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Brad Treliving is new Leafs GM

CarltonTheBear said:
Bender said:
I find it so bizarre that the team wants the focus to be less on the core 4. I get it, but it's pretty obvious to me that 4 players taking up almost half your salary would be the primary focus of the team. It's illogical to think otherwise when the remainder of the team is made up of role players who basically can't have as big an impact on the team by virtue of cap hit. Yes, it's a team, but it's always going to be skewed with this much salary tied up in so few players.
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They come in a little bit lower yes but Florida was in a pretty similar spot cap wise with how much their top 4-5 highest paid players made. Despite that you never hear anyone say anything about the "big/core-4/5" in Florida, they still had remaining cap space to have impact scoring forwards like Verhaeghe, Bennett, and Duclair, and their top-3 forwards (especially in the playoffs) generally carried their own line and had success without needing to play with another "star".

For me that 3rd part could be the biggest key. When I hear these complaints about too much focusing being on the "core-4" I think about how for years the teams largely been built to have just 2 lines that can actually make an impact and then just a rotating cast of role players to fill out the other 2 lines who's sole duty is to just kill time while the "core-4" rests up for their next shift. Hopefully somehow the team can get away from that mentality. 
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Don?t forget they have Bobrovsky at 10mil.
 
Treliving agreed with Dubas's characterization of the team as "elite" and if you look at regular season results, they have been the last 2 or 3 seasons.  If you accept that characterization ? and of course it can be debated ? then no matter what you think of the roster composition the results have been good.

Except in the playoffs.  Frankly, I am beginning to move to the position that the key problem there has been the guy behind the bench.
 
Joe said:
Don't forget they have Bobrovsky at 10mil.
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The cap breakdowns are surprisingly close.

Both have 2 elite forwards: Matthews $11.64mil + Marner $10.9mil vs Barkov $10mil + Tkachuk $9.5mil
Both have an aging UFA signing that is certainly overpaid now but can still be an impact player at times: Tavares $11mil vs Bobrovsky $10mil
Both have a $7.5mil defenceman: Rielly vs. Ekblad
Both have a 3rd high end forward: Nylander $6.9mil vs. Reinhart $6.5mil

The Leafs 5 come in at about $4.5mil more in total at the moment, or one Sam Bennet/Carter Verhaeghe
 
Joe said:
CarltonTheBear said:
Bender said:
I find it so bizarre that the team wants the focus to be less on the core 4. I get it, but it's pretty obvious to me that 4 players taking up almost half your salary would be the primary focus of the team. It's illogical to think otherwise when the remainder of the team is made up of role players who basically can't have as big an impact on the team by virtue of cap hit. Yes, it's a team, but it's always going to be skewed with this much salary tied up in so few players.
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They come in a little bit lower yes but Florida was in a pretty similar spot cap wise with how much their top 4-5 highest paid players made. Despite that you never hear anyone say anything about the "big/core-4/5" in Florida, they still had remaining cap space to have impact scoring forwards like Verhaeghe, Bennett, and Duclair, and their top-3 forwards (especially in the playoffs) generally carried their own line and had success without needing to play with another "star".

For me that 3rd part could be the biggest key. When I hear these complaints about too much focusing being on the "core-4" I think about how for years the teams largely been built to have just 2 lines that can actually make an impact and then just a rotating cast of role players to fill out the other 2 lines who's sole duty is to just kill time while the "core-4" rests up for their next shift. Hopefully somehow the team can get away from that mentality. 
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Don?t forget they have Bobrovsky at 10mil.
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And Bob has rightly been talked about as a boat anchor.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
The cap breakdowns are surprisingly close.

Both have 2 elite forwards: Matthews $11.64mil + Marner $10.9mil vs Barkov $10mil + Tkachuk $9.5mil
Both have an aging UFA signing that is certainly overpaid now but can still be an impact player at times: Tavares $11mil vs Bobrovsky $10mil
Both have a $7.5mil defenceman: Rielly vs. Ekblad
Both have a 3rd high end forward: Nylander $6.9mil vs. Reinhart $6.5mil

The Leafs 5 come in at about $4.5mil more in total at the moment, or one Sam Bennet/Carter Verhaeghe
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I think we should throw in our next two (long term) top-6 forwards into the equation: Bunting, Kerfoot and it kind of evens out; they're both gone next year while Bennet/Verhaeghe are locked in at 8.5 combined. Bunting's value will be replaced by Knies and I think you'd want someone more productive than Jarnkrok to replace the Kerfoot slot.
 
Props to Kyper for calling that one. Not surprising though. Doan likely wants to get out of the circus that is Arizona right now and thinks he can grow as a future GM better here. He has management/executive experience with Team Canada through various tournament teams. He has a prior relationship with Treliving dating back to their overlapping time with the Coyotes.

Obviously first and foremost hopefully he'll be able to bring good ideas/feedback in a management role but the fact that two Leafs, including of course the franchise player, currently see him as an idol turned mentor now turned sorta-boss is a nice bonus.
 
Knies is buddies with Josh Doan.

Not that there is an apples to apples comparison to be made: Another #19, Doan has more executive experience than Spezza did when he joined, but Spezza had the cachet and the ear of the player group. Treliving had Craig Conroy with Calgary for his fresh-off-the-ice perspective and now Conroy has succeeded him in the GM chair.

I don't think this hurts the team and it's essentially free and his Twitter likes are blissfully barren.
 
Bender said:
And Bob has rightly been talked about as a boat anchor.
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That's hugely influenced by his performance, though. He hasn't justified that contract. If he performed at the same level he did in his final few seasons in Columbus - consistently well above-average with 3 straight top 10 Vezina finishes, including a win - you wouldn't hear about it nearly as much. For instance, no one considers Vasilevskiy to be a boat anchor contract, but it's only $500K less a year.

That's less of a problem for the Leafs' big contracts - they've all performed at levels that justify significant salaries. We can quibble over whether or not their overpaid to an extent, but none of them are so far off that they ever should be considered boat anchor contracts.

The cap hits aren't the issue in and of themselves. If you have a guy with a cap hit of 10M, if you're getting $8M+ performance value, you're in decent shape. If you're getting significantly less than that - which is what Florida was getting from Bobrovsky before this playoff run - you're in trouble. The Leafs don't have that. Their issue is the supporting cast and playstyle that isn't translating into playoff success.
 
Deebo said:
https://twitter.com/KevinWeekes/status/1666892274507063296
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Its an excellent move. I spend a lot of time in AZ and Doan is totally respected there.  Matthews and Knies should be very happy.
 
Completely fine with the move.  Treliving's Spezza.  No issues with that.

Most impressive is that he was convinced (which may not have taken a lot at this point) for him to leave the Winnipeg/Arizona franchise which he's been with his entire professional career.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Props to Kyper for calling that one. Not surprising though. Doan likely wants to get out of the circus that is Arizona right now and thinks he can grow as a future GM better here.
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It's a little surprising in as much as Arizona's been a circus before and Doan was the one guy who seemed determined to see that one through to the end. To the point that, as a player he seemed so dedicated to Arizona(or at least living in Arizona) that I sort of started to question what his deal was when it seemed like he was constantly choosing not having to move over ever having a chance of competing in a meaningful way.

And I don't mean to rehash that old, old point but it does maybe indicate that if even Doan is willing to finally head elsewhere that there's not a ton of optimism within the organization there that the team is going to stay in Arizona much longer.
 
bustaheims said:
CarltonTheBear said:
What does everyone think Treliving's first move as GM will be?
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Changing the goal song.
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Which Hall & Oates song should they switch it to? LOL...

I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)

Out Of Touch

Say It Isn't So

One On One

 
Nik said:
CarltonTheBear said:
Props to Kyper for calling that one. Not surprising though. Doan likely wants to get out of the circus that is Arizona right now and thinks he can grow as a future GM better here.
Click to expand...

It's a little surprising in as much as Arizona's been a circus before and Doan was the one guy who seemed determined to see that one through to the end. To the point that, as a player he seemed so dedicated to Arizona(or at least living in Arizona) that I sort of started to question what his deal was when it seemed like he was constantly choosing not having to move over ever having a chance of competing in a meaningful way.

And I don't mean to rehash that old, old point but it does maybe indicate that if even Doan is willing to finally head elsewhere that there's not a ton of optimism within the organization there that the team is going to stay in Arizona much longer.
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I think it has to be a little embarrassing to play out of a barn that doesn't even compare to most OHL arenas.

At some point in your burgeoning hopeful NHL executive career you'd really have to think you're not even in the game with the Coyotes.
 
dekedastardly said:
Can he bring Crouse with him?
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Or Schmaltz. Or Keller. There's certainly some interesting pieces there if Arizona's looking to move somebody. Schmaltz' backloaded contract makes him more of an obvious candidate.
 
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