Quote:
Originally Posted by Dontdive
A lot of times I see threads in here and on the Trade Rumors board about what the Leafs "need" to get to become playoff and Stanley Cup contenders. I read "We need a goaltender" a lot, for example, and many a thread has been about just that and other positions, and who would be best, and so on.
To quote The Princess Bride, "I do not think that word means what you think it means." Not for Toronto, anyways. And here's why.
You Maple Leaf fans? You're too good. Too loyal. Too willing to shell out the bucks for the seats and merchandise, too willing to watch the games so they get the ratings so companies are slavering to pay the TV stations to advertise their wares.
Nevermind what Burke or any other member of the Leafs say. So long as those massive bucks keep flowing in, far in excess of what most teams get, the strategy and execution used to try to improve the team is irrelevant. What you "need" in terms of players is irrelevant.
After all, all the fans want the team to succeed... eventually at least... but this lockout is showing even more than usual how this league is about money. And practically no team is better at it than the Maple Leafs.
Don't get me wrong. The Leafs will say the right things. An occasional manager or coach type might get thrown to the wolves every once in a while to quell rising anger, but there's no "need" for any *urgency" to any of it. Not even for a long term rebuild. As long as they *say* they're doing it, they don't have to really do it. Not competently, anyways.
Because... you fans? You're too good. Too loyal. If you were more picky, more willing to not buy the merchandise, and stay away from the games and not even watch them on TV... then things might really change. For the better.
Because they wouldn't be able to take you for granted anymore.
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This whole argument is based on faulty logic.
The Leafs make MORE money by being better. There is simply no logic, business or other, that says the team would be ok with losing. None. A playoff team makes more money. It's that simple.
It's not some conspiracy that the team is saying "meh, we won't try, they pay us anyways" because it doesn't make sense. They would be leaving more profit on the table, and considering the basis of your argument rests on them only caring about money and not the fans, your argument falls apart.
Now if they were habitually bad, spending near the cap basement, and not putting money into the front office, scouting, training etc (all things that are not true), then maybe the theory might hold some validity.
But it does not, nor will it ever. Yet the idea always crops up and gets latched onto by so many ignorant hockey fans.