Ask the Islanders how they are doing without John Tavares. I honestly hate his presence on the Leafs. I was excited once he came here but he has no emotion, he does not care, and is way too soft to being a captain. The Leafs would have been better off employing Kadri as the 2nd line centre while building a competent defensive system and having the core of Matthews, Marner, and Nylander. Dubas questions himself why the Leafs can't make it past the first round, and imagine how embarrassing it would be if they can't even make the playoffs while paying the top four $40 million.

I don't see why this matters. Do you think that Dubas would make a **** trade to get rid of Marner? If you do then your problem should be with Dubas. It is also very possible that Dubas has a very different view when it comes to D who you think are either sh*t or unproven.

Wouldn't touch Josi in a Marner deal. Basically another Rielly (who I love), but he's about to turn 31 and starting an 8 year $9m dollar deal. Honestly don't think the cap hit is much of a hindrance... They can always take back bad cap if they need to, to make it work. I just don't think trades like that happen very often. The select few Dman that I think would entice the Leafs to move Marner wouldn't be traded by their respective teams for just about anyone, imo.

But, but, but, there was a 4 month of non action that’s why they didn’t make the playoffs (watch Leafs fans who are willing to accept anything Dubas and the team do state this exact argument when/IF they lose)

That said, GO LEAFS GO FOR TONIGHT!!!

Marner plus for Ellis and Arvidsson is a take however

At the time it was a great signing, was it steep. Yes but that was the market for him. The Sharks offered 13+ mill!!! He is not too soft, he is a great leader but don't forget last year he 47 goals and 88 points and was on pace for 78 points while having a broken finger. He is good and gives the Leafs 2 dangerous lines. It's a lot of money but some ppl are worth it

It is not much against Marner per se. He is overpayed by around 2 million.

He is a great player, but he is just not the player the Leafs need.

They cannot trade Matthews and Tavares and Nylander would make no sense because he is actually playing very well with Matthews and has a cap below 7 million which is fair for his production.

Marner is the only piece that can actually improve that team through a trade

Lol, yes. Look at tampa. A deep team full of good contracts. Well balanced, and a legit historically good season before going cold in the playoffs. They’re top three forwards that are all really good, a total of 24.75. Then you have the leafs. Their top three? 33.527. What have the leafs accomplished? Congrats on finishing third in the division back to back to back years.

The leafs won’t be a good team unless they either:
1. Find a random d man on an entry level deal that turns into a legit top pairing d man. Seems very unlikely
2. Trades one of the big money forwards in an effort to get a d man, or free up cap space for a d man.

Then they have to rebuild a whole bunch of other pieces, but that’s the main flaw.

Pretty well put right there.

But at the same time the TBL haven't won anything with this core. Who cares about regular season. If you flop in the playoffs which both teams have been doing then they are the same

Tampa has some accomplishments. It’s clear that they are a legitimate contender. Only a fool would say otherwise. I don’t think anyone thinks that the leafs are anything more than the, “team that could get hot.” They aren’t a traditional contender. The bolts are built well. The leafs are built horribly.