TSN: Craig Button: I don't think the Leafs are Stanley Cup Contenders

[namttebih]

Not much wrong about what he said.

If Freddie goes down this season, we're out of the playoffs and likely approaching a lottery team.

Good thing we still have a lottery pick

 

[Gabriel426]

Good thing we still have a lottery pick

After watching AM and Marner trying to pinch for every penny and Reilly becoming UFA in a few yrs, even if the Leafs win the lottery, hoping they would trade that pick for a RHD that signs for longer than 3 yrs with around 4-5mil, and a few other draft picks, lol.

 

[PromisedLand]

 

[Gabriel426]

CB is right in every words. You want the great contract and that’s nothing wrong with it except you need to play at that level.

 

[The CyNick]

Did anybody think St Louis were Stanley cup contenders last year?

Many people had the Blues in the finals.

 

[socko]

What Button said is completely wrong. Paying out contracts 20-25% above market value is a big problem. Nylander should have been 6 tops and that's full seasons. If he wants to sit out a 3rd of the year, the offer is still 6 for the full season prorated down to a partial season. Marner maybe 9. Matthews 10.

 

[hoglund]

Many people had the Blues in the finals.

Really? In January when they were in last place in the league? I don't think so.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

The CAP is the CAP. As long as its in place no team going to be good for more than 5+ years. We got our chance next 5 years. We have best defense we have had in a long time. And we have best forward group in a long time. Even our goalie is top 15. We have a chance this year. And we need at minimum a good long playoff run so the boys can figure out what playoffs are all about. I wish we had some CAP space for some guys who could help for a run in playoffs but we don't so no sense worrying about it.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Big deal, you could have said the same thing about the Blues last season

We don't have a Jordan Binnington coming in to save us.

Not a good example.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

I 99% agree with you, can’t say I like Marincin though lol, but the coaching definitely has to change.

Won't happen.

Dubas is a supportive nice guy to his players and staff.

 

[Merrrlin]

Won't happen.

Dubas is a supportive nice guy to his players and staff.

I'm guessing you spend a lot of time behind the scenes?

 

[RoadWarrior]

What Button said is completely wrong. Paying out contracts 20-25% above market value is a big problem. Nylander should have been 6 tops and that's full seasons. If he wants to sit out a 3rd of the year, the offer is still 6 for the full season prorated down to a partial season. Marner maybe 9. Matthews 10.

Canadian teams will over pay because of the tax differential with the US. Players demand the same money net of taxes. The extra amount they are paying their stars reflects added taxes in Ontario which the leafs have essentially agreed to pay.

That makes higher tax jurisdictions less competitive as a rule of thumb. The way around it is short term contracts that don’t cover UFA years. i.e. bridge deals.

Tavares is captain because he took a discount to sign in Toronto. A rare thing indeed.

 

[deletethis]

Won't happen.

Dubas is a supportive nice guy to his players and staff.

The reason Dubas isn't in a hurry to fire Babcock has nothing to do with being supportive. Eliminate Babcock and put Dubas' choice for coach in place then Dubas is placed on the hot seat.

The best move Pittsburgh made in the past decade was canning Ray Shero and hiring experienced Jim Rutherford. Shero had been simply lucky to win that Stanley Cup with a perfect storm of generational talent on ELCs and quality veteran support. That window closed on Shero and he couldn't close the deal after that.

Dubas is Ray Shero. Mike Babcock is Michel Therrien. Shero fired Therrien then Therrien's replacement won a Cup in 2009. That would have been like Dubas fired Babcock during last season and putting his guy in place. With no Cup run and Dubas not pulling the chute on the coach and Dubas unwilling to utter a cross word about any of his players, Dubas takes all of the heat once Babcock is gone.

 

[The Iceman]

Leafs aren't Stanley contenders today.

Add Hyman, Tavares, Dermott and a tweak or 2 and 100% we are true contenders. 100%

 

[deletethis]

Leafs aren't Stanley contenders today.

Add Hyman, Tavares, Dermott and a tweak or 2 and 100% we are true contenders. 100%

I do hope that Hyman and Dermott can bring an influx of something missing from the lineup. This team shouldn't need either player to get out of its current non-competitive doldrums. Hyman's a role player and Dermott's a 3rd pairing defending. If these guys that vital to team, there's something definitely wrong with the team's talent mix (which I definitely think there is).

 

[Nineteen67]

What Button said is completely wrong. Paying out contracts 20-25% above market value is a big problem. Nylander should have been 6 tops and that's full seasons. If he wants to sit out a 3rd of the year, the offer is still 6 for the full season prorated down to a partial season. Marner maybe 9. Matthews 10.

Nylander is playing like a 4-5 million dollar player....and one could argue that’s a little rich.

 

[Nineteen67]

Really? In January when they were in last place in the league? I don't think so.

Probably not, but at the beginning of the year and the beginning of the playoffs a lot did.

 

[hotpaws]

Canadian teams will over pay because of the tax differential with the US. Players demand the same money net of taxes. The extra amount they are paying their stars reflects added taxes in Ontario which the leafs have essentially agreed to pay.

That makes higher tax jurisdictions less competitive as a rule of thumb. The way around it is short term contracts that don’t cover UFA years. i.e. bridge deals.

Tavares is captain because he took a discount to sign in Toronto. A rare thing indeed.

you obviously have no idea what you're talking about when it come to taxes if you lump all the states and provinces into 2 groups and Dubas overpaid because because he's incompetent and not because of the tax rates

JT isn't worth 11m million never mind the non sense that he's underpaid and they made him Captain to defend mgmt's decision to sign him to a huge ufa deal .

 

[hoglund]

Should we be starting a "Tank Nation " thread?

 

[hoglund]

Probably not, but at the beginning of the year and the beginning of the playoffs a lot did.

At the beginning of the playoffs, I did because they were the hottest team in 2nd half of the season.

 

[Bomber0104]

Should we be starting a "Tank Nation " thread?

As one of the leaders of Tank Nation during the Burke and Nonis years here, the answer is a resounding no.

We're not even close to that yet.

 

[Canadian Finn]

I think this year is going to be a great learning experience for fans who pushed to sign our "stars" for their future abilities.

Many who currently "support" Dubas (which is remarkable in every way) will be learning lots this year.

This season should actually "grow" our fanbase's knowledge of the sport they follow.

 

[RoadWarrior]

you obviously have no idea what you're talking about when it come to taxes if you lump all the states and provinces into 2 groups and Dubas overpaid because because he's incompetent and not because of the tax rates

JT isn't worth 11m million never mind the non sense that he's underpaid and they made him Captain to defend mgmt's decision to sign him to a huge ufa deal .

Taxes in Ontario are higher than every US State. Since federal taxes are the bulk of income tax in Canada that applies to most Provinces.

Tavares was offered more money to play in San Jose but he chose Toronto instead.

 

[RoyalCitySlicker]

We don't have a Jordan Binnington coming in to save us.

Not a good example.

You're right we likely don't. However, I'm not sure the Blues knew that they had him either at that point - otherwise, why would he have been an AHL backup?

As their GM said, 'if we'd have known he would be that good, we wouldn't have had him backing up in the AHL.'

Hindsight is always 20/20. We have a good team. Good enough to win? We will see. Too early to be writing them off at this point, IMO.

 

[RoyalCitySlicker]

I think this year is going to be a great learning experience for fans who pushed to sign our "stars" for their future abilities.

Many who currently "support" Dubas (which is remarkable in every way) will be learning lots this year.

This season should actually "grow" our fanbase's knowledge of the sport they follow.

Oh ya, and what would you have done? You'd rather pay for past performance, I guess? Marleau really worked out swimmingly. Most of the worst contracts in the NHL are ones that were based on past performance. Most of the best value contracts in the league are ones where a team gambled on a player's future success.

This is, IMO, a bad take.