Did signing Tavares lead to the Leafs' downfall?

[Nick Hansen]

The mistake was to not capitalize on Melander's high reputation before the whole contract situation came into play.

 

[nhlfan9191]

The mistake for Toronto was thinking they could keep 4 forwards for $40+ million. Center depth is huge. But signing Tavares meant somebody had to go. Dubas doubled down on he could keep them all and build a contender and it was unrealistic, especially given these guys were taking no discounts. He can still fix things by trading one of them. But the Leafs are in a bad situation. Panic moves and poor decisions are/have been made with teams in similar situations. There’s also a lot more holes outside of that. Welcome to pretender status Toronto.

 

[snipes]

I think it's pretty simple: In a cap era, if you're spending to the cap, good players vs bad players don't really matter. Good players for the price is what matters. The leafs have many amazing players, fewer amazing players for the price.

Are they really amazing though? Matthews hasn’t even broken 80 points yet the Eastern Canadian media labelled him 1A to McDavid.

I guess that’s just how it works in Toronto. Everything is given and nothing is earned.

 

[Critical13]

Bad salary management (partially thanks to Lou) and not being able to draft more than 1 top 4 defencemen in a 10 year period are the Leafs downfall.

I mean really, how is Morgan Rielly the only top 4 defenceman we've drafted and stuck with? 70+ draft picks and you can't find a single Sanheim/Parayko/Pesce type? Pathetic.

Have to admit, I lost patience with Babs and now am losing patience with Dubas and Shanny.

Are they really amazing though? Matthews hasn’t even broken 80 points yet the Eastern Canadian media labelled him 1A to McDavid.

I guess that’s just how it works in Toronto. Everything is given and nothing is earned.

Strange comment for a fanbase that is known for rabbidly destroying any nonperforming player in their organization. Toronto is ruthless.

Get your kicks in while we're down, I guess.

 

[These Are The Days]

The Tavares contract opened up the Pandora's shit box of having to sign everyone else at near the same salary. Without such an obscene measuring stick Matthews and Marner could've both probably been had for the neighborly price of about $8.5 million each and you call it a day. It's what Stamkos and Draisaitl make and both would be respectfully paid at the same level. No pun intended but both players can and will consistently demonstrate a similar production. You pay Nylander $6 million firm and now you've got a young trio locked in at $23 million instead of $33 million and change to Matthews, Marner, Tavares AND Nylander at nearly $7 million. 4 guys and nearly $40 million. And of course add the Marleau debacle on top of it. You've got to be kidding me.

Your defense is Morgan Reilly and Jake Muzzin running fire drills until "Save by Anderssen." Almost half the cap is eaten up by 4 guys on offense and Babcock is absolutely no closer to having the kind of team that can execute the system he wants to run since the day he took the job. And all it took was about $20 million in LTIR to get it done.


If I was a Leafs fan I would be hanging "Fire Dubas" banners from the rafters

 

[sting101]

Toronto is in this predicament because of horrific management period.

Tavares was a move only an idiot would turn down. He was a reigning franchise player who was gonna leave to go to his hometown and theoretically help bring home a cup. He deserved his contract and in no way should that have created the problems they have today.

To think about the lost opportunity here. Nylander was an obvious move prior to the holdout that should have netted them a top3 defenseman of similar age. It's entirely possible they could have gotten younger as well and bought some time and money and shown that they are not gonna get pushed around in negotiations. Matthews and Marner contracts are what you give to your star players after they win a cup. They got bent over and now have to live with the fact that half their roster in the middle six and on defense is a bunch of re treads and poor competitors.

Its just simply a poorly constructed roster and maybe Babcock getting fired gets things going for awhile but i think any coach is gonna have a tough time with it. Kapanen should have been good enough behind Marner in the top6. Paying a 1st they could have used for defense help for Marleau was a fail as was Connor Brown gone to get rid of the Zaitsev contract and the Kadri move was poor.

Dubas is got to be in hot water here.

Kadri Brown Marleau Zaitsev Gardiner Ennis (19g 38a 57pts) and a 1st for Kerfoot Mikhayev Spezza Ceci Barrie Moore (15g 24a 39pts) is looking pretty bad especially when you consider how good Kadri and Brown were in a two way capacity.

Thats not Tavares' fault

 

[McVespa99]

To me TO would have been better spending the Tavares $ on the defense. They had enough talent up front.
The Tavares signing was compounded by overpaying Matthews, Marner and Nylander. There is still a possible partial solution though. Trade Nylander for some help on the back end. There is no going back on the Matthews and Marner contracts though.

 

[Critical13]

I don't expect it will happen, but this thread will definitely make a delicious bump if the Leafs somehow make the playoffs this year.

 

[The Panther]

I don't really get the millennial fans' obsession with player salaries. I don't really care what players are earning; I just care how they perform.

Anyway...

It's still mid-November. The Leafs have had a rough stretch for, what, a week or two? Everyone chill.

Please see threads from November / December last year: "Was signing Ryan O'Reilly the Blues' downfall?"

Nine out of ten experts on this forum concluded that it was.

 

[Strangelove]

Did signing Tavares lead to the Leafs' downfall?

In a sense?

They ditched the Shanaplan because of the welling up of unbridled enthusiasm.

Unbridled enthusiasm led to the signing of Tavares (along with other moves).

Truth be told then, unbridled enthusiasm led to the Leafs' downfall.

 

[Nick Hansen]

I don't really get the millennial fans' obsession with player salaries. I don't really care what players are earning; I just care how they perform.
.

Instituting the caphit was the downfall of players' reputation. Look at someone like Toews or Price for instance...

 

[boredmale]

The mistake for Toronto was thinking they could keep 4 forwards for $40+ million. Center depth is huge. But signing Tavares meant somebody had to go. Dubas doubled down on he could keep them all and build a contender and it was unrealistic, especially given these guys were taking no discounts. He can still fix things by trading one of them. But the Leafs are in a bad situation. Panic moves and poor decisions are/have been made with teams in similar situations. There’s also a lot more holes outside of that. Welcome to pretender status Toronto.

Since I am to lazy to type out the exact same thing in different words. Ditto

Leafs basically need to realize one of Marner or Nylander needs to be traded to fill the gaps

 

[Panthaz89]

1/4th through the season they aren't exactly done yet...the Sabres might as well waive the white flag though as usual.

 

[57special]

NO! All the have to do now is go for Hall. They don't have enough high priced forwards.

 

[Green]

If Tavares had taken a hometown discount (say 10) and stayed with the Islanders, coupled with Ladd getting Insurance retirement and the 4/5 Mil they have in cap space, I'm wondering if that would have enticed Panarin to join them instead of the Rags. Then you would of had that great Trotz coached defensive team with Barzal, Tavares, & Panarin. I'm pretty sure that would have been a recipe for a true "Cup Contender". They may of had to let Leddy and/or do another move, but I think it would have been possible.

I can assure you a guy like Panarin is not "enticed" by a winning product, he is enticed by the nightlife and maybe going out on a boat

 

[Strait2thecup]

I don't expect it will happen, but this thread will definitely make a delicious bump if the Leafs somehow make the playoffs this year.

I’m sorry if they make the playoffs hahahahaha? The bar is that low for this future dynasty now??????

 

[Critical13]

I’m sorry if they make the playoffs hahahahaha? The bar is that low for this future dynasty now??????

Until they replace 3 of their top 4 defencemen, that's where it is for me.

 

[JustinCase]

Adding a guy who scores 47 goals in his first year with the team is hardly a problem.

The problems lie elsewhere.

 

[doublechili]

Tavares isn't the problem. Trading Lou Lamoriello for him however....

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

I don't really get the millennial fans' obsession with player salaries. I don't really care what players are earning; I just care how they perform.

Anyway...

It's still mid-November. The Leafs have had a rough stretch for, what, a week or two? Everyone chill.

Please see threads from November / December last year: "Was signing Ryan O'Reilly the Blues' downfall?"

Nine out of ten experts on this forum concluded that it was.

Ah we finally have the answer. Its not the salary cap, its millennials. Obviously!

 

[tntkid]

Just trade Tavares away and let him win a cup like Kessel did.

 

[aufheben]

Hard to not sign a guy like Tavares when you have the opportunity. But Leafs didn’t really need him and I’m sure they could have used the money smarter even if it wouldn’t have been as flashy on paper.

This is really all that needs to be said about it.

 

[Devonator]

Leafs certainly have their fair share of problems right now....one of them though is not adding a tremendous player like Tavares...come on people....let's be reasonable here.

 

[Kennedys]

The Leafs signing Tavares was probably the best thing ever....for the New York Islanders.

 

[illpucks]

Tavares is highly overrated player. He's basically Sidney Crosby if he couldn't skate well and was slow.