I always say I hated the trade the moment I heard it but, we cannot judge this yet. The Leafs simply were not in a position with so much on the line to develop him anymore. He's too bad defensively and they clearly value experience in the playoffs over him.
With all of that said, Timmins who we got for free basically produced the exact same way when he got here. I think that made them feel they had a cheaper RD version of Sandin in him. Timmins slowed down and so will Sandin.
Our defense could have been pretty young and stacked tbh with Sandin and Niemela on LD and Lilly and Timmins on RD, but I think they felt there was a log jam there and honestly, that D core with Rielly as well would be really poor defensively. That was why they chose to keep Lilly
When he says things, people jump on him and tell him to shut his mouth.
When he doesn't say things, people jump on him and tell him to reveal the irrelevant personal life struggles of his players.
It's obvious that what people really want is to jump on him and blame him for everything, regardless of what he does.
People hated Dubas before he ever was made GM simply because he was younger than them and more successful. They didn't feel he earned it. There was always only 1 way for him to shut up the haters and that was to have some success in the post season and at least go to the final 4 a few times. That hasn't happened so people feel empowered to continue.
If we lose in round 1, you will see people who are fans now saying he needs to be fired as they get emotional and let other fanbases troll them about Dubas and stuff. I think he needs to agree the team needs changes at that point to be re-signed, but I want him to be the guy who retools this roster.