What would you say were Lou's best moves as the Leafs GM?

[Buds17]

They've pretty much been covered in this thread (Andersen, Rielly, Kadri, Brown, Hyman, and I'm not even down about the Zaitsev contract at this point), but I'm also good with what he didn't do - no trading of players we can't afford to part with, no long-term/35+ contracts to oft-injured players, no trading of an unknown 1st when we weren't coming off a playoff season.

 

[nsleaf]

Likely will never know, but perhaps the trades he didn't make.

 

[ACC1224]

Hopefully the best thing he's done is give Dubas all the training required

 

[thewave]

Good

Kadri
Rielly
Marleau
Hainsey
Andersen
Pleks

Bad

Polak
Moore
Boyle
Martin

Kinda bad not moving...

JVR
Bozak
Komarov

 

[Gabriel426]

Just coming in and set the tone for the team to go forward.

But to me it got to be the Polak and Spaling trade for TWO 2nd rounders.

 

[ottomaddox]

Best: Andersen trade.

Worst: Dion trade. We got Ottawa's trash in exchange for a top 4 D. Yes I know that OTT has struggled with the remainder of Dion's contract and losing Methot to expansion, but no one expected OTT to fall so hard from this.
In the end we are still looking for Dion's replacement in the top 4.

 

[ottomaddox]

What about Lupul and Robidas!?

 

[Mkdaman1818]

Phaneuf by a mile, not having to retain salary was a miracle.

 

[therealkoho]

yeah the Limited NTC was a bit of a head scratcher though

why? it was probably a trade off for something else, and besides Zach is a hometown boy and that LNTC increases his odds of staying home

 

[Tak7]

The trade returns he got on Polak and Spaling.

Trading away Kessel.

Making Phaneuf's contract disappear.

Andersen

 

[HomerJLeafs]

Dion trade for sure is the best Lou move ever. Im having nightmares just thinking about that f***ing albatross contract.
Naz and Mo contracts are beautiful. In fact Kadri has the best contract in the League.

 

[NikoPopp]

Best: Andersen trade.

Worst: Dion trade. We got Ottawa's trash in exchange for a top 4 D. Yes I know that OTT has struggled with the remainder of Dion's contract and losing Methot to expansion, but no one expected OTT to fall so hard from this.
In the end we are still looking for Dion's replacement in the top 4.

Um.. did you see what Ottawa got when they traded him to LA.. AND they had to retain

 

[rosscow]

The Dion trade needed to be done but we are in round 2 if we still have I'm.

 

[ottomaddox]

Um.. did you see what Ottawa got when they traded him to LA.. AND they had to retain

Has nothing to do with the rubbish we got from Ottawa.

 

[Menzinger]

I’d say it’s a toss up between the Phaneuf trade for no long term retention And for Robidas Island.

 

[Nylanderthal]

I wish people would stop including the not trading of leo Bozak and jvr. That was never ever ever gunna happen. Every year guys reach FA, that’s how it works. Not every expiring deal needs to be moved, this is not EA NHL 18.
Good Lou: Kadri/Rielly Hyman/Brown extensions, Polak for 2x 2nds which became Boyle last year and pleks this year. Unloading Phaneuf
Bad Lou: Not leveraging ourselves a better expansion draft than what happened. I feel we could of been more involved then just hanging over Leipsic

 

[Halla]

getting freddie. looks like an absolute "steel" now.

 

[Halla]

Good:

The Phaneuf trade is #1. Getting rid of that without retention and for short-term pain was good. Got a pick out of it too.

Rielly and Kadri signings were top notch from the moment they were signed.

Polak and Spaling for 2x2nd round picks.

Bad:

Martin signing and the Zaitsev extension.

we need to wait until zaitsev plays more than 1 of his 7 years before coming to the conclusion it was a bad signing

 

[Kiwi]

The Phaneuf trade without having to eat money was a brilliant move

The Rielly and Kadri deals were also a very nice piece of business

The Polak trade was pretty sweet as well

Andersen was pretty solid business, it's certainly stabilized the net for the foreseeable future

He also gave a pretty unprofessional organization some much needed leadership and discipline



You can strongly critic our TDL strategy the last two years and our lack of action on the pending UFA'S last offseason as well as Martin and Zaitsev (I'm hoping for a bounce back from him)

More good than bad all in all

 

[GongShowWilly]

Dion trade , was so happy !!

 

[Trapper]

I wish people would stop including the not trading of leo Bozak and jvr. That was never ever ever gunna happen. Every year guys reach FA, that’s how it works. Not every expiring deal needs to be moved, this is not EA NHL 18.
Good Lou: Kadri/Rielly Hyman/Brown extensions, Polak for 2x 2nds which became Boyle last year and pleks this year. Unloading Phaneuf
Bad Lou: Not leveraging ourselves a better expansion draft than what happened. I feel we could of been more involved then just hanging over Leipsic

Sorry but asset management is a major part of the business and doesn't go away because you want to ignore it.
In the salary Cap era, new younger, faster NHL, you will live and die by some decisions.
Not all UFAs are created equal. Bozak/Komarov/Polak/Moore/Hainsey do not equal JVR or Gardiner. Letting some UFAs go is fine, a 30 + goal scorer walk is never a good idea. Ask Florida how they like letting Marchessault go for free. Now compare that to us letting Leipsic go. Big difference. Are you happy if we just let Gardiner walk? If Kadri was a UFA would you let him walk too? It's bad. It's done, but it's bad. The 2nd for Plek was not good either. Back to back 2nd round picks and you still haven't addressed an issue. That's bad as well.

 

[ShaneFalco]

The new GM really has some holes to fill if they want to take the next step

 

[Trapper]

The new GM really has some holes to fill if they want to take the next step

The new GM needs to be good at structuring long term contracts for Matthews, Nylander, Marner.
He needs to be good at signing reasonable deals for support players.
Needs to be good a signing UFAs. Not to long, not too much.
Needs to address the Gardiner UFA situation.
Needs to be able to make decisions on the draft floor if presented with options.
Needs to address the 3C/4C.
Needs to address the Nylander is center or not with Babcock.
Needs to be adept at making trades to bring in guys that support the core in a more playoff style of hockey.
Needs to make deals to address weaknesses in the organization: Center depth is terrible. RHD as well.

There is a lot of work to be done.

 

[Daisy Jane]

The trade returns he got on Polak and Spaling.

Trading away Kessel.

Making Phaneuf's contract disappear.

Andersen

he didn't trade Kessel

 

[ULF_55]

Phaneuf trade.

Moving Phaneuf.

Contracts are good, but that was just money and hasn't changed the team, just didn't overpay for good players.

Andersen is a good goalie, you expect any competent GM to acquire a good goalie. Look around the league and you can see other GM's acquired good goalies.

As far as culture of winning ... don't see one yet.