Canada Cup) Part V

[Willy Styles]

Yeah honestly Dubas is the Leafs real hero, so many good cheap players. Great cap management. And he got blessed with two of the best players in Leafs history, IMO.

Great trades and player development. Never trading first rounders, never overpaying on scrubs.

 

[Willy Styles]

Playoffs are gonna be fun, I'm thinking it's gonna be leafs - Habs first round.

I reaaaaaallly hope our government is reasonable and let's people in the buildings. I've been vaccinated for almost a month and a half!!!

 

[libertarian]

Doesn't this sort of hurt Matthews' Hart argument? Leafs handled the Oilers no problem without Matthews, and are something like 23-11-2 when Matthews is out.

Maybe Marner's their MVP after all.

If Matthews get back quickly and gets the 50 goals in 50 games there is no way he doesn't win the Hart.

Not a Leaf fan but Matthews is proving he is a top 3 player in the league. I really hope he can get healthy quickly and get back on his 50 in 50 run. The NHL has not seen a player get close to that since Mario in the late 80's.

 

[Dache]

Yeah honestly Dubas is the Leafs real hero, so many good cheap players. Great cap management. And he got blessed with two of the best players in Leafs history, IMO.

Great trades and player development. Never trading first rounders, never overpaying on scrubs.

Dubas has traded a first round pick

 

[libertarian]

Playoffs are gonna be fun, I'm thinking it's gonna be leafs - Habs first round.

I reaaaaaallly hope our government is reasonable and let's people in the buildings. I've been vaccinated for almost a month and a half!!!

Totally agree, it would be great to hear fans cheer immediately after a goal unlike now where the zero fans cheer 3 seconds after the goal is scored.

 

[X66]

Leafs depth is actually too much for any team in this division to match up, this is the 2nd game Matthews has missed against the Oilers and they easily won both games, this Oilers team is supposed to be the 2nd best in the division...

The question now becomes, who is going to add in this division at the deadline?

The leafs are going to be big buyers and improving their depth even more...

 

[Peasy]

Dubas has traded a first round pick

Yeah and it was well worth it.

Biggest thing is he's not wasting picks on useless players for 20 games like Lou did. B2b years Lou threw away a 2nd pick for nothing.

Also, the year he traded the 1st he still ended up hitting on a 1st round talent in the 2nd round.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Yeah and it was well worth it.

Biggest thing is he's not wasting picks on useless players for 20 games like Lou did. B2b years Lou threw away a 2nd pick for nothing.

Also, the year he traded the 1st he still ended up hitting on a 1st round talent in the 2nd round.

One to get rid of Marleau
One for Muzzin, any others

 

[Peasy]

One to get rid of Marleau
One for Muzzin, any others

Also got a first back which only ended up being 2 spots lower than the first he traded to get rid of Marleau. Pretty much a wash in the end in terms of picks.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Also got a first back which only ended up being 2 spots lower than the first he traded to get rid of Marleau. Pretty much a wash in the end in terms of picks.

Yes he did, that cost him Kapanen.

 

[hockeeyyy]

One to get rid of Marleau
One for Muzzin, any others

I’m not seeing the issue here? The Marleau trade was a bitter one to swallow because everyone saw it coming after Lou Lamoriello signed him.

 

[Peasy]

Yes he did, that cost him Kapanen.

Yeah, and the leafs are really missing kapanen right now...

 

[Buzzman17]

I too suspect the cap will not rebound. It all depends on the public response and government fear-mongering.

I disagree. We are about to see something close to hyperinflation. 200 million will be the new 80 million in a few years

 

[Dache]

Yeah and it was well worth it.

Biggest thing is he's not wasting picks on useless players for 20 games like Lou did. B2b years Lou threw away a 2nd pick for nothing.

Also, the year he traded the 1st he still ended up hitting on a 1st round talent in the 2nd round.

Ok, that poster said he has never traded a 1st rounder, that’s incorrect is all I was saying.

 

[Jaytee]

Yeah honestly Dubas is the Leafs real hero, so many good cheap players. Great cap management...
Great trades and player development. Never trading first rounders, never overpaying on scrubs.

This is a very astute post. It's also why I think that going forward, the only two Canadian teams that are positioned to actually, maybe accomplish anything good are Toronto and Winnipeg.

To win in the NHL in these salary cap days, having reasonably paid depth is at least as important as having superstars. In fact, in some cases...and I'm looking at you, Edmonton...having the superstars pretty much guarantees a lack of success; not because of the superstars, but because of incompetent management that can't find anything much to back them up a a reasonable price.

Stanley Cups are won by teams that, when their third line is out, you're not worried about how long it'll be until the first line can come out again.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I’m not seeing the issue here? The Marleau trade was a bitter one to swallow because everyone saw it coming after Lou Lamoriello signed him.

Never said there was an issue, responding to poster who said at least Dubas never traded a first round pick.

 

[MoreMogilny]

Leafs depth is actually too much for any team in this division to match up, this is the 2nd game Matthews has missed against the Oilers and they easily won both games, this Oilers team is supposed to be the 2nd best in the division...

The question now becomes, who is going to add in this division at the deadline?

The leafs are going to be big buyers and improving their depth even more...

This divisional format presents an excellent opportunity for any playoff bound team to have a stronger shot at the Cup than they would in any other year. I expect that means that teams in playoff positions and on the bubble might be a bit more aggressive at the deadline.

I definitely hope the Leafs are. While they have depth, you can still see the strain that having a couple of guys hurting has had on the team. I think a solid top 6 forward that could slide next to Tavares would be a good addition.

 

[RogerR]

I also respect you opinion but your assumption that the cap will continue to go up after this 3 years pause is misguided. Covid has destroyed the economic viability of the NHL with a 80+ million dollar cap. Covid lockdowns has destroyed the economies of NA. When fans are allowed back into the arenas they will not sell out except maybe the Leafs and Canadians. The NHL will lose 25-50% of the revenue they had pre-covid because of the lost of 10,000's of small business that use to buy season tickets but are now gone. When this 3 year cap limit ends I expect the cap to go down not up. What may save the Leafs cap position is if the NHL forces a 20-40% cut in all players salaries. If this does not happen the Leafs are toast.

The NHL salary cap is going DOWN long term not up.

Every single NHL team faces these challenges. People always act like it only affects the Leafs. The cap will never go down book it There's still a new tv deal coming.

 

[hockeeyyy]

I still think Montreal will bounce back, but they need to figure out what to do with Price and Weber.

Winnipeg is the real dark horse if they can structure their defense a bit more. Unfortunately, as Leafs fans already know, they have Paul Maurice and I’m not sure they can go the distance. But their offence and goaltending will be difficult to deal with.

Not sure what to make of Edmonton yet. They have Barrie on the top pairing and he’s getting exposed like he did in Toronto on the second (and third) pairing. He’s doing even worse defensively than he did in Toronto. Nurse was a pylon all night long. So was McDavid. House of Cards indeed.

 

[hockeeyyy]

Never said there was an issue, responding to poster who said at least Dubas never traded a first round pick.

My mistake!

 

[RogerR]

Sorry but any team/management that pays half their Cap to 4 players and
hope to win long term is very much suspect.

If the Leafs win the cup in the next few years then I will stand to be corrected but until then I think Dubas has set up the Leafs to be a very good team but not good enough to win the cup. His contracts will doom the Leafs to be almost good enough but never good enough to win it all.

Disagree 100%. There's 41.5 million you are not accounting for. Those 4 players are stars and log a lot of TOI. Dubas is proving there's no need to overpay support talent like GMs have been doing for years.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Disagree 100%. There's 41.5 million you are not accounting for. Those 4 players are stars and log a lot of TOI. Dubas is proving there's no need to overpay support talent like GMs have been doing for years.

40 million for 4 players, and
40 million for 19 players, that’s the balance.

 

[RogerR]

40 million for 4 players, and
40 million for 19 players, that’s the balance.

And why are they 1st overall facing these supposed challenges? If you're paying 3.9 combined to Bogosian, Thornton, Simonds and Spezza, all of a sudden it's not much of an issue.
Don't overpay support talent that's the lesson here. I think people who think 19 players for 41.5 million is such an issue think it's necessary to pay 2-3 million per for a quality 4th liner.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I still think Montreal will bounce back, but they need to figure out what to do with Price and Weber.

Winnipeg is the real dark horse if they can structure their defense a bit more. Unfortunately, as Leafs fans already know, they have Paul Maurice and I’m not sure they can go the distance. But their offence and goaltending will be difficult to deal with.

Not sure what to make of Edmonton yet. They have Barrie on the top pairing and he’s getting exposed like he did in Toronto on the second (and third) pairing. He’s doing even worse defensively than he did in Toronto. Nurse was a pylon all night long. So was McDavid. House of Cards indeed.

....or, maybe Maurice should get some credit for the Jets doing as well as they are with a very questionable defensive core? Chevy needs to pick-up another top four d-man ASAP.

 

[hockeeyyy]

....or, maybe Maurice should get some credit for the Jets doing as well as they are with a very questionable defensive core? Chevy needs to pick-up another top four d-man ASAP.

I will admit not watching more than a handful of Winnipeg games this season but I’ve learned not to give Maurice the benefit of the doubt.