Buyout(s) & FAs

[hobarth]

Lupul should be bought out, he's being played as a 4th liner and recently his icetime is going down, Babs doesn't seem to have any faith in him. He makes far too much coin for his value.

If TO bought him out they'd be on the hook for approximately 1.75 mil. for the next 4 years, add his total to Gleason's buyout 1.3 mil per for 3 and Kessel's salary take back 1.2 for 6 years so for the next 3 years TO has 4.5 mil. in dead money.

I don't think buying out Lupul makes any sense, either keep him on the roster or even better send him to the minors and let a rookie take his place. I think a better scenario would be if TO could move him while retaining half of his salary but I doubt anybody even thinks he's worth that much.

The majority of TO's FAs are expendable, being rid of them would in fact be desirable but there are 3 that are decent players. Kadri, Reimer and Polak. I think that last place teams falling in love with their players is the surest way to keep them in last place.

Of the 3 Kadri is the best, IMHO, but the question is, is he good enough to sign for 5+ mil for term, let's say 6 mil. for 5 years. Can TO envision him as say Jeff Carter to Kopitar or Bergeron to Krejci? TO already has a 2nd line center signed for 2 more years and I'm hoping TO will have possible resources to replace both by the end of Bozak's contract. I'm hoping/expecting Nylander will be an upgrade to both. Does TO need a 6 mil. $ placeholder, I don't think so.

Reimer is in about the same situation as Kadri, TO has a goalie signed for next year and possible potential playing for the excellent Marlies. Resigning him would only make sense if TO could move Bernie but even then can we feel an expensive long term commitment to him would be worthwhile. Reimer has has a spotty career highlighted by inconsistency and injury. TO's various regimes have never appeared to be sold on Reimer, Kiprusoff almost ended up a Leaf even tho Reimer was heroically good during the short season. It seems that Reimer is bad when he's great and horrible when he's bad, it's time to move on, trade him ASAP.

Polak, love this guy, he's been an upgraded version to Fraser by quite a margin. On a good team he's a 3rd pairing d-man so it would be stupid for TO to overcommit to this guy and overcommit is something TO would have to do to sign him now. Interesting that Polak has been receiving the most d-man icetime for the last 2 weeks of all of TO's d-men, actually it's both interesting and pathetic.

I think losing teams shouldn't fall in love with the players that make them losers especially when those players don't have the potential to improve and bring the team with them. TO made the mistake of over committing to Phanny and Kessel, for instance, let's hope they don't continue down the path of overpaying because replacements aren't immediately evident.   

 

[LuncheonMeat]

Lupul should be bought out, he's being played as a 4th liner and recently his icetime is going down, Babs doesn't seem to have any faith in him. He makes far too much coin for his value.

If TO bought him out they'd be on the hook for approximately 1.75 mil. for the next 4 years, add his total to Gleason's buyout 1.3 mil per for 3 and Kessel's salary take back 1.2 for 6 years so for the next 3 years TO has 4.5 mil. in dead money.

I don't think buying out Lupul makes any sense, either keep him on the roster or even better send him to the minors and let a rookie take his place. I think a better scenario would be if TO could move him while retaining half of his salary but I doubt anybody even thinks he's worth that much.

I'm not sure the Leafs would have to retain half his salary to move him but, you're right, trading him would be a much better scenario.

 

[hobarth]

Lupul should be bought out, he's being played as a 4th liner and recently his icetime is going down, Babs doesn't seem to have any faith in him. He makes far too much coin for his value.

If TO bought him out they'd be on the hook for approximately 1.75 mil. for the next 4 years, add his total to Gleason's buyout 1.3 mil per for 3 and Kessel's salary take back 1.2 for 6 years so for the next 3 years TO has 4.5 mil. in dead money.

I don't think buying out Lupul makes any sense, either keep him on the roster or even better send him to the minors and let a rookie take his place. I think a better scenario would be if TO could move him while retaining half of his salary but I doubt anybody even thinks he's worth that much.

I'm not sure the Leafs would have to retain half his salary to move him but, you're right, trading him would be a much better scenario.

If TO were able to trade him what do you think they'd get for him?

If he was available from another team would you want TO to trade for him even at 2.65 mil. for the next 2 years?

The only other scenario I can think of is trading him to another team while taking back their crap, eg trade Lupul to TB for Carle but Carle is paid more and his contract is longer.

 

[herman]

Lupul should be bought out, he's being played as a 4th liner and recently his icetime is going down, Babs doesn't seem to have any faith in him. He makes far too much coin for his value.

If TO bought him out they'd be on the hook for approximately 1.75 mil. for the next 4 years, add his total to Gleason's buyout 1.3 mil per for 3 and Kessel's salary take back 1.2 for 6 years so for the next 3 years TO has 4.5 mil. in dead money.

I don't think buying out Lupul makes any sense, either keep him on the roster or even better send him to the minors and let a rookie take his place. I think a better scenario would be if TO could move him while retaining half of his salary but I doubt anybody even thinks he's worth that much.

I'm not sure the Leafs would have to retain half his salary to move him but, you're right, trading him would be a much better scenario.

Hey, we read the same two lines.

 

[Bender]

I really do think Polak is a terrible player. On mobile right now but he doesn't have good metrics and doesn't pass the eyeball test. He's a minor upgrade over Hunwick imo.

Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk

 

[bustaheims]

I really do think Polak is a terrible player. On mobile right now but he doesn't have good metrics and doesn't pass the eyeball test. He's a minor upgrade over Hunwick imo.

He's very much the type of player that's really valued by those with the old school mentality, but is becoming a liability with the increased pace of the game and the focus on puck possession. His physical strength is obvious, but he's not good with the puck and he isn't particularly mobile, either. His usefulness is extremely limited.

 

[ZBBM]

I really do think Polak is a terrible player. On mobile right now but he doesn't have good metrics and doesn't pass the eyeball test. He's a minor upgrade over Hunwick imo.

He's very much the type of player that's really valued by those with the old school mentality, but is becoming a liability with the increased pace of the game and the focus on puck possession. His physical strength is obvious, but he's not good with the puck and he isn't particularly mobile, either. His usefulness is extremely limited.

Not particularly mobile?  I see him catch supposedly faster skaters time and again.

Frankly, I disagree with all the Polak bashing. 

 

[bustaheims]

Not particularly mobile?  I see him catch supposedly faster skaters time and again.

Frankly, I disagree with all the Polak bashing.

Once he gets moving, he has good speed, sure. The problem is that it takes him a while to get moving. He can catch up to guys on longer skates, but, when he has to make quicker moves in the defensive zone, he gets beaten relatively easily. You'll also notice I didn't say he struggles with the speed of his skating, but, rather, his mobility. Mobility isn't just speed over a distance - Polak's certainly capable there. It's also about speed in short bursts and being able to move dynamically, and those are things he struggles with.

 

[Tigger]

The majority of TO's FAs are expendable, being rid of them would in fact be desirable but there are 3 that are decent players. Kadri, Reimer and Polak. I think that last place teams falling in love with their players is the surest way to keep them in last place.

One of these things is not like the others...

 

[ZBBM]

Not particularly mobile?  I see him catch supposedly faster skaters time and again.

Frankly, I disagree with all the Polak bashing.

Once he gets moving, he has good speed, sure. The problem is that it takes him a while to get moving. He can catch up to guys on longer skates, but, when he has to make quicker moves in the defensive zone, he gets beaten relatively easily. You'll also notice I didn't say he struggles with the speed of his skating, but, rather, his mobility. Mobility isn't just speed over a distance - Polak's certainly capable there. It's also about speed in short bursts and being able to move dynamically, and those are things he struggles with.

Ability to skate fast isn't all there is to mobility, but it's surely part of it.  I agree with your comments above but I think overall his mobility is not a problem, especially for a player of his size.

I bet we get a good return for him at the deadline.

 

[hobarth]

The majority of TO's FAs are expendable, being rid of them would in fact be desirable but there are 3 that are decent players. Kadri, Reimer and Polak. I think that last place teams falling in love with their players is the surest way to keep them in last place.

One of these things is not like the others...

True but all of them need to be resigned and I think now is the best time to make a decision on all of them.

 

[Kin]

I bet we get a good return for him at the deadline.

Obviously this isn't an exact science but I don't think there's much in the way of chatter around him which isn't a great sign. If you compare it to, say, the way people talked about Petry last year it definitely seems like Polak is lower on that particular totem pole.

 

[hobarth]

I bet we get a good return for him at the deadline.

Obviously this isn't an exact science but I don't think there's much in the way of chatter around him which isn't a great sign. If you compare it to, say, the way people talked about Petry last year it definitely seems like Polak is lower on that particular totem pole.

If you follow TSN and Sportsnet, Polak's name is constantly mentioned as TDL bait, he may not be as talented as Petry, that's debateable, but Polak's visibility is very high.

 

[Kin]

If you follow TSN and Sportsnet, Polak's name is constantly mentioned as TDL bait, he may not be as talented as Petry, that's debateable, but Polak's visibility is very high.

The fact that Polak is out there is pretty common knowledge at this point. That's all TSN and Sportsnet are saying there. In fact it was in relation to Polak that McKenzie specifically mentioned that he thought the market would be soft for depth players(which I go into elsewhere).

 

[hobarth]

If you follow TSN and Sportsnet, Polak's name is constantly mentioned as TDL bait, he may not be as talented as Petry, that's debateable, but Polak's visibility is very high.

The fact that Polak is out there is pretty common knowledge at this point. That's all TSN and Sportsnet are saying there. In fact it was in relation to Polak that McKenzie specifically mentioned that he thought the market would be soft for depth players(which I go into elsewhere).

I think they also mention that the closer to the TDL the greater sense of urgency/desperation, maybe McKenzie has a different opinion and maybe he did last year, who knows. If TO could trade Winnik for a 2nd and a 4th, then pretty well anything is possible. I believe all teams in the NHL will look at Polak as a 5/6 d-man, which some might call depth d-men but I'd call part of the top 6 d-men and not a depth player.

I expect a similar return for Polak as TO got for Winnik last year.

 

[hobarth]

Joffrey Lupul reflects on a changing NHL, and where he fits in it

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/joffrey-lupul-reflects-on-a-changing-nhl-and-where-he-fits-in-it/

"?Some days I feel good and I think that I?m a good player out there, and other days my body maybe won?t let me do as much as I?d like,? said Lupul. ?Those are the days you kind of think about how much time you really have left. ? Obviously I have years left in my contract, I want to keep playing ? I still love playing ? but you never know what?s going to happen.

?I?m just trying to enjoy it as much as I can.?"

It sounds to me from the quote that he wants out, he's not the player he was, that he expects himself to be. This year he has 6,750,000 reasons to continue to play and he has many more reasons to finish out his contract, 2 more years.

If TO buys him out the cap hit is going to be:

2016/17-1.5 mil.
2017/18-3 mil.
2018/19-1.5
2019/20-1.5 mil.

I still don't know if buying him out is the best solution but not having him on the team is, ASAP.

 

[AvroArrow]

Everybody on the roster except Reilly should be traded if a reasonable deal is available.

 

[Bender]

There's no immediate need to buy him out. I would rather have him on the roster than have more dead cap space.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

If you follow TSN and Sportsnet, Polak's name is constantly mentioned as TDL bait, he may not be as talented as Petry, that's debateable, but Polak's visibility is very high.

The fact that Polak is out there is pretty common knowledge at this point. That's all TSN and Sportsnet are saying there. In fact it was in relation to Polak that McKenzie specifically mentioned that he thought the market would be soft for depth players(which I go into elsewhere).

I think they also mention that the closer to the TDL the greater sense of urgency/desperation, maybe McKenzie has a different opinion and maybe he did last year, who knows. If TO could trade Winnik for a 2nd and a 4th, then pretty well anything is possible. I believe all teams in the NHL will look at Polak as a 5/6 d-man, which some might call depth d-men but I'd call part of the top 6 d-men and not a depth player.

I expect a similar return for Polak as TO got for Winnik last year.

As far as Winnik goes, he was having good season when the Leafs traded him. Also, the market is the market, so he fetched what another team thought he was worth.

As far as Polak goes, what's the difference between a 5/6 d-man (from the NHL's perspective) and a top-6 d-man (your perspecitive)?

 

[hobarth]

If you follow TSN and Sportsnet, Polak's name is constantly mentioned as TDL bait, he may not be as talented as Petry, that's debateable, but Polak's visibility is very high.

The fact that Polak is out there is pretty common knowledge at this point. That's all TSN and Sportsnet are saying there. In fact it was in relation to Polak that McKenzie specifically mentioned that he thought the market would be soft for depth players(which I go into elsewhere).

I think they also mention that the closer to the TDL the greater sense of urgency/desperation, maybe McKenzie has a different opinion and maybe he did last year, who knows. If TO could trade Winnik for a 2nd and a 4th, then pretty well anything is possible. I believe all teams in the NHL will look at Polak as a 5/6 d-man, which some might call depth d-men but I'd call part of the top 6 d-men and not a depth player.

I expect a similar return for Polak as TO got for Winnik last year.

As far as Winnik goes, he was having good season when the Leafs traded him. Also, the market is the market, so he fetched what another team thought he was worth.

As far as Polak goes, what's the difference between a 5/6 d-man (from the NHL's perspective) and a top-6 d-man (your perspecitive)?

I don't get this question as I plainly said that Polak is a top 6 d-man and therefore not a depth player, top 6 d-men play every game, depth d-men fill in when top 6 d-men can't play. Ideally on a superior team he's #5 or #6.

Hope this clears up any confusion?