Leafs 2013-14 Regular Season Thread

[Ado05]

I dont expect Kessel's play to drop anytime soon.

Side note, how do you guys feel about Bolland? Bring him back, trade his rights, let him walk? Apparently he wants 5 mill over 7 or 8 years, but that rumour was from a while back.

EDIT: Just saw this.

http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2014 ... _boss.html

Talks about a rumour that Pete Deboer (devils head coach) might be "wooed" here. Dont know about his style, but the 2 out of the 3 years he was in NJ, they never had that impressive of a roster. And when they did, they went to the cup final.

[ATLTimekeeper]

The idea of hiring DeBoer to keep Clarkson from looking like such an albatross doesn't inspire much confidence.

[Mohanad]

I'll still take his 35 pts in 55 games over Clarkson's 11 in 58. We're in the playoffs if Grabbo stayed and Clarkson never happened.

On a side note..

For the life of me i'll never get why we used our compliance buyout on Komisarek (who was expiring) and not on Liles who had 3 seasons left. The turn over? Now paying Clarkson and Gleason a combined 9.25 mill for another two seasons. Just terrible cap management. We were only paying Komi 750k (expiring) more than Liles (3 years)

How are our goons looking? We're going to be paying Colton Orr and Clarkson a combined 6.1 mill next year for **** sakes.

Our cap situation is just infuriating

It may not have been the smart, but it was the classy thing to do. He didnt want to be here, we didnt want him here and theres no point sticking him in the minors when he can be in the NHL with another team.

Gleason has been a beast. Easily our most steady d-man. Rarely makes mistakes, and he's a physical presence out there. Happy to have him in the top 4.

Colton Orr is overpaid. Its whatever though, because he can burried in the minors where 900K of his salary is eaten.

There's absolutely no way you can justify that transaction based on "class". There was a point in sticking Komisarek in the minors and using the compliance buyout elsewhere. It's called cap management. Something Nonis completely neglected in the off-season.

Orr and Clarkson shouldn't be on the roster let alone paying them a combined 6.1 mill next year.

Gleason can't take a puck off the boards to save his life. It has been a pretty rapid descent that actually reminds me a bit of what happened to Komisarek. When he's on his game, he's a good, physical, pairing guy with surprisingly average speed. Lately, he's been lost in his own zone. I wouldn't mind him staying if his contract wasn't so bad.

37 shots given up to the Florida Panthers who are the second worst team in the league.

FLA is also the 2nd lowest scoring team yet they score 4 goals on this embarrassment of a leaf team.

Good luck Shanny, you got your work cut out for you.

[Ado05]

On a side note..

For the life of me i'll never get why we used our compliance buyout on Komisarek (who was expiring) and not on Liles who had 3 seasons left. The turn over? Now paying Clarkson and Gleason a combined 9.25 mill for another two seasons. Just terrible cap management. We were only paying Komi 750k (expiring) more than Liles (3 years)

How are our goons looking? We're going to be paying Colton Orr and Clarkson a combined 6.1 mill next year for **** sakes.

Our cap situation is just infuriating

It may not have been the smart, but it was the classy thing to do. He didnt want to be here, we didnt want him here and theres no point sticking him in the minors when he can be in the NHL with another team.

Gleason has been a beast. Easily our most steady d-man. Rarely makes mistakes, and he's a physical presence out there. Happy to have him in the top 4.

Colton Orr is overpaid. Its whatever though, because he can burried in the minors where 900K of his salary is eaten.

There's absolutely no way you can justify that transaction based on "class". There was a point in sticking Komisarek in the minors and using the compliance buyout elsewhere. It's called cap management. Something Nonis completely neglected in the off-season.

Orr and Clarkson shouldn't be on the roster let alone paying them a combined 6.1 mill next year.

Gleason can't take a puck off the boards to save his life. It has been a pretty rapid descent that actually reminds me a bit of what happened to Komisarek. When he's on his game, he's a good, physical, pairing guy with surprisingly average speed. Lately, he's been lost in his own zone. I wouldn't mind him staying if his contract wasn't so bad.

37 shots given up to the Florida Panthers who are the second worst team in the league.

FLA is also the 2nd lowest scoring team yet they score 4 goals on this embarrassment of a leaf team.

Good luck Shanny, you got your work cut out for you.

It was all class. You think they wouldnt have kept him and saved 1 buyout? Of course they would, but Komi wasnt douche when he was in the minors, or sitting in the box. He showed class, so the Leafs did him a favour so he could go somewhere else a year early so he didnt have to suffer another year in the AHL.

Orr shouldnt, but I cant believe you actually said Clarkson shouldnt. His advanced stats are some of the best in the league and the best on this team. And for some reason, no one can get it through their heads that this was a down year. Theres a reason plenty of teams were after him. He had a bad year, but dont write him off so fast.

Thats on Randy Carlyle. Hopefully he'll be gone soon.

[Ado05]

The idea of hiring DeBoer to keep Clarkson from looking like such an albatross doesn't inspire much confidence.

Sure, Clarkson is a factor, but really? We have Carlyle right now, who HAS to go. And DeBoer is a pretty good coach. Its an upgrade.

[Waylon Mercy]

Blow up the nucleus

[Mohanad]

It may not have been the smart, but it was the classy thing to do. He didnt want to be here, we didnt want him here and theres no point sticking him in the minors when he can be in the NHL with another team.

Gleason has been a beast. Easily our most steady d-man. Rarely makes mistakes, and he's a physical presence out there. Happy to have him in the top 4.

Colton Orr is overpaid. Its whatever though, because he can burried in the minors where 900K of his salary is eaten.

There's absolutely no way you can justify that transaction based on "class". There was a point in sticking Komisarek in the minors and using the compliance buyout elsewhere. It's called cap management. Something Nonis completely neglected in the off-season.

Orr and Clarkson shouldn't be on the roster let alone paying them a combined 6.1 mill next year.

Gleason can't take a puck off the boards to save his life. It has been a pretty rapid descent that actually reminds me a bit of what happened to Komisarek. When he's on his game, he's a good, physical, pairing guy with surprisingly average speed. Lately, he's been lost in his own zone. I wouldn't mind him staying if his contract wasn't so bad.

37 shots given up to the Florida Panthers who are the second worst team in the league.

FLA is also the 2nd lowest scoring team yet they score 4 goals on this embarrassment of a leaf team.

Good luck Shanny, you got your work cut out for you.

It was all class. You think they wouldnt have kept him and saved 1 buyout? Of course they would, but Komi wasnt douche when he was in the minors, or sitting in the box. He showed class, so the Leafs did him a favour so he could go somewhere else a year early so he didnt have to suffer another year in the AHL.

Orr shouldnt, but I cant believe you actually said Clarkson shouldnt. His advanced stats are some of the best in the league and the best on this team. And for some reason, no one can get it through their heads that this was a down year. Theres a reason plenty of teams were after him. He had a bad year, but dont write him off so fast.

Thats on Randy Carlyle. Hopefully he'll be gone soon.

Using the compliance buyout on Komisarek (who was an expiring) instead of Liles (who had 3 years remaining and was sitting in the box most nights) is just poor cap management. What on earth does class have to do with a teams cap management? it's business. is this the rhetoric mlse uses when addressing the teams roster? they look for the nice classy thing to do?

Coughing up 8 million for Gleason for the next 2 seasons is a dent in the cap. The Leafs defense is just pitiful.. I mean Florida doesnt even have a 40 point scorer, that''s how bad there are.

I didn't even know it was possible to give up 37 shots to them!

To call Clarkson’s first season with the Leafs disappointing is an understatement. His seven-year, $36.75-million contract is possibly one of the worst contracts given out in the salary cap era. Clarkson, Orr, and Gleason are combined to make 10.1 million next year. This is all Nonis' work this past season...

Like I said, Shanahan has his work cut out here...

[Crowned]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm not ready to write Clarkson off just yet. His career stats aren't exactly reflective of his play this season. If he repeats next year, I'd be concerned. I still think he's a good player, regardless of his contract. And yes, I'd still prefer him over Grabovski.

[whysoserious]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm not ready to write Clarkson off just yet. His career stats aren't exactly reflective of his play this season. If he repeats next year, I'd be concerned. I still think he's a good player, regardless of his contract. And yes, I'd still prefer him over Grabovski.

I've been all over killing the Clarkson signing and even I'll admit he's not as bad as he's been this year. The problem is he's trying to play on an edge and bring an attitude that is actually hurting. The suspensions and tough guy stuff is just too much.

As for blowing up the core, I'm not sure it's necessary.

I consider Kessel, JVR, Kadri, Reilly, Gardiner, and Bernier a very solid starting point. Bozak could be kept in the core and Phaneuf is someone you likely can't move anyways. Of that group above, I'd trade Kadri and Gardiner if a deal was out there for a truly elite first line C. I'd move Bozak if it meant keeping Kadri instead.

I'd trade Clarkson the second a deal presented itself and someone was interested. I'd use Reimer in a deal to find some value defensemen.

I was a fan of Franson but he had a horrible year. Franson, Gardiner, Ranger all need to be replaced. I'd also trade Gleason but I have no problem keeping him either because as a 5th/6th defensemen he proved to be pretty good and I like that he blocks shots and sacrifices.

As for coaching, I'd do everything in my power to get Babcock out of Detroit but that's not likely to happen.

When Shanny gets hired, I'd get rid of Loiselle and Poile as well and with Shanny's history with Bowman I'd see if I can convince Scotty to come in as a consultant role to support Nonis.

As much as I'm down on them blowing it this year, a likely step back was in the cards anyways. They just don't play well enough defensively going back to last year that you would see a steady rise.

[Mohanad]

I believe a lot of the Leafs were noted for being weak defensively long before this season or tough enough to play against.

I also believe Nonis tried to fix that with Bolland + Clarkson. Unfortunately Bolland got injured and Clarkson has been either suspended, injured or a complete plug when playing.

Dion cant play 24 minutes a night without going through major slumps throughout the season

How many times do the defense move the puck to a forward and they back out and it is kept in for cycle against. How many times you see the D pass around the boards to where the winger should be and he is down low next to the net instead of his hash mark. How many times you see wingers fly the zone before we get full possession giving the D no outlet.

Franson needs to be moved.. brutally slow

Gardiner is improving and yes hard to watch but too much talent to give up on

We also have numerous solid defensive prospects like Percy or Granberg that are almost ready, and Finn isn't far behind.

As for forward core, ideally one of Raymond or Lupul would be replaced with a two-way forward(like a Tarasenko or Perron, or Saad or Eriksson type) those two just bring a repetitiveness with our offense, as Kessel is already a high scoring winger who lacks defense, so having another one like Lupul doesn't help us that much.

For me it's about installing a simple D system the forwards can play and be told to man up on the wall and win battles

Re: Bozak

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/mapl ... is-stupid/

“All the chirps he gets about not being this, not being that, I think it’s all stupid,” Rielly said. “I personally don’t know what more he has to do to get praise from other players and media, but that’s just my opinion.”

I wonder if a system that had your wingers stay in the zone until you had control of the puck would make it easier on the centers?

It seems they have wingers up by center ice when it looks like they might get the puck. Also puts undue pressure on the defense to not only get control of the puck, but then to clear the zone with a long pass to a teammate and not cause an icing.

[Cyrus]

Maybe the Leafs were never as good as people thought they were. They hadn't made the playoffs in like 8 years or whatever. And managed to get in, in a crazy shorten season (last year), where anything can happen in short season like that.

Anyways whats crazy to me, is that Leafs about 4 weeks ago, were 9th best in the NHL, and now are sitting somewhere around 24th. 15 spot drop in a month. The positive is, they have an outside shot at getting a top 5 pick lol. But that's some epic collapse

[ATLTimekeeper]

No need to touch the core, unless they think that there's a personality problem. I didn't want to re-sign Dion, but he's stuck here now. If only Burke wasn't in Calgary, we could have pawned him off on them. Fire the coach and bring some kids up next year.

JVR/Bozak/Kessel
Lupul/Kadri/?
?/Holland/Clarkson
Broll/McLement/Bodie

Gunnar/Phaneuf
Reilly/Gardiner
Granberg/Gleason

Find two grizzled puck possession vets to take those two question marks. I don't think we'll be able to replace the talent of Kulelin/Raymond for the same price, but they can change the energy by bringing in someone else. I would even look to keep Bolland for a year, if possible.

[whysoserious]

No need to touch the core, unless they think that there's a personality problem. I didn't want to re-sign Dion, but he's stuck here now. If only Burke wasn't in Calgary, we could have pawned him off on them. Fire the coach and bring some kids up next year.

JVR/Bozak/Kessel
Lupul/Kadri/?
?/Holland/Clarkson
Broll/McLement/Bodie

Gunnar/Phaneuf
Reilly/Gardiner
Granberg/Gleason

Find two grizzled puck possession vets to take those two question marks. I don't think we'll be able to replace the talent of Kulelin/Raymond for the same price, but they can change the energy by bringing in someone else. I would even look to keep Bolland for a year, if possible.

I'm not sure how you can say that core is good enough and not worth touching. If Gunnar and Phaneuf are top two D-Men, you're pretty much doomed. And the top 6 doesn't really look like an elite core either.

I won't get in to the discussion on Bozak, it's clear some of you are perfectly fine with him as a first line C but I'm not.

The high end potential of that core above is a middling team. You're only hope of surpassing that is hoping for Reilly, Gardiner and Kadri to breakout and play well above what they have so far. I'm of the mindset that Kadri won't be a first line player anymore but is a good second line player despite the expectations many have for him. And Reilly looks like he could be a top D-man in a few years in the league I'm not sure him hitting that stride takes that core to the next level.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Watched the full presser. Shanahan's most telling quote was regarding leadership, "just do your job." Could be directed at Lupul, Phaneuf, Clarkson. A lot of this I think stems from Nonis getting Clarkson, Leweike extending Nonis. Now that there's a mess Shanahan has to come in here and make them both look like smart moves.

[whysoserious]

Watched the full presser. Shanahan's most telling quote was regarding leadership, "just do your job." Could be directed at Lupul, Phaneuf, Clarkson. A lot of this I think stems from Nonis getting Clarkson, Leweike extending Nonis. Now that there's a mess Shanahan has to come in here and make them both look like smart moves.

To me, he looked like he didn't want to step on any toes and TL definitely seemed PO'd at the way the season ended.

Kypreos made a great point about the ORG structure for the Leafs. It's been an issue within MLSE forever, too many people think their opinion matters and want to share it with everyone including the players.

This leads to too many power struggles and conflict. Guys like Poile and Loiselle need to understand that they are there to support the men in charge. Shanny is the one that sets the direction, Nonis (if he remains) is the one that executes and the coach delivers that to the players.

I honestly think next year will be a rough year of transition. I think Carlyle is gone this summer, Nonis gone next year and they'll clean house of the others and Shanny will start hiring his people.

The smart thing to do is to not rush in to trying to fix everything and signing more guys. MacLean was saying you have to sign Bolland at all costs and threw out the 4-5 million (he didn't say million so it could have been term as opposed to money) and that's just ridiculous. You're already paying Clarkson over 5 million for your third line, you can't be investing 10 million in 2 players on your third line. This kind of stuff has to stop.

I'd much prefer seeing them take a step back to asses than trying to fix this with quick signings.

[Homer Jay]

The Leafs have a decent core group of young players in Kessel, JVR, Reilly, Gardiner, and Bernier. The problems are that the 3rd liners don't play like 3rd liners, the fourth line is a write off, and a lack of size and toughness on the defense. The advantage is that is a fixable area. It's easier to pickup and drop the depth guys than the stars. Unfortunately I doubt Bolland will be back, the Leafs have to stop giving 5 mil a year contracts to 3rd liners, and 2 mil a year contracts to 4th liners. This is where the long Leafs tradition of not caring about the draft, and trading away its young players too quickly has burned them. You hope guys like Carter Ashton and Tyler Biggs will be able to step up soon and contribute for less money than going out and spending too much money on 3rd and 4th liners in FA.

Lets see how the next couple of years go, and see if they can turn the whole organization around. It still seems routed in the pre cap era, thinking it can buy its way out of trouble.

To add, I see Barry Trotz got let go, and I can't think of a bigger mismatch for a coach than Trotz and this team. He's a big D-man, Power forward type guy. We sure ain't that. If they do bring him in, they better restructure the whole team to his style. Nashville could have been a great team but poor drafting and lack of funds did them in.

[LLJ]

The fact that they aren't even considering canning Nonis because of his 5 year contract shows that winning is still not the first thing on the agenda. If contract length is preventing you from doing the moves you should, then that's not winning.

Extending Nonis to 5 years was absolutely the worst move of TL's tenure so far.

[LLJ]

Maybe the Leafs were never as good as people thought they were

Check my Advanced Stats thread from the beginning of the season, which should still be on this page somewhere. The signs were all there.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Drafting 8th. Edmonton has #3 pick. Might be our best chance to move up and grab one of Bennett or Reinhardt and finally nail down that #1C.

Nonis and Carlyle are both blaming everyone but themselves. Shanahan has already made some pointed comments about statistics and leadership. If Randy escapes this, I'll be shocked.

[whysoserious]

Side note, how do you guys feel about Bolland? Bring him back, trade his rights, let him walk? Apparently he wants 5 mill over 7 or 8 years, but that rumour was from a while back.

My take is stupid organizations make that kind of committment to a third line player. Love Bolland and his defensive play plus some of the leadership stuff he's been known for. You still dont' commit to 7 year deals and at that price for a third line player. It's arguable you do it for second line players.

But you already here the media beating the drum around this city about how invaluable he is, about how the Leafs already lack what he brings (despite his injury, the defense overall was bad even when he was playing early on but not because of him cause he was good) and how there's no one on the market that can do what he does.

That's BS, this organization is too afraid to walk away from players. They should have let a guy like Phaneuf hit the market too. You simply can't manage a team in the cap era by constantly overpaying for players like this. You take the short-term hit and walk away. Just like last year when they did their homework and went out and made a trade for Bolland, go see whats on the market and make a trade for a cheaper option.


They don't have the stones to walk away from some of these guys, but they certainly need to grow a pair and start negotiating hard with players and not be afraid to explore other avenues when the price gets too high.