Hindsight is 20/20, were these the right decisions?

[ShaneFalco]

It's not about it being a catastrophe. You just don't see very good teams jettison their top scorer when they're headed to the playoffs.

I've stated many times JVR should have been moved last summer. Deadline was too late.
Gardiner is in the same situation now and I'd hate to see them make the same mistake

 

[Sypher04]

I've stated many times JVR should have been moved last summer. Deadline was too late.
Gardiner is in the same situation now and AI'd hate to see them make the same mistake

FWIW, I also said we should have traded him last offseason. I just knew in my gut that once the season started, he would end up staying through the whole season.

 

[ACC1224]

It's not about it being a catastrophe. You just don't see very good teams jettison their top scorer when they're headed to the playoffs.

The perception that they were giving up on the season so early would have been very poor optics all around.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Too early to scrap the season, IMO.

Who said anything about scrapping the season?

Perhaps, but we ended up right back up around 6th. A blip shouldn't necessarily change the plan.

So what's the plan? I would hope the plan is to win the cup one day in which case we'd probably be closer to that goal had we traded JVR.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I've stated many times JVR should have been moved last summer. Deadline was too late.
Gardiner is in the same situation now and I'd hate to see them make the same mistake

I was waiting for almost two years for them to do something with JVR and it never happened. Just thinking about the same thing happening (sorry, not happening) with Gardiner makes my stomach turn.

 

[ACC1224]

Who said anything about scrapping the season?



.

Selling pending UFA because of a drop in the standings would give that perception.

 

[Menzinger]

I've stated many times JVR should have been moved last summer. Deadline was too late.
Gardiner is in the same situation now and I'd hate to see them make the same mistake

Mirtle talked about this recently. Suggested a less old school GM May have been more inclined to trade a UFA or two.

If the Leafs aren’t planning on resigning Gardiner they seriously need to think about trading him this summer. Could get quite a haul of assets

 

[Sypher04]

Who said anything about scrapping the season?



So what's the plan? I would hope the plan is to win the cup one day in which case we'd probably be closer to that goal had we traded JVR.

Obviously I don't know definitively, but I assume putting the team in a position to make some noise in the playoffs this year was something the organization valued. If they didn't then surely all the UFAs they don't intend to re-sign would have been moved.

Long term plan would be better served by having moved JVR, but it seems they weren't inclined to do so for picks/prospects & not surprisingly they clearly didn't get a defenseman offered that they wanted to bite for. Personally, I still would've taken picks/prospects to use in package later, but again, I would've traded JVR a summer ago, or two.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Mirtle talked about this recently. Suggested a less old school GM May have been more inclined to trade a UFA or two.

If the Leafs aren’t planning on resigning Gardiner they seriously need to think about trading him this summer. Could get quite a haul of assets

And if they don't trade him, are they willing to pay him 5.5-6 mill? That Zaitsev contract isn't looking so good right now....

 

[Gary Nylund]

Selling pending UFA because of a drop in the standings would give that perception.

Nah, you'd have to be real pessimist to see it that way IMO. And it wouldn't even occur to me to see it as they sold him "because of a drop in the standings", I'd see it as "they finally pulled the trigger on a deal as we've been expecting them to do for some time now, yay".

Obviously I don't know definitively, but I assume putting the team in a position to make some noise in the playoffs this year was something the organization valued. If they didn't then surely all the UFAs they don't intend to re-sign would have been moved.

Long term plan would be better served by having moved JVR, but it seems they weren't inclined to do so for picks/prospects & not surprisingly they clearly didn't get a defenseman offered that they wanted to bite for. Personally, I still would've taken picks/prospects to use in package later, but again, I would've traded JVR a summer ago, or two.

For sure, making the playoffs and making noise etc. always has value. I'm not sure how much JVR even helps in that regard but that's just me. And yeah, I would have traded him a long, long time ago too.

 

[ACC1224]

Nah, you'd have to be real pessimist to see it that way IMO. And it wouldn't even occur to me to see it as they sold him "because of a drop in the standings", I'd see it as "they finally pulled the trigger on a deal as we've been expecting them to do for some time now, yay".



.

I must have been mistaken, I thought you said they should have moved him when they dropped to 16th .

 

[Gary Nylund]

I must have been mistaken, I thought you said they should have moved him when they dropped to 16th .

I pointed out we were 16th in January as as response to the idea that 6th place teams don't sell etc. I would have been happy had we traded him 2 years ago, a year ago, in January or whatever, anything but keeping him, watching him suck in the playoffs (again) and then letting him walk.

 

[thewave]

I pointed out we were 16th in January as as response to the idea that 6th place teams don't sell etc. I would have been happy had we traded him 2 years ago, a year ago, in January or whatever, anything but keeping him, watching him suck in the playoffs (again) and then letting him walk.

Most people are not very good with asset Management. Most posters here and in real world live for today, in debt and want instant gratification. This is just a human thing and tbh the most important quality in any GM is the long game and trade asset savvy.

Steve Yzerman is literally the modern best example, archetype for how you should manage assets and draft etc. He sold Boyle for example missed the PO and is ready to cup run this year. Strategic mind.

 

[ACC1224]

I pointed out we were 16th in January as as response to the idea that 6th place teams don't sell etc. I would have been happy had we traded him 2 years ago, a year ago, in January or whatever, anything but keeping him, watching him suck in the playoffs (again) and then letting him walk.

I wanted him gone in the summer as well but our wishes really don't make much difference.
Once he started the year and the Team looked like they were going to the Playoffs again, it was pretty apparent they weren't going anywhere.
I know that's been said a million times already but it really is common sense.
Such is life when following a successful team and you can expect the very same occurrence next deadline.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I wanted him gone in the summer as well but our wishes really don't make much difference.
Once he started the year and the Team looked like they were going to the Playoffs again, it was pretty apparent they weren't going anywhere.
I know that's been said a million times already but it really is common sense.
Such is life when following a successful team and you can expect the very same occurrence next deadline.

When they were 16th overall in January, many of us were still hoping JVR would be traded. With hindsight (see thread title), it's pretty clear that this would have been the smart thing to do, regardless of what was or wasn't apparent to some fans. It was also apparent to many of us that our chances of winning the cup this season were realistically quite small so keeping JVR because woo woo cup run was the opposite of good asset management.

I wouldn't expect us to trade veteran players at the deadline if we're 6th overall. I do hope that we make smarter decisions re. asset management going forward though as it's clear to me that we botched it with JVR.

 

[ACC1224]

When they were 16th overall in January, many of us were still hoping JVR would be traded. With hindsight (see thread title), it's pretty clear that this would have been the smart thing to do, regardless of what was or wasn't apparent to some fans. It was also apparent to many of us that our chances of winning the cup this season were realistically quite small so keeping JVR because woo woo cup run was the opposite of good asset management.

I wouldn't expect us to trade veteran players at the deadline if we're 6th overall. I do hope that we make smarter decisions re. asset management going forward though as it's clear to me that we botched it with JVR.

Prepare to be disappointed.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Prepare to be disappointed.

You might be right but I'm going to be optimistic and hope they learned something from the JVR "experience". If by the time the puck drops on the new season in October Gardiner is still a Maple Leaf and has still not signed a contract extension, then I will being "preparing". Really hope it doesn't come to that though as it's going to be almost impossible to win a cup without managing our assets smarter than that.

 

[ACC1224]

You might be right but I'm going to be optimistic and hope they learned something from the JVR "experience". If by the time the puck drops on the new season in October Gardiner is still a Maple Leaf and has still not signed a contract extension, then I will being "preparing". Really hope it doesn't come to that though as it's going to be almost impossible to win a cup without managing our assets smarter than that.

You certainly can learn from your mistakes. I wouldn't assume though that they feel they made any mistakes as far as the moving UFA's.

I fully expect that Gardiner will be re-signed at some point this summer.

 

[ShaneFalco]

You might be right but I'm going to be optimistic and hope they learned something from the JVR "experience". If by the time the puck drops on the new season in October Gardiner is still a Maple Leaf and has still not signed a contract extension, then I will being "preparing". Really hope it doesn't come to that though as it's going to be almost impossible to win a cup without managing our assets smarter than that.

Especially without a #3C, a number 4C, and some pretty big changes needed on D and/or more two-way forwards

 

[Trapper]

Especially without a #3C, a number 4C, and some pretty big changes needed on D and/or more two-way forwards

I like the foundation of the team but we still have lots of work to do.
Whenever you leave a job/move on, you ask yourself how was it left for the next person coming in?
IMO, it has been left in a weaker state moving forward.
We've always need to address the center depth in the organization. No real young talent developing at that position. Last year we needed to address the D. Now add 2/3rds of a scoring line to that. A 35 goal scorer. Plus the issues playoff hockey showed us in terms of taking it up a level, winning battles, etc.
So that's the state for the new GM.

 

[Not My Tempo]

It won't be a problem because it's a high cap hit with very little real salary in the third year. It's structured to be attractive to cap floor teams.

Sure but that literally means nothing if Marleau refuses to waive. It doesn’t matter how attractive his contract is, if he doesn’t want to uproot his family for a year, he’s not gonna let any trade pass

 

[ACC1224]

Sure but that literally means nothing if Marleau refuses to waive. It doesn’t matter how attractive his contract is, if he doesn’t want to uproot his family for a year, he’s not gonna let any trade pass

We should fully expect Marleau to be here for the full 3 years.

 

[LeafSteel]

We should have tried harder to get McD’ from the Rangers. He would have been a good fit.

 

[Nooodles]

I was waiting for almost two years for them to do something with JVR and it never happened. Just thinking about the same thing happening (sorry, not happening) with Gardiner makes my stomach turn.

this

 

[nsleaf]

OP was 100% correct. Hindsight is 20/20. All the coulda, woulda, shoulda opinions mean diddly now.