Confirmed with Link: GM Dubas -- Part 2: What will he do next!?

[Liminality]

The team is positioned really well here but he seems pretty cognizant of the potential pitfalls that could wreck us. It really sounds like he did his homework on the cap situation before the Tavares signing and he certainly comes off as thoughtful and aware. Huge departure from Burke's hubristic brashness and Nonis' bumbling optimism.

I think it helped that he promoted Pridham and got Gilman to help him walk this fine line on the cap. Good timing to get those guys.

 

[Hurt]

Yeah, I think Durzi will find his way in there, too.

If I had my way, my ultimate blueline in 3-4 years would look like this:
Rielly - Severson-type (acquired with Gardiner)
Sandin - Liljegren
Dermott - Durzi

Realistically, if 2 out of 3 of Sandin/Lily/Durzi pan out, we're doing amazing.

I think it helped that he promoted Pridham and got Gilman to help him walk this fine line on the cap. Good timing to get those guys.

Pridham is such a huge acquisition and also one of our under-the-radar moves among fans throughout the league. He knows the CBA better than almost everyone else in the hockey world. These guys are thinking 5 years down the line, I'm sure of it.

 

[Daisy Jane]

That Foligno hit really knocked him dizzy. I think he wasn't really recovered at the start of the season, add his foot injury and you have some legit excuses for a down year. That concussion though, some people never really recover from those.

i do think people forget how long it takes you to feel normal after things like that.
Rick Nash said it took him nearly 1.5-2 years to feel normal after one concussion.
with with broken bones in feet it takes about a year to feel normal (I fractured my ankle last thanksgiving (CDN), and i still have horrible spasms and weakness in my foot. i'm sure that Z has access to better rehabbing and stuff, but basically stuff like this needs time t feel normal.

i know people defer to his stats his first year - i'll have to take their word for it (lie he wasn't 'worth' the contract due to them), but we'll see what happens.

 

[AllDay28]

I got a concussion last summer playing softball and im pretty sure it still has lingering effects (1 hopper hard above the eye).

 

[Stephen]

I wonder how much Dubas is aware of what the ask is or will be from the Big Three? I mean you can have your game plan all mapped out but if one guy goes nuts and demands to be paid $16 million all your planning goes out the window...

 

[IBeL34f]

Realistically, if 2 out of 3 of Sandin/Lily/Durzi pan out, we're doing amazing.



Pridham is such a huge acquisition and also one of our under-the-radar moves among fans throughout the league. He knows the CBA better than almost everyone else in the hockey world. These guys are thinking 5 years down the line, I'm sure of it.

The best part is that I don't even think where I placed them in the lineup requires that much faith in them hitting their full potential to manifest - Liljegren has top-pairing potential, but could anchor a 2nd pairing away from Rielly to spread out our strengths; Sandin becoming a top-4 D isn't much of a stretch; Durzi easily has top-4 potential at this point, and expecting a bottom-pairing defenseman out of him when he's 23-24 shouldn't be asking too much.

I absolutely agree, regarding Pridham and Gilman. We haven't seen yet the full impact of the cap, in my opinion - it's still too young. One of these days, a team is going to absolutely break this era of the NHL by perfectly synchronizing their draft-and-development program, as well as their cap structure, to create a truly sustainable factory of success that will transcend beyond one core group of players. We'll see if Pittsburgh can do it when Crosby and Malkin need to be recycled, or if Washington can do it when Ovi and Backstrom are passed their prime, or Chicago after Toews and Kane - I'm not sure if they've set themselves up (yet) to be able to withstand those kinds of losses over the next 5-10 years, so we'll have to wait to find out if any of them can manage.

Having people like Dubas, Pridham, and Gilman in charge of our talent assessment, our player development, and our cap structure moving forward (as well as to help us navigate the upcoming expansion draft) gives me so much hope that we can be at least one of the teams that finally breaks the cap era, and finds a way to blow the whole thing wide open. There's so much intelligence and foresight in our head office right now, it inspires an awful lot of faith and confidence. I love it.

 

[Daisy Jane]

I got a concussion last summer playing softball and im pretty sure it still has lingering effects (1 hopper hard above the eye).

i hope you feel better soon.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Realistically, if 2 out of 3 of Sandin/Lily/Durzi pan out, we're doing amazing.



Pridham is such a huge acquisition and also one of our under-the-radar moves among fans throughout the league. He knows the CBA better than almost everyone else in the hockey world. These guys are thinking 5 years down the line, I'm sure of it.

it makes you wonder when they make the new CBA, how much in demand those guys will be to teams.

 

[saltming]

it makes you wonder when they make the new CBA, how much in demand those guys will be to teams.

I would think Pridham and Gilman would still be incredibly valuable as their knowledge to disseminate the new CBA would still be elite.

 

[Daisy Jane]

I would think Pridham and Gilman would still be incredibly valuable as their knowledge to disseminate the new CBA would still be elite.

oh for sure.
i just mean, because Pridham actually wrote the damned thing, and Gilman built the expansion rules, i wonderhow many teams will be eyeing who wrote the new one, and do the same thing we did.

 

[TheProspector]

The Leafs are in amazing shape. We are both setup to compete now, as well as over the next eight years.

 

[saltming]

oh for sure.
i just mean, because Pridham actually wrote the damned thing, and Gilman built the expansion rules, i wonderhow many teams will be eyeing who wrote the new one, and do the same thing we did.

We are the trail blazers! Haha maybe we hire the new guys as advisors? Flex that more muscle

 

[56 Years No Cup]

For all the talk of signing the big 3 under the cap, Dubas's real challenge is what to do with Gardiner.

Not hard at all. Fire him into the sun.

 

[saltming]

Not hard at all. Fire him into the sun.

To be fair firing anything into the sun is pretty difficult.
Reaching escape velocity alone is significant work never mind the calculations needed to actually ensure you launch him into the sun!
Probably easier to trade him. We also get something back for him that way.

 

[56 Years No Cup]

To be fair firing anything into the sun is pretty difficult.
Reaching escape velocity alone is significant work never mind the calculations needed to actually ensure you launch him into the sun!
Probably easier to trade him. We also get something back for him that way.

OK, I'll compromise!

 

[Peasy]

I wonder how much Dubas is aware of what the ask is or will be from the Big Three? I mean you can have your game plan all mapped out but if one guy goes nuts and demands to be paid $16 million all your planning goes out the window...

Then you don't pay them 16m because that would be foolish?

Theyre RFA's, not UFA's. The Leafs have the leverage on them. Look at what happened with Ryjo and Pastrnak. They waited as long as the could and took the deals that were presented to them.

 

[Hurt]

I wonder how much Dubas is aware of what the ask is or will be from the Big Three? I mean you can have your game plan all mapped out but if one guy goes nuts and demands to be paid $16 million all your planning goes out the window...

If Connor McDavid, arguably one of the best players in the last 25 years to come up in hockey, is probably a tad overpaid at 12.5, only a nut who wants out of Toronto for whatever reason would ask for something ridiculous. I think Dubas & Co. (let's be real, Shanny has done an amazing job of surrounding Dubas with amazing talent) have a good idea of what these guys will get because otherwise, Dubas wouldn't be in the media definitively saying when asked if they can afford all four of those guys "We can and we will".

 

[hockeywiz542]

Lamoriello respects Tavares' decision to leave Islanders

"I'm happy for them," Lamoriello said. "There are very good people there (in Toronto). Starting with Larry Tanenbaum, ownership was always tremendous with me in giving me the autonomy there to do what I thought was best for the organization. And my relationship with [coach Mike Babcock] was impeccable."

"When it comes to them, I hope they enjoy all the success in the world … except when they play the New York Islanders."

"I think Mark and Kyle were ready as far as leadership goes," Lamoriello said. "It was [Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan's] decision. As for my relationship with Kyle, there was never an issue. He remains a good friend."

 

[Kelly]

John Lilley has been promoted to head of amateur scouting, he was our top US scout.

 

[SprDaVE]

John Lilley has been promoted to head of amateur scouting, he was our top US scout.

Another move I don't understand because our US based amateur scouting has been fairly poor in the last decade or so. I guess he's doing something right.

 

[Stephen]

The Leafs are so bad with American picks. It's like we don't really do that well with those NSHL, USNTDP, College picks.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

That Foligno hit really knocked him dizzy. I think he wasn't really recovered at the start of the season, add his foot injury and you have some legit excuses for a down year. That concussion though, some people never really recover from those.

That hit still pisses me off. Last game of the season with less than 10 seconds left in the first and Foligno goes and drives Zaitsev’s head into the board like that. Left us without one of our top four guys going into the playoffs. Foligno’s also done some other dirty shit against us too. His Dad was cool but Nick is a dick.

Regardless of that, I think Zaitsev deserves at least one more year to prove that the faith the organization put in him wasn’t misplaced. He’s had to deal with injuries and other off ice issues. If he can return to a top four form that contract will be a boon.

 

[Obliviate]

I think Montour is the prize of that group. Unfortunately, Anaheim needs him and he's very popular with their fans, so I see him costing too much.

I will settle for Manson then

 

[Obliviate]

If Connor McDavid, arguably one of the best players in the last 25 years to come up in hockey, is probably a tad overpaid at 12.5, only a nut who wants out of Toronto for whatever reason would ask for something ridiculous. I think Dubas & Co. (let's be real, Shanny has done an amazing job of surrounding Dubas with amazing talent) have a good idea of what these guys will get because otherwise, Dubas wouldn't be in the media definitively saying when asked if they can afford all four of those guys "We can and we will".

McJesus is not overpaid.

 

[93LEAFS]

The Leafs are so bad with American picks. It's like we don't really do that well with those NSHL, USNTDP, College picks.

The only massive disappointment on that side is Tyler Biggs. In general, we haven't allocated high-picks on USA based players. Its not like late 2nds/early 3rd like Bracco, Woll, and Greenway had odds in their favor. Jimmy Hayes and Pateryn are actually decent picks for their slot. Kenny Ryan is a bust, but he had like a 20% chance of making it.

On a whole, from 2007 to 2015, our team was atrocious at drafting outside of the top 10, unless you are talking about Sweden, and a one-off hit with Connor Brown. Although, Ontario probably did the best.

I mean, pick me one region that did well in that area from 2007 to about 2015 outside of Sweden. We blew top 45 picks on OHL guys like Percy, and Finn, and we didn't hit on a single WHL or QMJHL player in that time frame outside of Rielly, who was a 5th overall pick. Past Rielly, the only NHLer we got from the QMJHL and WHL from 2007 until now is Luke Schenn, who has absolutely proven he wasn't worthy of being drafted 5th overall. Although, Its hard to judge our current scouting team, as such massive changes were made in 2015.