Criticizing the kadri trade and the Tavares signing is trolling ?

argue all you want, you're still a guy who uses a kid getting cancer to argue about how the glasses man bad on the internet

Any gm with a brain would selected Dawson Mercer or kayden Guhle

yeah, that's why 17 and 15 gms respectivly passed on em

You;'re right I had some other player in mind.

Ultimately my point is that its wasting time, resources and losing development time, and many Leaf fans get distracted and think they've found the next undiscovered gem. Its not so much taking a chance, as it really just wastes time and distracts.

I guess my question to you, what do you think they need to do?

I dont think its as simple as saying, we got close against a team on a roll. Do you think the Leafs stay the course and that they'll just get better/face a weaker opponent? That they might see a second round as the youngest 3 of the big 4 start to hit UFA.

To me making the 2nd round isnt a victory, but not making the 2nd round and seemingly having a different reason why each year, is symptomatic of a problem. To think that Matthews and Marner might hit UFA without really making hay in the playoffs is shocking.
Did this year look good for progression, one of the teams best chances? It did, (as did the collapse versus BOS). But really just expecting other teams to be weaker and for the Leafs to get better doesn;t sound right either, when the Leaf options to do so are limited.

Funny stuff

every team signs college free agents and euro free agents all the time. It's not a waste of anything, it's literally business as usual. It's how tampa and the pens keep finding these cheap guys to fill the roster. they dont succeed all the time either, no one does. and i dont see how its distracting at all, hockey teams need players so the leafs get players if they dont work they go play somewhere else. that's pro sports.

as far as what they should do next, well they just took tampa to 7 games and lost two coin flip games to end it. Tampa then embarrassed the Panthers, who scored less goals in 4 games against tampa than the leafs managed in the opener. So, you're right, making the 2nd round isnt some sort of victory, you have to look at how and why they lost.
So you take what worked, IE most of it and keep that and try to improve. You shore up the bottom 6, try to get some secondary scoring and lock down goaltending.
When you break 115 points in the regular season and take the back to back champs to 7 games there probably isnt too many issues with the roster

Dubas traded a 1st and a 4th for Nick foligno!!

yeah, and people here LOVED it because he 'finally got what it takes to win!" Hell, you were probably one of em

How can you make all those upgrades with Tavares at 11 million? We’re gonna be bargain bin shopping again thus off season this time with a massive m whole in net

I wanted Sam Bennett

Do you think all 3 would have had the opportunity to play and develop like they are in LA? It's same with Marchment (unlucky that Malgin-who had some NHL experience didn't make it). The Kadri trade just looks bad because Barrie didn't do well. Yes, it would have been nice to have kept Kadri but fans would have been calling for his head if he got suspended again like he did but in Toronto.

If Nylander gets traded for a more gritty player or a RD, people will probably be celebrating but the moment whoever he gets traded for doesn't do well and he continues to put up more points the pitchforks are coming back out.

and i wanted Jeff Carter. Doesnt change that people loved that foligno trade and then did a 180 because it didnt work out

Kadri blocked a trade to go to Calgary because he wanted to stay

I'm not a Leafs fan but honestly think signing Tavares was the biggest mistake they did

Yeah I agree, just didn't make sense to me, the path seemed so obvious, make Kadri the 2C, find a 3C to replace Bozak and spend some cap space on a legit top 4 dman, the Tavares signing took away so much maneuverability.

Exactly. I believe Dubas wanted to go the Pens way where having two top centers (and obviously other aspects) brought them three cups but in Leafs case it just didn't work and also the team around has been built poorly for a long time. IMO this year in the playoffs they had the best Leafs team of decades, what a pitty they faced Tampa lol