10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, Brink
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."
This thread appears drastically close to going off the rails.
So is anyone willing to change their mind and say that signing Tavares has not helped the Maple Leafs?
The Leafs points percentages over the past 3 seasons:
2017/18 - .640
Tavares Signed
2018/19 - .610
2019/20 - .579
I said it last summer, and the summer before that, and I am still saying it and I am still right.
I am not blaming John Tavares for this. He's done his part to help this team score, but management still hasn't fixed their biggest hole and it continues to show in the lack of their playoff success.
They didn't need JT when they signed him. God knows they need him now because of the moves made since, but at the time, they didn't.
10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, Brink
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."
This was always a PR move and not a hockey move. Then they repeated the mistake by trading Kadri for Barrie and Kerfoot.
Then again, I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't reveling in the schadenfreude.
Fun thread bump.
(although some/many don't like thread bumps - it's a great way to self-check on whether the things we predict had good merit)
I'm giving myself an A- for my comments.
I certainly (in honesty) thought the Leafs would at least be a "good team"... but they were middling.
Whether I posted it or not... I didn't think they would have two straight first-round playoff exits.
The Leafs DID lose Hainsey & Gardiner, they DID move Kadri, their defense DID get worse, and they ARE similar to the Oilers - heck, they were the only two home teams to lose in any round of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs!!! LOL!
(post quoted above was from July 2, 2018. Kadri was traded July 1, 2019... so I squeaked in my 1.2 year trade timeline!!! Nice!)
In hindsight we would have been better off not signing Tavares and using that money to bolster the blue line.
Alternatively, we could have signed Tavares but NOT signed Marner, but I prefer to keep the younger guy since Tavares is on the decline.
Dubas has made plenty of mistakes.
The Tavares signing wasn't one of them.
I have a much bigger issue with money that's being paid to Nylander, Marner, and Ceci. Muzzin too starting next year.
All of those 4 are replaceable pieces for much less than what KD paid them.
But try to find a top line centre when you need one. Forget it. You can never have too much depth up the middle.
Without Tavares, they are one hit away to Auston's wonky shoulder from everyone lamenting - "Wow, the Leafs sure are weak at centre!"
The Pens built their team around two #1 centres.
Worked pretty well.
I said this in this thread way back when but I'll say it again. They didn't have to go looking for a top line center. They just finished drafting their top line center in Austin Matthews. They had a very good 2C in Kadri for a fraction of the price of what both Matthews and Tavares make today.
I still like JT, but the Leafs had bigger issues that needed to be addressed before signing an expensive center. They still do.
10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, Brink
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."
We are also exploring/revisiting the Tavares signing from a "performance" standpoint.
Signing Tavares rejuvenated the HOPE from Toronto fans.
I'd speculate that TV ratings and their ability to raise ticket prices (I don't know, I don't live in ONT anymore) have been the best of last 25 years.
The team hasn't had this much "talent", at least, in a long... long time.
They were also BOUND to fall... the best value per $ that teams with dynamic young players get is when those players are in their last ELC (or bridge years) and the team can cap-spend.
As soon as they lock in Matthews, Marner, Nylander... they're obviously skating with same roster, but less cap space.
The value in young players is always at the ends of their contracts (or should be), not in their first years.
2018-19 should have been their best year. (final ELC year for Marner/Matthews)
2019-20 should be been their worst year. (first year of Marner/Matthews cap hit on new contracts)
Then... as the kids rise in maturity, but cap hit stays the same... the team should slowly rise up.
There's an exploration in value/cap-hit that some () are concluding on... probably too early.
Tavares is not the problem. Still like the signing. Dubas’ mistake was sinking another $17Million in Nylander and Marner combined. Optics suggest “you hold out...Dubas will succumb”. That’s his first big mistake. Then not addressing the blue line for several years is #2. Tavares is anything but on the decline. He’s played like the player they paid him to be. It he’s not a Defender. And Barrie, which could have been a great move, failed. Then again, it was clear he was a shoot first D so likely he wasn’t the right target to begin with. Now we get to see him navigate the flat cap vs the situation he’s built and completely owns with Lou and BABS gone. This is my opinion as a fan of the team. I’m looking forward to see what he does now.
1) 16 teams full keeper H2H. Start 9F, 4D, 1G, 2 Championships
pts: (D : 7 pts G /5 pts A), (F : 5pts G /3 pts A), (G : 10 pts W / 5 pts SO), (D/F : 1 pt +/-, 0.5 pts PIM, 0.1 FOW, 0.2 Hits, 0.3 pts SOG, PP and SH).
Forward : Aho, Svechnikov, PLDubois, Giroux, Couture, Wheeler, Cozens, Karlsson, Vrana, Anderson,Greenway,
Defenses : Dahlin, Fox, Doughty, Toews, , Slavin, Miller
Goalies : Oettinger, Vanecek, Bobrovsky
Prospects : Dostal, Schmid, Chinakhov, Bordeleau, Ostlund, Brindley, Gulyayev
Kinda difficult to improve the D when so many funds are allocated to forwards, one of them being Tavares.
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