News Article: Maple Leafs need to upgrade, not overhaul

[Bluelines]

How much cap space do you think a Clarkson buy-out will give us?

Not much, I think the buyout was 4.4 mil cap hit per year, but it removes a virus from the line up.

 

[Bluelines]

We're buying out Clarkson to make that team? That's an upgrade on this season? Holy sweet jesus. 2026 can't come fast enough

Edit- Where did Lupul go? This is going by the 71m cap and not what people have been saying is a lower cap limit. Why would Gardiner sign for 2m when his best comparable is Leddy in Chicago making 2.7? What are the contract lengths on MacDonald, Moulson and Stastny? If the cap goes up by only 2m next season where does the money come from for Kadri and Bernier?

Who knows, you asked about players and cap hits, its simply an illustration that from a dollars and cents perspective the team can be improved. I'm sure a few trades here a few there you can fit Gardner in at 3 mil per season.

 

[Teeder9]

Who knows, you asked about players and cap hits, its simply an illustration that from a dollars and cents perspective the team can be improved. I'm sure a few trades here a few there you can fit Gardner in at 3 mil per season.

Your post wasn't my issue. My issue stems from people posting things like that without any idea how it works going forward. You can't just hope it works out later. You can't just plug in a bunch of rookies and hope it works out later. These are years coming off the core's prime, and if you can't show an absolute upgrade, then why keep going with this core when you could take advantage of the value they have and commit to spending that value on players/picks who will then make up a core with more time and lets be honest, more potential in 5 -7 years, which would be when Phaneuf's contract is up.

Sorry for the run-on.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

If Leafs had the Chicago roster

I accept that deal.

 

[Schennanigans]

I completely disagree. Leafs need a serious overhaul. I would trade Kessel, Bozak, And Phaneuf. We will be able to get significant pieces for those players. And kickstart the retool/rebuild.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Good article. I have to agree with his assessment that respect for the coach, leadership from some players, and much more toughness is needed for the Leafs to be successful.

?

I don't get the article. It lists a bunch of problems, then at the end concludes they just need a few minor adjustments. Makes no sense.

The article doesn't seem to present much (if any) new information.

Nothing to see here folks.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Some tough decisions need to be made, I don't profess to know what they will do but do you bring Kulie back at $3 mil+ or do you let 2-3 rookies come in at the league minimum ($550K) to play bottom 6 roles, granted most young players are in the $700k to $900k range, but you can have 3 young players for one Kulemin. I would think Leivo, D'Amigo, Mckegg, Broll will all be pushing hard for a bottom 6 roster spot. Wouldn't surprise me to see 2 of them on the team next year.

Could our young d prospects (Granberg, Finn, Percy, MacWilliam) play bottom pairing roles that would be an upgrade over our current bottom 3 D?

I think with a couple smart trades and the continuing development of certain players we can easily be better. IMO our problem wasn't skill its was desire, compete level, confidence and lack of leadership in both players and coaches.

Probably just need a couple of blockbuster trades.

 

[Funk21]

I basically believe that the team needs to trade two of the underperforming assets just signed, for what who knows but at this point I would just be happy with getting them off the books and getting us the cap space(Phaneuf & Clarkson).

In regards to RFA's, trade their rights for picks & prospects and build the farm system.

Decide one way or another if Kadri is going to be the second line anchor. If he isn't go after a first line center and bring Bozak down the depth chart. Bozak at number two is somebody I think the entire city/tml staff could be behind.

 

[pucky]

This article is better than the Brophy one. Even though, the article merely touches on the concept of a full rebuild, it shows the attitude of Leiweke. The more he moves about in Toronto, the more it seems he is just as inept as predecessors. He's a PR/Marketer, that's it. LA succeeded because they had a good GM. They made decent decisions and maybe some luck was involved, too.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/rebuild-still-a-dirty-word-to-maple-leafs/

Well, this is pretty telling:
"I don’t think anyone said rebuild,” Leiweke said when I asked him if ownership could stomach a longer horizon to craft a contender."

So, this franchise is going to go with the status quo. It will do the same as when it was just the MLSE/Teachers Union and they had a revolving door of GMs, GM 'by committee' and incompetent managers trading away #1 picks and mediocre drafting. Don't expect the Leafs to improve drastically if they do at all.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Is this team one good player away? two?three?four? this roster needs major changes. How about rebuilding it? think of all the prospects and picks we could garner if we dealt Phaneuf,Kessel etc? why do they continue trying to band-aid everything? this core isn't going to win, it's as simple as that. The sooner the fans and management team accept that the sooner the rebuild can begin. The team has stunk for 50 years, this fanbase is easily the most patient in the league, we can handle a few more years of sucking if it means going after prospects like McDavid. F this trying to get into the playoffs crap only to miss it most years or not make it past round 1.

 

[Faltorvo]

This article is better than the Brophy one. Even though, the article merely touches on the concept of a full rebuild, it shows the attitude of Leiweke. The more he moves about in Toronto, the more it seems he is just as inept as predecessors. He's a PR/Marketer, that's it. LA succeeded because they had a good GM. They made decent decisions and maybe some luck was involved, too.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/rebuild-still-a-dirty-word-to-maple-leafs/

Well, this is pretty telling:
"I don’t think anyone said rebuild,†Leiweke said when I asked him if ownership could stomach a longer horizon to craft a contender."

So, this franchise is going to go with the status quo. It will do the same as when it was just the MLSE/Teachers Union and they had a revolving door of GMs, GM 'by committee' and incompetent managers trading away #1 picks and mediocre drafting. Don't expect the Leafs to improve drastically if they do at all.

I fully expect what they have always done, rush rush rush to "just get back into the playoffs.

because TL and ownership knows that is the low high bar we accept here.

"Just making the playoffs is and always will be the #1 priority of our ownership groups"

 

[Teeder9]

I fully expect what they have always done, rush rush rush to "just get back into the playoffs.

because TL and ownership knows that is the low high bar we accept here.

"Just making the playoffs is and always will be the #1 priority of our ownership groups"

It's all about the brand. When you lose this much, all you have to do is win a little to get people behind the brand. They aren't interested in what is best for the team, they are interested in making the playoffs because nothing will ever sell better than this:



Especially not a rebuild

 

[stealth1]

It's all about the brand. When you lose this much, all you have to do is win a little to get people behind the brand. They aren't interested in what is best for the team, they are interested in making the playoffs because nothing will ever sell better than this:



Especially not a rebuild

The sad thing about what you said is how so few fans believe this team is trying to win a cup

 

[StringsAttached]

It's all about the brand. When you lose this much, all you have to do is win a little to get people behind the brand. They aren't interested in what is best for the team, they are interested in making the playoffs because nothing will ever sell better than this:



Especially not a rebuild

Our standards are so low. It's quite sad actually

 

[Teeder9]

The sad thing about what you said is how so few fans believe this team is trying to win a cup

I don't think they care if they do win the cup as much as they care about not losing. Look at the last 10 years. They have what I think are 3 chances to go all in for a full rebuild. Each time, they retool and it leads them nowhere, but retooling is basically a shortcut, which is the same as saying we don't have time to go the long way around. In those 10 years what do we have to show for it? Nothing. We are in exactly the same spot we were coming out of the lockout/strike. A bubble team. Burke had a chance to really do what needed to be done. First words- no rebuild. Nonis takes over and promptly signs 2 older players to retirement packages. No rhyme or reason. And the funny thing is I don't dislike Nonis because i think he's a terrible GM. I dislike him because imo his integrity got bought by one more company whose sole focus isn't on the fan, it's on the stockholder. We are but the sheep in the field waiting to be shorn

 

[Mess]

Well the common theme from today's PC was "a lot of work to do", which suggest numerous changes not just tinkering with depth players to fix this.

 

[Pi]

Our entire core is built from the leftovers of other teams. When was the last team to win like that?

Drafting the core and adding it with free agents is the way to go. Don't need upgrades, need a do-over.

 

[Pi]

Our standards are so low. It's quite sad actually

Well if you make the playoffs once in a decade that too in a short 48 game season...it's better to cheer as much as you can because you don't know when it will happen again.

I predict the Leafs will miss the playoffs for at least another 2 years barring a major change in the core or thinking.

Let's hope we're sucking instead of picking 10th overall in those years.

 

[Mess]

Our entire core is built from the leftovers of other teams. When was the last team to win like that?

Drafting the core and adding it with free agents is the way to go. Don't need upgrades, need a do-over.

Remember the current rebuild was classified as an accelerated retooling and it resulted in almost 90% roster turnover.

So we can see what retooling can mean in Toronto being considered a upgrade and not rebuild.

 

[ULF_55]

I stopped reading after I noticed Brophy was the writer of this article.

The guy is the ultimate spin doctor. You can call him the Mike Wilner of the Leafs. He's a complete kiss ass and a homer.

I would take anything he says with a grain of salt.

I found parts of the article worth reading, but some questionable writing with regards to Reimer's stats being wrong, and Clarkson ever being worth that money other than one outlier. You don't base a contract on an outlier and end up being happy with it.

Clarkson is a 3rd. liner.

 

[ULF_55]

Remember the current rebuild was classified as an accelerated retooling and it resulted in almost 90% roster turnover.

So we can see what retooling can mean in Toronto being considered a upgrade and not rebuild.

I believe they have some core pieces, but they have some huge problems in the Cap.

I don't think they have the courage to make the tough decisions.

Without the Sedins the Canucks are garbage. Nonis got Luongo, and did nothing else as their collapse this year was due to the Sedins health issues.