When did you know it was over for this group?

[leafs in five]

Just curious where all the posters are that went out of their way to mock those who felt this core was rotten years ago.

Maybe now they can win this series in 7?

you can find us posting on HF Leafs mostly

 

[leafs in five]

John Tavares = $11 mil Cap

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Leafs let Zach Hyman walk as UFA @ $5.5 mil cap and gift in expansion Jared McCann who re-signs for $5 mil with Seattle = $10.5 mil cap combined.

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&
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How can having 2 X $5 mil forwards that score as many goals/points as 1 X $11 John Tavares not be more beneficial when speaking Cup competitiveness alone?

Double the goals and nearly double the points for less cap space.

Why do the Leafs need an $11 mil player to do what $5 mil players can in a Salary Cap World?

This is why I keep going back to ground Zero when Leafs signed JT that is was the beginning of the end of true Cup competitiveness that impacted all the results that would follow.

I knew it was over for this group when the GM decided to pay 11m for what can easily be found for 5m in UFA or trades which is why every other team is always signing 80 point players for 5m in UFA

 

[Larcos_Unal]

I knew it was over when I started getting this pop-up

 

[AllDay28]

When the Leafs won in 6 last round and all the same negative crybabies were bumping every appreciation thread among others.

 

[CelticDruid]

Handing the reigns over to a rookie GM was the beginning of the death knell.

The sad part is the TML don't even know what they are after all these years of the Dubas stewardship.

When the players don't believe in themselves or their teammates, it shows up on the ice.

We still had the same lines playing together, even though the average eye test showed that it wasn't working.




Perhaps all that line juggling really screwed up the chemistry, but that effort last night was just like the opening twenty games of the season.

Nonchalant and pedestrian.

 

[Cleetus]

yesterday at around 9:35 PM EST.

 

[sunstersun]

In 12 elimination games(yesterday counts)

Nylander has 9 points, Matthews has 7, and Marner has 3.

I wonder why the blame is exact opposite order.

 

[hoglund]

When we’re getting crushed by a Paul Maurice coached team who barely made the playoffs. f***ing embarrassing.

“But they beat Boston”. Cool. Boston would’ve wiped the floor with us too with the way we’re playing.

All the losses were close, 1 goal games and 1 in overtime. How and when did they get "crushed"?

 

[57 Years No Cup]

When the Leafs picked spreadsheet boy over Hunter (a legit hockey guy), I knew this team was run by geniuses with room temperature IQ. The Kyle Dubas Fan Club celebrated.

When Matthews and Marner bent Dubas right over in negotiations, I knew the inmates were running the asylum and this team was going nowhere fast. This was quite possibly the worst misuse of RFA leverage in the modern day NHL. Even if they're not technically overpaid based on regular season performance, Dubas caved on both term and AAV. The Kyle Dubas Fan Club claimed everything was fine.

When Babcock was fired because he hurt poor baby Mitchy's feelings, I knew this team had the emotional maturity of a group of 1st graders. I didn't even particularly like Babcock, but f*** me what a stupid series of events. The Kyle Dubas Fan Club rejoiced, cause they got rid of the big meanie and Dubas got to install the only coach he's ever hired.

When they lost to Columbus in the Covid Cup, I knew it was over. This pathetic group can't even win a play-in series against a non-playoff team. The Kyle Dubas Fan Club insisted everything was fine, and Columbus beat Tampa too (who later went on to rebound quite nicely).

When they lost to Montreal in the easiest division this league's seen since the original expansion, I started laughing. Laughing at the insistence that this team was anything special. Laughing at anyone who thought spreadsheet boy was a competent GM. The Kyle Dubas Fan Club yet somehow insisted they "got goalied" whatever the f*** that means.

Losing to Tampa, beating Tampa, losing to Florida... none of it even matters when the whole thing should've been detonated after the Montreal loss.

edit: I don't even remember what year the zamboni driver loss was, but we can add that event to the timeline as well. Yet another example of the type of team this is.

 

[57 Years No Cup]

Taveras signing. They already had a # 2 centre in Kadri. No need for Taveras. This precipitated the domino effect. The kiddies wanted their money as well. Balance of the team - forward and D was sacrificed. Did not work. Blow it up. I am 63, and have never disliked a Leaf team as much as I dislike this one.

HA! Old man! (I'm 62 soon)

 

[hamzarocks]

I said it before, but Tavares' return to NYI in 2019 showed us everything we needed to know about the core

They don't have it

They got straight up bullied that game

Most time when a star player returns to a team hes at least decent and the team does not cave into the pressure boos

In the NBA look at

LBJ return to Cavs in 2010
VC return to Toronto 2004/2005
KD return to OKC 2017

These guys dominated their old teams

The leafs were bullied from start to finish that game and the 11M man was MIA

I knew it was over for this group when the GM decided to pay 11m for what can easily be found for 5m in UFA or trades which is why every other team is always signing 80 point players for 5m in UFA

Well you can't find a 80 pt player at 11M as a UFA

You could have a 70 pt winger at 5M who made ~2.5M in his year before UFA but we decided to ride with holl and/or kerfoot...

 

[leafs in five]

the freaking mayor had to come and console JT how pathetic of a team is this

what

 

[57 Years No Cup]

I knew it was over when I started getting this pop-up

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I've been getting one similar to that for years.

 

[leafs in five]

Well you can't find a 80 pt player at 11M as a UFA

I can think of one

 

[Larcos_Unal]

I've been getting one similar to that for years.

Dude, I'm getting it every time I click on a thread or to back to the main Leaf page...It's absolutely obnoxious

 

[leafs in five]

I've always liked McCann and it was obviously a mistake to expose him but he was also another SSM alum spreadsheet darling when Dubas acquired him.

 

[Larcos_Unal]

what

LMAO

John Tavares honored by Leafs fans on #TavaresDayTO, nets goal in celebration | Sporting News Canada

www.sportingnews.com

 

[Kiwi]

This round

It's taken them over half a decade for them to get out of the 1st round and there so satisfied with themselves there going to get punted in 4 or 5 games in the 2nd round

There broken mentally and I don't see any way you can fix it

 

[Skullz]

Honestly, in game 5 vs. Montreal. We did not show up, but rallied late to tie it and send to OT. Lost a minute in on the Gally turnover.

We then went back to Montreal for game 6, and the rest is history.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I said it before, but Tavares' return to NYI in 2019 showed us everything we needed to know about the core

They don't have it

Smart man. I have often thought back to that game and it was straight up embarrassing and if I was as smart as you, I would have known it then too. The Zamboni driver loss and whatever other nonsense, not that big a deal but to play like that in that game ... instead of showing JT how smart a move he made coming here, they got run out of the rink in disgraceful fashion. I think deep down maybe I knew it too but just didn't want to admit it to myself. I kept trying to be optimistic and talk myself into believing and I guess I can rationalize doing so because fans are supposed to cheer and hope and all that crap but yeah, I was flat out wrong.

I didn't realize it until they played their worst game of the series by far last night, played their worst hockey of the game in OT and Marner, how he plays maybe the worst game of his career in that spot is beyond me. I got the message several years too late but I finally got it - it's over. Like you said, these guys just don't have what it takes.

 

[TheShape]

Final nail for me was the 2021 Habs loss. Game 5 is when that series ended imo, MTL didn't even do anything out of the ordinary, Leafs just puked all over themselves.

I said it in another thread - confirmed for me this organization wasn't serious about winning when they decided not to trade Mitch Marner and his enormous cap hit after that series.

 

[Canadian Finn]

When the Leafs won in 6 last round and all the same negative crybabies were bumping every appreciation thread among others.

so actions by people on a message board told you when it was over for the leafs?

strange fanbase.

 

[dragonballgtz]

From an outsider's view, Red Wings fan, I think it took a turn for the worse for the Leafs during COVID. All the young players started to get paid and then COVID locked up the cap limit for three years. Not being able to get extra cap space during this time hurt. At worse you're talking about a $6M increase over that time frame and at best probably more around $10M.

That room would of allowed them more flexibility to maneuver during this time frame.

 

[TheGroceryStick]

...When I decided the Leafs were my forever team in '89

 

[saffronleaf]

Honestly, in game 5 vs. Montreal. We did not show up, but rallied late to tie it and send to OT. Lost a minute in on the Gally turnover.

We then went back to Montreal for game 6, and the rest is history.

I mean game 6 pushed it to OT dominated OT and then f***ing dermott twirling around like that alien from the simpsons