Quote:
Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler
It's Dubas taking a stand - "You have driven over me, and then backed up and drove over me again, but if you try it a third time... look out!"
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I've never understood why MLSE entrusted the Nylander, Matthews and Marner extensions to such an unproven commodity.
When Lou Lamoriello sits across from your agent and tells him that his client isn't worth X because he's never achieved Y, and that the organization has a plan and a number in mind to achieve its ultimate goal, that carries weight.
Every single person Dubas negotiates with has accomplished more in pro hockey than he has. You can't take someone seriously when they're asking you to sacrifice and pay your dues when they're the GM of the Maple Leafs and they're tripping over their own umbilical cord every time they get up out their chair.
They made all the right moves prior to giving Dubas the reigns. Draft Marner. Send him back. Hire Babcock. Hire Lou. Draft Matthews. Trade for Andersen.
That's what you want out of a rebuild. They didn't keep Lamoriello around because I guess they were worried he'd die? I don't know. But the only way you get good at high stakes contract negotiations is to be involved in a bunch of them. Dubas hasn't, and it shows. It showed when it took until December to sign Nylander to a deal that should have been done in August, it showed when he walked Matthews to UFA without a penny discounted, and it's been apparent for months with Marner.
A GM who can't negotiate contracts is a liability no matter how good a talent evaluator he is.