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If You OWNED The Leafs, What Would You Do?

WordsOfWisdom

By WordsOfWisdom
in Toronto Maple Leafs

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WordsOfWisdom Newbie

WordsOfWisdom

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My first moves would be:

  1. Re-brand the franchise as the St. Pats. 
  2. Change the uniforms to green and white.
  3. Tear down all the Stanley Cup banners from the rafters and delete the entire history of the franchise. ie: Clean slate.
  4. Sell banners, game tapes, and other memorabilia on eBay.
  5. Use the financial leverage of the Toronto market to hire every coach and GM in professional hockey and stick them in our press box. (That way the effectiveness of our competition would be reduced.)
  6. Remove the salary cap in the next lockout in favour of a luxury tax.
  7. Spend $500mil on team payroll per season, icing an all-star team that routinely wins 70+ games per season and go on runs of 4-5 Cups in a row between upsets. 

 

:)

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J0e Th0rnton Veteran

J0e Th0rnton

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I'd stay the course of this rebuild. Don't rush the kids. Accept that the next 2 years are losing propositions.

 

Continue trying to trade Bozak, Kadri. Quite honestly, I would be trying to move everyone except the few core guys they said they are not trading, so all good there.

After you move them for picks/Prospects, sign more UFA's in the offseason who can be traded at the deadline. UFA is basically adding tradeable assets for free every year. But avoid NMC's and long big contracts.

Teams tend to give 2nd rounders for serviceable HL caliber Dmen at the deadline. A guy like Polak for example might make you mad at times, but injuries in the playoffs call for depth and teams will pay for him.

 

Focus drafting on Dmen and wingers unless a surefire best pick available is a C. Nylander and Marner are future studs at C, so you are covered there.

Bernier is unmoveable. That's 2 years of biting the bullet. Reimer would probably get you a 2nd to be a serviceable backup to a playoff team, but you don't resign him long term(If he is willing to take another 2 year contract.....maybe yes. You take a flyer on a current cheap serviceable backup for free and at no more than 2 years without giving up assets in the offseason. Raanta, Enroth, Ramo.....guys who COULD take the starter job if given a chance.

 

Never use higher than a 3rd round pick on a goalie. Too volatile a position. Many of the best goalies in the league were late picks. For every Carey Price who went 1st round, there is a Lundqvist/Rinne who went way later.

 

Again, you are not trying to win the next 2 years. You are building/signing tradeable assets, young blue chippers, and working to a goal.

 

Here is where I contradict myself a bit. YES, you take a run at Stamkos. But if he wants more than 11 million, you run the other way. The beauty of him is, he plays better at W than he does at C, but is also great at C. When Nylander/Marner make the jump, you have options on positioning. He is 26, so an 8 year contract on him will not run into his twilight years. He is the perfect long term big name UFA for anyone who has the budget to sign. The leafs will have several years of great players on ELC's in Marner and Nylander and possibly Timoshov

 

And finally, sign Morgan Reilly NOW before his offense picks up and his price rises. 5-6 years at 4 million

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BluPuk Newbie

BluPuk

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11 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

My first moves would be:

  1. Re-brand the franchise as the St. Pats. 
  2. Change the uniforms to green and white.
  3. Tear down all the Stanley Cup banners from the rafters and delete the entire history of the franchise. ie: Clean slate.
  4. Sell banners, game tapes, and other memorabilia on eBay.
  5. Use the financial leverage of the Toronto market to hire every coach and GM in professional hockey and stick them in our press box. (That way the effectiveness of our competition would be reduced.)
  6. Remove the salary cap in the next lockout in favour of a luxury tax.
  7. Spend $500mil on team payroll per season, icing an all-star team that routinely wins 70+ games per season and go on runs of 4-5 Cups in a row between upsets. 

 

:)

I'd add: get an NHL calibre goaltender......;)

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WordsOfWisdom Newbie

WordsOfWisdom

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1 hour ago, J0e Th0rnton said:

I'd stay the course of this rebuild. Don't rush the kids. Accept that the next 2 years are losing propositions.

 

Continue trying to trade Bozak, Kadri. Quite honestly, I would be trying to move everyone except the few core guys they said they are not trading, so all good there.

After you move them for picks/Prospects, sign more UFA's in the offseason who can be traded at the deadline. UFA is basically adding tradeable assets for free every year. But avoid NMC's and long big contracts.

Teams tend to give 2nd rounders for serviceable HL caliber Dmen at the deadline. A guy like Polak for example might make you mad at times, but injuries in the playoffs call for depth and teams will pay for him.

 

Focus drafting on Dmen and wingers unless a surefire best pick available is a C. Nylander and Marner are future studs at C, so you are covered there.

Bernier is unmoveable. That's 2 years of biting the bullet. Reimer would probably get you a 2nd to be a serviceable backup to a playoff team, but you don't resign him long term(If he is willing to take another 2 year contract.....maybe yes. You take a flyer on a current cheap serviceable backup for free and at no more than 2 years without giving up assets in the offseason. Raanta, Enroth, Ramo.....guys who COULD take the starter job if given a chance.

 

Never use higher than a 3rd round pick on a goalie. Too volatile a position. Many of the best goalies in the league were late picks. For every Carey Price who went 1st round, there is a Lundqvist/Rinne who went way later.

 

Again, you are not trying to win the next 2 years. You are building/signing tradeable assets, young blue chippers, and working to a goal.

 

Here is where I contradict myself a bit. YES, you take a run at Stamkos. But if he wants more than 11 million, you run the other way. The beauty of him is, he plays better at W than he does at C, but is also great at C. When Nylander/Marner make the jump, you have options on positioning. He is 26, so an 8 year contract on him will not run into his twilight years. He is the perfect long term big name UFA for anyone who has the budget to sign. The leafs will have several years of great players on ELC's in Marner and Nylander and possibly Timoshov

 

And finally, sign Morgan Reilly NOW before his offense picks up and his price rises. 5-6 years at 4 million

Someone decided to take this thread seriously. ;) Okay fine, let's talk about the Leafs future!

I agree with most of what you've said, except the part about Marner and Nylander. Until these guys prove that they can play at the NHL level and thrive at this level, then I would rather the team try to sign a proven commodity at center. Toronto's draft history sucks. I have no confidence that these guys are going to be anything more than a Kadri -- in which case they would be expendable spare parts.

If the Leafs have cap space to blow on a few players next year, then grab a #1 center and a #1 defenceman. If you grab Stamkos, then grab a premier defenceman to go with him. I'm a firm believer that the prospects need to learn from the best to become the best. I would want Nylander and Marner playing behind Stamkos so they can see how it's done. That way if they achieve full potential, you have a nice "problem" on your hands by having assets to trade. I don't want Nylander and Marner to come in here and be put in the #1 center position until they've earned it.

Ditto for Rielly. He's getting good, but he needs an all-star playing beside him. Someone that will show him that he's not near good enough yet, and still has a lot to learn. That's the only way you get better. Otherwise he'll peak where he is now (because he's already our best D-man and that's good enough -- blue and white disease).  :)

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J0e Th0rnton Veteran

J0e Th0rnton

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1 hour ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

Someone decided to take this thread seriously. ;) Okay fine, let's talk about the Leafs future!

I agree with most of what you've said, except the part about Marner and Nylander. Until these guys prove that they can play at the NHL level and thrive at this level, then I would rather the team try to sign a proven commodity at center. Toronto's draft history sucks. I have no confidence that these guys are going to be anything more than a Kadri -- in which case they would be expendable spare parts.

If the Leafs have cap space to blow on a few players next year, then grab a #1 center and a #1 defenceman. If you grab Stamkos, then grab a premier defenceman to go with him. I'm a firm believer that the prospects need to learn from the best to become the best. I would want Nylander and Marner playing behind Stamkos so they can see how it's done. That way if they achieve full potential, you have a nice "problem" on your hands by having assets to trade. I don't want Nylander and Marner to come in here and be put in the #1 center position until they've earned it.

Ditto for Rielly. He's getting good, but he needs an all-star playing beside him. Someone that will show him that he's not near good enough yet, and still has a lot to learn. That's the only way you get better. Otherwise he'll peak where he is now (because he's already our best D-man and that's good enough -- blue and white disease).  :)

Toronto has completely revamped the front office, scouting staff, and have rarely drafted high in the last 15 years. Kadri is actually BETTER than I thought he would be now, as I had low expectations.

Marner and Nylander will be stars in the league. Superstars? Not sure yet. But top 6 at minimum. I agree with Snagging Stamkos and not immediately throwing them into #1C. But I also think you only move 1 of Kadri/Bozak, so that should not be a problem.

 

There are no All star Dmen available. Phaneuf is sadly better than most of the market and those guys don't get traded.

 

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WordsOfWisdom

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3 hours ago, J0e Th0rnton said:

Toronto has completely revamped the front office, scouting staff, and have rarely drafted high in the last 15 years. Kadri is actually BETTER than I thought he would be now, as I had low expectations.

Marner and Nylander will be stars in the league. Superstars? Not sure yet. But top 6 at minimum. I agree with Snagging Stamkos and not immediately throwing them into #1C. But I also think you only move 1 of Kadri/Bozak, so that should not be a problem.

 

There are no All star Dmen available. Phaneuf is sadly better than most of the market and those guys don't get traded.

 

I'd get rid of Kadri. At least Bozak is a dependable #2 guy.

If the Leafs got Stamkos (and this is pure fantasy because no way in hell would he want to be on this team right now), they could have a 1-2 punch with him #1 and Bozak #2 while the kids (Nylander and Marner) come up next season and audition for playing time. If they suck, they go back down. If the Leafs catch lightning in a bottle, it's easy to promote them up and shift players around from center to wing as necessary to make two strong lines until a trade could be made.

The Leafs really have to fix their D. That's more important than Stamkos or anyone else. They're lacking a #1 guy at the most important position in hockey. While it's almost impossible to find one, the Leafs need to do whatever it takes to get a top guy back there -- even if it means trading one of Marner or Nylander. (Yep, I said it.) Phaneuf is a decent second pair guy, but the Leafs need a star. Even if Marner and Nylander pan out, they can't help this team as much as a top defenceman could. :)

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