The Toronto Maple Leafs need to start developing some talent and holding on to them
Daily Faceoff (youtube): David Pagnotta on The Sheet with Jeff Marek, talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs and their need to develop, and keep, the next Darren Raddysh‘s. Should they keep Bobby McMann?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “The one thing, though, and we’ve seen this countless times from, from various regimes, with the Toronto, the Toronto Maple Leafs. One of the, one of the issues is, you know, we’re gonna, we’re gonna retool this thing on free agent, on free agent day, in free agency.
And there’s all the rumors about, like, Oh, if he gets there, Leafs are interested in Darren Raddysh, for example. To which a lot of people look at that and say, like, ‘Yeah, why not? He’s, he’s arrived. He’s finally had the good season. You should get the JJ Mosher contract, etc.’
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And correct me if I’m wrong here. Sane teams, teams that win, that are built long term, don’t look at Darren Raddysh and say, ‘Yeah, we got to get him on July 1st when he’s $5 million.’ they say, ‘We got to go find the next Darren Raddysh.'”
Pagnotta: “Yes.”
Marek: “We got to go, there’s, those guys exist in the American Hockey League. How do we find them? As opposed to let another team develop them, and then we pay for them, if you’re the Maple Leafs.
That’s one place, unless, we just saw this with Fraser Minten. Hate to keep going back to the Brandon Carlo deal, but like, every time you see Fraser Minten, like, honestly, Dave, what do you think? Like, he’s getting better and better and better and better and better. And shift in, shift out, every Maple Leafs fan is just like, the dagger goes in a little deeper. The dagger just goes in. Like, we had that guy. Had that guy. It’s a constant story of the Maple Leafs.”
Pagnotta: “Yeah. And, you know, well, and that’s why with, you know, Bobby McMann, for example. You know, they had other situations where they helped the guy develop, and they helped the guy grow, and they didn’t want to spend the mid-tier money to keep those pieces. Zach Hyman, and, you know, as a prime example. And there are others.
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So, like, that’s a guy to me that if the price tag is five times five or in that ballpark based on what he’s done. Based on his positioning in the, on the roster, excuse me, and how versatile he can be. I like, it’s a tough system. Like, I’m losing my words. It’s a tough spot for them to be in, because I think they got to keep him.
Personally, I think you got to hold, if that’s the ballpark price tag. Because the other thing too, if you are looking at free agency, who else is available, right? Like all these other teams, to your point, that saying, ‘Oh, well, with respect to, oh, we’ve got to go after Darren Raddysh.’ Well, all these other teams are looking at Bobby McMann going, ‘Well, we need to go after him, because nobody else is going to be available. Everybody else has signed.’
All the other big pieces have signed. You’ve got right now, Alex Tuch and Nick Schmaltz leading the offensive charge. Or the forward group, I should say. You know, there’s only, there’s 32 teams. The options are limited.
And then, from the Leafs side of things, you know, keep him, move out some other pieces and develop some of your guys. To find those, those next pieces, because you’re going to be up against the cap. You need to find those sweetheart contracts that work for you.”
Marek: “You know, what’s interesting about the other the other 31 teams as well? I checked, they’re all allowed to try too. I’ve checked a couple. Like, I check every now and then, like, are the other teams still allowed to try? Like, oh, yeah, okay. Keep remembering that.”
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Pagnotta: “Confirmed.”
Marek: “Yeah, they’re allowed to try.”
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