In retrospect, TOR wouldn't have nearly as much cap troubles.

But on the other hand, they probably wouldn't be that good.

Well to be fair it doesn't really matter since they'll just end up losing at the first round due to their bad defense.

I would say the Leafs loss to Boston was more due to poor special teams play and bad goaltending in game 7, although a Dman like Hamiltion could fix that

Sure...and how do you plan to get Hamilton? He's been quite good lately, gonna be expensive.

Not necessarily Hamilton, a Hamilton type. Someone like Nylander could be the starting point

Tavares was a good signing, but giving that 3rd year to Marleau really screwed up the Leafs cap for next year

When there's such a big fish on the market and you can somehow make the money work down the line, you go for it. I think Toronto did great in pursuing Tavares.

What's biting Toronto in the ass IMO is the fact that 2 out of their 3 top RFA have asked for AAVs that were higher than the predictions, and Marner is following the same path apparently

It was a mistake in the way that they Dubas probably didnt think Marner was gonna want $10 million. They got Tavares at a discount but having 3 players above $10 million will make things very difficult to actually get a good team as a whole together.

Plus it sets up players to want more money because he makes them better, Reilly and Anderson will be looking for BIG raises, and the Leafs will probably have to move out valuable players to accommodate the stars. So this is really a question to be answered in 2 years.

How can anyone say that signing Taveres was a good signing for $11,000,000.00 a year when he hasn't won anything. Look at the NYI this year and try and tell me that they would be better with him. Can people in Tornto spell "CANCER". Toronto is willing to let Marner walk for four 1st round drat picks and keep a player who can't skate with the youth he is playing with. No wonder it has been 52 years since their last cup. Harold Ballrd must be still running the team, "FROM GODS KNOW WHERE".

Are you aware that hockey is a team sport, right?

Tavares signing was a fantastic signing, consider the offers he was receiving 15x7 from 2 other teams 1 a contender in SJ the other the Islanders - as for the whole TML wouldn't have a cap issue if they didn't sign JT is nonsense, Nylander would have got his 8.5 Matthews his 12/13 and Marner his 11/12 and the Leafs would still have a big hole on RHD and also C with out JT signing

Signing was good and not good .. in an individual silo he was very good .. but you have 25ish spots to fill and Matthew's was already over market .. there are not many players over 10M in NHL and Toronto will have THREE .. the most of any team .. Boston and Tampa their division rivals have NONE .. gee who do you think will win annually?

No, but it still screws their cap situation

If the salary cap raises $10 million for the 20-21 season it'll be a great signing... ?

Where would they be if they just kept Kadri at 2C and used some(not all)of that $11M for one good defenseman, a replacement for Bozak and a better backup? I think there's a more then strong argument that they'd be a better team then they are now with Tavares.

I just don't see how Dubas will be able to build a contender with three $10M+ players.

As a Bruins fan, please acquire Hamilton lol

That's a fair point, but what Dman was available to sign? The only top 4 guy was Calvin De Haan and Dubas tried to sign him. This year the only top D is Erik Karlsson and he's not what the Leafs need. Tyler Myers is good too, but is he worth passing on Tavares for?

Well they didn't necessarily need to sign someone in free agency, they could've used that cap space to trade for a defenseman.
I'm not bashing Tavares by any stretch but I just don't see how this is gonna work.
Also I don't see what the rush was, think they would've been better off to improve the roster in other areas then have $22M tied up in their top 2 centers especially with having Kadri on such a good deal, they might of really screwed themselves more then anything with the Tavares signing.
Perhaps if the cap grows quickly it'll work but really its probably only growing by $1.5-3.5 a year so cap inflation will take care of that.
Gonna be interesting to see what they do to improve the lineup.