Quoting: tumbleweed
no. marner is the most egregious. but all of matthews, nylander & johnsson got more than they should have as rfa's. kerfoot is a complete waste. can't add a big ufa contract in tavares and then overspend on your rfa's. cap management is about making choices and using your leverage in contract negotiations; not overpaying everyone.
we have no room to add depth/improve without taking away something we need.
if the team is well-managed, we are probably 2 years away from being a contender.
need to re-stock picks and prospects in the meantime. give sandin and lilgegren a chance to prove if they can be good nhl players.
Marner overpay started with Babcock being an idiot to a rookie, and Lou having to give Sch. A bonuses to Matthews.
Nylander and the $3M RFAs got market value. Because Johnsson has not yet lived up to the deal due to injuries and whatever is hindsight. If you point to the $3M RFA deals as a blackmark against Dubas, then not much point in continuing this convo, because no way to crack through your bias. Kerfoot will be fine going forward.
Add $3.5M - $4.5M in caproom going into this season (pre-pandemic, unless Dubas should have foreseen that as well), and Leafs have no problem making moves within the cap.