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Babcock Death March

Tough to give his off season a grade with the tactical shit show that has gone on. I mean, on paper he turned Kadri-Zaitsev-Hainsey into Kerfoot-Barrie-Ceci. That's a pretty significant infusion of ability overall.

The backup goalie issue is imo, inextricably linked to the Marner mistake he made. I get why he did it, but it was always a bad contract. Free up the 1.5 million in cap space between Mucho's deal and what he should have gotten, and you get yourself a Casey DeSmith for free on waivers in October.

I know you will bring up the "signing elite talent is never the problem" angle, but I'm honestly not sure if Mitch is legitimately elite 5 on 5. That he's flopped pretty hard at the same time JT flopped pretty hard during 5 on 5 play can't be ignored man. Overpaying for what might not be actual elite talent might very much a problem this year.
 
Tough to give his off season a grade with the tactical shit show that has gone on. I mean, on paper he turned Kadri-Zaitsev-Hainsey into Kerfoot-Barrie-Ceci. That's a pretty significant infusion of ability overall.

The backup goalie issue is imo, inextricably linked to the Marner mistake he made. I get why he did it, but it was always a bad contract. Free up the 1.5 million in cap space between Mucho's deal and what he should have gotten, and you get yourself a Casey DeSmith for free on waivers in October.

I know you will bring up the "signing elite talent is never the problem" angle, but I'm honestly not sure if Mitch is legitimately elite 5 on 5. That he's flopped pretty hard at the same time JT flopped pretty hard during 5 on 5 play can't be ignored man. Overpaying for what might not be actual elite talent might very much a problem this year.

Yeah, personally I have no problem with Mitch/Tavares signings, but whether its the cap allocation to top players, goaltending, Kadri/Barrie or the depth moves, there is certainly plenty to criticize Dubas for.

But you are talking about "did he do enough to push them over the round 1 hump" kind of criticisms, not "did he single handedly destroy the team".
 
Yeah, personally I have no problem with Mitch/Tavares signings, but whether its the cap allocation to top players, or the depth moves, there is certainly plenty to criticize Dubas for.

But you are talking about "did he do enough to push them over the round 1 hump" kind of criticisms, not "did he single handedly destroy the team".

yeah, absolutely.

Until we either punt Mike, or Mike takes his foot off of the team's neck and lets them play as constructed, it's impossible to give Dubas a grade imo. Which is one of the major reasons why GM's who inherit coaches are almost never judged until they've moved on from their inherited coach and put their own guy in there. I think the average hockey fan completely under rates the impact that systems play has on a team's fortunes. There's such a thin line between good and bad in the NHL now, that a a few more/less chances here or there adds up like a motherfucker and is the difference between being a ~90 point team with a dead nuts average goal diff, and being a 105 point team with a +15 to 20
 
Dubas's offseason deserves some questioning 20 games in. The Kadri trade has been a major bust so far, and the backup goalie situation may have blew the year before it began.

But he didn't have a "turned a top offensive team, and top team period, into a bottom of the barrel team" kind of offseason.

If Babs doesnt ask Barrie to be a plow horse and let him do his thing that trade is a win all day
 
If Babs doesnt ask Barrie to be a plow horse and let him do his thing that trade is a win all day

Maybe. And I'd like to see it. But also after watching him play for 20 games it makes you think of all the advanced stats nerds in the summer that said he's really not good 5 on 5. Maybe he also just isn't good 5 on 5.
 
Hindsight being what it is,(and wondering what we all would be saying if he'd done it) Dubas maybe should have left Marner hanging.

...I will always understand keeping Sparks, I don't think the Matthews contract is bad, I don't think WIlly's is either...but wanting to get paid like you are the best winger in history is something Dubas should have said no to.
 
Hindsight being what it is,(and wondering what we all would be saying if he'd done it) Dubas maybe should have left Marner hanging.

...I will always understand keeping Sparks, I don't think the Matthews contract is bad, I don't think WIlly's is either...but wanting to get paid like you are the best winger in history is something Dubas should have said no to.

Yeah, I would have rather he forced Marner to hold out if he wanted that type of money. Even at his best, he provides a whole lot of what we already have in copious amounts and little of what we don't have. It would have been nice to have seen him drive his own line at an elite level before throwing elite level money at him. If he's just a super really good complimentary player to a line driving centre, he's just not worth even close to the money he's being paid. Would I prefer overpaying Marner to overpaying stiffs like Clarkson, Zaitsev, Komisarek and the other mid or low tier talent we've puked money at over the years, yeah. But that's a false dichotomy, I'd rather overpay neither. Willy is worth every penny and more, ditto for Auston. Mucho needs to do what he did last year, every year, to be worth his contract as a play making winger who doesn't drive possession.
 
So fucking trade him. If we honestly believe our team could be better using that cap space elsewhere fucking move the greedy turd.

I'm sure it's come back to bite us a few times over the years but if the team is winning what will we care?

What shit hole team with good young cheap players can we realistically pick from? Arizona? Columbus?
 
That was my position before the signing and it remains -- trade the greedy little fuck.

Of course, doing it now is less than optimal.
 
Gaudreau is on the outs in Calgary. The media is sewering him lately

Get a deal where the money works for both sides
 
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Unfortunately it kinda looks like Barrie is more Shattinkirk than Gards. He should bring a lot more production than he has so far, but not sure about a long term extension at this point.
 
It’s very hard to have to sift through so much negative commentary on one of our best players just because he got paid a bit more than he should have. He’s still a huge part of our team and our long term success hinges on him being a top guy for us. I still like the kid and wouldn’t want to see him dealt.
 
For once I am speechless. My only contribution to all of this, is this ship has to move forward..

Hire a guy who might be able to get this team into the playoffs. Once you are in the playoffs, anything can happen.

Beyond that, still speechless. Cannot believe Dubas capitulated to Nylander. That really blew me away.....

Marner went from the next Keon, to a billiionaire peon to old timers like myself. No one talks about him cause we know he is talented, but he bent over our team and Gm and MLSE.

Maybe the Chelios' and the Gartners and Micheal Nylanders are cheering for Paul and Mucho Marner, but they bent over this teams ability to even get a decent backup goaltender.

I expect,, like most capitulations, a really serious Larry Tanenbaum reaction to all of this, it might be at the very least entertaining.

I taught all his kids. and I met him a few times. The guy is old old old, he actually now after all of this time, wants to go out a winner.

Its good actually to see this shit spilling all over him. He was a dirt cheap operator just like his second predecessor, Harold Ballard.

Looks good on him. Have to say.

I think Kyle Dubas sees the future of the NHL, a league made of extreme talent. But his coach is killing him.

Why did tanenbaum and the corps and Shanny sign off on signing the big three? They feel they bring in close to that in hats and shirts.

Globally.

Sick?

Yeah it is. But who sells hats and shirts, vests and whatever? A guy for 5 million like Ceci, or Mitchell Marner?

Its the business of hockey and Toronto is the corporate capital of business of hockey.

Let Babcock fry himself.

My sources which are small and not very often any more, tell me Dubas has the full confidence. Babcock, I have no inside info. I really don't.

But I think the on ice performance speaks volumes.
 
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