Oh so Berube saying he wants JT back 100% is really untrue but we are supposed to believe he loves every single part of Marner’s game top to bottom and when he said 100% THAT TIME he meant it but not the other time? lol Really?
Berube wants JT the person back. If he wants the player back, he’s an idiot. The stats don’t lie. Tavares was one of the biggest reasons they lost to Florida. Clear as day. He didn’t score in 6 out of 7 games and he was on the ice for the most EVGA. That is a garbage loser player at 34 years old who will not be getting better as he marches toward 40.
If you are saying JT shouldn’t be back because he’s ‘a loser’ you have to acknowledge the same lack of success Marner has had at the NHL playoff level don’t you?
Wrong again. JT has been through his prime. And yet Marner still has more career playoff points despite being 6/7 years younger. Marner hasn’t gone through his prime yet. Marner has the opportunity to show he’s better than what he has been. JT will only get worse from here.
JT is slow, Marner is soft, JT was shitty offensively vs Florida, Marner was a VERY far cry from the 100 point player he was all season.
Marner isn’t horrid in the defensive zone and clearly outscored Tavares. Still a PPG player even if it wasn’t his 100 point pace. Tavares became a 50 point pace and a minus player. With the easier match-up.
Marner had 1 goal in the entire series, went pointless in games 5 and 7 and was a -2 in both games and got a gravy assist on a shovel pass in game 6. If you want to talk about JT not performing in Florida that’s fine and true but let’s also acknowledge that Marner was not good either. Marner had 1 point in the last 4 games of the series, a series in which THEY BOTH sucked offensively.
Marner had a GAME WINNING GOAL. I’ll take the GWG over the 2 goals in a losing effort. Again, Tavares had 0 points in 6 out of 7 games. He sucked the bag the entire series except one game. That “1 point” was a primary assist on a GWG. So, again, Marner helped win TWO of the THREE games they beat Florida. How many did Tavares help win? NONE. Wake the fuck up to reality.
You undervalue JT to a drastic degree for whatever reason – you can hate him that’s fine but pretending he only brings the value that a Corey Perry does to a team is just so far from the truth. JT on the open market would get 4 to 4 M from many teams – he’s not a 1M player.
Undervalue? Tavares is a career loser. He’s never won a fucking thing in his NHL career. Not one award. Not one trophy. Not one Cup. Nothing. And he is past his prime. Considering him like Perry is still overvaluing what he brings because at least Perry was a winner. Tavares “came home” to be the 2nd highest paid player in the NHL and did what? Dick on a stick.
Tavares is only useful as a 1 million dollar player because his defense is so bad you need to spend another 5 million to help him break even. If some idiot team wants to give him more money, go ahead. Take him. Enjoy losing in the playoffs as Tavares has done his entire fucking career.
If you want to talk about saving money to create a more balanced roster the move is obvious and likely the one that will happen, (much to your obvious displeasure) and Marner will walk and the Leafs will have 13M or more of cap space to use on creating that balance. The concept that they have to spend money to support JT or what you claim are his weaknesses is fine, Mitch Marner alone can’t bring success to this team so they would or will have to spend money to make that happen to overcome the things missing in his game (size, toughness to start) as well as a sniper to finish his passes. If you want to go down that path then you can say some of what the Leafs pay Matthews is for that exact reason.
13 million in cap space and you still can’t name who is actually going to come to Toronto to be better than keeping Marner. Going to spend it on another garbage UFA like Tavares? Bennett and Marchand are staying right where they are (for good reason) and the Leafs will be left with scraps that will fair no better.
Finally as far as ‘when’ Tre and Berube look at the tapes to try and figure out why they lost – you seriously don’t think they have done that already and Berube is saying he 100% wants JT back and will suddenly change his mind when he finally does so? You can’t possibly be serious on this.
If this team brings back Tavares and Rielly and let’s Marner walk for nothing, enjoy the playoff failures while Marner wins a Cup like Kadri did. They’ll be well earned.