I’m team rebuild. We won’t win with Matthews and Nylander so any assets for them are a net positive long term.
Star_Petal_Arts
They will lose their first round pick by losing in overtime… that way they disappoint everyone… those rooting for them in pride, and those wishing that the Maple Leafs would play the game within the game.
cjh88s4
10 years of this core – move on!! Get young assets for these guys now before it’s too late.
PyneNeedle
Maybe it’s the residual doomer in me but hasn’t every TDL acquisition basically been a miniscule retool just before playoffs? Then pieces stay or go then we’re still stuck patching the holes.
__Dave_
Stop what?
They’re going to retool. They’re not going to rebuild with Matthews and Nylander under contract. It’s not going to happen so there’s not much point in discussing it.
FlySociety1
Where is everyone getting this « Retool » plan from.
I watched the Pelley press conference and he did mention the word retool, but he was making it sound like he would be leaving those decisions up to whichever GM/President he was going to hire, and that all possibilities were open.
growernotshowwer
Jonas is an idiot.
steelogreens
Parrots for the organization. People act as though Matthew hasn’t taken a pretty big step back offensively and isn’t injury prone.
Willy is fine but again there are better number twos on good teams. He’s not a superstar just an all star.
Team if we don’t blow up is in for a decade of hurt
McGrevin
I don’t understand why so many people seem to want to rebuild right now even though there’s a very real chance we keep our first this year and then have unprotected firsts already given away for the next two years.
You do not tear it down just to hand your divisional rival a top pick. You do what you can to make the playoffs during that 2 year window and re-evaluate once you and not your rival benefits from the top pick that tanking brings.
I would love to kick off a rebuild. But we shouldn’t, not while our firsts are not owned by us. That’s just shooting ourselves in the foot.
randomhero8008
Unless they trade a star for their pick back+, it makes no sense to do anything but go for it again next year with a new coach who doesn’t force Matthews to play whale shit dump and chase, and a GM that isn’t beaker from the muppets.
slider_22
I don’t understand how you think you can rebuild without your first round pick
carletondabare
Jonas is right. #TeamJonas
Embarrassed-Task5344
The headline is pretty click baity. But what’s the point of subscribing to the Athletic anyways as a leaf fan.
reevoknows
The only reason you shouldn’t blow it up now is because McDavid is likely a free agent in 2 years. Do think McDavid wants to come at this point? No I don’t but you’re doing yourself a disservice by not at least making yourself as appealing as possible.
Once you’re clear of the McDavid possibility then you go full scorched earth. If McDavid wasn’t in the cards I’d be re-building yesterday.
refep
Imagine wanting a rebuild
kanuck79
They haven’t won with the “core” they had, especially when pieces were added to surround them.
It’s time to call a spade a spade. It’s over. Recoup all the top draft capital you can. The Shanaplan started right, maybe another year or two of Lou is where it went off the rails.
Pristine_Office_2773
I like during the Leafs Report when James ask Jonas why he thinks a retool will work, and Jonas just says they can pull off x, y imaginary moves, and everyone will play better than they ever have, and ignores the fact that is all incredibly incredibly unlikely to ever happen.
So I guess he wrote an article and listed this all out and shared the way Florida did it. But Florida isn’t Toronto. No one even does deals with us, people don’t want to sign here, we have crappy owners, we’re stuck with big contracts, the fans show up if we win or lose and shove their money in the owners pockets.
ConfidentReturn6646
Retool… Means swap out 20-30% of the roster, which they’ve done now every year for 9 years leaving the core intact until Marner got smart. No change. You need your best regular season guys to be the best come playoffs. Not a chance theyre going anywhere until they rebuild
iLikeDinosaursRoar
Like, look where we were most of the season? We were right there, if Buffalo didn’t come out of nowhere and the rest of the division wasn’t so tough, we would be in. Literally a few moves and we are back in it. Pressing the self destruct button is silly. We could use a play maker winger for Matthews OR we could let Matthews focus on offensive and stop playing so many defensive minutes and bring in a top 4 D. Otherwise we just need the rest of our team to play like they can, ie: Goalies save a pick and forwards start shooting.
Skiffy10
stop what? He’s right whether you like it or not. You and most other fans want berube out and consider his system a huge issue. So why not try again with a new coach with more emphasis on skill and holding the puck? A smart GM making smart moves and hiring a better coach will make this team better.
They also don’t have first round picks in 2 of the next 3 drafts so rebuilding is not an option even from that standpoint alone.
tm_leafer
Even if we have the best management team possible, at the end of the day, we need a #1D, another #2-3D, a #2C, a top 6 winger, and probably a #3 C too (Tavares should probably go to the wing). Only one of those holes has any realistic shot of being filled internally over the next few years, and that’s Cowan as a winger, we aren’t a UFA destination right now, and we don’t have assets to trade.
It seems highly highly unlikely that we could pull off ~4-5 Forsling/Verhaeghe/etc type of super undervalued moves to acquire a core player in a short period of time, so even with a fantastic management group, it feels like a retool will take ~4 years to work and fill those holes (and Matthews is only signed for 2, and you also have to think about ages of players in ~4 years even if they are still here).
Things just take time – there isn’t a Forsling waiver pickup or Verhaeghe super cheap UFA signing every year.
21 Comments
I’m team rebuild. We won’t win with Matthews and Nylander so any assets for them are a net positive long term.
They will lose their first round pick by losing in overtime… that way they disappoint everyone… those rooting for them in pride, and those wishing that the Maple Leafs would play the game within the game.
10 years of this core – move on!! Get young assets for these guys now before it’s too late.
Maybe it’s the residual doomer in me but hasn’t every TDL acquisition basically been a miniscule retool just before playoffs? Then pieces stay or go then we’re still stuck patching the holes.
Stop what?
They’re going to retool. They’re not going to rebuild with Matthews and Nylander under contract. It’s not going to happen so there’s not much point in discussing it.
Where is everyone getting this « Retool » plan from.
I watched the Pelley press conference and he did mention the word retool, but he was making it sound like he would be leaving those decisions up to whichever GM/President he was going to hire, and that all possibilities were open.
Jonas is an idiot.
Parrots for the organization. People act as though Matthew hasn’t taken a pretty big step back offensively and isn’t injury prone.
Willy is fine but again there are better number twos on good teams. He’s not a superstar just an all star.
Team if we don’t blow up is in for a decade of hurt
I don’t understand why so many people seem to want to rebuild right now even though there’s a very real chance we keep our first this year and then have unprotected firsts already given away for the next two years.
You do not tear it down just to hand your divisional rival a top pick. You do what you can to make the playoffs during that 2 year window and re-evaluate once you and not your rival benefits from the top pick that tanking brings.
I would love to kick off a rebuild. But we shouldn’t, not while our firsts are not owned by us. That’s just shooting ourselves in the foot.
Unless they trade a star for their pick back+, it makes no sense to do anything but go for it again next year with a new coach who doesn’t force Matthews to play whale shit dump and chase, and a GM that isn’t beaker from the muppets.
I don’t understand how you think you can rebuild without your first round pick
Jonas is right. #TeamJonas
The headline is pretty click baity. But what’s the point of subscribing to the Athletic anyways as a leaf fan.
The only reason you shouldn’t blow it up now is because McDavid is likely a free agent in 2 years. Do think McDavid wants to come at this point? No I don’t but you’re doing yourself a disservice by not at least making yourself as appealing as possible.
Once you’re clear of the McDavid possibility then you go full scorched earth. If McDavid wasn’t in the cards I’d be re-building yesterday.
Imagine wanting a rebuild
They haven’t won with the “core” they had, especially when pieces were added to surround them.
It’s time to call a spade a spade. It’s over. Recoup all the top draft capital you can. The Shanaplan started right, maybe another year or two of Lou is where it went off the rails.
I like during the Leafs Report when James ask Jonas why he thinks a retool will work, and Jonas just says they can pull off x, y imaginary moves, and everyone will play better than they ever have, and ignores the fact that is all incredibly incredibly unlikely to ever happen.
So I guess he wrote an article and listed this all out and shared the way Florida did it. But Florida isn’t Toronto. No one even does deals with us, people don’t want to sign here, we have crappy owners, we’re stuck with big contracts, the fans show up if we win or lose and shove their money in the owners pockets.
Retool… Means swap out 20-30% of the roster, which they’ve done now every year for 9 years leaving the core intact until Marner got smart. No change. You need your best regular season guys to be the best come playoffs. Not a chance theyre going anywhere until they rebuild
Like, look where we were most of the season? We were right there, if Buffalo didn’t come out of nowhere and the rest of the division wasn’t so tough, we would be in. Literally a few moves and we are back in it. Pressing the self destruct button is silly. We could use a play maker winger for Matthews OR we could let Matthews focus on offensive and stop playing so many defensive minutes and bring in a top 4 D. Otherwise we just need the rest of our team to play like they can, ie: Goalies save a pick and forwards start shooting.
stop what? He’s right whether you like it or not. You and most other fans want berube out and consider his system a huge issue. So why not try again with a new coach with more emphasis on skill and holding the puck? A smart GM making smart moves and hiring a better coach will make this team better.
They also don’t have first round picks in 2 of the next 3 drafts so rebuilding is not an option even from that standpoint alone.
Even if we have the best management team possible, at the end of the day, we need a #1D, another #2-3D, a #2C, a top 6 winger, and probably a #3 C too (Tavares should probably go to the wing). Only one of those holes has any realistic shot of being filled internally over the next few years, and that’s Cowan as a winger, we aren’t a UFA destination right now, and we don’t have assets to trade.
It seems highly highly unlikely that we could pull off ~4-5 Forsling/Verhaeghe/etc type of super undervalued moves to acquire a core player in a short period of time, so even with a fantastic management group, it feels like a retool will take ~4 years to work and fill those holes (and Matthews is only signed for 2, and you also have to think about ages of players in ~4 years even if they are still here).
Things just take time – there isn’t a Forsling waiver pickup or Verhaeghe super cheap UFA signing every year.