Luke Schenn Traded to Flyers for JVR!!!

[maplesyrup]

I think he might have been too. Maybe Burke has something up his sleeve and he'll do one PC, introducing at least a couple players?

 

[hockeyfan1]

Saw that but he wasn't in studio... Old school Jays cap too. Like the old, old version.

I believe he was in Toronto for the interview though.  Claude Feig on TSN interviewed him with the Jays hat on, and at the end did the whole, "Claude Feig, TSN, Toronto" thing.

Via Twitter

@JVReemer21 nice @BlueJays hat...turning the into a Torontonian pretty quickly

@MMoulson @BlueJays one of the best logos in baseball

 

[maplesyrup]

Not surprising considering it was also an open number but;

Toronto Maple Leafs ‏@MapleLeafs
James van Riemsdyk will wear No. 21 for the #Leafs next season #NHL

 

[maplesyrup]

I have my doubts but;

Terry Koshan ‏@koshtorontosun
Randy Carlyle says the plan now is to start James van Riemsdyk at centre in camp and go from there
Retweeted by Jonas Siegel

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

I have my doubts but;

Terry Koshan ‏@koshtorontosun
Randy Carlyle says the plan now is to start James van Riemsdyk at centre in camp and go from there
Retweeted by Jonas Siegel

Anybody know what his face off percentage is, or whether he can actually take one well enough?

 

[Kin]

Anybody know what his face off percentage is, or whether he can actually take one well enough?

He's taken the grand total of 13 faceoffs in his NHL career and gone 3-10

 

[Newbury]

Anybody know what his face off percentage is, or whether he can actually take one well enough?

He's taken the grand total of 13 faceoffs in his NHL career and gone 3-10

At least they're continuing to build by putting players in positions they're less likely to succeed in. That's dedication, I guess.

 

[maplesyrup]

I know face offs are important to the position but have there been examples of decent centers forging out nice careers who well, kind of sucked on the draw? I suppose I could research but I'm working... 

 

[Omallley]

I know face offs are important to the position but have there been examples of decent centers forging out nice careers who well, kind of sucked on the draw? I suppose I could research but I'm working...

You usually don't stick around as a center if your faceoff skills aren't up to par. But Antropov and Ribero are both ones that come to mind. But we're talking guys who are in the 44-46% range...that could end up being a stretch for someone just starting to take them in the NHL level...

 

[Kin]

I know face offs are important to the position but have there been examples of decent centers forging out nice careers who well, kind of sucked on the draw? I suppose I could research but I'm working...

Sure, if you're Evgeni Malkin.

 

[bustaheims]

I know face offs are important to the position but have there been examples of decent centers forging out nice careers who well, kind of sucked on the draw? I suppose I could research but I'm working...

The problem is that it means you're starting without the puck more often than you're starting with it - and when we're talking about a team's best players, you want them to have the puck as much as possible. The less time they have to spend getting the puck away from the other team, the more time they have to work on putting it in the net.

 

[maplesyrup]

Yeah, I get that... I don't know, maybe I'm reaching but if a center say, had a good take-away vs. give-away percentage (I have no idea if JVR does) then maybe you can live with an Antropov-like face-off %.

 

[Omallley]

Yeah, I get that... I don't know, maybe I'm reaching but if a center say, had a good take-away vs. give-away percentage (I have no idea if JVR does) then maybe you can live with an Antropov-like face-off %.

Coming from the most arden of Antropov fans, he was not a very good center.

 

[Brian Glennie]

I know face offs are important to the position but have there been examples of decent centers forging out nice careers who well, kind of sucked on the draw? I suppose I could research but I'm working...

The problem is that it means you're starting without the puck more often than you're starting with it - and when we're talking about a team's best players, you want them to have the puck as much as possible. The less time they have to spend getting the puck away from the other team, the more time they have to work on putting it in the net.

Faceoff % is a bit of an odd stat, though. New Jersey, for example, was 29th overall last season and the Leafs were tied for fourth.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Anybody know what his face off percentage is, or whether he can actually take one well enough?

He's taken the grand total of 13 faceoffs in his NHL career and gone 3-10

Yikes... So if that is Carlyle's plan, he's got work to do.

 

[bustaheims]

Faceoff % is a bit of an odd stat, though. New Jersey, for example, was 29th overall last season and the Leafs were tied for fourth.

It's not the end all/be all, no, but, all things considered, I'd want my centres to be as good on the draw as possible.

 

[Omallley]

Anybody know what his face off percentage is, or whether he can actually take one well enough?

He's taken the grand total of 13 faceoffs in his NHL career and gone 3-10

Yikes... So if that is Carlyle's plan, he's got work to do.

I feel like this will be a short lived experiment. Although could it be an indicator that there isn't much available on the trade market in terms of centreman?

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

I feel like this will be a short lived experiment. Although could it be an indicator that there isn't much available on the trade market in terms of centreman?

Yeah, Dreger was saying in his 6 O'clock update that Burke stated that trade talk for him has slow at the moment. Kind of conflicts with earlier reports in the past few days, that he thought he could upgrade at those specific positions.

I've been looking at the depth charts recently and there are not a lot of front liners that you'd think could be available. I keep coming to the usual suspects, LeCavalier and Statsny. He might be able to pry one out of NYR, if Sather gets a good winger, but those two haven't made a deal of any significance, unless John Mitchell is such.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I don't know, unless we're getting a legitimate top centre back I'd still like to keep Bozak on that top-line. It worked last season for the most part, why break that up now for a completely unproven centre?

I also really liked that JVR trade because it addressed what I felt was one of the teams biggest weaknesses last season, scoring depth. We relied way too heavily on Kessel and Lupul to score goals. The Grabs line was too inconsistent and the 3rd line barely produced. Loading up the top-line like this isn't going to help solve that problem. You put JVR on the 2nd line with MacArthur on the other wing and slide Kulemin to the 3rd line and our depth at wing looks very strong.

 

[maplesyrup]

I don't know, unless we're getting a legitimate top centre back I'd still like to keep Bozak on that top-line. It worked last season for the most part, why break that up now for a completely unproven centre?

I also really liked that JVR trade because it addressed what I felt was one of the teams biggest weaknesses last season, scoring depth. We relied way too heavily on Kessel and Lupul to score goals. The Grabs line was too inconsistent and the 3rd line barely produced. Loading up the top-line like this isn't going to help solve that problem. You put JVR on the 2nd line with MacArthur on the other wing and slide Kulemin to the 3rd line and our depth at wing looks very strong.

I'd be willing to throw that up against the wall... But what of Grabo?