from Dave Poulin at the Toronto Star,
In today’s NHL, the margins are razor thin. When you are down to eight teams competing for the ultimate prize, even more so. Much was made of the burden of first-round failures hindering the Leafs. It was expected that once the burden was lifted, more success would follow. But what if the pressure is even greater in the second round? Maybe it isn’t, but it would make sense — one step closer to the holy grail.
There is certainly time for the Leafs to reverse the script. Their best is that good, and individual excellence can change a narrative in a hurry. But they have been held to two goals in each of the last four games and Marner, while piling up some assists, hasn’t scored in six.
They need their core players to excel at what they do best. They may need Marner the most. He’s that important.
I see the annual Toronto media pins the blame on one guy for the failures of the entire team continues (they usually target a d-man--but not always):
Larry Murphy--->traded to Detroit
Bryan McCabe-->traded to Florida
Tomas Kaberle-->traded to Boston
Jake Gardiner--->left as UFA
Nikita Zaitsev-->traded to Ottawa
Phil Kessel--> (remember the hot dogs stories and the reporter confrontations)--->traded to Pittsburgh:
Dion Phaneuf (2013 Game 7 against Boston)--->traded to Ottawa
Nazem Kadri (playoff penalties and suspensions)-->traded to Colorado
I thought it was going to be:
Jake Muzzin or Justin Holl (but Muzzin went down with a spine injury early in the season and Holl is used as the 6th d-man so it's hard to blame him)
then there's the already targeted but stepped up his game go to guy:
William Nylander (who hasn't been liked since his holdout and 27 point season following)
...but they've apparently picked Mitch Marner
If I recall, the Leaves are pretty light on draft picks over the next year or two. I am sure Stevie could work out a deal for the 'oft maligned Willie Nylander'. Wings could use his scoring acumen and speed. No grit, but boy can he dipsy-so.
Sure, but his cap hit is brutal. Big risk.
It's 1 year and $6.96M....how is that brutal?
The issue with Nylander is the coming extension. He's just hit 40 goal on the year (with 3x 30 goal seasons). Larkin signed for $8.7M with worse scoring numbers. Plus, the cap is expected to go up $4M in 2024-25 and another $4.5M in '25-26 (so multiple teams will have money to bid on his services).
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