How much do the Leafs regret trading Connor Brown?

[FrozenJagrt]

And Hyman gets force fed top minutes with actual elite players and the Leafs are probably going to give him $5 million per year

I'm fine with that. Hyman is the player some people think Brown might become.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

They all play the right side......

Nylander can and has played the left side, so has Brown.

 

[Leafs87]

Wtf is with all these leafs threads? Most of which make absolutely no sense.
Brown was stuck on the fourth line and he’d be another soft winger? Gee how much could we really be missing him? What the leafs really would of regretted is not dumping Zairsevs contract.

We’re there this many TB threads after they got swept by CBJ?

 

[Soundwave]

Would they even be able to afford him? Hyman is going to be tough to keep as is.

The Leafs didn't lose that series because they didn't did support from their depth players -- Nylander, Spezza, Kerfoot, Galchenyuk, gave them more than enough to win.

Matthews and Marner did not show up for the series, simple as that.

 

[Holymakinaw]

Brown was always a decent and hard-working 3rd line player. But y'all need to calm down. LOL.

He's cracked 20 goals twice in his career and 40 points once.

He just had a nice international tourney against a ton of lesser lights from around the world. Good for him, really.

He'll return to 15 goals and 35 points next year and contribute in other ways. Pump the brakes and just let him be him.

 

[Flukeshot]

This is revisionist thinking. At the time it was a good move and even with hindsight was worthwhile.

It should also be considered that Brown and Zaitsev would have less opportunity to play on the Leafs vs where they are on the Sens depth chart.

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

Wtf is with all these leafs threads? Most of which make absolutely no sense.
Brown was stuck on the fourth line and he’d be another soft winger? Gee how much could we really be missing him? What the leafs really would of regretted is not dumping Zairsevs contract.

We’re there this many TB threads after they got swept by CBJ?

Another post of the "Ma, everybody hates us!" ilk...

 

[JT Kreider]

This is revisionist thinking. At the time it was a good move and even with hindsight was worthwhile.

It should also be considered that Brown and Zaitsev would have less opportunity to play on the Leafs vs where they are on the Sens depth chart.

"Too much depth" is only a problem in TO.

It's funny I went on a little Dangle binge fest the last few days and of all the takes that aged poorly it was right when the Leafs signed JT and he kept saying "I don't even care who is on the 3rd or 4th line, ghosts could play there".

And yet you look back on all the Cup winning teams and they all got very important production from their depth players. Between Crosby and Malkin the biggest goals in the Pens recent playoff history came from Staal, Talbot, Rust, Kunitz, Hornqvist..

The takes ok "we lost because Marner and Matthews couldn't score" from Leafs fans make me question if they stop watching hockey once the Leafs season is over because then they would know that's what happens to star players come playoff time, the space that was there to create offense very quickly disappears.

I would know I saw it time and time again with Rick Nash who would score 40 goals easy (and on bad offensive teams when scoring was lower, Benn won the Ross with a grand total of 87 points) during the regular season but just couldn't find that space the deeper we got into the postseason.

 

[Sniper99]

As much as i loved kicking that Zaitsev contract to the curb. I wish there was a way we couldve kept Brown. Good hard working forward. Tough loss

 

[LD29]

Regretlevel: 63,4325655 / 100

 

[sparxx87]

Cheaper contract, shorter contract, fills a more pressing need.

$3.5M centre who isn’t very good at actually playing centre (but he skates fast and tries hard), can’t score, not much of a playmaker and doesn’t play in the dirty areas?

Dumping Brown was indication Dubas didn’t get it. Flipping Kadri for a player like Kerfoot should have been the nail in his coffin.

 

[sparxx87]

Ouch, yeah, he bounced back alright.

He wasn’t nearly as bad as this poster suggested. The Leafs board is full of Dubas cheerleaders that post charts and graphs with no idea how to actually evaluate a defenseman relative to their effectiveness in their role and with their responsibilities.

... it’s why you’ll see a player like Justin Holl commit ‘wtf’ moments on a regular basis but he’s a beloved Dubas guy making less money so it’s ok.

Zaitsev was signed by the bad man. *shudders*

 

[sparxx87]

100 mil + fines to Kovalchuk
6.25 x 3 + full NMC on a 35+ contract for a replacement level Marleau
7x7 for Lee with full NTC
7x4.5 for Zaitsev with NTC 5/7 years with only one season under his belt
5x4.85 for Clowe with full NMC
4x3 for Komarov with NTC

What a hardass, look at all those bargains he negotiated. I bet Marleau would have gotten 8 mil + a double NMC + 10% stake in the team from someone else.

Speaking of Dubas cheerleaders who’re out of touch.

Remember when you made up all that stuff about the Islanders wanting to dump Komorov, told people he was healthy scratched when he wasn’t? Tried to have people believe he wasn’t an important role player in their conference finals run? Were so glad ‘guys like this can’t make our team’

Have you watched the Isles/Bruins? Have you seen the line he’s on, or how the apparent best coach in the world uses him?

Of course not.

 

[tstracuzza]

Literally not at all. I would have paid twice as much to dump Zaitsevs terrible deal.

Then you’re clueless cause he’s not nearly as useless as leafs fans said. Dorion robbed you blind

 

[Yotes4Cup]

It is hilarious how vastly overpaid Tavares and Marner are. Both should be paid around the 8-9 mill mark. Probably closer to 9 for Marner and Tavares is worth 8 according to his play. The Leafs will never win with the core they have now. They signed an 11 mill UFA center instead of fixing the root problem, which was a star d man to pair alongside Reilly(Pietrangelo).

I know for a fact I'd be a better GM of the Leafs. Dubas has made a lot of brain-dead moves and getting rid of Brown wasn't one of them. Brown is a guy who needs to be in the top six to succeed. He was always going to be a bottom 6 guy in TO. The guy they should not have got rid of was Kapanen.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

I think the Leaves miss Kasperi Kapanen and his clutch goals in the playoffs more.

 

[branch]

He plays the right way and doesn't take any nights off. He could have been a difference maker for this years Leafs team by leading by example. Something that the Leafs didn't have.

 

[sparxx87]

He plays the right way and doesn't take any nights off. He could have been a difference maker for this years Leafs team by leading by example. Something that the Leafs didn't have.

When the Leafs had 8 rookies in Matthews’ rookie year, guess who got to the dirty area and deflected a puck to win the biggest game they’d ever played and send them to the playoffs when nobody thought they’d be there?

Downtown, Connor Brown.

 

[sparxx87]

It is hilarious how vastly overpaid Tavares and Marner are. Both should be paid around the 8-9 mill mark. Probably closer to 9 for Marner and Tavares is worth 8 according to his play. The Leafs will never win with the core they have now. They signed an 11 mill UFA center instead of fixing the root problem, which was a star d man to pair alongside Reilly(Pietrangelo).

I know for a fact I'd be a better GM of the Leafs. Dubas has made a lot of brain-dead moves and getting rid of Brown wasn't one of them. Brown is a guy who needs to be in the top six to succeed. He was always going to be a bottom 6 guy in TO. The guy they should not have got rid of was Kapanen.

Dubas never made it out of minor hockey and was able to skip the line straight to the CHL with nepotism and his grandfather.

I have full confidence several posters here are more qualified to build a more balanced and competitive hockey team.

 

[branch]

When the Leafs had 8 rookies in Matthews’ rookie year, guess who got to the dirty area and deflected a puck to win the biggest game they’d ever played and send them to the playoffs when nobody thought they’d be there?

Downtown, Connor Brown.

He's not a flashy guy so he gets no recognition

 

[sparxx87]

He's not a flashy guy so he gets no recognition

Yeah. No standout skills but he’s a really smart player with elite determination and will to win. These are the types of middle 6 players that winning organizations covet.

Intangible qualities don’t really register in stats so I was disappointed but not surprised to see Kyle Dubas undervalue him.

 

[AvroArrow]

We loved Connor Brown while he was here and I'm happy for him there. We got ridiculed by entire HF when we talked about how great this kid is and how good he is defensively. All he needed was a trade for the rest of the hockey world to acknowledge it. Good for Brown, wishing him the best. I would love to still have him here but we couldn't afford it at the time.

 

[CatchyTune]

Then you’re clueless cause he’s not nearly as useless as leafs fans said. Dorion robbed you blind

Lmao. Never said he was useless. We just cant afford to pay him $4.5 million a year for the foreseeable future. Thanks for the bailout Pierre

 

[Ciao]

I don't miss Connor Brown at all.

Glad he's doing well and all that.

 

[Bevans]

Brown was always a decent and hard-working 3rd line player. But y'all need to calm down. LOL.

He's cracked 20 goals twice in his career and 40 points once.

He just had a nice international tourney against a ton of lesser lights from around the world. Good for him, really.

He'll return to 15 goals and 35 points next year and contribute in other ways. Pump the brakes and just let him be him.

He will return to his rookie numbers on a team where he had a far smaller role, 5 years ago? Bold prediction.

The leafs didn't give him the ice time to be the leader that he's becoming. Playing 18-20 minutes as a winger is huge. Even bigger accomplishment that he isn't a massive minus on a weak Senators team. And an even bigger accomplishment AGAIN for a third liner to average 20 minutes across a season. Very impressive accomplishment.

2019-2020 he paced 19 goals and 50 points.

2020-2021 he paced 31 goals and 51 points.

No idea why you're predicting he just falls off a cliff at 27 years old. Again, very bold based on the arc of player development across history.

What is likely to occur is that he doesn't score 5 SHG again. That is a statistical abberation, as is his shooting percentage.

Take away most of the SHG goals and add some more chances with a stronger team.
Brown is a 50 point pace threat again next season no problem.