Lou absolutely cares. If he wants to sign good quality UFAs in the future, they will most certainly all look to Andrew Ladd and his situation, before even contemplating discussing contracts with the Isles. See, the Isles have their own issues, with management, arena, you name it, they really don't need this as well. I suspect that once Andrew Ladd is healthy, he will be very present on their NHL roster, at least until he is traded.

Anddddd now you know why Tavares got what he deserved. He said 5x as much about loving the Islanders and wanting to stay than Marner has about Toronto. At least you guys are getting compensated and not have the clock ran out on you lol...

I swear, all Tavares had to do was be honest. I completely understand why he left. We didn't do enough for him while he was here. But jeez, just say something. I would have took a 1st/prospects at the deadline before losing him and felt happy about the way it unfolded. His homecoming would have been a standing ovation. Hell, his number would have eventually been in the rafters. Now, that 91 will be Butch Goring.

While I always appreciate comments, I need to say (a) most Leafs fans are not logical when it comes to betrayal and there will be 100% an overwhelming amount of booing whenever Mitch comes back to town and (b) Marner's offer sheet that isn't matched is not a win for the Leafs, at least not in the short term. While I can't guarantee it, I will say with basically absolute certainty that should Marner be offersheeted by the Isles, to which the Leafs do not (or cannot match) and Barzal is still not resigned by July 1, 2020, you can bet a Leafs offer sheet is coming for him.

I have never once said that Tavares doesn't deserve those Isles boos.

Oh I didn't mean to imply you specifically. Just the holier than thou Leaf fans in general - that standing ovation the night he got back was so cheesy lol

I personally wouldn’t be happy if he leaves but I would respect the fact he used the rules that the nhl gave him and set himself up and his family for life. I’m always happy that players get money even though I hope they take less but I personally wouldn’t be booing

Yeah kinda but what’d you expect tho haha

In general, die hard fans are not logical, they wear their hearts on their sleeves and bleed the colours of their beloved teams. So, I can totally understand Isles fans feeling betrayed, as I would expected any real fan of any team that just lost an important and integral player. Yes, very cheesy, but I guess that's Leaf fans for you. It was even cheesier what our major "proclaimed" as a result of what he faced playing in New York. If I may suggest something, I believe it was Bill Simmons that wrote an amazing article about the rules for being true fans. I forget exactly what it's called, but if you can find it, it's a very good, very funny read and a lot of it is very reasonable as well.

I'll take a look for it

Honestly I didn't look at the contract you gave Barzal. I was just looking at Marner's production and I think it could be as good if not better with Barzal. Those two together would be lethal.

In all fairness JT wanted to stay it was his agent that convinced him to take meetings with other teams. Also fwiw AM will most likely be leaving in 5 years, and i wont blame him. Also and I know im in the minority saying this but I've thought\ realized a while ago that Mitch didn't want to be here. If you watch his interviews he did not seem very enthusiastic about playing for the leafs. But who knows maybe I'm wrong.