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2025-2026 Off Season Thread - The Rehappening

CH1 said:
All this useless debate when deep down everyone here knows the big UFA prize this year is Corey Perry.

Automatic cheat code to qualify for the SCF.

Swallow your pride (and nerdy calculators) and bring him home already.
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Which is also an example of a vet UFA that was way better than Patches, and signed for less to play a depth role.

Nerds say he was really good as $1 mill depth player.
 
MyNameIsJonas said:
You have this belief that all Toronto kids will do anything to play in Toronto. I dont think this really exists anymore. Most athletes want to get paid and win, they dont really care where.

Mitch is a soft human being, who's been babied his entire career. He seems to have a very big issues being criticized in the spotlight. Im very much expecting him in a non NY American market.
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It's the same delusional crap I used to hear from Habs fans about why every francophone player "naturally" wanted to play for the Habs when in fact the opposite was true. No players tried harder to AVOID playing for the Habs than francophone star players. They wanted no part of it.

When Daniel Briere was a good player he took less money to play in Philly. Only when he was washed up did playing for the Habs become attractive. Same with Lecavalier. He moved heaven and earth not to play for the Habs. And even today, when he is employed by the Habs he still resides in Florida and comes to Montreal only a few times a year.

Marner grew up in Toronto loving the Leafs. He fulfilled his dream of playing for them. He's smart enough to realize by now that he's never winning a Cup in Toronto so if that dream still exists for him he's probably already resigned himself to the reality that he can either chase a Cup or be a Leaf but not both. That is, of course, providing that he cares about anything besides money and comfort.

Money he can get anywhere. Comfort? Not in Toronto. Not anymore. If he stays he will be a lightning rod for abuse every time the Leafs fail, and he knows they will. Conversely, he can get nearly as much money and zero stress playing elsewhere. He might even be able to win a Cup, something that's never happening where he is now. So why would he stay and why would the Leafs want more of his bullshit playoff performances?

I assume they care about winning even if Mitch doesn't.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
You've focused and based your entire view on the one point about him growing up wanting to be a Leaf. There are several other reasons that I listed. You don't need to agree, but they're mostly all factual and solid bases for wanting to stay on the team.

And I don't buy him not being to handle the spotlight. He's played for the Leafs for nearly a decade. He's played in the 4 Nations. He wants the spotlight, just doesn't enjoy the negativity obviously. Winning would change that and make him a legend forever. He knows this.
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He also knows that he's never going to win in Toronto so the negativity isn't going away.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
He doesn't enjoy the negativity. But I guarantee that the rest of the good things he has as a Leaf easily and dramatically outweigh whatever shit feelings come from negative commentary. There's nothing in hockey like the Toronto spotlight when the Leafs are doing well. They were one game away from reaching a whole new level of what that could be. He's not suddenly dying to run away now.
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They were miles away and are still miles away. If Mitch has two brain cells to rub together he knows in his bones that no Cup is coming to Toronto while he's there. He has a better chance of winning by going to Vegas or Miami or LA.
 
MindzEye said:
The dude hired people to defend him on social media. Tell me more about how he enjoys the spotlight
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It's even a step beyond that. I remember Mirtle alleging at one point that another one of the duties Marner's social media/PR team carries out is to brigade and attack members of the media online whenever they write or report something negative about Mitch.

He's one of the most thin-skinned little man-babies we've ever had on this team. Just totally obsessed with slights both real and imagined.
 
As for Pacioretty, he actually won me over enough in the playoffs that I'd be fine with bringing him back.

But it'd have to be on another bargain one-year deal. And it'd have to be with the explicit understanding that he'd be heavily load managed and even if healthy, would be sitting out a lot of games. In the end, I think that's why he was so effective in the playoffs for us---he was rested and completely healthy.
 
LeafGm said:
It's even a step beyond that. I remember Mirtle alleging at one point that another one of the duties Marner's social media/PR team carries out is to brigade and attack members of the media online whenever they write or report something negative about Mitch.

He's one of the most thin-skinned little man-babies we've ever had on this team. Just totally obsessed with slights both real and imagined.
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The thing that got me is Mitch went out of his way to tell everyone every chance he got that he doesn't go on social media or care what anyone says. It was so forced he was obviously full of shit.
 
LeafGm said:
As for Pacioretty, he actually won me over enough in the playoffs that I'd be fine with bringing him back.

But it'd have to be on another bargain one-year deal. And it'd have to be with the explicit understanding that he'd be heavily load managed and even if healthy, would be sitting out a lot of games. In the end, I think that's why he was so effective in the playoffs for us---he was rested and completely healthy.
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Thing is, I'm cool with bringing him back at the minimum as a 12th-13th forward. We know he can't stay healthy, and we know he can't play actual minutes for extended periods of time. But I'm entirely good with having a veteran who still has some skill left hanging around on our 4th line, like when Spezza was here.

Slotting him into the top 9 can fuck right off and continue fucking though.
 
he literally was one of our best in the playoffs. just like old guys across the league have been for their teams.

but nope, not good enough for us!
 
For me, the issue is how likely is it that his health will hold up and he'll even be available a year from now?

I'm not crying if they sign him for $900k, but would definitely look to find better.
 
Olds Playoffs rel xGF% (Forward Rank out of 184)
20. Duchene: 0.75
24. Marchand: 0.69
40. Ovechkin: 0.50
44. Seguin: 0.49
49. Benn: 0.44
56. Gallagher: 0.39
60. Saad: 0.38
74. Dadonov: 0.24
76. Perry: 0.23
97. Perron: 0.03
99. Giroux: 0.02
104. Staal: -0.04
105: Hall: -0.05
127: Gourde: -0.33
140: Kopitar: -0.54
152: Schenn: -0.72
Pacioretty: -0.72
 
zeke said:
he literally was one of our best in the playoffs.
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He was? He had a 38% xG.

Yeah, he was involved in scoring plays at a decent rate (with 21% shooting and 14.5% oish) but he was one of the culprits when it came to us getting caved the fuck in at 5v5 against Florida.
 
LeafGm said:
As for Pacioretty, he actually won me over enough in the playoffs that I'd be fine with bringing him back.

But it'd have to be on another bargain one-year deal. And it'd have to be with the explicit understanding that he'd be heavily load managed and even if healthy, would be sitting out a lot of games. In the end, I think that's why he was so effective in the playoffs for us---he was rested and completely healthy.
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yeah, this is how I feel
 
I was always a fan of the Pacioretty signing and it very obviously was proven to be the correct decision in the end. But he was already fringe-ish overall and counting on him to play a big role while 1 year older is a bit ambitious. Keep him obviously but don't expect much.

And honestly I'd almost feel the same about Marchand, despite being a completely different caliber of player. You sign these guys hoping for the best but you can't be surprised if they fall off a cliff. Need to plan for that. Pacio is low risk, ok reward at league min. Marchand is gonna be high risk high reward at the contract he'll get. I'd be fine with both, though the Marchand deal has way more potential to be uggo.
 
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