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

[burana800]

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

No.

 

[Voight]

They made those changes before Tavares left. I actually think it hurt his chances at staying since he was/is very close to Snow/Weight (especially Weight).

When it was pretty clear he was gone. It'd be different if they changed everything a year or two beforehand.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

What ever happened to that one guy who pretended to be an Islanders fan but was a Leafs fan the entire time? Sure haven’t seen him in awhile.

With all the Leafsplaining of how the Islanders should get over it, nah f*** that. Soak it in Islander fans.

 

[mr figgles]

Signing Tavares was such a stupid blunder. The Leafs have no depth and are soft. No depth means if one of the big 4 goes down in game 1 of the playoffs, they’re stuck relying on the ghosts of Jason Spezza and Joe Thornton to make up for it.

 

[Thrasymachus]

If you go back to the Islanders boards when the Tavares thing happened, you'll see my posts saying how Tavares leaving was a blessing for NYI and how I wished I was wrong about it as an NYR fan.

I was met with jeers and mockery from Islanders fans who thought i was gloating which is understandable.

I was right. Tavares was part of the problem on Long Island.

Tavares is overrated and overpaid.

in our defense that was a particularly stressful day for us

 

[Hockeyholic]

Isles need to win the cup.

Bring back the glory days of the early 80's.

 

[tailgunner]

if Tavares could bring back time he would still make the same decision and sign with the Leafs

what difference does it make to win a couple of rounds and then be eliminated or be eliminated the first round, it's the same thing

 

[CupofOil]

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.

This may be true but their defense wasn't the problem in this series. It's that "abundance of offense" that hardly showed up.

 

[c9777666]

Isles need to win the cup.

Bring back the glory days of the early 80's.

An Isles Cup would bring back the dead puck era

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

if Tavares could bring back time he would still make the same decision and sign with the Leafs

what difference does it make to win a couple of rounds and then be eliminated or be eliminated the first round, it's the same thing

Spoken like someone who doesn't know what it feels like to make it past the first round.

 

[c9777666]

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.

so basically teams should spend their entire cap on no offense? We might as well go back to the early 2000s

 

[AvroArrow]

if Tavares could bring back time he would still make the same decision and sign with the Leafs

what difference does it make to win a couple of rounds and then be eliminated or be eliminated the first round, it's the same thing

No it's not, it's progress. A trend in the right direction, good for player development. In no world is losing in the 1st round the same as losing in the 2nd. Don't try and make leaf fans feel better about choking AGAIN. I defended these guys for years on these boards, but this. This, what we just witnessed, there's no defending. There's no honor, no pride, just humiliation.

 

[Panda Bear]

What a dumb thread. I wonder if Lou and Trotz coming to Long Island the same time as Tavares leaving it had anything to do with the Isles' success.

 

[MatthewBarnabysTears]

if Tavares could bring back time he would still make the same decision and sign with the Leafs

what difference does it make to win a couple of rounds and then be eliminated or be eliminated the first round, it's the same thing

Except for the experience of watching more quality hockey? Which we all ostensibly enjoy?

 

[sebsisles]

They literally made the conference finals just last season

Not to mention we have won a round every year in the Trotz era...0 series wins for Tavares and the Leafs to date since Tavares left.

 

[LuGBuG]

Anyone who thinks the Islanders are better without Tavares then with are stupid as a rock. He's a fantastic player. Overpaid? Yes, but if you add him to this Islanders team they are INSTANTLY much better. If you disagree you are just delusional or a troll.

 

[Silencio]

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

Ottawa, soon.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

Anyone who thinks the Islanders are better without Tavares then with are stupid as a rock. He's a fantastic player. Overpaid? Yes, but if you add him to this Islanders team they are INSTANTLY much better. If you disagree you are just delusional or a troll.

The salary cap exists, and I'm not sure Tavares is better than the combined players they were able to add without his 11 million cap hit on the team.

 

[LuGBuG]

The salary cap exists, and I'm not sure Tavares is better than the combined players they were able to add without his 11 million cap hit on the team.

I'm not saying the Islanders should of signed him at that price and I agree with your statement. I agree he's overpaid. Just a lot of people in here acting like he's a 4th liner when he obviously isn't.

 

[StreetHawk]

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?

Lou Lam and Trotz arrived in 2018 when Tavares was a UFA. Tavares had given the Isles 9 seasons up to that point in time and they rewarded him with poor management, so he decided to leave. He leave a year of guaranteed money on the table leaving the Isles to go to Toronto, so there was a sacrifice on his part.

That's the biggest difference between the 2 situations. Isles brought in veterans in the GM and coach. Had Tavares opted to stay, I think he would have done well with the Isles.

In Toronto, his arrival at $11 mill, with a rookie GM, couldn't do the hard negotiations with their key RFAs. Gave into their demands and created a top heavy team. Plus, the decision to not move one of the youngsters to fix the D was a mistake. Can't fall in love with your draft picks. If you need to move one to fill a need, you do so.

 

[PhysicalGraffiti]

You love to see it.

 

[TheNewEra]

Signing Tavares was such a stupid blunder. The Leafs have no depth and are soft. No depth means if one of the big 4 goes down in game 1 of the playoffs, they’re stuck relying on the ghosts of Jason Spezza and Joe Thornton to make up for it.

put some respect on his name, he was there second best forward in the playoffs and should have been their #1C in the playoffs as well

 

[GirardSpinorama]

if Tavares could bring back time he would still make the same decision and sign with the Leafs

what difference does it make to win a couple of rounds and then be eliminated or be eliminated the first round, it's the same thing

That's what a loser would say.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Not to mention we have won a round every year in the Trotz era...0 series wins for Tavares and the Leafs to date since Tavares left.

Winning a series every season is hard. The longest active streak is like 3 or 4 or something.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Tavares might have helped that islanders team last year out quite a bit I would think. Don't know if salary structure would have worked with who they did have then but point still stands. He also definitely made a mistake.