Ovchinnikov 137
Joined: Apr. 2019
Posts: 10,412
Likes: 11,982
In 2017, the Leafs had the second best power play percentage (25%) and were tied with Pittsburgh in goals for per game (3.29). Their defence was terrible, giving up the 4th highest shots per game (33.9). Addressing their brutal defence would have been the smarter play. Instead, they signed John Tavares to an 11 mil contract which had a trickledown effect on signing Matthews and Marner. So what if Nylander held out and they miss the playoffs. This team was incredible young. Slowly building a core around Matthews, Marner, and Nylander was the right play to make. Look at how great Colorado is building around their core of guys (Mackinnon, Landeskog, Rantanen). Without Tavares the Leafs would have had about 20 mil to work with before placing Horton on LTIR that season. More than enough to sign a dman or trade for one, while still continually building.
The Leafs already their future no. 1 center in Auston Matthews, so the addition of John Tavares created more complications for them. The Leafs had one of the brightest futures in the NHL led by their young core and in about 10 years into the future, they were projected to be on top of the league. However, when Tavares signed with the Leafs, their status changed from a future dynasty to a win-now phase.
Tavares is obviously a very skilled and gifted player, the decision of signing with the Maple Leafs will end up ruining their future due to him not being a positional fit, taking up a large amount of cap space and rushing their timeline to win the Stanley Cup.