Dubas has not failed to deliver on any of his promises to date. Shanny made the right decision. Shanny has never made a wrong decision to date. The Shannaplan has done nothing but yield results.
Dubas has not failed to deliver on any of his promises to date. Shanny made the right decision. Shanny has never made a wrong decision to date. The Shannaplan has done nothing but yield results.
Pretty hard to break promises when you don't really make any, no ?
From an amateur's perspective, why wait on those 3 guys as long as he did? I just don't understand it.
I would have been negotiating around the clock with Matthews and Marner the day they could be extended. Sign them both at the same time, and send a message to them that they are the faces of the franchise. It makes no sense to sign Nylander first. Sign the top priority guys first.
It especially makes no sense to play hardball with Nylander and then cave at the last minute. If you go down that road when the season starts, you better be willing to let him sit out all year. That clearly wasn't the case. Dubas was bluffing and Nylander's agent called the bluff.
Also, giving Matthews a shorter deal - that will prove to be an enormous blunder.
So, yes, Dubas didn't break any promises regarding Nylander and Matthews. But he was still schooled in both negotiations.
I also can't understand where Dubas' faith in Sparks is coming from. I guess you have to be patient with youth but Sparks was pretty awful for a large chunk of this season.
Pretty sure he wanted Nylander signed for 6.5 million. Got him for 6.9. Hardly a a fleecing. (Argue his value all you want but it’s not like Nylanders camp to Dubas to the woodshed.
No one knows how long he was working with Matthews camp and or what’s been said with Marner.
Dubas said he’d sign Nylander. He did. Within hundreds of thousands (not millions). And to a pretty trade friendly contract.
Dubas said he’d sign Matthews. He did. May not look like the usual signing but hockey is changing.
Dubas said he’d sign Marner. I guess we’ll see. But so far the track record has been good.
As for sparks, he earned his chance. Who lets a young home grown goalie go for nothing especially when that goalie proved to be the best in the AHL for two previous years. What sparks did or did not do with his opportunity is in him. Maybe on Babcock for how he played him. But Dubas recognized a need for a plan B and acquired that plan at next to no
Cost.
Again, you can critique the results, but he’s done everything he said he would to date and is doing so in-spite of the challenges left by Lou. (Marleau/Zaitsev)
My eyes are on the players and Babcock to finally do something with the assets he’s been given which are more than most of the playoff teams this year.
I probably give one shit at least
But in all seriousness, I think it’s a good move extending Shanahan. As much as I love teasing Leafs fans, he’s built a contender there. With the experience that team has gained in the last two years, I think they are poised to be playing hockey in June in the next year or two.
Nylander in 3 WC games:
2G, 6A, 8Pts...
He's been killing it. He needed this tournament. Dude was just down on himself so much with Toronto.
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
Yes, he needed to play against Italy and Norway
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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
Nylander - There was a salary gap between the two camps. Both dug in. Nylander because he felt he was worth it. Dubas because he knew he needed to sign marner & matthews. On the final day, they signed a deal that most benefited both parties in terms of $$ paid and cap hit from 2019 onward.
Matthews - I don't get you on this one. He signed mid-season in a very painless deal. No lowballs, he asked, they paid. I think he should be excluded from any examples of poor GM-ship. It's a pipe dream to think he was getting paid a dollar less. The shorter deal was for cap purposes too.
Marner - his camp was very vocal about NOT negotiating during the season. Odds are Marner turned down a Nylander level offer last summer, and bet on himself for this past season. voila. A deal will get done.
Just because Dubas isn't operating the way you think he should, does not mean he isn't operating properly.
None of us are in the rooms with him during any negotiations.
Sparks - I think that's one quality that separates Dubas from you and most of us. Patience. He went from Goalie of the Year in the AHL and a starter to a back up in Toronto in the NHL -- Huge adjustments.
Remember, Carey Price was young and replaced in the playoffs by Halak who led them over Wsh in a 1-8 seed matchup.
Imagine if Mtl gave up on that kid at that time...
Instead, they shipped Halak out. Have faith in your young players.
If they have the pedigree, they'll bounce back, but they need more than 15 NHL games to prove it.
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The key point about contracts is it takes two to sign them.
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The Carey Price other side of the coin is Bobrovsky in Philly I guess. But in all honesty I don't remember the end of that relationship reasoning was.
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
Carey Price was a 5th overall pick. Sparks was a 7th Round pick.
Apple meet orange.
And until the Leafs actually win a round in the playoffs, I think it's perfectly fair for fans of the team to be critical, myself included. It's perfectly reasonable to suggest they might be making mistakes. Some might even reasonably suggest their program has hit a wall or maybe even regressed a little.
You should move around the circle and look at it from a different angle. The only reason we're in this cap crunch to begin with is because Marner, Nylander, Johnsson, Kapanen are all better - earlier than expected.
It's a good problem to have.
It's not like we just signed Beagle, Schaller & Roussel for 12m annually for 3+ years. Each.
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