What has been the Leafs biggest mistake?

[rumman]

The biggest mistake in my opinion was not locking up Matthews, Marner, and Nylander when they had a year left on their RFA contracts and choosing to wait.

It was pretty obvious that all 3 were elite young stars. There was no reason to wait. Locking the 3 of them up would have been as safe a bet as you can make in pro sports. I think if they would have signed them a year earlier they probably at a minimum would have locked them all up for 8 years and would have been considerably cheaper. I think we would have saved a good $5 million in cap space if they would have done that.

The trickle down effect would have also set a salary structure in place meaning other players would just expect to make less. As an example, if Nylander was locked up at $5.5 x 8 years, Hyman would not be sniffing $5 million right now.

Or bridge all three, with the flat cap and players being perennial chokers their bargaining position would have been laughable. BTW, imo that’s what Lou would have done.

 

[Suntouchable13]

getting rid of Babcock. (by caving into the children)

I see now why Babs was the way he was. These guys are absolute primadonnas who don't want to play the right way.

 

[Maplebeasts]

Contracts. Specifically the contract of Marner. He's being payed 11 million while being the worst of our "big 4" in the playoffs. Both Dubas and Lou have a role. Dubas overpayed his stars, Lou overpayed plugs. (Martin, Marleau, Zaitsev).

 

[Gabriel426]

Or bridge all three, with the flat cap and players being perennial chokers their bargaining position would have been laughable. BTW, imo that’s what Lou would have done.

I think not having someone like Lou to handle those three contracts got to go down as a huge mistake.
I don’t think Lou ever traded a talented player coming out of their ELC, which lead me to think he would have signed all three to better value and terms.
Maybe he could even sign JT to a lower AVV.

 

[Maplebeasts]

Or bridge all three, with the flat cap and players being perennial chokers their bargaining position would have been laughable. BTW, imo that’s what Lou would have done.

Maybe. But seeing what contracts he gave out with us and the Isles that "extra money" would have gone to overpaying Komarov and Martin to stay, and Hyman would already be re-signed for 6+ mil. Lou was not a good GM while with us.

 

[rumman]

Maybe. But seeing what contracts he gave out with us and the Isles that "extra money" would have gone to overpaying Komarov and Martin to stay, and Hyman would already be re-signed for 6+ mil. Lou was not a good GM while with us.

Okay?

 

[ToneDog]

Okay?

Lou bad GM but team gets good results. Dubas great GM but team chokes.

 

[Throw More Waffles]

Maybe. But seeing what contracts he gave out with us and the Isles that "extra money" would have gone to overpaying Komarov and Martin to stay, and Hyman would already be re-signed for 6+ mil. Lou was not a good GM while with us.

Lou inherited the 27th placed team in the league and 3 short years later set the franchise record in points.

“Was not a good gm while with us”. Insane.

Im starting to think Lou is bad on paper but great in the real world. The polar opposite of Dubas.

 

[rumman]

Lou bad GM but team gets good results. Dubas great GM but team chokes.

Kinda funny how that works, no logic at all?

 

[PromisedLand]

Off the board. My choice is appointing Kyle Dubas, a freakin' rookie, as the GM of an original 6 team. A team that was on the rise with plenty of cap space and strong culture.

Now it is a country club with no accountability, no cap space, bleak future and no assets (picks or solid prospects) in the system.

The turnover from hope to bleak future was the fastest I've seen in my life since I've been watching/following sports. Dubas would go down as one of the worst GMs in the history of all sports and Shanahan as the one of the worst presidents

Keefe is not good enough but he is a scapegoat. You don't put an AHL guy as NHL guy without even having some experience as assistant in the NHL. This is not on Keefe eventhough he has a lot to learn.

 

[ToneDog]

Lou inherited the 27th placed team in the league and 3 short years later set the franchise record in points.

“Was not a good gm while with us”. Insane.

Im starting to think Lou is bad on paper but great in the real world. The polar opposite of Dubas.

#Dubites.

 

[Mickey Marner]

Voted for the GMs, it starts with the president who hired them though. The tank portion of the rebuild was brilliantly executed, but it's been all downhill since the Washington series, when they shifted to the 'build' portion of the rebuild.

 

[The Podium]

A lot of wasted assets letting contracts expire.

I get why most werent sold at the TDL but they shouldve been dealt at the beginning of their final years.

 

[PromisedLand]

I'd do so, but I can't find a way? Any suggestions?

Click -> EDIT POST -> More Options

then you will see a new window and scroll down to add another option(s)

 

[cupcrazyman]

Drafting better could have solved a lot of problems.

Drafting out of need first instead of BPA unless you're picking near the top.

No more poor mans Morgan Reillys ,Please.

 

[Torontonian]

Lack of drafting for me, its fine letting UFA players walk away and using them as your own rentals if you are constantly drafting and developing but there's no point in trading those players for picks if you can't develop the prospect.

Toronto is at a stage in the organization were they need to start inserting young good ELC players into the lineup to be able to add to the core via trades and free agency, and we haven't seen that yet. We haven't had a single ELC contract player in the lineup for us full time. The elite teams of the NHL are constantly adding cheap young ELC players into there lineup and it helps them going forward acquiring players to help in the playoffs.

In saying that, this season instead of paying the Joe Thortons and Vesseys and Boyds, along with the scrub 6th/7th dman 1 million to 1.5m, Toronto has to get value out of Sandin/Lillygren/Robertson/Hollander/Anderson and start actually developing these rookies into NHL players.

 

[egd27]

The fact that there are too many big mistakes to choose from is the biggest mistake.

 

[PromisedLand]

Lack of drafting for me, its fine letting UFA players walk away and using them as your own rentals if you are constantly drafting and developing but there's no point in trading those players for picks if you can't develop the prospect.

Toronto is at a stage in the organization were they need to start inserting young good ELC players into the lineup to be able to add to the core via trades and free agency, and we haven't seen that yet. We haven't had a single ELC contract player in the lineup for us full time. The elite teams of the NHL are constantly adding cheap young ELC players into there lineup and it helps them going forward acquiring players to help in the playoffs.

In saying that, this season instead of paying the Joe Thortons and Vesseys and Boyds, along with the scrub 6th/7th dman 1 million to 1.5m, Toronto has to get value out of Sandin/Lillygren/Robertson/Hollander/Anderson and start actually developing these rookies into NHL players.

They could not dress both Lily and Sandin to give them NHL experience because it did not work with cap even if they buried both Jumbo/Spezza

Keefe said it many times in the interviews that the team did not have much flexibility into maneuvering players in and out of the line up due to cap issues

 

[socko]

Shanahan/Dubas - one in the same if you ask me. The only thing Shanahan ever did was hire Dubas.

 

[bodechek]

Another rookie GM.

 

[socko]

We could survive a few years of bad coaching. You don't survive a few years of Dubas. He has torched the very bright future of the Maple Leafs like hasn't been seen around here since the Harold Ballard days.

 

[cupcrazyman]

Lou bad GM but team gets good results. Dubas great GM but team chokes.

I laugh when Doofus gets called a good or great GM.

$9M left to fill 9 UFA spots on the roster

Great job buddy !

 

[Torontonian]

They could not dress both Lily and Sandin to give them NHL experience because it did not work with cap even if they buried both Jumbo/Spezza

Keefe said it many times in the interviews that the team did not have much flexibility into maneuvering players in and out of the line up due to cap issues

The problem was that even if they had the flexibility to move them both into the lineup, Bogo wasn't coming out of the lineup and Dermott was the only player they would take out of the lineup and that was rare.

Same thing with the forwards, Simmonds and Jumbo both should have been out of the lineup and waived/sent to the minors but they didn't do it. All I am saying is, Toronto needs to start making our top prospects into NHL players so they can save us money and actually help the team win. I'd much would have had Robertson or Anderson in the lineup over Simmonds/Jumbo/Vessy/Boyd/Nash during the 56 game season.

 

[Stephen]

Kyle Dubas has been the biggest mistake. Took a rebuilding team on the upside and supercharged it with huge contracts requiring burning through most of the organizational depth, limiting potential for forward momentum.

 

[Torontonian]

I laugh when Doofus gets called a good or great GM.

$9M left to fill 9 UFA spots on the roster

Great job buddy !

...?

XXX - Matthews - Marner
XXX - Tavares - Nylander
XXX - Kefoot - Mikaeyv
Spezza - Engvall - Simmonds

Moe - Brodie
Muzz - Holl
Sandin - Dermott

Campbell
XXX

Subtract either Dermott/Holl/Kerfoot from the roster and Probably add Robertson to the 3rd line LW spot, I see 9m or 13m depending if Seattle taking Kerfoot to fill Top two left wingers and a 3c and backup goalie,

Where do you get nine from? I count 4.