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2025-2026 Off Season Thread - The Rehappening

I honestly want Matthews gone at this point too. Whether he is just genuinely physically broken by the time the playoffs roll around every spring, or he’s genuinely just an all-time playoff choker, it’s the same diff.

Fire him, Rielly, Marner & Tavares into the sun.

What the hell is left?
 
I honestly want Matthews gone at this point too. Whether he is just genuinely physically broken by the time the playoffs roll around every spring, or he’s genuinely just an all-time playoff choker, it’s the same diff.

Fire him, Rielly, Marner & Tavares into the sun.
You keep Matthews. Players like him are rare. Sign and trade Marner, let Tavares walk and sign Bennett.
 
Marner's "Team" in negotiating is quite fascinating. I think this decision to not negotiate this year has cost them money. His daddy is a dumb ass.
 
You still of the opinion that the Leafs just have to re-sign this guy and run back this merry band for another several years?
Now I've changed to I think he more likely is leaving. But that's more to do with the fact the Leafs want him gone, not that he doesn't want to stay.
His negotiating tactics are stupid. But that's the advice he is getting.
 
we'll have a few years of bubble teams then a good decade of non-playoffs darkness. it'll be great.
Issue with NHL is we are at the mercy of lottery luck. What are the chances we draft players like this again? We have not prior in over 100 years.
 
We need a new coach. Maybe a coach who can make adjustments. That would be nice.
How many coaches have 34 and 16 had since they broke in?

They've changed the coaches, they've brought in skill, they've brought in grit, they've done a half hundred things, all in the belief that whatever they did would somehow get their core players to elevate in the playoffs. Nothing has worked and nothing ever will because at the end of the day these two just don't bring it when it matters. No coach, no UFA in the summer or depth acquisition at the deadline is going to change the fact that 16 and 34 have no heart and no guts.

How many more years of this shit do you want to watch?

Fuck, I revel in the schadenfreude that your team produces every spring and even I'm starting to get bored now. Change the fucking record, already. Dump those clowns.
 
I get the cup or bust mentality. If they don't win the cup, who cares where they get eliminated, fuck making friends along the way! But you'd think in at least one of these years they'd look even close to a top team in the playoffs. And the fact that they haven't should make you second guess not making any changes.

I do think that the one thing they haven't tried was getting a top end all around d and I genuinely think it could make a huge difference in the same way that Makar and Bouchard did for Colorado and Edmonton. They became different teams once mackinnon and mcdavid got to essentially play with a 4th forward when they were on the ice. But that's not easy to find. If anything, they should have explored trading Marner for one years ago before the nmc hit. Not sure they have the assets to find one now.
 
They gave up half way through what people called career defining games because they were down 2-3 goals.

That’s just nuts. They looked like the weight of all the past failures have broken them.

They have another chance to prove everyone wrong, but if they just keep playing scared to lose this is never going to fix itself by changing depth players or coaches or GMs.

The cumulative weight of past failures is without question impacting this team in the moment they need to be their best. Nothing is going to magically changed. This team isn’t missing anything on paper to beat the Panthers (or any of these teams over the last 5-7 years). Can’t just keep running it back.
 
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