What'd you guys think of this hindsight team? Would they be a contender?

Cup team. But matthews marner would never accept the money tbh

Yeah, but with Kadri in the fold, @palhal would never have suggested adding Derek Ryan.

The Tavares contract was horrible!😡😡😡

I agree with Palhal/your assessments.

The Maple Leafs' forward core was pretty well set for now and the future. They would certainly be taking a hit losing JVR, Bozak, and Komarov, but they still had guys in the pipeline who could have fit in fill in fairly well (Kapanen, Johnsson). Their real issue was with their defence. The team gave up an average of 34 shots per game that season (4th highest in the NHL). It would be smarter to pursue some defence-men in free agency or by trade than to sign Tavares. Players like Calvin De Haan and Ian Cole would be smarter choices and would not have anywhere near the same price tag as Tavares. Signing him forced the Leafs into a win now mode instead of continuing to build through the draft. They should have signed Matthews and Marner before they even consider signing JT.

It is starting to drive me crazy THAT YOU ALWAYS MAKE YOU ACGM's WITH MARNER PAYED LESS. STOP ALREADY. I DON'T CARE IF HE'S OVERPAYED.

Hindsight doesnt mean you get to pretend things that never wiupd have happened wiuld have happened

Nylander specifically isn't realistic. He fought to the last minutes for his contract. You'd have had to sit him out the 18-19 season and of course the cap went up as expected the 19-20 season. With a higher cap, why would his demand have fallen? It would only have made it easier for the team to eat the cap hit he wanted.

I mean sure. They look better, but I’d rather Kerfoot than Ryan and I don’t think Kadri is the elite difference maker people make him out to be now that he’s gone, so ya they’re better but it’s marginal

Kerfoot>Ryan, so the only ‘improvement’ is having Kadri on the wing. We don’t need him.

IIRC, it was reported that Matthews had interest in taking a bridge deal. Marner wanted big money, but if he waited until after Rantanen, Boeser and Connor signed their fair deals, he would’ve lost leverage to ask for the moon.

Thanks for the feedback. I just wanted to find a decent 3C in the 3 Million dollar range & Ryan’s stats are pretty good.

The Tavares signing was good. The issue was, the team didn’t make any moves to accommodate his signing. For example, they could’ve traded Kadri for Ellis or Nylander for Theodore & their defence would be much improved.

Yes I agree they should’ve locked up Matthews & Marner before considering to sign JT. However, I would’ve still signed him in the end & just trade for someone like Weegar or DeMelo to be the 4th D, they have become just as capable as De Haan & Cole in these seasons.

THANK YOU for NOT SLEEPING on the reigning KHL defensemen of the year

I heard Dubas started the Nylander negotiation at a really low number (like 5 million x 7 years) so they went a long way. Honestly Nylander just wanted a Fair Deal (6-7 Million). There’s still 800K remaining on this team to not change his deal.

I know hindsight isn't realistic...but instead of Campbell, the Leafs continued to keep Mcillerney. Then they would have Moore and a third pick instead of the trade they made with LA last winter.
So left wing Moore, Johnson, Hyman, maybe Tischanov (not lost to waivers to Red Wings). , Kadri at centre (no Ryan). Tavares, Matthews Spezza and Thornton. Right wing, Marner, Nylander, now cap for Kapanen, plus Mikheyvev. Still not sure if 5m Brodie is great value . Would DeMelo at 3.25m. and the unsigned Hamonic at 2 years at 3.5m, leave cap for a future upgrade.

Matthews and other RFAs....the Leafs were control after all they were RFAs. Leafs had no obligation to pay "hometown premium" Let's imagine as rumour floating was that Arizona has been in a offer sheet of 12m X 7. Leafs don't match, have 11.6m in cap and four first rounders.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes Kerfoot is better than Ryan, but Ryan is pretty good as well. I just felt it was more convenient to add him since he was a free agent in 2018.

Will always be fine with the Tavares contract. Even if year 6 and 7 he puts him 25 points. He brings a compete level the leafs have been lacking in a star player for ages. Anyone contesting this... remember that the guy has always put up top numbers. And has been a perennial Hart trophy candidate. While playing with the likes of Okposo and Matt Moulson lol.

The Matthew’s contract is growing by on me. I thought he earned his keep in the play ins. However more term would have made it more reasonable. Even 6 years.

Marner contract is bad. Plain and simple. You don’t pay that much for a wing. I’m sorry but I’ll have this argument day and night. Wings and Centre’s are not comparable. If you think they are you have never played hockey. Marner contract would have been bad anything over 9 million. The fact it is just shy of 11 is embarrassing. I love the guy. But he’s not worth that much.

Nylander contract. Should have made him sit out the year. Doing that would have made him sign for 6 mil. And likely made both Matthew’s and Marner sign for less.

I think you need to double check what perennial means. He was a real candidate twice, 4 seasons before he signed with Toronto.

Well considering he was runner up in 2012-2013 and 2014-2015 and receive votes in other years I would disagree with my definition needing checked.

Those 2 years are the only years he was a real contender, receiving more than 2-3 votes. Perennial would mean hes a player in voting every year. If you want to be loose about 'candidate' meaning, he still has only recieved any votes once in the past 4 years. Far from perennial.

Check out Hockey-Reference.com there bud. Anytime someone receives voting they are a candidate.

If you want to be loose about 'candidate' meaning, he still has only recieved any votes at all once in the past 4 years and less than 50% of seasons in the NHL in total. He doesn't measure up to the definition of 'perennial' in any shape or form.