NHL Thread

[havok24]

The Leafs are awful lol

 

The Panthers just had a 3 on 1 while the Leafs were on the PP lol. I'm enjoying this circus show.

[Frag]

At least we're not the Islanders:

 

[theblujay]

The Leafs are in biiiiig trouble.

[Nox]

Thank god Dave Nonis was locked up to a long term deal.

[theblujay]

I don't even really watch Ottawa. To be honest, I don't really have any emotional attachment to any sports teams anymore. I still enjoy watching, but aside from teams I like in a given season for fantasy interests, I can't really bring myself to give a f*** about who wins a game.

 

That's kinda sad

[Laika]

I don't even really watch Ottawa. To be honest, I don't really have any emotional attachment to any sports teams anymore. I still enjoy watching, but aside from teams I like in a given season for fantasy interests, I can't really bring myself to give a f*** about who wins a game.

 

Translation: loser talk from a dead inside Jays / Sens fan

[GD]

Blues sign Steen to a 3/17.4 extension, a cap hit of 5.8m per season. Anyone else not feeling that for a guy who's sitting on a 19.6 S%?

[GD]

They aren't paying just for the goals. Every year he's one of the league's elite puck possession players. A lot of Blues fans called him their best forward even before this offensive explosion.

 

Didn't look at the possession stats and quite frankly I'm not great at assessing them. Assuming he regresses to his career means, do you think his possession numbers are worth $5.8m?

[Laika]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujWCO3f15Og

[mitchf]

I've watched about 6 or 7 Leaf games this year and Paul Ranger/Mark Fraser stick out like a sore thumb. They're not NHL quality, why play them?

 

If it's Randy Carlyle you have to fire him because punting possession and in return giving up goals is the one only thing a coach absolutely cannot allow under any circumstance.

[Dylan]

Woohoo.....big W!

 

Missed the game, how'd they look?

[Dylan]

Ottawa is now tied for the 5th-worst record in the league. Silfverberg, Noeson and a top-5 pick for two years of Ryan while missing the playoffs in at least one of those years? Fire Murray please.

 

Would you rather clarkson and bozak's contracts?

 

Both teams are run by fools

[havok24]

Good, end to end action, positionally sound, and the only reason it went to OT, Mike Smith. Reimer played well and Kessel just missed about 6 or 7 stretch passes for breakaways. Franson was a beast.

 

I might be wrong, but I thought Leafs were really fortunate to get out of that game with 2 points. Smith was solid, but it seemed like after the first 20 minutes the Coyotes had more zone time and were taking over. Then again, I didn't exactly watch the whole game from start to finish so I'm probably wrong.

[Cooler Heads Prevail]

Didn't look at the possession stats and quite frankly I'm not great at assessing them. Assuming he regresses to his career means, do you think his possession numbers are worth $5.8m?

 

It was a team friendly deal I can't believe you'd question this. He'd get far more money elsewhere and a longer term.

[Sammy225]

I watched most of the game last night and like I have been telling people all year I think Smith is either your 1 or 2 goalie for Canada.

[Nox]

11 regulation wins in 37 games (A cherry picked 1 in their last 16). All possession metrics equally gory.

 

Leafs are a disaster.

[mitchf]

Ottawa is now tied for the 5th-worst record in the league. Silfverberg, Noeson and a top-5 pick for two years of Ryan while missing the playoffs in at least one of those years? Fire Murray please.

Don't tell your average Sens fan that Ryan will only be in Ottawa for 2 years. It will get violent.

[mitchf]

JVR, Kessel and Raymond don't have an ounce of defense to give in the dzone.

Add in guys like McClement, Fraser, Ranger and the fourth line giving away possession like it's their job.

Top it off with Carlyle using the "let them attack us" approach and you get a team that cannot and will not sustain success.

 

Leafs are in a tough place because Carlyle isn't the guy, but in order to fire him management has use up their one and only mulligan.

[Cooler Heads Prevail]

11 regulation wins in 37 games (A cherry picked 1 in their last 16). All possession metrics equally gory.

 

Leafs are a disaster.

 

That's an illogical conclusion, they are in a playoff spot, have survived some huge injuries at their weakest position, and rarely aren't competitive in any game they play. Any objective observer knows this team is on the upswing the next few years with their young core.

 

So you say the Leafs are a disaster. That makes half the league worse then a "disaster", whatever that is supposed to mean, and I'd hate to think what the Oilers are supposed to be at this point, a team that rebuilt their team in the same time the Leafs did with higher draft picks.

 

If we are to use the ideas people use all the time on here to evaluate how baseball teams are built, well the Leafs got much younger, have several team friendly contracts, fitted in some nice free agents on cheap riskless contracts ( eg Raymond ), and recent draft choices seem to be doing well ( Kadri, Reilly, Van Reimsdyk via Schenn, and a few guys in their system still ).

 

But I guess it's easier to just claim they are horrible all the time. Which they clearly are not. And in terms of a rebuild, are you not aware of how bad and old this team was when Burke started ? And Burke stumbled out of the game to start making that Kessel trade.

[Cooler Heads Prevail]

JVR, Kessel and Raymond don't have an ounce of defense to give in the dzone.

Add in guys like McClement, Fraser, Ranger and the fourth line giving away possession like it's their job.

Top it off with Carlyle using the "let them attack us" approach and you get a team that cannot and will not sustain success.

 

Leafs are in a tough place because Carlyle isn't the guy, but in order to fire him management has use up their one and only mulligan.

 

Leafs aren't in a tough place at all. They are a young team, they have the most valuable franchise ( in $ ) in the league ( with the salary cap set to go up ), and have progressed from having one of the worst and oldest teams in the league only a few years ago. Fan and team expectations are quite moderate, if they make the playoffs a second year in a row everyone will be very happy ( maybe not on this forum but so what ). If any of their current problems are deemed important ( re centers or defence quality ), they have at least two trading chips ( Gardner and either goalie ) that could be moved if needed. Phaneuf might be worth moving now to a strong contendor if its decided he's not in their long term plans. The real question is can Gardner be one of their top guys in the coming years or not, I think Reilly probably will be.

[GD]

"Pretty much every move the Leafs made the last 4 years has been golden."

[Dylan]

Things are all fine and dandy for the leafs if there wasn't this thing called a salary cap.. Having 10+ million stuck on clarkson and bozak for the next 4 years is a huge sting

[Cooler Heads Prevail]

"Pretty much every move the Leafs made the last 4 years has been golden."

 

I stand by that statement with the exception of the Kessel trade which became bad when the Leafs draft picks ended up being much higher then Burke expected ( no excuse he exercised bad judgement on that move ). It may surprise you to hear me reiterate this opinion but I invite you to look at where there roster was at 4-5 years ago, and note the age of the roster and where they ended up in the standings.

 

There is no doubt they've done a steller job rebuilding this team. Which is why I don't have a lot of patience for the nonstop complaining about them, it's an entertaining team with far greater chances for success then where they came from not long ago. You think a Stanley Cup winner arrives overnight from a team that literally finished second last in the NHL not many years ago ?

[Cooler Heads Prevail]

Things are all fine and dandy for the leafs if there wasn't this thing called a salary cap.. Having 10+ million stuck on clarkson and bozak for the next 4 years is a huge sting

 

The complaints about those contracts are overdone. Bozak contributes to this team, you may not like him but the team results confirm his value to them at their weakest spot. Clarkson it's too early to evaluate, New Jersey didn't want to lose him ( offered similar money afaik ) and they have a history of good management on that team. I think you've just lost track of where the market is at. I'll give you Clarkson and Phaneuf ( if signed ) as the only real risks in my opinion. I'd be trading either Gardner or Phaneuf this season for a center or a cheaper stay at home defenceman, but I don't follow hockey close enough to know which one of these guys they need to keep. Might just depend on what they can get back.

 

Cap will grow every year next few years. This will open up room when the young core gets more expensive.

[theblujay]

Lol Leafs

[Cooler Heads Prevail]

Lol at Bozak comments. Bozak should be considered a fringe AHL player.

 

Lol at your emotionally based opinion that has ZERO reality to it. Tell me something, what is the Leafs W/L record this year and last with Bozak in their line up ? Now how did they do without him ? And more importantly, real hockey executives value him far more then a fringe AHL player. But you know what, I see you are from Calgary and you have the Flames to cheer for now so good luck with that.

[GD]

Tell me something, what is the Leafs W/L record this year and last with Bozak in their line up ? Now how did they do without him ?

 

This isn't basketball. There are 20+ guys on each roster. W/L record with anyone in/not in their lineup is probably just noise, even if it does point in favor of your conclusion.

[havok24]

This isn't basketball. There are 20+ guys on each roster. W/L record with anyone in/not in their lineup is probably just noise, even if it does point in favor of your conclusion.

 

I got an infraction and several warnings from the Leafs forum for referring to Bozak as a "fringe NHLer" and giving reasons as to why I thought that. f*** hockey fans man.

[havok24]

Lol at your emotionally based opinion that has ZERO reality to it. Tell me something, what is the Leafs W/L record this year and last with Bozak in their line up ? Now how did they do without him ? And more importantly, real hockey executives value him far more then a fringe AHL player. But you know what, I see you are from Calgary and you have the Flames to cheer for now so good luck with that.

 

He isn't wrong though. Bozak is a replacement level talent signed to a long-term contract by a completely incompetent front office team.

[GD]

I got an infraction and several warnings from the Leafs forum for referring to Bozak as a "fringe NHLer" and giving reasons as to why I thought that. f*** hockey fans man.

 

Oh man lol. That's embarrassing. The place as a whole is embarrassing. Except for the one guy who predicted the Peter Holland trade roughly two years in advance. That was pretty f***in awesome.

 

Lolleafs.