Ugh.. I might vomit and its accurate at the same time..

The Leafs are better with Muzzin, Barrie, and Tavares, but they def had the grit and toughness that they desperately lack now. Interesting.

Had the Great Lou remained our GM, I approximate that he would have saved us at least $4 million AAV per season on Marner and Matthew's contract combined. Even before that, he would have never let that stalemate ensue with William Nylander, and would have locked up Marner and Matthews in the year prior to their ELC expiring, as most GMs do. Sure, that's not the "Dan Ferris" approach, but Lou doesn't stand for agent B*S. He has a long track record as a tough and excellent negotiator. Based on the comps at the time that Matthews and Marner were eligible for extension, Lou would have saved the clubs millions in cap space per season. As I have said before and will continue to say, there may be a lot of things Dubas is good, but negotiating isn't one of them. As result, it's hampered the Leafs' ability to be competitive.

Such tired and 100% incorrect sentiment. Talking heads like Don Cherry and Brian Burke among other old school guys like to mention the toughness thing but its nonsense. The Leafs aren't desperate for anything, other than perhaps a backup but can anyone really be desperate for a backup?

F*ck Lou!

Oh yeah? He would have locked them up a year prior? Like the summer when he was still the GM and didn't lock up Nylander? Is that what you are talking about?

Hampered the Leafs ability to be competitive. Take out the 5 back to backs and the Tampa game and TO is one of the better defensive teams in the NHL.

This whole statement is nonsense.

maybe you save 4 million on marner and nylander but nylander is traded for an awful defenseman and they end up losing that cap space when they keep zaitsev, brown, martin, komarov, marleau, polak and hainsey. thats without mentioning robertson and sandin. some guy named tavares is also pretty important

Do you know anything about hockey? Do you know anything about playoff hockey? Teams don't survive in the playoffs without toughness. If you are a Leafs fan then you should know that from all the times they get beat by the Bruins.

ok boomer

At least they'd have a backup goalie

I play hockey and have my whole life. The "Toughness" that the team needs is the desire to go to the hard places on the ice, having goons or 4th line grinders running around hitting people and contributing nothing to anything other than the hit total doesn't win games. TO didn't lose to Boston because Boston is so tough, they lost because Boston's PP scored at a 50% rate. The Leafs were actually better at 5v5 in the series and I think held the edge in hits as well. So what toughness cost them the series?

I really do not understand half the things you are writing here. It has already been reported, at the time at least, that Lou was asked by Shanahan not to extend Nylander because Lou's contract was going to be up and the Leafs, at the time, were not sure what they were going to do at that position. The fact that so many teams extend good young players early coming off ELC deals should have every Leafs' fan at least a little concerned. The fact that Dubas waited and waited to get these done, should be an issue. Of course, most fans, simply don't care about the process, as long as these players get signed. Plain and simple, Dubas may have done an adequate job so far, but by no means has it been a good job.

I am not quite sure what you are going on and on about with respect to the Leaf's defensive game, is that so far this year you are talking about? It's not very clear. Either way, while that's a small sample size, the Leaf's defensive game has pretty brutal, and of course I am looking at the entire season so far, not select "ideal" games. Overall, @LoganOllivier, I am a little disappointed with your comments. I thought based on your general body of work on this site you were better than that. Oh well.

I cannot validate your point. Even if Lou was the GM for a few more season, got these important ELCs locked up early, Dubas would very likely have remained the top AGM under Lou while this was all getting done. Clearly, it's a what-if type question, but I would say you can't just justify the Tavares signing against all these others things. That goes two fold with the draft, because Dubas was always in charge of that.

Babs takes one look at this roster gets a chub and throws Lou some sort of awkward old man high five...

Point, Tkachuk, Laine, Connor, Carlo, Rantanen, McAvoy are among several highly touted RFA's that chose to wait until after the season to sign. I guess Dubas is the only GM who waited, or was it that these players wanted to wait? A lot of people like to think that Dubas isn't good because half of the people the internet want the Leafs to be bad and will bend anything into a rhetoric that supports that ideal. You sir, are buying into nonsense that is both lazy, and incorrect. Here is the reality of Dubas's work, he got all his young guys signed long term. Most other GM's can't say the same, most of the high priced RFA's signed for 2 or 3 years and all of those guys have QO's that are in the 10 million neighbourhood and some of those guys can just accept that and walk to FA. What are those contracts going to look like? Could you imagine if Matthews signed a 2 year deal with the 2nd year being over 10? He'd be able to accept his QO, get 10 or over and in a couple years be a FA and demand 15 million a season and get it. Instead the Leafs have him under contract for 5 years. Marner for 6 years, Nylander for 5 and Tavares is locked up for 6 more as well. Can Chevy in Winnipeg say that? For crying out loud, you are supporting Lou as some sort of old school hero when it comes to contract negotiations but he lost to Dubas in the Tavares contract negotiations and he currently has arguably the best RFA this summer who isn't signing until after the summer. So tell me, how would Lou have done better?

mark hunter was in charge of the matthews draft, thats why they drafter koshkov instead of debrincat and all these worthless 6 foot 5+ defenseman. you can say lou wouldnt have signed tavares because he didnt sign him. he had a long time to but he didnt. when dubas was in charge of the draft they chose players like SDA, sandin, and he said dermott was his choice

the realgudpro/60 is off the charts

And if Marner signed an extension in the year prior to his ELC deal, do you think all those big name youngster would still have held out like that? NOT A CHANCE. I think you would be a fool to think otherwise. They held out because they saw first what Nylander did, and then were taking their cues directly from Mitch Marner. Had the Leafs, regardless of who the GM was, signed these kids early, as a lot of GMs do, there would not have been such a hold out this summer. As I will reiterate, Dubas has done an adequate job, but he has not done a good, or great job.

Go ahead and be satisfied with how things turned out, that's perfectly fine. However, know things could have gone a very different way with a different, older and experienced GM not named Kyle Dubas. I am sure people will throw the Tavares signing in my face. Honestly, even if Lou was the Leafs' GM, Dubas would have very likely, as the Leafs' top AGM, been integral in making that pitch. So, it's not really fair to say, "oh, if Lou was the GM, Tavares would have never come to Toronto". All these points are What-Ifs. I am just telling you, Kyle Dubas is not a good negotiator. End of story.

With Lou remaining in charge, things would have clearly been different as they are today, but I think focusing on the draft doesn't do anyone any good. Mark Hunter hit and missed, but so has the Dubas Era of Leafs drafts too.

Let's just look at the irony of/and more specifically how drastic, the situation is from NYI point of view. Lou gets canned in April of 2018...the Islanders had a 3.57 GAA for the 2017.2018 season...DEAD LAST in the NHL. Lou decides the Isles need a systematic change....hires Trotz...they adjust the defensive scheme. 2018-2019 they win the Jennings...year 2019-2020...they're STILL #1 and by an even wider margin.

But Nylander lost his negotiations. Also Ferris had his guys hold out several times in the past as well. It was his MO to play games in the media, he did it with AA in Detroit, Guadreau I believe as well and Josh Anderson. But that isn't because Ferris had a history of that, it was Dubas's fault because that helps your stance. You are blaming Dubas and the Leafs for the market which is what the media tends to do because thats what sells ads, talking about the Leafs. Many young players are betting on themselves and more continue to do that, its telling that you ignored the fact that Barzal hasn't signed yet and his general manger is Lou who you are saying wouldn't have let Matthews, Marner or Nylander sign after their final ELC contract.

I am pretty sure the whole Lou wanted to sign Nylander but Shanahan wouldn't let him is 100% nonsense. Lou was given permission to sign other guys that last summer when he was GM. Why on earth would Shanahan let Lou sign Marleau but not extend Nylander? Because that is the summer you are talking about. Now you want to talk about Dubas being a bad negotiator. What about Kapanen? Or Johnsson, or Kerfoot? What about Tavares? Even Nylander? He's creeping towards being a point a game player and makes less than 7 million a season. He won all of those negotiations. All of them. Marner is too high, I'll grant you that, but Matthews? Its fine. None of these contracts are really problems. Not like Marleau was, who once again, was signed by Lou. So what are you really talking about here? Because the holes in your argument are many.

Say what you want about Lou, but everything he touches turns to gold. Isles and the Leafs are in great places thanks to Lou.

Again holes everywhere here.

1) Once again, Lou didn't sign Nylander and instead gave Marleau his contract, those dates coincide.
2) As many have mentioned, Hunter was more in charge of the draft than Dubas so again, what are you talking about here
3) I have no idea what you are talking about with the Tavares signing.

Cool story

dare I say this defense might be better too