• For users coming over from tmlfans.ca your username will remain the same but you will need to use the password reset feature (check your spam folder) on the login page in order to set your password. If you encounter issues, email Rick couchmanrick@gmail.com

Falling Leafs

Redleaf

Active member
Wow. Free agency started less than an hour again and the Leafs are losing players big time.

Leafs and Marlies from last season....
Raymond heading to Calgary
TJ Brennan heading to NYI
Bolland to florida

Rumoured to be heading to the Leafs...
Boyle heading to Rangers
Gorges to Buffalo

If Kulemin goes we will be on a FULL-ON McDavid run next season!
 
Brennan is a decent Dman but the Leafs have too many younger ones on the rise to allow TJB to have any priority.

Bolland, I like and I wanted to see it work but 5.5 large for 5 years is rather expensive.

Boyle I didn't want due to age and the fact that we so far have retained Phaneuf which would make Boyle a bit of a duplication (with some more leadership perhaps). When players gaet to 37 or so and are bargaining for term as much as team, that is seldom a good sign. Plus, Boyle clearly wanted to be on a contender, hence the eastern Stanley Cup finalist.

Gorges, well plainly he did not want to be here so that was that. and I can only add that there are stories that since surgery he has slowed noticeably. True, maybe, maybe not but when a player specifically says "No" to a team that is the end of the matter anyway.

Finally, past UFA Days have not been auspicious ones for TML team improvement so I am less than anxious to see multiple UFA signings. This is overpayment panic buying day and little more.

At best signing a UFA can only serve to fill a hole or two and cover up mismanagement by distracting fans with the latest shiny new ornament,  not substitute for proper asset management, player development and team building (and drafting).

I have been to that circus one too many times already.
 
None of this should be surprising to anyone.  The team isn't attractive to any free agents.  1 playoff series since the lockout.  Last conference finals run in 2001-2002.  Last Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 1966-1967.

We have a coach who put together an inspiring run of failure and got retained.  The Leafs really don't have a core that looks to be developing towards anything more than borderline playoff team in the next 2-3 years.  The management team bungles the cap.  The media attention scares away players.  There really isn't much that is appealing for players to come here.

The Leafs really need to make a few more deals to get worse though if they want to get in the running for McDavid.

But aside from that, what is the purpose of signing UFAs?  We dont' have the core of a winning team.  Kessel and JVR are great.  Kadri has the potential to be really good.  On defense Phaneuf's an upper tier defenseman and Gardiner and Rielly have potential.  Bernier is a very solid starter who needs to show that he can carry the load on his own still.  That really doesn't scream "we need to sign quality free agents".  It would be nice to see because I like seeing the Leafs win but at this point I would settle for losses with a more competitive team at least.  I still question if that can happen with Carlyle at the helm.
 
L K said:
None of this should be surprising to anyone.  The team isn't attractive to any free agents.  1 playoff series since the lockout.  Last conference finals run in 2001-2002.  Last Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 1966-1967.

We have a coach who put together an inspiring run of failure and got retained.  The Leafs really don't have a core that looks to be developing towards anything more than borderline playoff team in the next 2-3 years.  The management team bungles the cap.  The media attention scares away players.  There really isn't much that is appealing for players to come here.

The Leafs really need to make a few more deals to get worse though if they want to get in the running for McDavid.

But aside from that, what is the purpose of signing UFAs?  We dont' have the core of a winning team.  Kessel and JVR are great.  Kadri has the potential to be really good.  On defense Phaneuf's an upper tier defenseman and Gardiner and Rielly have potential.  Bernier is a very solid starter who needs to show that he can carry the load on his own still.  That really doesn't scream "we need to sign quality free agents".  It would be nice to see because I like seeing the Leafs win but at this point I would settle for losses with a more competitive team at least.  I still question if that can happen with Carlyle at the helm.

I believe in addition through subtraction.
 
L K said:
but aside from that, what is the purpose of signing UFAs?  We dont' have the core of a winning team.  Kessel and JVR are great.  Kadri has the potential to be really good.

Agreed. If the team is going to make a splash on a big-ticket FA, then sure. But don't sign middle of the road players who will take opportunity away from some of the Marlies.
 
I think you're a bit dramatic to suggest Leafs are in the McDavid category. Kessel/JVR and goaltending alone keeps the Leafs out of that. With some guys from the Marlies getting a shot and hopefully contributing they could be a bubble playoff team. Hell they were one last season and I think the roster is no worse than it was before. 
 
KW Sluggo said:
RedLeaf said:
Add MacIntyre.
That is the last straw, we cannot even keep the guy who is supposed to be the back up when we trade Reimer.

WTF

When and if we trade Reimer I'm sure a backup goalie would be coming back as part of the deal.
 
Zee said:
I think you're a bit dramatic to suggest Leafs are in the McDavid category. Kessel/JVR and goaltending alone keeps the Leafs out of that. With some guys from the Marlies getting a shot and hopefully contributing they could be a bubble playoff team. Hell they were one last season and I think the roster is no worse than it was before.

I was being dramatic. Or hopeful. Whichever the mood called for.

I made that comment when it seemed like the Leafs were losing out on the players they were pursuing and our UFAs were jumping ship. Then, alas they started picking up players, and dashed my hopes for McDavid again... 8)
 
KW Sluggo said:
That is the last straw, we cannot even keep the guy who is supposed to be the back up when we trade Reimer.

WTF

The only people who felt he was supposed to be the backup are people who haven't been paying attention. There was no secret the Leafs were pursuing other goalies to be the backup in the even they traded Reimer. The team rightfully never expected MacIntyre to fill that role for a full year.
 
I was cringing a bit at Nonis' press conference where he was once again stating how it was the "compete level" that was the issue and how they were trying to get back to that 12-13 team, which they for some reason view as something to aspire towards.

I think Mirtle really nails it when he describes why that is silly:

It became almost a season-long focus last year, as the Leafs couldn?t seem to pull out of a tailspin that ultimately claimed their season, this idea of getting back to what they had been in 2012-13.

Because the Leafs made the playoffs for the first time in nine years and because they gave the Boston Bruins a run for their money in the first round, sparking a party around the city often chided for ?planning the parade,? that team has taken on sort of mythic status for some of those who work for, support or cover the team.

What is rarely mentioned is that that group became progressively worse as that lockout-shortened half season went along, getting outplayed and hemmed in its own zone more and more as the months wore on and the system issues sunk in.

The 2012-13 Leafs outshot their opponents 29.9 to 28.6 in January but were outshot by six per game in February, five per game in March and a ridiculous 10.5 per game in April prior to that fateful series with the Bruins.

They had several great games against Boston; they had a lot of lousy ones against everyone else.

It?s forgotten now, but they very nearly frittered away that playoff berth, too. If not for James Reimer?s .930 save percentage and Phil Kessel?s 18 points in 12 games, the Leafs? April of 2013 would have been remembered for yet another ugly collapse instead of the month where they finally clinched a long-awaited playoff spot.

(And that doesn?t even get into that team?s extremely high shooting percentage, which was doomed to regress had the season been longer than 48 games.)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/leafs-beat/mirtle-maple-leafs-still-trying-to-recapture-magic-of-lone-recent-playoff-berth/article19408644/
 

About Us

This website is NOT associated with the Toronto Maple Leafs or the NHL.


It is operated by Rick Couchman and Jeff Lewis.
Back
Top