Mike Kostka

[slapshot]

Guys like him and Fraser making this team don't fill me with a ton of confidence.

We've had name guys in before who people thought would excel and proved to be busts. I'm willing to role the dice on a couple of guys who might just keep it simple but play their guts out.

 

[slapshot]

I guess one could argue the glass is half empty or half full.

I suspect Kostka is a placeholder for Gardiner. He's one of the top AHL offensive dmen so he's not a bad guy to have for depth. And he might turn out to be more than that. The trick may be trying to hang on to him when Gardiner returns.

I guess we'll see soon enough how it will all turn out in terms of how well he can play at this level. But for a team who needed some options at D, at this juncture, he looks like a decent acquisition and I think management may well deserve some credit if he can stick.

If Kostka plays well enough, it might encourage the Leafs to dump Komisarek

 

[slapshot]

Has anyone seen this guy play enough to comment?

Hope he does well tonight.

I watched several Marlies games this year, and he and Paul Ranger looked really solid, best two d-men after Gardiner, before he went down. PP with Kostka and Ranger remained pretty solid on the blueline even with the loss of Gardiner. This was the AHL of course, but a slightly better brand of AHL because of lock-out.

 

[Redleaf]

I guess one could argue the glass is half empty or half full.

I suspect Kostka is a placeholder for Gardiner. He's one of the top AHL offensive dmen so he's not a bad guy to have for depth. And he might turn out to be more than that. The trick may be trying to hang on to him when Gardiner returns.

I guess we'll see soon enough how it will all turn out in terms of how well he can play at this level. But for a team who needed some options at D, at this juncture, he looks like a decent acquisition and I think management may well deserve some credit if he can stick.

If Kostka plays well enough, it might encourage the Leafs to dump Komisarek

So there's more than one reason to cheer this guy on!

 

[slapshot]

I guess one could argue the glass is half empty or half full.

I suspect Kostka is a placeholder for Gardiner. He's one of the top AHL offensive dmen so he's not a bad guy to have for depth. And he might turn out to be more than that. The trick may be trying to hang on to him when Gardiner returns.

I guess we'll see soon enough how it will all turn out in terms of how well he can play at this level. But for a team who needed some options at D, at this juncture, he looks like a decent acquisition and I think management may well deserve some credit if he can stick.

If Kostka plays well enough, it might encourage the Leafs to dump Komisarek

So there's more than one reason to cheer this guy on!

You could say that

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Has anyone seen this guy play enough to comment?

Hope he does well tonight.

Early in the season I didn't think he warranted a look at the NHL. You could definitely tell he had the talent to perform well in the AHL but it looked like that was it. As the year went on though he definitely started growing on me, particularly in the absence of Gardiner. He won't be killing any penalties for this team, but you'll likely notice him big time on the powerplay.

 

[Kin]

Guys like him and Fraser making this team don't fill me with a ton of confidence.

We've had name guys in before who people thought would excel and proved to be busts. I'm willing to role the dice on a couple of guys who might just keep it simple but play their guts out.

So...it's busts or AHLers and people are really finding fault with what I said?

 

[Zee]

Nice first game by this guy. Knew 0 about him but Carlyle obviously liked what he saw out there.

 

[Bender]

Guys like him and Fraser making this team don't fill me with a ton of confidence.

We've had name guys in before who people thought would excel and proved to be busts. I'm willing to role the dice on a couple of guys who might just keep it simple but play their guts out.

So...it's busts or AHLers and people are really finding fault with what I said?

Not everyone can be established and many come out of the AHL. How do you expect a player to break into the league? It's like saying Entry level job, 5yrs experience required.

 

[Spider]

Guys like him and Fraser making this team don't fill me with a ton of confidence.

We've had name guys in before who people thought would excel and proved to be busts. I'm willing to role the dice on a couple of guys who might just keep it simple but play their guts out.

So...it's busts or AHLers and people are really finding fault with what I said?

Not everyone can be established and many come out of the AHL. How do you expect a player to break into the league? It's like saying Entry level job, 5yrs experience required.

I though he played a great game tonight.

 

[cw]

Guys like him and Fraser making this team don't fill me with a ton of confidence.

We've had name guys in before who people thought would excel and proved to be busts. I'm willing to role the dice on a couple of guys who might just keep it simple but play their guts out.

So...it's busts or AHLers and people are really finding fault with what I said?

Not everyone can be established and many come out of the AHL. How do you expect a player to break into the league? It's like saying Entry level job, 5yrs experience required.

I though he played a great game tonight.

He looked better defensively than a number of the Leafs dmen, including Gardiner.

 

[Zee]

Guys like him and Fraser making this team don't fill me with a ton of confidence.

We've had name guys in before who people thought would excel and proved to be busts. I'm willing to role the dice on a couple of guys who might just keep it simple but play their guts out.

So...it's busts or AHLers and people are really finding fault with what I said?

Not everyone can be established and many come out of the AHL. How do you expect a player to break into the league? It's like saying Entry level job, 5yrs experience required.

I though he played a great game tonight.

He looked better defensively than a number of the Leafs dmen, including Gardiner.

I can look better than Gardiner when he isn't playing. ;-)

 

[slapshot]

Guys like him and Fraser making this team don't fill me with a ton of confidence.

Not faulting, just saying,  people have been confident in the past when we signed guys like Beauchemin and Komisarek, only to see it dashed. I'm just saying, let's wait and see how these guys perform before worrying about it.
We've had name guys in before who people thought would excel and proved to be busts. I'm willing to role the dice on a couple of guys who might just keep it simple but play their guts out.

So...it's busts or AHLers and people are really finding fault with what I said?

 

[leafplasma]

Kostka to me if he can parlay tonights effort into some kind of consistency at the NHL level makes Gunnarsson an easier pill to swallow if he is traded rather than a replacement for Komi.  To me he seems like an upgrade, steady defensively, not overly physical but better offensively.

 

[Seymore Pucks]

I was really impressed with him especially as a first game in a rival building.  Hes solid and his positioning was good also.  Kudos to him!

 

[Zee]

I was really impressed with him especially as a first game in a rival building.  Hes solid and his positioning was good also.  Kudos to him!

I think it's hard for any player playing his first game in the nhl. They are overly excited and want to impress so there could be a tenancy to make mistakes. Starting in Montreal with all that tradition and hype must have been extra tough. Kudos to him for playing his game.

 

[nutman]

Brining guys up that have grown in the minor system is the way it should be done, and since its new to the leafs there are a lot of scared Leaf fans out there. everyone wants a name player brought in, when in truth most of the time its better to grow your own stars.
bringing up a bunch of Marlies was the best move we could make, and now we just bit by bit bring up our own, and draft there replacements. selling off the odd guy for extra picks as well, we make our own stars.

 

[Rebel_1812]

based on the coaches comments after the game tonight it seems like kostka won't be a temporary addition.  I bet franson comes out when Gardiner comes back.

 

[nutman]

based on the coaches comments after the game tonight it seems like kostka won't be a temporary addition.  I bet franson comes out when Gardiner comes back.

Not to blow my horn or anything but, like I said Toronto has a solid bunch of defencmen throughout there system, and I said it last season alot. All we needed is the right guy to get them to bring it. I see nothing but up. and like i said before this season, my only worry is goaltending, and if them two can drive each other that won be much of an issue.

 

[Frank E]

I was really impressed with him especially as a first game in a rival building.  Hes solid and his positioning was good also.  Kudos to him!

I noticed this as well...his positioning seemed pretty good, and he wasn't running around.

I was pleasantly surprised, and I hope he can keep it up.