2019 Toronto Maple Leafs Offseason Discussion
- Thread starter herman
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Phileas Fogg
New member
Yeah, the KHL is much more manly. Loaded handguns in the locker room, planes that may or may not take off or land, and if you have a heart attack on the bench, they dump your body on the pavement in front of the arena so that people can take pictures before attempting any sort of resuscitation.
But no one sucks up to the coach. Probably because he's working at the borscht concessions up until the puck drop.
But no one sucks up to the coach. Probably because he's working at the borscht concessions up until the puck drop.
herman said:
This post frustrates me deeply because I was so close to forgetting that Oz existed.
herman
Well-known member
https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/2019/8/8/20791361/much-ado-about-igor-ozhiganov-mike-babcock-what-did-he-really-say-about-licking-maple-leafs
This is a good article outlining the difficulties there can be in adjusting to a new team, let alone a completely different culture and language. Maybe I should've couched it better when sharing that tweet, but I think most people here understand implicitly that the Twitter format loses a good deal of nuance in the character limit.
I am wondering how the Leafs are going to handle Mikheyev's adjustment without Zaitsev or Komarov around. I like how they brought in additional Russian speakers to dev camp to bolster Semyon Der-Arguchintsev's efforts.
This is a good article outlining the difficulties there can be in adjusting to a new team, let alone a completely different culture and language. Maybe I should've couched it better when sharing that tweet, but I think most people here understand implicitly that the Twitter format loses a good deal of nuance in the character limit.
I am wondering how the Leafs are going to handle Mikheyev's adjustment without Zaitsev or Komarov around. I like how they brought in additional Russian speakers to dev camp to bolster Semyon Der-Arguchintsev's efforts.
herman said:
Dubas says he speaks pretty good English so at least a translator won't be necessary.
Highlander
Active member
Babcock must have one clean buttZanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Going through KHL rosters and spotting all the former NHLers/Leafs can be pretty fun sometimes, here's Mikheyev's team last season:
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0050162019.html
Evgeny Medvedev, defence: Tried to break into the NHL at the age of 33 with Philly a year before Zaitsev crossed over. Things didn't work out on or off the ice and he was back in the KHL the following year.
David Desharnais, centre: Played for the Habs for almost a decade, had a career high of 60 points in 11/12. Probably always played higher in the line-up than he should have due to their lack of high-end centres. Fizzled out of the NHL once he hit 30 years old.
Cody Franson: defence: Everyone's favourite RHD! His first season in the KHL. Had a decent season offensively there but exploded in the playoffs with 18 points in 19 games. Not enough for a NHL comeback it seems though.
Alexei Emelin, defence: Another long-time Hab. This was his first season back in Russia.
Ville Pokka, defence: This name might be familiar to some here since he was a player some would often target in trade rumours. An Islanders trade pick who was traded to Chicago. Pokka was a right-handed defenceman who generally put up good scoring numbers in the AHL. He never got a shot in the NHL though.
Taylor Beck, forward: A former Leaf! Sorta. Beck was a journeyman 4th liner with 92 NHL games. The Leafs acquired him from Nashville for Jamie Devane in July of 2015, and in September of 2015 he was dealt to the Islanders in the Grabner trade.
Viktor Stalberg, forward: A former Leaf! The big, speedy winger is 33 years which doesn't make me feel old in any way.
Maxime Talbot, forward: I love seeing names like these. Talbot has over 700 NHL games played and was considered a pretty good 4C in the league for a long-time. Was always a bit of a fan of his because I once took part in an Eastside Hockey Manager simulation league where two randomly selected players had their potential turned up to the max and they became huge stars. I had the Penguins and my two players were Talbot and Erik Christensen. Good times. When I saw his name I actually assumed it must have been a different Talbot, can't believe he's still playing.
Alexander Perezhogin, forward: A third former Hab! He only played 2 seasons with Montreal over a decade ago. He's best known for being suspended an entire AHL season for a stick swinging incident.
Kris Versteeg, forward: This former Leaf took his talents overseas for the first time in his career. He only played 11 games in the KHL before deciding he hated it and left the team. He'd later finish the 18/19 season with a team in the Swedish league. He must not have enjoyed that either because he signed an AHL contract to play with Chicago's affiliate for this upcoming season. Versteeg and Stalberg were of course traded for each other (among other parts of the deal) a little over 9 years ago!
Wow, that was fun. Ok back to work.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0050162019.html
Evgeny Medvedev, defence: Tried to break into the NHL at the age of 33 with Philly a year before Zaitsev crossed over. Things didn't work out on or off the ice and he was back in the KHL the following year.
David Desharnais, centre: Played for the Habs for almost a decade, had a career high of 60 points in 11/12. Probably always played higher in the line-up than he should have due to their lack of high-end centres. Fizzled out of the NHL once he hit 30 years old.
Cody Franson: defence: Everyone's favourite RHD! His first season in the KHL. Had a decent season offensively there but exploded in the playoffs with 18 points in 19 games. Not enough for a NHL comeback it seems though.
Alexei Emelin, defence: Another long-time Hab. This was his first season back in Russia.
Ville Pokka, defence: This name might be familiar to some here since he was a player some would often target in trade rumours. An Islanders trade pick who was traded to Chicago. Pokka was a right-handed defenceman who generally put up good scoring numbers in the AHL. He never got a shot in the NHL though.
Taylor Beck, forward: A former Leaf! Sorta. Beck was a journeyman 4th liner with 92 NHL games. The Leafs acquired him from Nashville for Jamie Devane in July of 2015, and in September of 2015 he was dealt to the Islanders in the Grabner trade.
Viktor Stalberg, forward: A former Leaf! The big, speedy winger is 33 years which doesn't make me feel old in any way.
Maxime Talbot, forward: I love seeing names like these. Talbot has over 700 NHL games played and was considered a pretty good 4C in the league for a long-time. Was always a bit of a fan of his because I once took part in an Eastside Hockey Manager simulation league where two randomly selected players had their potential turned up to the max and they became huge stars. I had the Penguins and my two players were Talbot and Erik Christensen. Good times. When I saw his name I actually assumed it must have been a different Talbot, can't believe he's still playing.
Alexander Perezhogin, forward: A third former Hab! He only played 2 seasons with Montreal over a decade ago. He's best known for being suspended an entire AHL season for a stick swinging incident.
Kris Versteeg, forward: This former Leaf took his talents overseas for the first time in his career. He only played 11 games in the KHL before deciding he hated it and left the team. He'd later finish the 18/19 season with a team in the Swedish league. He must not have enjoyed that either because he signed an AHL contract to play with Chicago's affiliate for this upcoming season. Versteeg and Stalberg were of course traded for each other (among other parts of the deal) a little over 9 years ago!
Wow, that was fun. Ok back to work.
I'm coming in late in this discussion so please bear with me. Imo,
On their own, Oz's statements don't mean much but when you consider the Zaitsev comments and request for a trade; Matthews' statement regarding Kapanen; Leafs treatment of Sparks last year; Dubas failure to sign Nylander to start the season last year and his failure to bring the Marner saga to a close this off season; and finally, the ongoing suggestions about a possible rift between Matthew's and Babcock......is there trouble in paradise?
On their own, Oz's statements don't mean much but when you consider the Zaitsev comments and request for a trade; Matthews' statement regarding Kapanen; Leafs treatment of Sparks last year; Dubas failure to sign Nylander to start the season last year and his failure to bring the Marner saga to a close this off season; and finally, the ongoing suggestions about a possible rift between Matthew's and Babcock......is there trouble in paradise?
dappleganger
Active member
Pick said:
Also rift between Dubas and Babcock.
When you can't make it out of the first round year after year, there's going to be, and should be trouble.
Kin
Active member
Considering that North America has a sports culture where any even remote sign of independance or a lack of willingness to show complete deference to authority gets you labelled a troublemaker or a weirdo(Remember how Kyle Wellwood...gasp...sometimes read books?) then it's not shocking that someone who isn't used to that would find it a bit strange. Especially for end of the roster guys where getting in good with a coach can mean the difference between playing and not playing.
Coco-puffs
New member
So apparently Holl doesn't lick ass or lick ass well enough eh? And here we thought he was just a bad d-man.
herman said:
https://twitter.com/serzh/status/1159228193854898178
I wanted to post that tweet from this article here directly because I don't think enough people are seeing it. Oz's comment really wasn't nearly as controversial as it was made out to be. Why would a Russian hockey writer post a literal word for word English translation of what a player said when he knew that it would be taken massively out of context? Well, gotta get those August RTs I guess. But there's really nothing to see here.
herman
Well-known member
Thanks Carlton. I tried to highlight it earlier when I linked the PPP article, but the tweet wasn't coming up at the time for some reason.
Out of context pull quotes are a great bellweather for confirmation bias to show up.
Ozhiganov also mentioned how Babcock was always demonstrating that he cared about every player as a whole person and created a family atmosphere.
Out of context pull quotes are a great bellweather for confirmation bias to show up.
Ozhiganov also mentioned how Babcock was always demonstrating that he cared about every player as a whole person and created a family atmosphere.