Though it’s not the title the fans were hoping for, the Toronto Maple Leafs did win a title of sorts this summer.
The Toronto Maple Leafs win the title for Worst Move of the Summer.
The NHL has 32 teams who combined to spend millions and millions of dollars this summer, and in addition to that spending, they also hired and fired coaches and managers, and even made a few trades.
While there were some definite contenders for worst moves, the Leafs have got them all beat.
Toronto Maple Leafs Win ‘Worst Move of the Summer’
There were some pretty big contenders.
The Senators traded a 25 year-old 40 goal scorer for a B prospect (generous rating), a replacement player and a lottery protected first round pick. That’s pretty bad.
The Avalanche took on the remaining two years of Ryan Johanson’s contract. Even though it’s 50% retained, they actually chose to pay him $4 million in each of his age 31 and age 32 seasons.
Johanson has been under 50% Expected Goals in three of the last four seasons, and his 26 goals two years ago were a mirage. When Johanson scored 26 goals in 2013-14 he scored 22 of them at 5v5 and overall shot 11%.
When he scored 26 goals in 2021-22 he had to shoot 22% and only 11 of his goals were 5v5. He isn’t worth $4 million the Avs will pay him, and he will be one of the worst second-line centres a contending team ices this year. (Naturalstattrick.com).
Another contender is the Blue Jackets hiring Mike Babcock. Hahahahhahah……..it’s funny, sure, but I do feel bad for their players.
The Oilers have McDavid and Draisaitl in their primes, and they did………..nothing? That in itself could be the worst move of the summer.
Then we get to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Signing Max Domi to a one year three-million dollar contract was a terrible move considering that Domi is nothing more than a name-brand replacement player. What makes it worse is that legitimate star Matt Duchene got same contract from a team the Leafs hope to beat for the Stanley Cup.
Signing John Klingberg to a $4 million deal when Matt Dumba signed for way less.
Signing replacement players David Kampf and Ryan Reaves to deals more than the league minimum with actual term is just bizarre but it’s still not the worst.
The worst move any team made all summer was the first move anyone made.
The absolute dumbest, most ridiculous, unnecessary, unforced error the team known for making unforced errors ever made.
Just an inexcusable, stupid, moronic move that the team’s president couldn’t even justify.
Now that summer is officially over, it’s official: When the Toronto Maple Leafs fired Kyle Dubas, they made the worst move any team made this off-season.
Congrats!