Anyone saying the leafs are clearly not understanding the question...as many have stated before, they have great attendance, great regular season success and have had good playoff success for the last 5-7 seasons. As much as you hate them, they have been quite consistant and haven't misspent too much money on free agents.
Oh, with all the team success, they are also one of the/if not the most profitable team in the league...they did go out and buy a little franchise called the Raptors...
Now if only Vince Carter can play defense...
Anyone saying the leafs are clearly not understanding the question...as many have stated before, they have great attendance, great regular season success and have had good playoff success for the last 5-7 seasons. As much as you hate them, they have been quite consistant and haven't misspent too much money on free agents.
Oh, with all the team success, they are also one of the/if not the most profitable team in the league...they did go out and buy a little franchise called the Raptors...
Now if only Vince Carter can play defense...
The Leafs, while they do make lots of money, can be considered a candidate for poor management, since they have made some poor decisions. They do not have the greatest drafting record, nor has their player development been strong. They're prospect system is getting re-stocked, but the lack of young players on their current roster doesn't bode well for their short term future. Their management structure seems to constantly be in dissarray, making it tough to make a case that they have a solid game plan. If improvements were made in any of these areas, they could have made more of a push for a cup in the last few years.
That being said, while I think the Leafs could be making more money, there are much worse candidates out there for the most poorly managed teams. Outside the big 4 teams (NJ, Dal, Col, Det), there are few teams that can match the Leafs playoff success over the last 5 or 6 years(to the dismay of Leaf-haters like myself), and they have done an excellent job of revenue management.
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A few franchises of note:
Chicago: Feel sorry for these guys as they are totally hamstrung by their idiot owner. Not just on budget, but the TV rights and ticket prices have led to declining revenues and an ever lower budget. The worst vicious cycle in the league. Yet they have held on to Daze, acquired Sullivan dumped Mironov among various astute moves they have made. It's bad but only partially the fault of the GM.
Calgary: rudderless since the dparture of Cliff Fletcher. GMs here, and there have been plenty in the last few years, always a bad sign, have made some mind-bogglingly dumb trades, offered ludicrous contracts (turek) and have treated fairly good coaches very badly. The search for the coach last season highlighted what a fiasco this has become. They had Lanny and Peplinski and some old stars selling tickets door-to-door for God's sake. Ye gods.
Rangers: absolute power corrupts absolutely. No matter who the GM here is, when they see that little white card it becomes this massive ego trip to win at every single bidding war out there. And Sathers ego was unnaturally healthy before he even got there. Now? It is something to behold.
Islanders: how many talented young players has Milbury dumped off for next to nothing? even after the financial handcuffs were removed? Luongo, Salo, Brewer to name a few. Gaffes like that should cost you your job.
Flyers: Clarke is worse than Milbury. Philadelphia has not had a reliable playoff goaltender since Ron Hextall. 15 years ago. He has pulled a few great trades to help up front, in fact he is a very good judge of talent in forwards. He seems incapable of recognizing his shortcomings evaluating defensemen or goaltenders however. And as bad as Milbury's trade of Luongo was, Clarkes trade for Oates 2 years ago was far worse.
[QUOTE=Malefic74]
Islanders: how many talented young players has Milbury dumped off for next to nothing? even after the financial handcuffs were removed? Luongo, Salo, Brewer to name a few. Gaffes like that should cost you your job.
QUOTE]
I'll grant you Luongo and Salo and even throw in Berard but as for Brewer, I wouldn't exactly call Hamrlik, a #1 DMan, nothing.
Rangers:
Maybe it's the cost of living in NYC, but no way should a guy like Holik be making $9 mill/yr. Also, I think Ithere was a Sather quote when he was in Edmonton and if he had the Rangers payroll, he'd never lose a game. No playoffs: 6 yrs and counting, Should just name Mess player/ass. coach and be done with it.
Leafs:
During the years that Quinn has been there, they've never gone out and really fixed their biggest weakness: defense. Or maybe it's the curse of Ballard.
Flyers:
Bobby Clarke, nuff said.
Blackhawks:
Mike Smith and Wirtz
Briuns:
Fans want a winner, owner doesn't want to pay for one.
Blues:
Quite a streak they've got going there in making the playoffs every season. So what, they need strong goaltending to win and they have a high payroll compared to the results in the postseason.
Red Wings:
How many years are they going to trade away 1st round picks and dump goalies in the waiver draft? The way they handled the Cujo/Hasek situation was pathetic, I know many fans in Detroit don't like Cujo, but the team shouldn't have shafted him like that.
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I'll grant you Luongo and Salo and even throw in Berard but as for Brewer, I wouldn't exactly call Hamrlik, a #1 DMan, nothing.[/QUOTE]
No a #1 D-man isn't nothing but there is not much seperating them on the ice.
Hamrlik 29 years old, $3.6 mill
9-32-41
Brewer 24 years old, $2.5 mill
8-21-29
With Niniimaa gone Brewer picks up more icetime so his numbers can only go up. He has 5 years on Hamrlik and is cheaper. Is 12 points worth $1.1 million? (8 pts on the PP which Brewer seldom played on last season) So now we're down to a difference of 3 points. This still represents a miscalculation by Mad Mike who let him go too early as with Bertuzzi and potentially Isbister.
