NHL News and How It Affects the Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are the centre of the hockey universe, and everyone knows it.

When it comes to the NHL, there is no ambivalence about the Toronto Maple Leafs, either you are a huge fan, or you hate the fact that such constant and extreme failure is rewarded with undying loyalty and the constant attention of the media at the expense of your favorite team, and thus you hate their collective guts.

Either way, it’s not enough just to recap the news of the NHL, you’ve got to understand how it affects the most important team; the one who plays in the centre of the universe.

So with that Shakespearean preamble, allow us to get to the news.

NHL News and the Toronto Maple Leafs

Corey Crawford has retired.  He won two Stanley Cups, none of them when there were only five other goalies in the league.  You could make a case that he is personally more successful than the entire Toronto Maple Leafs franchise.

Crawford is only now getting the respect he deserves because he played in an era when statistics were mostly ignored and pedigree was the most important factor in goalie evaluation.  Oh wait, what is that you say? That hasn’t changed?

Crawford retires with a lower goals against average than Carey Price, two more Stanley Cups and a higher career save percentage but for some reason that escapes me, only one-tenth of the fanfare and respect.

Oh and he never played for the Leafs!

Lou Lamoriello is back in the news!  The NHL’s most overrated person this side of Carey Price signed Matt Martin to a hilarious and ill advised four year contract extension.  Bidding against himself for the services of a 31 year old replacement player, Lamoriello somehow found it prudent to give him nearly double the league minimum.   Note that this personified ruiner of end of the season awards  has completely his team with a number of terrible contracts.  Unfortunately, the Islanders won’t have Kyle Dubas to bail them out.

Speaking of Sweet Lou, the Islanders managed to re-sign Matthew Barzal to a bridge deal with a three year term for seven million per.  This seems like a good deal on the surface, but the Islanders are nowhere near contention and their best player is now going to cost double before they come anywhere close to a Cup.   A slight raise could have locked him up for years, but the Islanders couldn’t afford that because they signed Matt Martin.

Think about it:  how many extra year’s could they have given him if they gave him Martin’s entire salary?  Now, this will no doubt cause people to make false and (frankly, dumb) comparisons to Mitch Marner’s contract. 

Marner signed for double the length, and he signed at the peak of the NHL’s financial might before anyone even heard of Covid 19. These are not comparable deals.  In fact, had the Leafs had a more proactive GM during the years of Marner’s entry-level deal, the Leafs could have locked him up sooner and cheaper.

So don’t blame Kyle for the big contact, blame Lou.