General Leafs Talk

[slapshot]

Stats....

He was in many a scrum/fight moreso than Grabo.
Ok more Gritty.
Grabo is not as Gritty as Gilmour, but my argument to begin with is their is no player on the Leafs who can throw his weight around and make any impact in a game, or do it consistently.

I agreed. That's a huge problem, from a lot of perspectives. When we had Domi, Roberts, Tucker, Corson, Green, we hammered teams like Ottawa into submission as well as having skill guys like Sundin, Mogilny, etc to go with them. When Tucker or Roberts were slamming guys, the team skated with some bravado and the fans were into it.

This revisionist history.  Most of the time when we played Ottawa, we were massively outplayed except in goal which was where we won the series.  Thank god for Patrick Lalime.

As for what the fans are in to -- they are in to winning.  When you win, you perceive your team as one that tries hard and skates with bravado.

So let's revise history again. The Leafs knocked off the Sens four times. The first series Lalime, dressed but did not play in any of the games. The second series Lalime's GAA was 2.39. The third series his GAA was 2.22. The final series, you are correct, the Sens played well, but Lalime sucked. I prefer to revise history in its totality.

My point was simply that anyone can see from watching a series like the Pens and Flyers, the current version of the Leafs would be hammered in any playoff series against clubs like that. Look at what Boston did to them in the regular season. They are going to need a mix of skill and toughness like they had a decade ago, if they intend to be a serious playoff team. And, that is about winning...

 

[princedpw]

I definitely agree that the leafs would be destroyed in the playoffs by somebody.  However, I don't believe it is primarily because they aren't "tough enough". It's because they are so bad defensively. Add Weber, Suter, Datsyuk and Lundquist and they aren't necessary all that much "tougher" in a beat up the other guy kind of way but I'd be pretty happy with the team.

 

[gunnar36]

Can anyone even picture Kessel playing in this physical Pitt-Philly series?  Would he even be anywhere close to the corners?

Give me Giroux any day of the week and i will build my team around him...so much skill and doesnt shy away from traffic.

Why would Kessel want to be in the corners? You don't score goals from there.

I would still take Kessel anytime over Giroux. 

and that is why you are not a GM

 

[Bullfrog]

I wonder if they ever look at other sports?  At work, the owner's son was playing basketball, changed to football, and was signed by an NFL team after only seeing his youtube clips.  Would be nice to see the Leafs with someone 6'8", 300+lbs.

I think the whole being-able-to-skate thing would be the biggest deterrent.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Can anyone even picture Kessel playing in this physical Pitt-Philly series?  Would he even be anywhere close to the corners?

Give me Giroux any day of the week and i will build my team around him...so much skill and doesnt shy away from traffic.

Why would Kessel want to be in the corners? You don't score goals from there.

I would still take Kessel anytime over Giroux. 

and that is why you are not a GM

Neither are you. 

 

[sampson]

I have a feeling Kadri and Bozak are going to be gone this summer because of size.

 

[Rebel_1812]

I have a feeling Kadri and Bozak are going to be gone this summer because of size.

No way they get rid of Kadri unless they get a good player in return.

 

[sampson]

I have a feeling Kadri and Bozak are going to be gone this summer because of size.

No way they get rid of Kadri unless they get a good player in return.

I would assume so. I would imagine he would be part of a deal to get some big guy. Part of a Nash deal or someone else?

With Bozak, I like him, but he's small and they need a big 1st line centre. Can Bozak grind down on the 3rd and 4th lines? I'm not sure. I guess he would have to be 3rd line at best.

Kadri is looking more and more like he's going to be a winger on this Leafs team if he sticks around. Replace someone like MacArthur or Kulemin on 2nd line? Kulemin is a big kid, so I would imagine he's sticking around.  I just don't know how Burke is going to make his team bigger and keep all these smaller guys.

 

[Corn Flake]

Kadri is looking more and more like he's going to be a winger on this Leafs team if he sticks around. Replace someone like MacArthur or Kulemin on 2nd line? Kulemin is a big kid, so I would imagine he's sticking around.  I just don't know how Burke is going to make his team bigger and keep all these smaller guys.

He's a winger for sure. May never move to centre.

I think we get a bit too hung up sometimes on where everyone is going to play, especially for a team 7 years out of the playoffs.  I look at other teams getting it done and they always seem to have more depth than you would think, but it usually works itself out.  If Kadri or Kulemin bump to the 3rd line its not the end of the world. 4th liners then bump to the press box. 

ie: Wayne Simmons and Voracek are  the 3rd and 4th RW's on Philli's depth chart, yet they have no problem finding time and roles for both.

I get that room needs to be made in some places, but I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point.

 

[Tigger]

Thought this was useful...

http://cdn.nhl.com/mapleleafs/bc/images/contentdelta/assets/history/all_time_transactions.pdf

 

[hockeyfan1]

Thought this was useful...

http://cdn.nhl.com/mapleleafs/bc/images/contentdelta/assets/history/all_time_transactions.pdf

Interesting stats.

In 1968, Mahovlich was traded in a package of players for Paul Henderson, Smith, and Ullman -- a trade that broke my aunt's heart 'cause her favorite player Mahovlich was now a goner!

 

[sampson]

Thought this was useful...

http://cdn.nhl.com/mapleleafs/bc/images/contentdelta/assets/history/all_time_transactions.pdf

2006 Andrew Raycroft from Boston in exchange for
Tuukka Rask (Jun. 24)

:'(

 

[Erndog]

I can't quite remember, why did the Polish Prince only play 19 games for us again?

 

[bustaheims]

I can't quite remember, why did the Polish Prince only play 19 games for us again?

Because he was the suck.

 

[Erndog]

I can't quite remember, why did the Polish Prince only play 19 games for us again?

Because he was the suck.

I'm going to pull my best troll act:

Czerkawski 4 goals in 19 games.

Dupuis 0 points in 30 games.

 

[bustaheims]

I'm going to pull my best troll act:

Czerkawski 4 goals in 19 games.

Dupuis 0 points in 30 games.

That is some pretty serious trolling, considering Czerkawski was getting a ton of PP time to put up those 4 goals/5 points and barely knew how to get into the defensive end.

 

[Tigger]

My sister works at a pretty big ad agency in Toronto, she just sent me a photo of her with the Stanley Cup in her office taken today, she's got her hand on it with a big old grin on her face...

The message was..."I'm touching 1967..."

 

[Tigger]

I don't know why I haven't seen this before but sign him!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TxGVSw6Ayw[/youtube]

 

[hockeyfan1]

I don't know why I haven't seen this before but sign him!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TxGVSw6Ayw[/youtube]

I liked the part where the goaltender looked frozen in time!  Poor guy was foiled alright.  He barely moved.

I wonder how this mini-wonderkind could help the Leafs with these acrobats!  I'd sign him!!  ;D

 

[hockeyfan1]

Did we really need to be reminded...(sigh)...

the fewest number of wins of any similar North American market place. To date, Toronto teams have won 58 of 156 games played this season. That?s an organisational winning percentage of .371. That?s a disgrace by an definition.

By comparison, teams in New York win 56% of the games played in those three leagues.

Of the 14 markets that have both NHL and NBA franchises, six made the playoffs in both leagues this year, another six made the playoffs in one of the leagues, and only in two places ? Toronto and Minnesota ? did teams miss the playoffs in both leagues. And the worst part of the MLSE trio of incompetent teams ? there is nothing at this time to make you believe next year will by any better.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Toronto/2012/05/20/19779516.html