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Around the League 2019-2024 Edition

Preston said:
Things never really got uncomfortable cap -wise for them though. It was always smooth sailing and they rarely pushed things like Tampa or Vegas or most teams that break through. Obviously you don't want to push it but there's value to maximizing your talent level. He did a lot of good things though, I agree. The McCabe trade was a perfect example of brilliant sweet spot of shared risking.
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There was that one time they had to give up a 1st to get out of cap trouble.
 
Preston said:
The one quote I'll never forget from Dubas is when he described the importance of luck in the playoffs. And as a result the importance of not necessarily improving, but extending the window as long as possible. Because the more kicks at the can you have as a top 5-7 team, the more likely you are to break through one year. He certainly GMed like this was his mantra.

I didn't necessarily disagree with that at the time. Perfectly fine mentality. But at a certain point it was probably time to take a risk or two to get them to that next level. Because being really good as opposed to a top contender clearly wasn't working out, especially playing in this division.
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As the Wall St trained GM of the Vikes recently said, sometimes you have to take your shot — remove your Clark Kent glasses and put on the Superman outfit.
 
Also they didn't really have cap trouble. Or at least resolve any cap trouble.

They moved Marleau ($6.25), Zaitsev ($4.5), Kadri ($4.5) and Brown ($2) and gave that money to Ceci ($4.5), Kerfoot ($3.5), Kapanen ($3.4), Johnsson ($3.3) and Barrie ($2.75).


They were better off just keeping Marleau and some shitty min forward and trading Kappy and Johnsson.
 
leafman101 said:
Also they didn't really have cap trouble. Or at least resolve any cap trouble.

They moved Marleau ($6.25), Zaitsev ($4.5), Kadri ($4.5) and Brown ($2) and gave that money to Ceci ($4.5), Kerfoot ($3.5), Kapanen ($3.4), Johnsson ($3.3) and Barrie ($2.75).


They were better off just keeping Marleau and some shitty min forward and trading Kappy and Johnsson.
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In fairness to Dubas, at the time, Kappy & Johnsson were both promising young forwards coming off their first full NHL seasons having both scored 20 goals/40+ points.

It was not at all obvious at the time that those were career highs that neither would ever come close to approaching again, or that both would prove in very short order to be barely NHL caliber forwards.

What would’ve been the right move in hindsight would’ve seemed insane at the time, and all of us certainly would’ve been howling with outrage if both had been dumped in order to run out the clock on Patty Marleau’s contract.
 
Yeah Kappy and Johnson looked very promising and there was no justification for sacrificing one or both to keep 40 year old Marleau around for another year. Plus their speed helped make us the super fast team that we were once upon a time. Super leafy that they both became poop right after.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
Yeah Kappy and Johnson looked very promising and there was no justification for sacrificing one or both to keep 40 year old Marleau around for another year. Plus their speed helped make us the super fast team that we were once upon a time. Super leafy that they both became poop right after.
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I loved when we had great speed. Miss those days.
Man, Lou got bent-over in that Marleau deal. Spezza was better for NHL minimum. If an old guy wants that contract, just walk away.
 
LeafGm said:
In fairness to Dubas, at the time, Kappy & Johnsson were both promising young forwards coming off their first full NHL seasons having both scored 20 goals/40+ points.

It was not at all obvious at the time that those were career highs that neither would ever come close to approaching again, or that both would prove in very short order to be barely NHL caliber forwards.

What would’ve been the right move in hindsight would’ve seemed insane at the time, and all of us certainly would’ve been howling with outrage if both had been dumped in order to run out the clock on Patty Marleau’s contract.
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People always say that, but it’s the GMs job to be right not the fans. All the bets Dubas made that offseason were wrong (Kerf, Barrie, Kappy, Johnson, Ceci). Kind of crazy how bad of an offseason that was.
 
leafman101 said:
People always say that, but it’s the GMs job to be right not the fans.
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So much of this. We're just assholes with full time jobs not in professional hockey, limited amounts of time to analyse what is really just a hobby of ours in the grand scheme and without access to mounds of proprietary data and scouting information.

We shouldn't be right (at their expense) nearly as often as we are, and they should be making incredibly good (but unpopular with the masses) decisions way more often than they do.
 
Kapanen in particular had red flags on the nerdies from day 1 and would have been a great trade chip. Granted Dubas later turned him into a prime asset after his flaws were truly on full display so credit to him for that.

AJ.. I thought he'd be a great middle sixer with a motor. That one surprised me more. But yeah that's Kyle's job to recognize, not mine.
 
Preston said:
Kapanen in particular had red flags on the nerdies from day 1 and would have been a great trade chip. Granted Dubas later turned him into a prime asset after his flaws were truly on full display so credit to him for that.

AJ.. I thought he'd be a great middle sixers with a motor. That one surprised me more. But yeah that's Kyle's job to recognize, not mine.
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Yeah, tidy bit of business turning Kapanen into a mid 1st rounder, then using the pick on a high skill forward.

Can’t wait to see that kid play for us. I’m sure he has a wildly successful career and long and happy life ahead of him.
 
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