It’s clear that the Toronto Maple Leafs are struggling to pivot from whatever their plan was a couple months ago.
It was considered a done-deal that Kyle Dubas would continue on as the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager, when Brendan Shanahan watched a press conference, got bad vibes and panicked.
Next thing you know, Dubas is in Pittsburgh and the Leafs hired the first guy off the street without any kind of process or lengthy due diligence.
Brad Treliving, an establishment pick if there ever was one, has basically been invisible since joining the Leafs, popping out to make one terrible decision after the next.
Just what the Leafs are thinking or what their plan is is anyone’s guess, but the only good things that have happened to the Leafs since Dubas left were by accident.
Toronto Maple Leafs Struggling Big-Time in Post Dubas Era
The rumours were that the Leafs were trying very hard to bring back Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari and Luke Schenn. Then there were rumours that they were “circling back” (that’s a phrase that has to go the way of “rent free” and “run it back”) on Bunting, Holl and Kerfoot.
Lucky for all involved that the Leafs were saved by other team’s ignorance – Kerfoot went to Arizona, Nashville signed O’Reily and Schenn, Acciari went to Pittsburgh and Holl went to Detroit.
All of these players signed for more money and a longer term than they deserved. With the exception of Michael Bunting – who the Leafs will miss – the team is much better off today.
But as for things they actually did, well this is a family blog and I can’t express the depth and scope of their errors properly without using way too much profanity. Suffice to say nothing they’ve done is good.
The David Kampf contract is bonkers. He doesn’t score, he is, at best, an average fourth liner. The Leafs are overpaying him by $1.5 million, and they turned around and gave Pontus Holmberg a one-way deal. That means one of these guys is likely playing on the third line.
Kampf, Reaves, Lafferty, Holmberg is a low-upside bottom-six with zero scoring potential. The Leafs are showing an almost pathological ignorance about why they lost last season (it’s not a mystery, they couldn’t score because after their four star players and Bunting, their team lacked offense).
Ryan Reaves didn’t play in the playoff for Las Vegas several years ago. I could understand if you wanted to bring him in for the Wayne Simmonds 13th forward role, but why the hell is he getting more than the league minimum and why is he getting three years? Why is he getting half a million over the league minimum?
Here is how bad this signing is: If, last week, you wrote a blog saying the Leafs should kick-off free agency by signing Ryan Reaves to a three year deal, you’d probably have to change your name and move.
I saw a lot of equivocating nonsense about how Leafs fans get too mad about fourth line players, but in a cap league these contracts matter. A lot. The Leafs seem to be entering an ill-advised contract dispute with William Nylander, but the money they are paying Kampf and Reaves could easily bridge the cap between Treliving and Nylander’s agent.
These players are available for the league minimum, and there is no need to overpay them.
As for Klingberg, I don’t even know what to say. He joins a long line of Leafs offensive defenseman who can’t defend worth a crap. He was quite literally one of the NHL’s worst players last year, and as a non-star he isn’t worth over the league minimum. The Leafs are paying him $4 million dollars to be their third-best right-handed defenseman (Assuming both Brodie and Liljegren return).
Why the Leafs would do this, instead of taking a bit of a risk and making a big-swing at someone like Erik Karlsson is completely unknowable.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have made four signings, and three of them are indefensible. I’ll let the Holmberg one slide because I like him, but he’s not really expected to ever be scorer in the NHL, and his presence on a team also skating offensive zeros like Lafferty, Reaves and Kampf is inexplicable.
Based on what happened with Dubas and how bad Treliving has been, the Leafs owners should step in and remove both Brendan Shanahan and Brad Treliving. This is a joke. Note that since I wrote this, the Leafs signed Tyler Bertuzzi, which is a signing I do like, but that doesn’t make up for anything I’ve said in this piece.