Keeping Holl was a good move. Leafs had to give up someone and they'd rather keep a middle six player over a prospect/pick.


It's a shame Seattle didn't waste their pick with the Leafs.

They have pressure, but Toronto still has more.

First, no, on paper the 2021 team is indeed a good 2 steps ahead of the 2018 team, but in the end only the results matter, and this «stacked» roster lost to a team that wasn't even close to being a top 10 team entering the playoffs

Second, Lou has seen some insane success in NYI for a team that doesn't look awesome on paper with MANY «meh» contracts, many of which he signed (Eberle, Lee, Boychuk, Komarov...), so even the «bad contracts that Lou left Dubas» argument is just irrelevant and therefore invalid.

Dubas is like a parent with 0 authority, who gives his kids (in this case AM and MM) anything they want, without them deserving any of it.
Lou is a more strict, by the book parent, that will reward his kids, but only when they have shown to be deserving of it.

And between the two philosophies, the Lou approach is the much better one 8 times out of 10, if not 9

Agreed. They favoured some teams and took the best option out of others. Like they took a guy from Columbus over Domi and now that guy is back on Columbus

If there were better options in free agency that would cost the same or less than Holl for sure Dubas would have left Holl exposed. But reality was there was nobody in that category.

Like Poolman whose arguably way worse is making more than him and for an extra year.

Bottom line is Dubas could have protected McCann over Holl , he chose not to. McCann is a high end 2nd line forward, Holl is an average 3rd pairing caliber defenseman. Dubas took advantage and fleeced Ron Hextall and then made an even worse move by leaving Mcann exposed. McCann is also miles better than Kerfoot (who was pretty much a slightly above average 4th liner last season).

It was actually a wise choice considering there were not many good options to replace Holl at that cap hit. Like everyone better made more than 2mill and even some Dman who are worse are making more than him. If there was someone better in free agency who would cost the same or less for sure Holl would have been exposed but the fact of the matter was there wasn't.

Now as for Kerfoot his season was slow but he really picked up speed in the post season against the Habs. If he can continue to play like that than his value to the team should go up.

Results of the team are on the team. The GM can only do so much. Realistically I would've sent Marner into the sun after these playoffs though. It's not irrelevant or invalid to bring up his stint with the NYI. If he wasn't the GM there and/or the Islanders were doing poorly, his nostalgia circlejerk in Toronto wouldn't be so prevalent.

Lou definitely would've given AM and MM over 10 million. Giving an ELC player a high salary off their ELC isn't uncommon if they've played like AM/MM did.

Bottom line is Dubas chose to protect the player that was harder to replace. Holl is a top 4 guy making 2 million, Kerfoot and McCann are third liners making more than that. Leafs don't have anyone able to immediately step into that role.

Sometimes there's a little more to hockey and team building than what colour the Jfresh squares are. No one should be losing sleep over this decision.

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— Katie Strang (@KatieJStrang) August 19, 2021

2023 Houston Coyotes incoming

I’m sure one of Trevor van riemsdyk, Jensen, Stetcher , Collin Miller(with rentention) could be had in a trade. Hakanpaa, Ian Cole were solid options in free agency.

McCann can easily score 30 goals next season and he’s only 24 YO. You don’t expose a guy like that. Protect him and figure it out later. I bet Seattle would have taken Kerfoot anyways.

Coyotes brand will be gone. Gotta become a new team entirely.

Houston Wild Dogs

I still prefer Houston Cap Dumps

Dubas would have to trade for the majority of those guys and it would be a minimum of a third round pick most likely going back. TVR is worse than Holl, Jensen provides no offense and is not much of an upgrade, Miller stinks and costs more, Yzerman would get more than he should for stetcher who really is expiring this season. Cole makes 900k than Holl who is signed for an extra year and Hakanpaa is not a top 4 guy on any team as its the third pair is where he thrives.

So in a sense leafs would be spending more than they would on Holl in either draft picks or actual salary.

I dont think Bettman would approve lul.

Relocate to Houston or Quebec City

Then move Detroit to the West (if Quebec City)

Arizona Coyotes in talks with Tempe on new arena https://t.co/sKYbicMS9v

— azcentral (@azcentral) July 22, 2021

:/

Jared McCann will not score 30 goals this year. The most amount of goals he scored in a season is 14… there is no way he doubles that even on Seattle. Yes, he will probably be a 2c, but he will have Calle Jarnkrok, and Joonas Donskoi on his wings, and if he is the 3c, he will have Brendan Tanev, and Mason Appleton on his wings. Those do not sound like type of players that can put the puck on McCann’s stick so he can net in 30. You gotta remember, that after their first line, the talent drops off significantly! The leafs obviously like Kerfoot more than McCann, and they want him. I mean, he will better than McCaan in the playoffs, so they need that especially after losing Hyman. They have to have guys that are good in the playoffs if they want to win.

I seriously can't believe that I just spent 5 minutes of my day reading an NHL.com article about how the Islanders seek to go deeper in the playoffs by adding Richard Panik and losing Eberle and Leddy.

Just as crazy as how Yanni Gourde is on Craig Button's team Canada Olympic roster, right @AndrewLadd ?

I don’t think he’s gonna score 30 but you never know. I don’t think anyone was expecting Karlsson to score 43 in his first year in Vegas

Holl plays top 4 minutes , that doesn’t mean he’s a top 4 caliber D. He’s carried by Muzzin. Last season Holl was below average at both ends of the ice. If Dubas is such a good GM, then he should have the creativity to replace Holl through free agency/trade.

Mccann is a lot better than a 3rd liner and Holl is a 3rd pairing D. It should have been a simple decision. This is the type of move that leafs fans would troll Habs/Oilers for if their GMs made a similar move.

Definitely, but 30 seems a little too much to me… also, Karlsson had better wingers to play with.

Now they should give the mayor a raise

Get a team in Saskatoon. Cover the whole nation with NHL teams lol.