Traded the guy whose second is goals is a dumb decision.

On NOTICE!!?
Cheers Mondo, BUT if this keeps up the NOTICE will be sooooooo stale by the time the golf-clubs come out that the US$40Mil will be cashed and the short contracts over/expired whereby the Leaf Stars will be squarely playing in SJ or DET or ANA...

The c r a p shown by this squad does not need another 'kumbaya moment and touchy feelie session!

Last I checked it's the NHL; home to LEGENDS such as Orr, Gretz, Gilmour, Lemieux, Sakic, Bourque...

This team needs to grow-a-large-pair tonight OR face the "grenade'!!

he's a UFA in 4 years
pushed you to max cap while refusing to sign Term

he's not going to stay in Canada forever
he's going home to the States , bank on it
IF TML was smart they'd make something work with BUF who's at a point with Eichel where its just not working
he wanted traded then BUF basically fired the management and coaches then went out and got Skinner for support
it worked out great ,even amazing for a year then poof no support again and Tim and Sid on their noon show about 3 weeks ago was saying Eichels camp is ready to move on .

you can keep Matthews for a few years but bank on him leaving
you can either get a huge return by recognizing that or a lesser return like Hall ,Johnson or Thornton who were other 1st OA picks traded for less then an underwhelming return all around

or you can wait and Wendell Clark it again getting nothing adding to a futile playoff effort without him irregardless and accomplishing nothing but wasting a great players career
Dude travels with the NHL Alumni to games in City's accross Canada and a crap you not that's how they introduced him '' the man who loved the City of Toronto more then he loved chance of Winning a Cup''
it was sad and he didnt look proud but more so defeated or remorseful

So the whole coach is the problem is a cop out solution, I work with 20/25 year olds, 90% of my job is to instill accountability in the tasks or work they perform and in all honesty it's next to impossible to articulate verbally in a way they actually hear you but when they suffer personal failure and embarrassment they start to listen they start to realize this guy thats 10-15 years older, this guy that's been handed the responsibility to mold and teach kids (they are kids) there might be something to what he's preaching. If I got fired everytime a kid under my charge didn't bring it or faltered or had a lazy day I'd be looking for work twice a week. 20 year olds think they know things, they think they have everything figured out, they think they work hard, they honestly believe they have the answers when they absolutely do not. Every great te suffered through failure before finding success, it's part of the process. It's not an excuse for yesterday's showing but it is an impossibly avoidable path to success. Failure is an incredible teacher, it may take a season to get it across it may take 2 but it certainly won't happen once and all of the sudden the Matthews and Marner a of the world are like oh I get it now.

Nice list of players there, and how many of those led a team to the cup or even won a cup at 22 F*ing yrs old? Like not 1

Everything you wrote hear is just BS. Trade 1 of the best players in the league at 22 cause he might sign somewhere else in 5 years, give your head a shake

How did Dubas waste the ELC contracts? How is the Marleau or Ziatzev deals even tied to Dubas? Old man Lou made those deals, Dubas went out and signed Tavares the only season he had players on ELCs how is that wasting the year? Yup he certainly had some challenges signing his RFAs he also ended up signing them all to long term deals which in just this moment looks like he hand cuffed the cap which is true but is also way smarter than kicking the cap situation down the road which 3 year deals at what a million maybe 2 million per player less would have done. I challenge you to name 1 champion team built around 22 year olds? Good luck you can't, championship teams are developed with patience and time along with smart drafting and signings, key points Patience and Time, work ethic is developed through failure and learned by getting your a** kicked by hard work

It seems the contract situation destroyed Marner’s confidence. He knows he’s making too much money & is trying too hard every game to prove his worth by making fancy plays that sometimes make him a liability.

really I can't. How about the penguins.
Fact is you had world class talent on rookie deals. Not just one player. Multiple players. And you couldn't win a cup with it. That's what I call wasted.
Work ethic isn't developed through failure. That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. Only dumb people have to learn things the hard way. People with a brain can figure it out before hand and can actually learn from what other people along the way teach them.

You got a lot of rambling here but none of it is coherent or makes any sense. But here are facts. Dubas rookie GM this team up good. You talk about long term deals. 11.5 million for 5 years. Yeah real long term.
He's turned this team into a tire fire over paying guys and letting RFA run all over him. Go look at other teams with RFA 40 goal scorers They aren't paying them 11.5 million.
He got played. Hard. And this team now looks like the oilers. Cap issues, massive holes, and because Dubas couldn't even get everyone signed into an 8 year deal there will be no relief in the future.

I never said they had to win the cup. Just play with 'stones'.
Cheers