They're in this weird spot where they have the talent to win, but not the consistency. JT and his cap hit aren't the problem, the problem is the Marner contract. They sign Pietro and trade Marner to make room they all of a sudden look a lot closer to a cup contender.
Maybe. Maybe not. Marner was arguably the Leafs best player during the Babcock years.
It all may have been far easier has they allowed themselves to organically grow with the young core and see where it took them, then addressed deficiencies. But they didn’t.
They went for the big fish splash w Tavares (because literally everyone connected to the franchise was begging them too, including all the fans), and it was too soon.
or maybe the brain trust couldn’t figure out what to do next. That could be discussed for hours and hours.
but the hindsight isn’t good at the moment. And it was something many people thought was a bad choice (outside Toronto) at the time.
look — they could easily get the right decisions makers and fix it all. I don’t think it’s Kyle. He’s in over his head right now, but they could and still w a Cup with their “Young Guns”. My Caps did. But boy was it painful until it all happened.
we will see. But they are as flawed now as we were then.