Would have been better spent elsewhere. The back half only will get worse too
fuckthisiteihateit
Looking back at the Tavares contract, most of us were perfectly fine with it, as it signaled that the Leafs were moving from potential great young team to a legit cup contender. However, seeing the cap crunch this caused and the role that the contract played in nylander, marner and matthews’ negotiations, it definitely leaves me with a lot of thoughts.
Like we could have gotten a top 2 d man with that salary, or even much better 3rd and 4th lines. Maybe the triplets wouldn’t demand so much money and be willing to take less.
Also, Tavares hasn’t really been bad for us, more so he’s the face of a current leafs era that’s failing to live up to its promises.
PrailinesNDick
Was 2018 John Tavares worth $11m of an $82m cap? Yes.
Is 2022 John Tavares worth $11m of an $82m cap? No.
Would he be worth $11m of a $90m cap? Maybe.
When we look back on this Core 4, it’s really not fair to discuss any of it without acknowledging the unprecedented pandemic that caused a flat cap for 3-4 years.
Jad94
Leafs would be better with Kadri and Pietrangelo imo.
I think the plans was always to find a top pairing defender, and the cap was supposed to be much higher by now.
When you get a chance to get a player like Tavares, you take it. He’s not the reason we haven’t won, but conditions in nobody’s control has doomed Leaf’s with Rielly the #1 defender.
You need a really good goalie without a #1 Defender, and Leafs haven’t had that.
I’m not trying to blame Rielly at all, it’s comparable to the Kessel situation in Toronto.
Rielly would be awesome as #2, but he’s not being ultilized in the right way
BlueLuxin
The problem isnt necessarily the contract so far. Its that it set the level for the contracts the younger guys went for and if i could ho back in time and make this one choice… i would have passed on him.still like him just think that we would be better off without. And i get covid caused alot of issues.
rwilly
Where would the cap be had a global pandemic not happened? I think this year and next would have been the optimal years where we’re really pushing for a cup because we’ve got all the big boys locked up and their cap hits by percentage would’ve been at a manageable rate where we’re able to fill in a decent supporting cast.
« We could have spent Tavares’s money in a #1 Dman or two top 6 wingers » ….sure but, we also could’ve spent the extra ~$10 million in cap space we were projected to have this year on that as well. Hindsight is 20/20 and no one had a pandemic in their projection models.
griftarch
I’d say while in theory it sounds great to get JT while to young guns are still on ELCs… it just dialled the pressure up early. JT would still be worth it if we had kept Kadri, but we lost our centre depth, that’s not because of the cap or because of the pandemic, it’s because management cut bait on a star at his lowest point of value. Under appreciated shift in this team’s potential.
LeafsRealist
He’s been exactly as advertised it’s not his fault covid happened.
9 Comments
Obviously not
Would have been better spent elsewhere. The back half only will get worse too
Looking back at the Tavares contract, most of us were perfectly fine with it, as it signaled that the Leafs were moving from potential great young team to a legit cup contender. However, seeing the cap crunch this caused and the role that the contract played in nylander, marner and matthews’ negotiations, it definitely leaves me with a lot of thoughts.
Like we could have gotten a top 2 d man with that salary, or even much better 3rd and 4th lines. Maybe the triplets wouldn’t demand so much money and be willing to take less.
Also, Tavares hasn’t really been bad for us, more so he’s the face of a current leafs era that’s failing to live up to its promises.
Was 2018 John Tavares worth $11m of an $82m cap? Yes.
Is 2022 John Tavares worth $11m of an $82m cap? No.
Would he be worth $11m of a $90m cap? Maybe.
When we look back on this Core 4, it’s really not fair to discuss any of it without acknowledging the unprecedented pandemic that caused a flat cap for 3-4 years.
Leafs would be better with Kadri and Pietrangelo imo.
I think the plans was always to find a top pairing defender, and the cap was supposed to be much higher by now.
When you get a chance to get a player like Tavares, you take it. He’s not the reason we haven’t won, but conditions in nobody’s control has doomed Leaf’s with Rielly the #1 defender.
You need a really good goalie without a #1 Defender, and Leafs haven’t had that.
I’m not trying to blame Rielly at all, it’s comparable to the Kessel situation in Toronto.
Rielly would be awesome as #2, but he’s not being ultilized in the right way
The problem isnt necessarily the contract so far. Its that it set the level for the contracts the younger guys went for and if i could ho back in time and make this one choice… i would have passed on him.still like him just think that we would be better off without. And i get covid caused alot of issues.
Where would the cap be had a global pandemic not happened? I think this year and next would have been the optimal years where we’re really pushing for a cup because we’ve got all the big boys locked up and their cap hits by percentage would’ve been at a manageable rate where we’re able to fill in a decent supporting cast.
« We could have spent Tavares’s money in a #1 Dman or two top 6 wingers » ….sure but, we also could’ve spent the extra ~$10 million in cap space we were projected to have this year on that as well. Hindsight is 20/20 and no one had a pandemic in their projection models.
I’d say while in theory it sounds great to get JT while to young guns are still on ELCs… it just dialled the pressure up early. JT would still be worth it if we had kept Kadri, but we lost our centre depth, that’s not because of the cap or because of the pandemic, it’s because management cut bait on a star at his lowest point of value. Under appreciated shift in this team’s potential.
He’s been exactly as advertised it’s not his fault covid happened.