The Maple Leafs are in need of a trade or two — if only they weren’t hamstrung by their own front office ineptitude.
asserted
they → hamstring → ineptitude
The Leafs are the only team in the NHL above the salary cap right now, and above it heading into next season.
asserted
Leafs → head → season
That means they can’t make a transaction of any kind without money going out for any money coming in.
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money → mean → kind
The NHL provides every team with an up-to-date salary list on a daily basis — detailing where every team is right now and how every team is set up for the following season, based on the complicated rules of their own salary cap.
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team → provide → cap
When general manager John Chayka traded for the very talented Kirill Marchenko, he made the giant error of immediately signing Marchenko long term and for big money.
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he → trade → money
The minute the deal was registered with the league was the minute the Leafs put themselves in a most unfortunate position in this season going nowhere.
asserted
Leafs → register → season
The Leafs can’t make moves to make their roster better — not just because they don’t necessarily have the right pieces to make a deal — they can’t make moves to make their roster better because of something known as tagging in the NHL.
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roster → make → NHL
The simple definition: You can’t spend what you do not have in the NHL.
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you → spend → NHL
For all his youth and apparent brilliance, Chayka should have known that.
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Chayka → know → that
He should have known to hire a replacement for the cap master Brandon Pridham, who used to work that kind of financial magic for the Leafs.
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who → know → Leafs
Pridham didn’t want any part of Chayka when the new GM was hired by the Leafs, and the same was true of the GM and the former assistant GM who helped write the NHL’s salary cap rules.
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who → want → rules
Here’s what happens when a lack of experience in the sporting conglomerate is obvious.
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lack → ’ → conglomerate
Keith Pelley, the boss of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, hired Chayka as GM.
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Pelley → hire → GM
In interviewing Chayka, Pelley either didn’t bother to ask who would be the Leafs capologist or whether one was actually necessary.
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one → interview → Chayka
Some people in Pelley’s position before have figured that any accountant with his money can do the math to understand the details of the cap.
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accountant → figure → cap
But that’s not necessarily the case.
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that → ’ → ?
In this case, it was was clear that the Leafs cut off their nose to spite their face, and did so because there was no hockey team president, no man with experience, to say: Why are we doing this?
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we → cut → this
The Leafs lost their fourth game in a row Tuesday night, falling 6-3 to the Colorado Avalanche.
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Leafs → lose → Avalanche
They had their moments in the game, which they seem to have most nights, but in the words of first-year head coach, Jim Hiller, you can’t make multiple poor decisions and get away with it.
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you → have → it
“You can’t make 1-2-3-4 in a row,” said Hiller.
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Hiller → make → row
“That’s how you lose.”
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you → ’ → ?
You lose when you make mistakes on the ice and off.
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you → lose → ice
You lose when you might want to make roster changes but can’t because your own naivete is present.
uncertain
naivete → lose → changes
Most goals are scored because a team messed up something.
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team → score → something
Those kind of mistakes you can tolerate in the game.
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you → tolerate → game
What you can’t — and the players deserve better than this — is a front office making the mistakes of amateurs.
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players → deserve → amateurs
There are ways of getting around overspending in hockey if you do things without the NHL knowing.
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NHL → be → things
Many a general manager has signed a player for next season, with an agent playing along, and the contract sits in the desk of the GM, and not necessarily activated until the following season.
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contract → sign → season
There are general managers in the Hockey Hall of Fame who signed players in their day but didn’t register the contracts until they needed to be registered.
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they → be → contracts
That’s the game played within the game or inside the game.
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That → ’ → game
That’s a way of taking care of the present and the future all at the same time.
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That → ’ → time
So now Chayka has a problem: Twenty games into his first season with the Leafs, the team is on pace to have 76 points in 84 games.
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team → have → games
That won’t get the Leafs anywhere near the playoffs.
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That → get → playoffs
And it won’t put the Leafs in a position to do much in the off-season with the salaries strangled by Chayka’s excitement in providing marginal free agents with contracts longer than they needed to be.
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they → put → contracts
And the Leafs don’t get the break of having an early first-round pick this year or next year, no matter where they might finish, because they don’t have their draft picks in either of the next two seasons.
uncertain
they → get → seasons
They have players such as captain Auston Matthews and his wingers, Jack Roslovic and Easton Cowan, having excellent seasons.
asserted
players → have → seasons
If you listen to players in the quiet Leafs dressing room, you will quickly learn the key to playing winning hockey: Pucks in deep.
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you → listen → hockey
That’s no secret.
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That → ’ → ?
You hear that after every loss.
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You → hear → loss
But no player comes out and says we’re hamstrung because our front office messed up the salary cap.
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office → come → cap
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
