What young star players? These guys are not young anymore.
- fifty__missions

25, 26 and 27 is right in the middle of their prime years.

Yes it can and it will if they hire the right guy.
- Rare_Jewel

They have had 3 PP coaches in a row that were successful before coming here. Our PP has sucked in the playoffs each of those years.

Marner's extension won't be a problem with Tavares coming off the books. But next season is still going to suck unless they can convince him to waive his NTC and open up space that way.

If Tavares wants to stay at home, he can take a 50% pay cut. And that extra 5.5 AAV will easily cover the cost of keeping Marner and allow the Leafs to continue to keep guys like Domi and other secondary wingers or defenders.
- Rare_Jewel

I think you'll be surprised by what this team looks like next year. They're not running this back, Jewel. It's a product they can no longer sell.

For what? Him to become an UFA this summer and go sign elsewhere giving the leafs a whole sweet load of nothing for him?
- Dozzer

11.5 x 8 = 92$ milly

..if a team wanted to match the Leafs and could only offer 7 yrs they'd have to come up with about $13M per year.

He was never going anywhere if the Leafs had the same offer on the table in the summer.

25, 26 and 27 is right in the middle of their prime years.
- Rare_Jewel

Yes, and the Leafs are not close to winning anything.

You are nuts… not one of the core four is physical so every bloody playoffs when teams check hard it shows brutally.

Marner is also a hissy fitting puck giveaway machine which evens out his talent, just as much bad as there is good. If the leafs keep him at this point they’re idiots and I’ll just wait for a new core to get built.
- Dozzer

Yup, they all fold.

Still thinking that might be coached out of them (ok, wishful thinking)

They have had 3 PP coaches in a row that were successful before coming here. Our PP has sucked in the playoffs each of those years.
- jribout

Assistant coaches are still subordinate to the head coach.

If those coaches are ultimately doing what the head coach tells them to do, then it's obvious to see that Sheldon Queef is the one who needs to go.

There's some good articles out there over time about the negotiations.

Marner was rumoured to have asked for ~9M the summer before. Dubas didn't bite. Marner had the huge year and his number became ~10 plus his camp demanded (and Dubas gave) him his rookie bonus (~$5M) that Lou refused him out of on top of that. So his deal ended up being 10.9. The $10M was on par with Eichel and some others at the time. Too much for me ...I would've gone bridge with him.

Matthews was in his own ballpark. His 8 yr ask was going to be close to McDavid ..Dubas wasn't comfortable with that so they went shorter term.

I'm not sure JT's contract really did much. I guess maybe but Panarin, Eichel and other's were already out there as comps.
- The Law

Good response.....thanks.

I would have taken Marner at 8.5 , Matthews at 13 long term.

Willy's new deal kicks in next year and it's steep. I do think the guy is a top 10 talent in the league for the next 4 seasons though.

I think you'll be surprised by what this team looks like next year. They're not running this back, Jewel. It's a product they can no longer sell.
- fifty__missions

I think you'd be surprised how many times they've already done this before.

Well, Tampa is done

Assistant coaches are still subordinate to the head coach.

If those coaches are ultimately doing what the head coach tells them to do, then it's obvious to see that Sheldon Queef is the one who needs to go.
- Rare_Jewel

OK you have no clue. This isn't Punch Imlach in the 1960's. Assistant coaches get to do their thing.

Yes, and the Leafs are not close to winning anything.
- fifty__missions

You won't get any closer getting rid of your best players in their prime. Teams throw away entire seasons to get players like Matthews and Marner in the draft lottery. You don't blow this team up unless you're willing to go back to the lottery days again.

For what? Him to become an UFA this summer and go sign elsewhere giving the leafs a whole sweet load of nothing for him?
- Dozzer

Nylander had stated repeatedly that he wanted to stay in Toronto. Toronto said they wanted to keep him. They signed him when he was on the hottest streak of his entire career and his earning potential was at an absolute max - pacing to career bests of 47 goals and 73 assists and a 120 point season. For the record only 4 point had 120 points or more this year and 3 of them do make more than Nylander's $11.5m: Panarin, MacKinnon and McDavid. The league leader, Kucherov, makes $9.5m.

Nylander ended up at 98 points - surrounded by guys all making around $9.5m, which is sort of where it was always suggested he should be.

So, yes, they panicked and they overpaid him. They had time - there was just simply no reason to pay him at the apex. Even if he had magically gotten better this year, his salary wasn't going to change much from that point - but if he had come back down to Earth, like he predictably did, his value would drop to where we needed him to be.

Yes he did, he was signed July 1st which means he was indeed a UFA. Leafs obviously didn't make an offer because they were too busy wasting money on Klingberg.
- Rare_Jewel

That doesn't make him Toronto's for the taking. You don't just get to go out on July 1st and decide if you want every player without a contract.

It'd be just as plausible to assume they only turned to Klingberg after Mayfield told them to jog on because he was resigning in Long Island. But that assumption doesn't allow for being as dramatic, does it.

OK you have no clue. This isn't Punch Imlach in the 1960's. Assistant coaches get to do their thing.
- jribout

And their thing has been to suck at their job.

I think you'd be surprised how many times they've already done this before.
- Rare_Jewel

Lol. I've lived it for years, and been very annoying every spring/summer because of it.

If you really think running this core back with just a new coach is the way to go, good on you. Most of Leafs Nation have moved on and is making their voice heard to ownership.

The Leafs got booed off their own ice IN A PLAYOFF game. Ive been watching hockey a loooong time and Ive never seen that.

There will be seismic changes this spring/summer.

Canucks fans are the saddest bunch in all of hockey. You folks have a solid team - looking decent through the first round so far, and still all your focus is on the Leafs.

It’s the only fanbase that cheers more for other teams to lose than for their own to win. You go on any other board and nobody, not a soul is even considering the irrelevant Canucks. Yet you look here and leafs are the topic each page. The vast majority of Leafs fans were saying they are cheering on all the other Canadians teams. No animosity at all. They don’t care enough about your franchise to ever consider them a rival or even get passionate about. So sad. Now I see a clip of you beauties chanting in the streets “F@$& the Oilers” after winning last game in spectacular fashion with a great comeback.

Never won ever. 54 years and counting.

#classicinferioritycomplex
- Big23Questions

I’m a troll (sang to girls girls girls by motley Crüe)

I think you'll be surprised by what this team looks like next year. They're not running this back, uggie. It's a product they can no longer sell.
- fifty__missions

Fixed.

Nylander had stated repeatedly that he wanted to stay in Toronto. Toronto said they wanted to keep him. They signed him when he was on the hottest streak of his entire career and his earning potential was at an absolute max - pacing to career bests of 47 goals and 73 assists and a 120 point season. For the record only 4 point had 120 points or more this year and 3 of them do make more than Nylander's $11.5m: Panarin, MacKinnon and McDavid. The league leader, Kucherov, makes $9.5m.

Nylander ended up at 98 points - surrounded by guys all making around $9.5m, which is sort of where it was always suggested he should be.

So, yes, they panicked and they overpaid him. They had time - there was just simply no reason to pay him at the apex. Even if he had magically gotten better this year, his salary wasn't going to change much from that point - but if he had come back down to Earth, like he predictably did, his value would drop to where we needed him to be.
- Monkeypunk

What did his goals / point pace look like after he signed that contract?

Nylander had stated repeatedly that he wanted to stay in Toronto. Toronto said they wanted to keep him. They signed him when he was on the hottest streak of his entire career and his earning potential was at an absolute max - pacing to career bests of 47 goals and 73 assists and a 120 point season. For the record only 4 point had 120 points or more this year and 3 of them do make more than Nylander's $11.5m: Panarin, MacKinnon and McDavid. The league leader, Kucherov, makes $9.5m.

Nylander ended up at 98 points - surrounded by guys all making around $9.5m, which is sort of where it was always suggested he should be.

So, yes, they panicked and they overpaid him. They had time - there was just simply no reason to pay him at the apex. Even if he had magically gotten better this year, his salary wasn't going to change much from that point - but if he had come back down to Earth, like he predictably did, his value would drop to where we needed him to be.
- Monkeypunk

Kinda hard to pay him much less when Mitch got what he got after 1 big year, and JT has been getting what he was getting the last 4-5 years of that contract. I was hoping 10.5 would be the number and Marner would not be given a raise.

Tavares is gone when his contract is over. They'd be idiots to let Marner go with Tavares' contract expiring, they'll have plenty of cap space to keep their young star players.

How many more cocaine hangovers does Nylander need to go on before he gets traded?
- Rare_Jewel

Pretty obvious your biased as hell

JT will sign on the cheap and be a solid third liner, Nylander isn’t going anywhere with his new contract just starting in the fall, Matthews could go, sorry but the guy isn’t much of a crunch guy, talented as hell but also reasonably easy to shut down in the post season.

The only guy they have right now with any chance of getting a return is the wussy ass Marner who is too afraid of a body check… get that weak ass loser out of here… and what I like about Tre? Marner isn’t his type of guy at all.

Marner is talented but he’s overpaid and shutdown easily unless he has a full blown stud at C.

OK you have no clue. This isn't Punch Imlach in the 1960's. Assistant coaches get to do their thing.
- jribout

?? I'm guessing this is accidentally too succinct? The Head Coach is their boss. He has an overarching strategy that requires them to fit the systems in with it. He dictates what he wants from them. The faceoff plays that the Leafs run are all Keefe's orchestrated plays - that may have since adopted some suggested plays from the assistants, but the plays are setup by Keefe.

Assistant coaches are responsible for their areas, absolutely - yes - but they are under the direction and scrutiny of the Head Coach. When something isn't working, they are answering to him. You know at work when you're on a project that's behind or flailing and they decide to have 3 meetings a day to ask why it's so far behind? Same type of idiocy, I'm sure, happens in their world - PK and PP aren't working? What are you doing about it? How is going? How are you tracking it? When do you expect results? What do you plan to do if this doesn't work? Who else do you want to try? Blah, blah, blah.

Lol. I've lived it for years, and been very annoying every spring/summer because of it.

If you really think running this core back with just a new coach is the way to go, good on you. Most of Leafs Nation have moved on and is making their voice heard to ownership.

The Leafs got booed off their own ice IN A PLAYOFF game. Ive been watching hockey a loooong time and Ive never seen that.

There will be seismic changes this spring/summer.
- fifty__missions

A 100% certainty.

And their thing has been to suck at their job.
- Rare_Jewel

Just like the players on the ice.

Have to have known you now for at least 10 years Lefty.

The Vancouver/Toronto thing isn't even so much about Toronto being shoved down your throats... it is a cultural thing at this point. The hate out west for Toronto is automatic.
- Aetherial

I'd say the hate out west for Toronto isn't so much about Vancouver, they really couldn't give a (frank).

But yeah western Canada doesn't agree with Toronto on much at all, aside from the very western parts.