Since Tavares’ departure, the Isles have gone further than the Leafs all 3 years

[The Wahligator]

Since Tavares’ decision the Islanders have advanced past the first round 3 years in a row winning a total of 6 series and counting. They’ve trended nowhere but upwards since July 1 2018.

As we all know, the Leafs have remained stagnant since that point, failing to qualify for the playoffs last year and blowing a 3-1 lead this year.

Is there another instance of a team losing their superstar and becoming unequivocally better?

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[hotcabbagesoup]

 

[JT Kreider]

Best player isn't always the right player

Bozak, JVR, Kadri and Brown > Tavares

And all Tavares has accomplished in TO is doing a damn good job of passing on the "John Tavares" syndrome to Marner.

Racking up the points while making it look effortless (and not in a good way) and always left coming away disappointed and knowing he is capable of so much more.

 

[Thrasymachus]

 

[Thrasymachus]

seriously though I think even without Tavares the isles had a good roster, they just had abysmal coaching under Weight + Cap. Once a real coach was in charge the talent shined through.

 

[koyvoo]

They’ve also accumulated more regular season points during the time frame than have have the leafs.

 

[JT Kreider]

seriously though I think even without Tavares the isles had a good roster, they just had abysmal coaching under Weight + Cap. Once a real coach was in charge the talent shined through.

I know I have gone back and forth on this with some Isles fans but I'm convinced the Islanders knew they likely lost Tavares long before July 1st (such as June 5th) and that is what cost Snow and Weight their jobs and finally forced the much needed culture change for the Islanders.

Had the Islanders ended up resigning Tavares they would have just been the same old mediocre Garth Snow Islanders but instead of Tavares being on the biggest bargain contract in the league, his cap hit would now be (more than) doubled.

 

[JTToilinginToronto]

Leafs needed defense and good goaltending.

Leafs had an abundance of offense.

So what's the logical thing to do?

Well, duh, go spend pretty much all your remaining cap space on offense!!!!

They built their team like a video game roster, but unfortunately play in real life and not NHL 20. They're facing the results of these actions.

 

[krutovsdonut]

like when thornton went to the sharks.

 

[Divine]

Leafs needed defense and good goaltending.

Leafs had an abundance of offense.

So what's the logical thing to do?

Well, duh, go spend pretty much all your remaining cap space on offense!!!!

They built their team like a video game roster, but unfortunately play in real life and not NHL 20. They're facing the results of these actions.

Their D was much better. It was losing Tavares to injury 9 mins into the series that cost them ironically

 

[Reality Czech]

Bill Simmons calls this "the Ewing theory." Look it up.

 

[HolyGhost]

Me like this thread

 

[WarriorofTime]

Good on them. The rudeness displayed towards Islander fans when Tavares left was obnoxious.

 

[Pandaman11]

Hypothetically speaking, let Trotz coach the 2018-2021 Leafs and we'll see who would've done better

 

[KaseMeOutside]

In fairness who knows what happens if Tavares doesn't get hurt, you can't ignore hes a big part of the leafs team

 

[AejonStarkgaryen]

Bill Simmons calls this "the Ewing theory." Look it up.

Holy. I just did and read the article from 2001 and the potential section with Drew Bledsoe is just amazing.
Thank you for this tip.

 

[RaginRonic]

Let Trotz coach the Leafs and then we'll see who does better

Neither Trotz or Torts would want to coach the Leafs, because neither want to see the Leafs become league powers, due to both of them thinking the NHL should not be in Toronto, or anywhere in Canada.

> = P

 

[KingJoffrey]

It's the difference between 3x Stanley cup champion and reddit's pony artist director sjw.

 

[tfong]

Since Tavares’ decision the Islanders have advanced past the first round 3 years in a row winning a total of 5 series and counting. They’ve trended nowhere but upwards since July 1 2018.

As we all know, the Leafs have remained stagnant since that point, failing to qualify for the playoffs last year and blowing a 3-1 lead this year.

Is there another instance of a team losing their superstar and becoming unequivocally better?

The first thing that came to mind was when the Avs moved Duchene, then Mackinnon literally exploded. I kinda liken the situation to Barzal taking command of the team in the same way.

 

[sabremike]

I know I have gone back and forth on this with some Isles fans but I'm convinced the Islanders knew they likely lost Tavares long before July 1st (such as June 5th) and that is what cost Snow and Weight their jobs and finally forced the much needed culture change for the Islanders.

Had the Islanders ended up resigning Tavares they would have just been the same old mediocre Garth Snow Islanders but instead of Tavares being on the biggest bargain contract in the league, his cap hit would now be (more than) doubled.

I can tell you for a fact they expected him to stay until the day before the deadline.

 

[Archijerej]

There are some posters here who have argued, persuasively, that the Tavares signing was the biggest blunder in the Leafs rebuild. He is a terrific player, but they would have been perfectly fine with Matthews/Kadri down the middle and better overall forwards depth. They've managed to temporarily rectify the defence by signing Brodie, but that's basically the best they can do with their current salary structure.

 

[Drake1588]

If you add up the years of NHL experience of the GM and coach in Toronto, you get a number in the ballpark of zero.

NYI has Lamoriello and Trotz.

 

[um]

The first thing that came to mind was when the Avs moved Duchene, then Mackinnon literally exploded. I kinda liken the situation to Barzal taking command of the team in the same way.

Barzal's most productive season was when Tavares was still there.

 

[Pandaman11]

Neither Trotz or Torts would want to coach the Leafs, because neither want to see the Leafs become league powers, due to both of them thinking the NHL should not be in Toronto, or anywhere in Canada.

> = P

I meant it hypothetically. If Trotz coached these Leafs the last 3 years.

 

[JoeSakic13]