Quoting: drewjenks
Agree - but I don't have a problem with the Tavares signing.
My biggest issue (A MASSIVE ISSUE FOR ME) is that all three of them should have been signed last summer.
I would've been fine with Dubas bending a little to make everyone happy and get it done quick (they still wouldn't have been anywhere near as expensive as they are now).
Nylander would still have been at $7,000,000 x 6 (maybe 7 years if all 3 signed around the same time - and he wouldn't have missed games).
Marner would have been around $8,000,000 x 6/7 (his agent asked for $9,000,000 on an 8 year deal last summer - according to the media).
Matthews would have been around $10,000,000 x 6/7 (similar AAV to Eichel but less term as a bonus - and a bit less than Tavares after s bidding war).
Instead they just wait it out and watch Marner play with with Tavares .... did you not expect him to explode in production ??? (Matthews took a leap in PPG as well).
And if Nylander was on Matthews wing all season ... Kapanen wouldn't have put up anywhere near 50 points ... so we would've been going into this season with something like:
$11,000,000 x 6 = Tavares
$10,000,000 x 6 = Matthews
$ 8,000,000 x 6 = Marner
$ 7,000,000 x 6 = Nylander
$ 2,000,000 x 4 = Kapanen
Which would have been around $5,000,000 cheaper with the core locked in for an extra year.
Rant over.
Well, I think those numbers are way too low. Nylander and Hayes just signed to over $7m and you want Marner to be at $8M? But forget it, the point is moot really.
You have way too many impact forwards and not enough D. All you need is MM and AM as your superstars and Nylander and Kapanen or Johansen as your two star depth players.
I mean don't take me wrong if you can have JT and AM and MM all sign at under $7M each, ala Boston, well more power to you, but the thing is you can't, so you can't have them.
You can still keep MM and JT and AM, and KK, and AJ, you can make it work, you will have to pay to get rid of Marleau, trade Zaitzev and let Gardiner go, etc, but this superstar, top heavy team will not be sustainable. You will have to heavily rely on ELCs and you won't be getting any high picks with this superstar lineup, so just as soon as your ELCs become good enough to make an impact you will have to let them go, because you can't pay them, so its a vicious cycle.
If I were GM, I would bag Tavares to waive his NMC, trade him and acquire two excellent shutdown Dmans. I would then go to Marner and tell him, sorry for misunderstanding, give him his "A" captaincy, and match his contract with AM, with longer term. Done. Well, I'd still get rid of Zaitsev and Marleau if I could, sign all RFAs and now I'm building a team to compete for the cup from 2021 to 2025. Unless cup is not what you are after and all TOR wants is to have a Cirque du Soleil on ice.
And if you can't win with Mathews, Marner, Kapanen, Johanson plus depth, and improved D, then you probably need a better coach.