i love how we're still pretending that Dubas was going to magically make these players take less money due to magic or something.
Matthews would have cost more to sign more years, if Marner didnt sign he would have had to sit out the entire season when the leafs were trying to compete. Tavares took less than the market was offering to be a leaf.

he folded

Tavares would be in SJ if we offer that

Marner would be with CBJ

And Matthews would never sign that

And Kadri would still be traded as back to back suspensions were why he was traded in the first place

Dubas in general did not fold. He gave the players what they were worth

no, he didnt

Players should've took less to tbh

Lul, why should a player take less money...

This philosophy is backwards. Fans can complain all they want but if you were in any of their shoes you and your agent would be going for the maximum amount of money they can get from their respected team. As why take a discount when you dont need to.

I'm assuming you're not going to get any intelligent responses.

Im probs gonna get the people who complain about overpays and players getting to much money lul.

As lets be real if we were NHL players would we take team discounts...Nope

Very few players take discounts and often players go for the max money they can

Its like that in every sport and while some might not agree they got to learn to deal with it

Yep. Every fanbase thinks they're favourite players will be the ones to take less, in reality it's pretty rare.

When you take $500k or $1M less per year over a long term, it adds up to some significant $$.

Like if people dont believe this go read the interview where Mangiapane's agent said his client should go to FA and try and get as much money as possible

Your logic is somehow at incorrect "If Dubas didn't give into pressure." I'm doubting Tavares would have signed for 9,5m. Now you can argue the Leafs should not signed Tavares. No reason to think Matthews would have signed for 10.5m X 7. though I admit that was the going rate. Aho of Carolina and Marner had identical stats for two consecutive years when their contracts were up. Aho signed for 8.5m X 5 so as you suggest 9.5m X 7 for Marner was fair....if he had agree to sign it.
But IMO Dubas shouldn't be blamed Where were Shanahan and the high priced Leaf executives in the negotiations? Seems like they were derelict in their duties, if they allowed a rookie GM to have complete authority to the negotiations. It was easy to draw comparables for RFA...and Leafs management seems to necessary to pay a "hometown premium?