We have the following to show for JVR, Bozak, Marleau, our 2020 first rounder other tan cap space.
That is an acceptable strategy when a team is bottoming out, not when it is a playoff contender.
As Milt Dunnell observed back in the 60's when the news hit that drunken Leaf executives had agreed to sell Frank Mahovlich to the Black Hawks for $1M: "A million dollars can do a lot of things but it can't play left wing".
Neither can cap space.
And just who is responsible for the lack of cap space?
A smarter strategy would have been to peg the Tavares contract as the the maximum contract with other players having to line up under that amount. Dubas did not do so with Matthews, he overpaid Nylander and now faces the same problem with Marner.
We have won only 8 of our last 20 playoff games and not a single playoff round.
We have just given away $3M (Zaitsev's bonus) and Connor Brown for an even worse Dman than Zaitsev who earns more money. I realize Zaitsev has a longer contract but we already paid $3M of it today and we will either end up paying Ceci more (when he accepts the QO, he would be an idiot not to) or we will lose him when an arbitrator gives him $5M for next year. Plus $4.3M will be cheap in about a year the way contracts are going and with the renegotiation of TV rights and the CBA.
Our top 4 defensemen consist of Morgan Reilly and, well, that's it: Hainsey are gone and it looks like Gardiner soon will be (if so, it will again be an asset lost for nothing). Hainsey, Gardiner and Zaitsev may not be the second coming of Lapointe, Robinson and Savard but they are damn sight better that Kenny "who dat?" Agostino and his ilk.
Weakening an already weak blueline is destructive.
Don't get me started on keeping Sparks over McElhinney and then extending Sparks after 80% of an obviously disappointing season only to send him home.
The goal is to win in the playoffs and the current roster cannot do that and the moves this off season pretty much ensure that we won't do so next year.
It makes me wonder if Dubas' goal is to get Babcock fired.
That is an acceptable strategy when a team is bottoming out, not when it is a playoff contender.
As Milt Dunnell observed back in the 60's when the news hit that drunken Leaf executives had agreed to sell Frank Mahovlich to the Black Hawks for $1M: "A million dollars can do a lot of things but it can't play left wing".
Neither can cap space.
And just who is responsible for the lack of cap space?
A smarter strategy would have been to peg the Tavares contract as the the maximum contract with other players having to line up under that amount. Dubas did not do so with Matthews, he overpaid Nylander and now faces the same problem with Marner.
We have won only 8 of our last 20 playoff games and not a single playoff round.
We have just given away $3M (Zaitsev's bonus) and Connor Brown for an even worse Dman than Zaitsev who earns more money. I realize Zaitsev has a longer contract but we already paid $3M of it today and we will either end up paying Ceci more (when he accepts the QO, he would be an idiot not to) or we will lose him when an arbitrator gives him $5M for next year. Plus $4.3M will be cheap in about a year the way contracts are going and with the renegotiation of TV rights and the CBA.
Our top 4 defensemen consist of Morgan Reilly and, well, that's it: Hainsey are gone and it looks like Gardiner soon will be (if so, it will again be an asset lost for nothing). Hainsey, Gardiner and Zaitsev may not be the second coming of Lapointe, Robinson and Savard but they are damn sight better that Kenny "who dat?" Agostino and his ilk.
Weakening an already weak blueline is destructive.
Don't get me started on keeping Sparks over McElhinney and then extending Sparks after 80% of an obviously disappointing season only to send him home.
The goal is to win in the playoffs and the current roster cannot do that and the moves this off season pretty much ensure that we won't do so next year.
It makes me wonder if Dubas' goal is to get Babcock fired.
