[Spoilers For Barry:]

Spoilers For Barry:


So I guess the big questions heading into the finale is whether or not Barry will be able to save Sally and their son from Hank and his Chechen gangsters and what consequences Mr. Cousineau will face for now being suspected in being complicit in the death of his girlfriend. Then of course there's Fuchs who has fully embraced his Raven persona and seems dead set on exacting some sort of revenge on Barry for the torture he faced in Prison over the last 8 years.

This show is a Comedy.

I mean, it WAS a comedy! I actually like this season better than the previous. I just felt like for a lot of Barry he was getting away with things almost consequence free and it all seemed too easy (although that never completely goes away). I like that everything's finally come to a head.

And it's still very, very funny when it needs to be. The conversation in last night's episode about The Fast and the Furious movies or NoHo Hank's "Why am I still opening these boxes?" were great. I'll miss it when it's gone.

I did like that... unfortunately I thought the last two episodes were a bit Game of Thronesy in the sense that everything seemed extra convenient and the show runners just wanted to wrap it up, which is unfortunate. The season could've been the best, but they really, really didn't stick the landing at all. I get what they were trying to do and some aspects were interesting, but again, it's like they just wanted the whole thing to wrap and just made the ending simple and easy. The fact that Jim Moss had Barry tied up and just... like... forgot he had him... I guess? is unforgivable.

MacKinnon is at 12.6M x 8

I see Matthews taking 13.4M min for 4 years so he can snag one more big contract upon that expiry when there is also more clarity about the cap going up. He'd be 31 at that time and probably 16-18M AAV at that point.

So great that we won't get a reasonable aav or term when most other teams seem to get it from their stars.

https://twitter.com/minormidgetgthl/status/1661569262350213124
Every series is a bit different and hockey is very probabilistic, but after three straight instances of the exact same thing happening... I think this guy has a fair point. The teams that beat us get warmed up against us, still have the legs, rhythm, and confidence to go on to the Finals. So where I would once take solace in losing to a great team...

I mean my counter to this would be:

Leafs lose to Montreal - win two more series after this to get to the Cup finals
Leafs lose to Tampa - win two more series after this to get to the Cup finals
Leafs lose to Florida - win next series to get to the Cup finals

So while the Leafs aren't punishing teams they are also losing to teams that continue to advance deep beyond the Leafs series.

My counter to that is the Leafs never looked dominant enough in 7yrs to go on a long run (I'd argue even after the trade deadline they didn't seem exactly right), pretty much ever compared to every other team that's made the finals in those years. One way or another all those teams did. The Panthers are a bit of an anomaly but their approach is a bit like Columbus: ride the hot goalie and counter punch to hell, and definitely seemed primed once they knocked off the best regular season team of all time. 

https://theathletic.com/4542179/2023/05/24/pittsburgh-penguins-franchise-nhl-playoff-streak/

Interesting peak into the intrigue of the Pen's front office. Wondering if one day we get an expose like that on the Leafs' recent machinations.

I guess Carolina need to sack their GM and trade their core players now.

I mean Svech and Patches were injured... they at least looked dominant in their first two series. This is a team one could make a better case for running it back imo.

Wild that the Panthers were able to sweep. I expected a tight series but it really is crazy how every tight game has gone Florida's way. I really have no idea how the finals gonna play out, but one of two different expansion teams are going to win. Le sigh.

On a separate note, I can't seem to find a clip of Jordan Staals trip... Was it call worthy?

Well, this is about as lopsided as it gets.

Why didn't they do this on Sunday when I was at the game? Lol

Yeah, that makes sense. I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would over think "The end to the season made Dubas re-evaluate what he felt he needed professionally to progress with the Leafs and the Leafs/Shanahan apparently balked at what he wanted".

Im actually surprised you can be surprised at what people should or shouldn't think about the situation based on what is essentially one sentence of new information provided by Kyle via tweet.

A) I didn't say I was surprised and B) this isn't specific to what Dubas said. Dubas taking stock of the season as a whole and how it informs what he wanted from the job going forward would make sense regardless of what he said and, contrary to what has been stated by some, isn't a sign of dishonesty or unreliability. It would be true of most people looking for a new contract.

Dubas taking stock is well and good. Most people looking for a new contract would be going through that process - especially in the wake of a renewal last summer being turned down.

But it is not unfair to expect a bunch of that stock got taken during the nearly five years he was on the job. There should have been considerable reflection before last week when he didn't get a renewal last summer.

All the personnel decisions ended two months ago - at the deadline. Whatever thoughts he might have had on autonomy or the decision approval process should have been pretty well developed.  And Dubas couldn't figure that out until last Monday? Really?

His agent was able to deliver comparable NHL GM salary figures, etc that are at his finger tips. That didn't have to wait until last week either.

The stuff about it affecting family is not as likely to get as much sympathy in the league because most NHL GMs, head coaches and NHL players along with many others in pro sports go through similar stuff. If you can't stand the heat, you have to get out of the kitchen. Dubas had five years to take stock of that.

Many or most of the conclusions from those considerations above should have developed long before the last week and been presented to Shanahan.

According to Shanahan, Dubas delayed finalization of the process but Shanahan proceeded to work things out with his agent.

Some folks were not in favor of renewing him last summer. Since then, he's won one playoff round in five years. So he was on shaky ground. That is not a time to play games.

Dubas should have been more forthright sooner than he was. When he was not, that behavior triggers mistrust and loss of faith - particularly when it risked the behavior might be construed that he delayed the process to get leverage. If Dubas had issues, they should have been on the table long before last Monday.

What Dubas said publicly was catastrophic to any attempts to rein that in. The media and social networking were all over it. Board members were made aware when they might not have been otherwise. As Shanahan claimed, what Dubas said publicly (and did) was very significant. Stuff Dubas said last Monday and did between then and last Thursday and stuff he didn't do before then, cost him his job. He had nearly five years to take stock of his situation, man up and present it. Making the statement he did and waiting until last week was a fatal strategy or execution.

I whole heartedly agree here. Shanahan may have felt Dubas wasn't negotiating in good faith. He met face to face with Dubas on Wednesday (which is more than a fair amount of time to decide if he agreed with the offer or not) and received no clarity on his status only to make what could be perceived as a disrespectful counter offer a day later and an email that he'd like to come back. Some would argue why didn't they just say no and make another offer? Because they believed that Dubas asking for another financial package after the framework was agreed upon via email was the additional indication that he'd only come back on his specific terms and thus he wasn't into his role as it was laid out and I can see why that would piss people off, especially after his presser.

Just an anecdote, and obviously the stakes are much different... in my early twenties I was working two jobs: part time retail and part time at a not for profit. I was offered a full time keyholder position at retail and I asked for a couple of days to think about it. Both retail and the NGO weren't ideal jobs for various reasons but I reached out to my manager two days later saying I wanted the keyholder role. She said she had already picked someone else for it because she had the sense they wanted it more.

Now, I'm not saying what she did was right, but I learned pretty early in my life that there's always someone else who would really want your opportunity, especially if you don't have much leverage. You would hope a 37 year old man of his stature would have that kind of awareness.

[at that point, there was a dramatic shift in my thinking]

I could somewhat understand the concern levels if Dubas like took his entire family on a 2-week vacation to Costa Rica to ponder his future or something, but the dude was back in the office working on Wednesday. That comment was way overblown.

Well, the fanbase didn't generate the angst.  Shanahan said the comments were the beginning of his second thoughts.

https://ca.style.yahoo.com/maple-leafs-president-brendan-shanahan-reveals-why-he-fired-gm-kyle-dubas-211839443.html

"The next day though, I would say while watching Kyle's press [conference]... I think at that point, there was a dramatic shift in my thinking as I drove home that night as Kyle expressed, he may not want to be our GM and I have to take that very seriously," Shanahan continued.

"As I said to him the day before, I understood those feelings and the pressure players are under, the pressure management, coaches, family members are under. But it was a very real possibility at that point that I would be needing to look somewhere else. As part of my job, that is what I began to do while still hoping Kyle and I would come to some resolution."

Dubas gave Shanahan, the board, anyone related to the team and the fans cause to be concerned with his remarks outlining uncertainty. Shanahan suddenly had to begin to prepare for potentially getting a new GM.

"You're talking about the Vatican if you're Catholic, you're talking the centre of the hockey universe, you're talking about one of the most important jobs in hockey, running the Toronto Maple Leafs," Burke said. "It's a dream job."

He did say he was surprised at what he said "publicly." I think that part's highly important, and may even go beyond just Shanahan.

Yeah, that makes sense. I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would over think "The end to the season made Dubas re-evaluate what he felt he needed professionally to progress with the Leafs and the Leafs/Shanahan apparently balked at what he wanted".

Im actually surprised you can be surprised at what people should or shouldn't think about the situation based on what is essentially one sentence of new information provided by Kyle via tweet.

I could somewhat understand the concern levels if Dubas like took his entire family on a 2-week vacation to Costa Rica to ponder his future or something, but the dude was back in the office working on Wednesday. That comment was way overblown.

It's just another example of how the fanbase creates problems for itself. Fans pay way too much attention to clean out the locker room day so if something is said that upsets them it's attached significance because they care so much about clean out the locker room day. Why would anyone care what gets said on that day if it doesn't then conform to anything that actually happens?

If I could be a relatively informed fan without knowing the GM's name it would make no difference to me. I'm a fan of the hockey team, not the corporate structure.

What the fans think really should have no bearing on how the franchise is run, and generally it hasn't or the core 4 would've been long gone by now.

I find it incredibly bizarre that we can somewhat legitimately blame an off-the-cuff comment that Dubas made in a press conference for his demise as the Leafs GM... and potentially (key word: potentially) the demise of the Matthews/Leafs era.

Seriously. This is just such an overblown Only-In-Toronto sort of issue. Dubas, being interviewed after another very disappointing playoff exit, says something pretty mild about the effect the job is having on him and people are acting like he went out like Scarface in Half-Baked.

Only in Toronto for this sport, type of issue. The Leafs and their fan base is hardly unique in the vast world of sport.

No question Shanahan and the board bear some responsibility for where we find ourselves today. However, a significant portion of the responsibility is also on Kyle Dubas.

People are accusing Shanahan of being unprofessional.  But it was Shanahan who advised Dubas against doing a presser until the deal was done, but Dubas insisted.  He then proceeded to share his personal issues in public — a very questionable decision and, to many people, including me, an unprofessional one.

Again, I like many things about Dubas but he is by no means a fully polished manager.  His set-to with the fans in Tampa was, as he himself admitted, probably foolish.

So I agree with cw here: there's blame to be had on both sides.

I'm trying to think of something I could possibly care less about as a fan than whether or not our GM had fully mastered the art of saying absolutely nothing honest or interesting during a press conference.

I do care if the GM of my team says he's not sure if he needs to take the year off to recalibrate or not, so it's not really about whether he gives non-answers or not, even if you don't care.

As an aside, you can do the presser in a way that doesn't sew seeds of doubt into a large fraction of the fanbase and ownership and still be relatively honest. Like just saying "I'd like to be back and we're working towards that" or some such and leave it at that. How hard is that?

I think this is a tragic, lousy development for the franchise. Shanahan may need to be held to account when the dust settles. No GM is going to get fully plugged in to the talent, agents, coaches and staff in 40 days. Dubas probably had a better chance to patch it up for another shot. But I wouldn't let him hold the franchise to ransom either.

Lots of great points, but I'm not sure about the last line. MLSE let the GM situation go until 5 weeks before massive player decisions need to be made. If no plausible replacement can get up to speed to do those player deals by the time they need to happen, is that Kyle Dubas holding the franchise ransom? On the contrary, it would seem a lot like Shanahan and the board blind-folded and zip-tied themselves here. Lowered themselves into the basement pit. Applied the lotion. Etc. it's hard not to blame the organization for giving Dubas an advantage like that to press — if he had it, of course! We'll see around July 1

No question that the reported decision by the board to decline an extension last summer helped light the wick on where we find ourselves today. In fairness or for some perspective, I would add that it is pretty tough to justify an extension with the talent and resources Dubas had to work with and an 0-4 playoff record as of last summer. Publicly, Dubas did not fault Shanahan or the board for that. So Dubas' failure to win a round in the playoffs four years running led to the decision to not offer him an extension last summer. Some might not agree with the decision but the board was not being a bunch of total jerks arriving at an unfounded decision - they had their reasons based upon his results vs the opportunity he was given as GM.

Shanahan and the board agreed to initiate discussions two and a half months ago which should have been plenty of time to get a deal done. After the trade deadline, GM duties were lighter. But Kyle passed it to his agent and did not want to get deeply into it until the end of the playoffs.

No question Shanahan and the board bear some responsibility for where we find ourselves today. However, a significant portion of the responsibility is also on Kyle Dubas.

Right, and it takes two to tango here. One side good, other side bad is just probably not reasonable or accurate. Unfortunately sometimes professional relationships can and do fall apart, and run into irreconcilable differences.

The players have all the leverage here and considering we couldn't sell them on reasonable rates with Dubas when Dubas had all the leverage then I really don't see a difference.

Not to re-hash all of the old talk of their contracts but I think Dubas did get pretty reasonable rates on those first deals but, regardless, things and people change. You're negotiating now with guys who have earned many millions of dollars. You're negotiating with guys who might be looking to settle down more. You're also negotiating with guys who've seen some of the results of a team being top-heavy salary wise. There's really no way to know how any of these guys might be going into the negotiations.

And now they're going into a situation where instead of negotiating with someone they might like and trust, who's got one of their old teammates around as an advocate, you might have someone they don't know and who might want to get rid of some of them.

The new guy may be negotiating with players that have suddenly noticed the grass on the other side of the fence is looking pretty darn green.

I think dumping Lou before those post-ELC deals was, despite all his failings, a mistake; one possible advantage the team could've had in those negotiations was putting an intimidating HoFer across the table from their agents.

It will be something if another poorly timed GM dismissal has more dire consequences. 

Lou has plenty of bad contracts so that is way over blown as to his effect.

His Marleau and Zaitsev deals were pretty insane.