Is there a trend of teams losing their best players being the best thing to ever happen to them?

[LeafsNation75]

Yeah, sure he would. Getting rid of his salary is the best thing that happened to the team. Eight years of him getting slower every season would have killed the future. After the Leafs are 22 million into his salary this year they may have a one and done and playoff miss to show for it. And he'll only get worse.

Now Panarin however....

So explain why Lou Lamoriello tried so hard to sign Artemi Panarin and pay him at least $11 million dollars, if Tavares not re-signing turned out to be a good thing.

 

[JT Kreider]

So explain why Lou Lamoriello tried so hard to sign Artemi Panarin and pay him at least $11 million dollars, if Tavares not re-signing turned out to be a good thing.

Because they have an elite borderline franchise center in Barzal to build around with the team coming off a breakthrough season where they were a top team in the league and signing Bread would be a great way to build off that... and Panarin is flat out better than JT.

If they kept Tavares they are just the same mediocre team they were the past 7 years, except Tavares was no longer on the biggest bargain contract in the league.

 

[Todd from Leduc]

It would suck to lose McDavid but guys like Drai, Nuge and Neal would just have to step up. You can’t live or die on one player.

 

[LeafsNation75]

Because they have an elite borderline franchise center in Barzal to build around with the team coming off a breakthrough season where they were a top team in the league and signing Bread would be a great way to build off that... and Panarin is flat out better than JT.

If they kept Tavares they are just the same mediocre team they were the past 7 years, except Tavares was no longer on the biggest bargain contract in the league.

I just think it makes no sense for Islanders fans to say it's great that Tavares did not re-sign because it helps their salary cap, only to hope that Panarin would have signed with them and taking up $11 million of their cap.

 

[Quickdraw2828]

So explain why Lou Lamoriello tried so hard to sign Artemi Panarin and pay him at least $11 million dollars, if Tavares not re-signing turned out to be a good thing.

They aren't related.

 

[Quickdraw2828]

I just think it makes no sense for Islanders fans to say it's great that Tavares did not re-sign because it helps their salary cap, only to hope that Panarin would have signed with them and taking up $11 million of their cap.

It helps because he's on the downside of the career and getting slower every year. Not the case with Panarin.

 

[LeafsNation75]

It helps because he's on the downside of the career and getting slower every year. Not the case with Panarin.

Tavares and Panarin are only 1 year apart, so you need to come up with a better reason than that.

It was only last season when Tavares had a career high of 47 goals and 88 points.

 

[Voight]

It helps because he's on the downside of the career and getting slower every year. Not the case with Panarin.

On the downside after a career year last season?

 

[LeafsNation75]

On the downside after a career year last season?

Since that's coming from an Islanders fan it's hard to take it seriously because they can not be rational about Tavares.

 

[Voight]

Boston was kind of a freak thing with the Thornton trade and injuries.

- Thornton dealt mid-2005/06 which paved the way for more opportunity for Bergeron; there was so much uncertainty coming out of the lockout, but even after Bergeron had a really good rookie year and an even better year in the AHL, the plan coming out of the offseason before injuries/trades was to have him as the 3C behind Thornton and Zhamnov
- Savard signed in the 2006 offseason to create a top 6 dynamic with Bergeron
- Bergeron suffers serious injury at the start of 2007/08 and wouldn't start rounding back to form until 2009/10, which paves the way for Krejci to form a top 6 dynamic with Savard
- Just as Bergeron is rounding back to form Savard suffers huge injury/injuries that essentially completely halt his career for good
- Bergeron and Krejci form a top 6 dynamic for the next decade which hasn't been challenged at all, even though roles have shifted between them as the decade went on

Dealing a player or having injuries occur just creates the opportunity to get better, but a lot of it is just luck.

Thornton trade also opened up cap space to sign Chara.