The challenge for the Leafs is their roster is incomplete and they are facing inevitable cap problems.
I'm all for giving Dubas time to see how things shake out for him. It's not prudent or fair to cast judgement so early in his tenure.
That being said however, we can start to develop an opinion and I don't believe he's off to a great start.
- Tavares was a win and a good signing that got him off to a great start.
- I do think that the time to sign both Matthews and Marner was last summer, and I think that they could have got them both on longer term and less money then what they will now end up getting. I don't know how the inner workings went down and who's most to blame for that, but I do think that was the biggest mistake that has been made and that it will end up hurting their chances to put together a competitive team under the cap.
- The Nylander signing was not a win. The ultimate contract is not a big loss either and appears to be one that can be moved if needed and he bounces back (which I believe he will), but the fact that it resulted in derailing Nylander's season which ultimately hurt the team means it ends up being a negative.
What he is able to achieve this off season will go a long way to cementing his legacy.
- Marner's contract needs to be a win, and from the sounds of it, it is not going to be. After Shanahans extension, he indicated he had talked to Marner's agent and his comment was that the team would face significant cap constraints for the foreseeable future. The way it was brought up and discussed leads me to believe that Marner's camp will be looking for a high value contract. I do not see this being a win for the team.
- The above being the case, how will he handle the rest of the roster? Will he be able to move the Marleau and Zaitsev anchor contracts? That would go a long way to freeing up space and making the cap manageable. Can he get Kapanen and Johnsson on team friendly contracts? From what I hear Kapanen is doable, Johnsson will not be. Will he be able to make efficient defensive additions? This is paramount to success next season.
From what I hear, the cards are stacked against him and how things shake out this summer will go a long way to determining his legacy. This year was a bit of a stall in my opinion, and next year needs to be a strong step forward. However, based on the constraints moving forward, that might be hard to achieve.
The challenge for the Leafs is their roster is incomplete and they are facing inevitable cap problems.
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HUH, it was Lams that let Nylander get too far to begin with. Should have locked him up cheap and long when Lams had the chance. Dubas never had that chance.
Dubas only bad move so far was signing Matthews to 5 years instead of 8. He is easily worth the extra couple mill it would have taken.
Matthews got 11.6 x 5 years.
A year and a half earlier....McDavid got 12.5 on a 8 year deal?
Why and how would it have to be an extra couple mill? 11.6 x 8 is what should have been done. Tavares just signed for 11...and only 7 years.
It took Dubas almost 7 months to sign Nylander. That's not on "Lams".
And then he caved and gave him too much when he finally did sign him. Definitely a bad move and even he concedes this.
He should have dug in and let him sit the whole year.
Otherwise, sign him in July or August, 2018 but only after extending Marner and Matthews first. Those are your cornerstones.
And, yes, as mentioned, locking up Matthews to only 5 years to save a million in cap hit was another bad move. How in the world can he justify 6 years for Nylander and only 5 for Matthews ?
Choosing Sparks as the backup - another bad move.
Trading a 1st and Grunnstrom for Muzzin - I'm 50/50 on this one, but I think it will prove to be another bad move.
Even if one wants to debate those, what has Dubas undeniably done RIGHT in his first year as GM ? Basically, nothing.
One can choose to blast Lou for Zaitsev and Marleau, and yes he should be blasted for those contracts, although I really think both were done to please Babcock who adores both those players for some reason.
But whatever, even if we blame Lou for those 2 bad mistakes, he also deserves a big pat on the back for these undeniably excellent moves:
Rielly extension
Kadri extension
Andersen trade and extension
Phaneuf trade (nobody thought this deal was possible)
Polak trade (how in the world does one get two 2nd rounders for Polak?!)
Winnick for Carrick and a 2nd (undeniable value even tho Babs pissed away Carrick)
Rosen signing, Borgman too
I don't know, people love to crap on Lou because he's old. But he did a tonne of good things here. Dubas hasn't really done much yet, so not sure why he is so revered.
Dubas/Hunter took over for Nonis on April 2015, Lou Lam was hired July 23rd 2015. So between Dubas, Hunter, and Shanahan they got:
-Hyman+Condition 7th for McKegg
-Marincin+Ross for a 4th
-Kapanen, Harrington, Spaling, Conditional 1st, 3rd round for Kessel, Erixon, Biggs, Conditional 2nd
-Beck for Devane
-Signed Hunwick
-Signed Parenteau
-Signed Arcobello
-Signed Winnik (got Laich, Carrick, and a 2nd (Grundstrom) for trading Winnik to Caps)
-Signed Matthias (got 4th (Keaton Middleton) and Colin Smith for trading Matthias to Avs)
After the 2017-18, Lou became an advisory role, and Dubas took over. After the 2018 season, these trades happened:
-McAdam for Martin
-Condition 7th for Carrick
-Klimchuk for Nielsen
-Carcone for Leivo
-Oleksy for Cracknell
-Hutchinson for 5th rounder
-Gagne for Klimchuk
-Muzzin for Grundstrom, Durzi, 1st
-Baptiste for Future Considerations
-Petan for Lindholm
It's not like Dubas has only signed JT. He's made a lot of other moves.
12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA
C: Horvat, Trocheck
LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
Util: Meier (LW, RW)
G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll
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."
nope, just saying giving all the information out on what Dubas has done from what I've found. I ran out of time researching who he's resigned this yr too.
Letting the people get all his moves out there instead of the ones that are always commented on (Sparks, Nylander, JT, Muzzin)
12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA
C: Horvat, Trocheck
LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
Util: Meier (LW, RW)
G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll
oops, I just realized I mistakenly said Dubas had done nothing undeniably right in his first year.
Signing JT was a pretty significant coup and Dubas deserves credit for that move at least.
The problem with this kind of commentary, is that it ignores the player's likely complete disinterest in signing these deals. I think it's safe to say less money was offered to Nylander and more term was most definitely offered to Matthews.
Frankly I think people are completely ignoring the recent contracts signed by players comparable to Nylander combined with the complete extinction of the bridge or mid tier contract for RFAs.
I mean those market setting $6mil extentions that Edmonton was widely mocked for yrs ago are now $7-8.5 on average. Btw, I think it's now extremely clear that Edmonton was way ahead of the curve with those deals and they became excellent value. Colorado & Winnipeg followed suit shortly after and I believe that Nylander will return to his previous development curve and show similar value.
HFD 12 Team H2H
G,A,P,+/-,PPP, PIM,HITS
W,GAA,SV%,SO
Airdrie Analrapists
C O'Reilly, Zibanejad, Hischier
LW Hall, Teravainen, Arvidsson.V
RW Stone, Kessel, Laine
UT RW Radulov, LW Gusev, RW W. Nylander
D Burns, Dahlin, Dumba, Muzzin, Morrrisey, McNabb
G Varlamov, Grubauer
BN G Hutton, G Ullmark, W Bjorkstrand
Minors 25/25
F Anderson-Dolan, Barré-Boulet, Batherson, Bemström, Dahlen, Fix-Wolansky, Gaudette, Greenway, Kahun, Kakko, Kaliyev, Kaprizov, Lindblom.O, Luff, Mattheos, N Robertson, Terry. T, Thomas. A
D Hague, Jokiharju, Persson, Wilde, Woo
G Berdin, Sarek, Sorokin
DJ Smith announced as new head coach of the Sens. I’d expect to see Sheldon Keefe promoted to Leafs assistant after the Marlies playoffs wrap up.