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2019-2020 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

https://twitter.com/kevin_mcgran/status/1241002363764322305

Pretty miffed no one asked him where he got his cardigan from

Question: Hello Kyle, thanks for doing this. Can you look us Leaf Fans in the eye and explain your failure to properly address the inability of our current defensive corps to keep the puck out of our net? You are responsible for the current personnel, like Tyson Barrie. Sorry Kyle, Barrie is a bust, can?t defend can?t score and you gave up Nazem Kadri for Barrie. Bad trade! One need only to look at our goals against compared to the Bruins. As a season ticket holder who pays for his tickets without corporate subsidy, our players have taken too many nights off and that is completely unacceptable. The buck stops with you! ? Dan W.

Dubas: Hi Dan! First off, you?re right! The buck does stop with me and if our team doesn?t reach its potential, it is on me. Brendan Shanahn has entrusted me to lead our program on the hockey side, and our staff and players place their trust in me to lead us in the right direction. So in the end, any issues or failures fall on me, absolutely!

Your honesty and direct criticism are also appreciated (and I mean that sincerely). The passion of Leafs fans (similar to that of Greyhounds fans in the Soo during my time there) never lets us rest on our laurels. When they think we stink, they let us know directly. It keeps you moving and reminds you that this is not a position to be taken lightly as there are millions of fans who are trusting in you to get the job done.

That said, I will take this time to slightly disagree with some of your points.

1. Keeping the puck out of our net ... When Coach Keefe took over, we were 25th in the league in goals against per game (3.44). Since he took over, we have been in the middle of the NHL pack and cut our goals against to 3.04 per game. Is that where we ultimately aspire to be? No, we aspire to become as staunch defensively as the teams you mention (at about 2.5/game). Getting there revolves around one of the issues you allude to in your question ? mindset. We have shown at times that we can really give an excellent defensive effort against some of the best offensive teams in hockey and then other nights leave our entire organization and fans feeling frustrated.

2. Tyson Barrie ? Tyson is one of the top-scoring defencemen in the NHL over the last three seasons and since mid-November has been right around the top 10 in scoring among NHL defencemen. I don?t think we set Tyson up for success the way we could have but he has really stepped up at both ends of the ice, especially as players like Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin and Cody Ceci have been injured.

Thank you for the questions and for your direct criticism. Though we may disagree, I appreciate your constant support of the Leafs and will do all I can to make you proud, Dan.
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Best of the transitional defencemen: The Leafs Reilly is at or near the top.

There?s a lot to be desired in Rielly?s game without the puck, but with it on his stick, there?s very few defencemen who have a bigger impact in every zone. He may not be a great one-on-one defenceman, but his ability to exit the zone has a big defensive impact.
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https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/assessing-nhl-defencemen-best-transition-game/
 
So here's a ridiculous thought that proves I'm a few steps from madness but...I assume that the NHL has something in the CBA about how to handle player pay in these circumstances and so cancelled games may mean cancelled paychecks but the guys who get July 1st bonuses will get that money regardless, won't they?
 
Nik Bethune said:
So here's a ridiculous thought that proves I'm a few steps from madness but...I assume that the NHL has something in the CBA about how to handle player pay in these circumstances and so cancelled games may mean cancelled paychecks but the guys who get July 1st bonuses will get that money regardless, won't they?
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I would assume yes?  The salary bonuses aren't tied to performance but simply being under contract and that doesn't change.  That's why most of those bonuses were designed as lockout protection.
 
PPP has an article suggesting that Clifford wants to re-sign with the Leafs, and the Leafs are interested.

I liked some of what he brought, but I can't see affording a $1.5ish million dollar fourth liner here.

I've already stated my opinion on the Holl and Engvall contracts, given the precarious cap position the Leafs are in, and this might put me over the top right into lc9 territory.
 
Frank E said:
PPP has an article suggesting that Clifford wants to re-sign with the Leafs, and the Leafs are interested.

I liked some of what he brought, but I can't see affording a $1.5ish million dollar fourth liner here.
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Agreed. He'd need to take much closer to the league minimum for it to make real sense. He's a quality 4th liner, but, you can pick up players who will have a similar impact on the team's overall results for less than $1M every off-season.
 
bustaheims said:
Agreed. He'd need to take much closer to the league minimum for it to make real sense. He's a quality 4th liner, but, you can pick up players who will have a similar impact on the team's overall results for less than $1M every off-season.
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The other problem is he legit has been a tad underwhelming. I kept saying that might have changed come playoff time, but well, I don't think we'll get to see that happen now.
 
He has throw a few hits and had that one fight that seemed to get the Leafs going for a bit but overall Clifford has really been meh to me.  He has better size than a guy like Timashov throwing hits but his impact has been minimal on the performance of the team.  I agree that he might have shown more during a playoff run but he's not the guy I want to be spending dollars over the minimum salary to play 5-7 minutes a night.  If Jason Spezza can play for 700K I'd be down for Clifford on the same but I can't see him taking that kind of pay cut.
 
http://twitter.com/PierreVLeBrun/status/542089029240778753?s=19

A projected cap of 73M.  The Leafs are pretty much screwed.

We have 76.9M tied into the roster right now of:

Forwards: Matthews, Tavares, Marner, Nylander, Kerfoot, Hyman, Kapanen, Engvall
Defense: Rielly, Muzzin, Sandin, Rosen, Marincin, Holl
Goal: Andersen, Campbell

So 4 forwards short of a full roster and no healthy scratches and still have to cut 3.9M in cap space to get cap compliant.  There are going to have to be some pretty creative things done to protect teams.


 
L K said:
http://twitter.com/PierreVLeBrun/status/542089029240778753?s=19

A projected cap of 73M.  The Leafs are pretty much screwed.

We have 76.9M tied into the roster right now of:

Forwards: Matthews, Tavares, Marner, Nylander, Kerfoot, Hyman, Kapanen, Engvall
Defense: Rielly, Muzzin, Sandin, Rosen, Marincin, Holl
Goal: Andersen, Campbell

So 4 forwards short of a full roster and no healthy scratches and still have to cut 3.9M in cap space to get cap compliant.  There are going to have to be some pretty creative things done to protect teams.
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So, you're saying that Holl + Engvall is putting them over the cap...got it.
 
L K said:
A projected cap of 73M.  The Leafs are pretty much screwed.
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If this was the case there would be other measures involved to help teams out. Guaranteed. Most of the league would be completely screwed here, not just the Leafs.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
L K said:
A projected cap of 73M.  The Leafs are pretty much screwed.
Click to expand...

If this was the case there would be other measures involved to help teams out. Guaranteed. Most of the league would be completely screwed here, not just the Leafs.
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Yeah, I agree. 
 
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