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Toronto Maple Leafs: Another Rejection Saves Treliving From Himself

By James Tanner

SUNRISE, FL - MAY 10: Jake McCabe #22 of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Radko Gudas #7 of the Florida Panthers battle along the boards in the third period of Game Four of the Second Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the FLA Live Arena on May 10, 2023 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
SUNRISE, FL - MAY 10: Jake McCabe #22 of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Radko Gudas #7 of the Florida Panthers battle along the boards in the third period of Game Four of the Second Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the FLA Live Arena on May 10, 2023 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) /
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It seems that no idea is too bad for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their failing GM Brad Treliving.

On Tuesday it came out that the Toronto Maple Leafs tried to sign one of the worst players in the NHL, but were rejected.

Then today it came out that the Leafs also tried to sign a player who ended up signing one of the worst contracts in free-agency.

For those counting at home, that is twice now (that we know of) that the Leafs were saved from doing something extremely stupid when the player in question rejected them.

It also shows they basically came into the summer with no plan other than to try and sign every name-brand player they could.

Toronto Maple Leafs Obviously Have the Worst GM

Radko Gudas announced on Tuesday that he decided he was too weak to play in Toronto, and we’re thankful for that because he’s 33 and the Ducks gave him three years at $4 million with a NTC.

Gudas could have said the Leafs offer wasn’t good, but instead he said he didn’t want to play here. It’s extremely concerning to think the team’s new GM would have given out a three-year deal to a defensive defenseman who is 33.

It’s more concerning that the Leafs wanted to sign Milan Lucic, and together its proof positive that the Leafs are run by a generic hockey guy who overvalues hitting, toughness and experience.

If only Max Domi and John Klingberg had also been afraid of the big scary Toronto Media we’d perhaps have a much better team to look forward to watching.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, since the Leafs core is elite, and since both their forwards and goalies are in good shape, they’ll still be a Cup Contender.  It’s just that their blue-line is brutal and their GM wasted almost all the cap-space he had available to him by making silly bets on name-brand players who aren’t very good.

The best thing for this organization – outside of a lucky Cup Run – would be to completely crash and burn this season necessitating the firing of Brendan Shanahan and his entire crew of incompetence.

Unfortunately, with Matthews and Marner on board that is unlikely to happen, so we are probably stuck with Brad Trelinving, AKA the New John Ferguson, for years.

Next. How the Leafs Could Salvage the Summer. dark

Too bad, because this team had such strong potential.  It’s a complete joke that the Toronto Maple Leafs tried to sign Lucic and Gudas, not to mention the $11 million they wasted on Kampf, Domi, Klingberg and Reaves.

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