Edited Feb. 5, 2020 at 6:55 p.m.. Reason: Added the stuff about Eichel
Quoting: Jamiepo
Afforded what decent D? Always these magical Dmen that would fall from the sky and bring the leafs to the promised land.
Quoting: Random2152
First of all, who gives a **** how much they actually pay? They have more money than they could ever spend and are backed by 2 media giants (Canadian equivalent to time warner and Comcast)
And your second point seems to say that they should get rid of good players.
JT took less to come here
AM is worth every penny and is in-line with historical comparables (Eichel is the outlier)
Nylander is a steal (just like I have been saying)
Marner is a 2 mil overpay.
You really think 2 million is the difference here? Come on man.
Just because you couldn't find any decent D doesn't mean you spend a ton on forwards that, historically speaking, could have made less. It's bad cap management regardless of whether you had defensemen to spend it on or not. In addition, just because Nylander, Marner, and Matthews have produced to be worth their contracts doesn't mean they were good contracts, it means you got lucky those guys kept developing and performed up to it. (Also, how is Eichel an outlier? Dude is having an incredible season and has been an elite player ever since coming into the league. Eichel was Matthews' direct comparable and Matthews' contract should resemble it in both term and money, not just one. All Matthews-esque players in the league right now make like three million less than Matthews or are on eight year deals).
I always point to Draisaitl's contract as an example- everyone said at the time it was a massive overpay because of what his comparables were being paid when that contract was signed. He should have been making closer to seven. Today, Draisaitl is worth his contract, but it doesn't mean his contract was good. It means Edmonton got lucky that he turned out to be a 9 million dollar player. But that would have happened regardless of if he was making nine million or if he was making seven like he should have been. Paying young players what they are worth is not a win in a system that again, historically speaking, pays young players less than they are worth. In that system, only Nylander is on a good contract, and even then, that's only because Nylander is so good he is exceeding it.
I'm not saying they should get rid of any good players, but there was no precedent to give those guys as much money as the leafs did. And fairly or not, that is on Kyle Dubas. We'll see how lucky he gets.