pmrules said:
louisstamos said:
Anyhoo, back to the topic at hand - I'm still on team Stamkos. I don't think he interferes with the long term vision of the team. The Leafs can keep stockpiling picks and using them to draft talent/make trades to build this team. But the question is, does Stamkos want to come here knowing that it may not be a playoff team the first 2-3 years he's here?
Agreed - for me it boils down to 2 factors For me to consider signing Stamkos. First, as you say, the Leafs need to stick with the rebuild plan - we need Stamkos on board with another bottom 5 finish or two. There are ways to accomplish this even with Stamkos, Matthews, Marner et al joining the team.
Second, he needs to come at the Leafs price. This is the over riding factor for me. There is a price I would pay and a price I wouldn't.
If any management team can convince him of these, I'm hoping it's this Leafs management team.
I was thinking this early on as well. "I hope Stamkos doesn't mind not winning everything for the first couple of years..." and "I hope he can still perform to even 75% of his peak by the time we're contending...".
Now... I don't think that'd be a fair position to put Stamkos into. It's not quite the same as Babcock coming on board at the ground floor of the rebuild and not winning: his task was to establish a strategy and structure and dressing room befitting a championship team, which is entirely possible to do without all your horses hooked up. I can't see Stamkos coming onto the Leafs and not pushing them into a near playoff position, which would be like the last few years of Sundin all over again.
Some might say our current core is good enough, we don't need to get anyone else, to which I will have to point to our 30th place finish without Stamkos. How much can one player do? I think he would do a lot; I don't think he is magic though.
Some might say: we can keep building patiently after getting Stamkos because he is still very young and would be good for developing the upcoming players. Perhaps I lack imagination, but the way I see it, if you spring for Stamkos, you're basically saying you're all in, and you have to go out and acquire better defense and a premiere goalie to make Stamkos worth the expenditure (see 2013, 2015 Jays). The best way to acquire premier players
quickly is through UFA and trading your prospects to teams on the rebuild. Unfortunately, that is also the best way to ruin your rebuild. I cannot see us being able to have both Stamkos and a rebuild.
If you want to wind up for a good long championship drive every year for a decade, your build has to have the stamina required: i.e. your salary structure has to be focused in the right areas and timed for efficiency to get the most value in performance for the dollars spent.