Sportsnet reporter discovers something interesting about what fans want to see happen with the Leafs this summer
Last year, following a loss to the Habs in 7 games after holding a 3-1 series lead, Leaf fans were calling for the team to be blown up, and GM Kyle Dubas and head coach Sheldon Keefe to be fired. They wanted Marner traded, Nylander traded, Rielly traded - pretty much anyone not named Auston Matthews they wanted gone.
My, oh my how a year can change things. The Leafs failed once again to get out of the first round, but they took the back-to-back Cup champs and the refs to Game 7 where they played their asses off. The media has thrown speculation out about what will happen already regarding the core 4, Dubas and others with many of those speculatory thoughts being trade everyone. However, the majority of Leafs fans, an overwhelming and surprisingly high 75% of them, want the team to "run it back" and keep as much of the team intact as possible, with only minor changes.
The Leafs had the best regular season in franchise history in Keefe's first full 82-game season as a coach. They got another Rocket Richard Trophy season from Matthews and Marner's game was taken to another level. If the Leafs are to make any changes to the core 4, it would be internal lineup changes, such as moving Tavares to the wing or moving a Nylander or Marner to center.
Of course, with cap constraints and 283K in performance bonuses carrying over to next year's cap, moves will have to be made to shed salary. There are a lot of ways the Leafs could free up cap space, and given that Dubas and company will have their media availability tomorrow, we will know more about their plans then.
| POLL | ||
MAI 16 | 1236 ANSWERS Sportsnet reporter discovers something interesting about what fans want to see happen with the Leafs this summer What changes should the Leafs make this summer? | ||
| Full blown fire sale | 99 | 8 % |
| Replace Dubas | 145 | 11.7 % |
| Replace Keefe | 105 | 8.5 % |
| Run it back with minor tweaks | 887 | 71.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
