Leafs Regular Season Discussion

[YogiStewart]

nope.
Frattin it is.
guess its due to ice time - Colborne would only get 10 min max here.

[s e n s i]

connolly makes marcus camby look like cal ripken for chrissakes...

[Crowned]

The Leafs have plenty of center's on the team so no go right now with Colborne, I would've liked to have seen Kadri back up...but I guess they liked what they saw in Frattin during his time up.

[whysoserious]

WTF is up with Schenn this year? I know he's struggled but they've lost all faith in him and Wilson cut his minutes right away. Considering how solid he was last year, wasn't it a jump to just cut his minutes so quickly and how's he supposed to get out of the funk he's in playing 10 minutes a game?

I mean, i know we don't know everything - maybe he's had bad habits in practice that led to the cut in minutes and then he struggled in those limited minutes but it seemed so quick. Hopefully the game out last game will be a bit of a wakeup call for him.

[YogiStewart]

WTF is up with Schenn this year? I know he's struggled but they've lost all faith in him and Wilson cut his minutes right away. Considering how solid he was last year, wasn't it a jump to just cut his minutes so quickly and how's he supposed to get out of the funk he's in playing 10 minutes a game?

I mean, i know we don't know everything - maybe he's had bad habits in practice that led to the cut in minutes and then he struggled in those limited minutes but it seemed so quick. Hopefully the game out last game will be a bit of a wakeup call for him.

i thought that after his "break out" year last year, the Leafs would have been smart to trade him for a front line forward. teams typically overpay for good D players.
even during his rookie season and his high point last year, i wondered: what's his ceiling?
dude has zero shot from the point. if he works on it, it will be serviceable at best.
he has a minimal offensive game and that won't likely grow by leaps and bounds.
he's tough in his own end and when he's on, he's a relatively hard-nosed Dman.
he's not a punishing checker.

so at best, you have an old=school defender who can't put up any points. so, at best, a Phaneuf-lite or a faster/smarter version of Komisarek.
he's not a $4 million/year D-man, but that's likely what he would get if he reached his potential.
trade him for a forward than can be a $4 million/year player. Leafs are so heavy in D contracts and you look at the glut of D players (Gardiner, Fransen, Aulie, McKegg) and I think you have little choice but to trade Schenn away. do it before his value drops further.

[Crowned]

Schenn had a real good year last season, so he definitely deserved the contract. I've never been a huge fan of his, and I agree with Yogi...he should be packaged for help up front. If Burke was smart, he'd package Schenn, Kadri and someone (Bozak maybe?) for a front line player to play with Kessel and Lupul. The Leafs surely can't rely on Connolly to provide any sort of substance over the next 2 seasons, and I really hope management has realized that.

[bryant08]

I agree that Schenn to some extent would be better suited being dealt for some offensive help, but I disagree with your assessment of his skills Yogi. He's a unique defenseman because as you alluded to he doesn't put up points or show much potential offensively (his shot's better although it doesn't have the velocity on it to make him a constant threat), but at his best this kid's not a better Komisarek, he's an Adam Foote. Kid had 251 hits (led all defensemen), 168 blocked shots (good for 12th in the league) last season combined with very solid shutdown skills and reliable puck movement. When he's on his game he's the definition of a workhorse and a guy I think many of us considered the next captain of the team prior to Phaneuf coming along. A lot depends on what type of defense you want to build, you're correct in saying he's old school and doesn't fit today's mould of a top pairing defenseman. And if he doesn't fit that mould like a Phaneuf does, you've got to question the price-tag.

This season has been a totally different story for Luke though and unfortunately we've seen this from him before. When he starts getting beat positionally he can't really contribute much else to the team, his foot speed looks even worse than previous years. It's also weird that he seems a lot more noticeable this season than he has in the past, making more errors with the puck in siginficantly less minutes. It'll be difficult going forward to make a decision on him, but once he finds his game I'm really content with how our defense is looking at least in the short-term. Also don't know if you were thinking of someone else Yogi, McKegg's a center.

And although Franson hasn't played much, I've been surprised at how awful he's looked. At worst you assumed he'd be a massive shot from the point with some physicality defensively, but he's been soft and can't really distribute at the point so he looks like a liability. I remember Pierre LeBrun mentioning him as a potentially available player on the trade market. On a positive note, Gardiner is looking like an absolute stud so that's definitely nice to know. As long as we've got Ron Wilson, he'll always be encouraging defenders to jump into the rush so Phaneuf/Liles/Gardiner will rack up the points.

If we could package Schenn/Kadri and get that top line player, there shouldn't be much hesitation. Kadri's development is going to be at a crossroads both this year and next year, when he was supposed to be able to earn a top 6 role. Well aside from the fact our top six are set in stone for the time being, Kadri hasn't played all that well during his stint in the minors. He's always a threat when he's on the ice but I just don't know if he'll be able to be a major gamechanger in this league like many of us anticipated. And even if that potential is there, I don't know how well we're going to be able to develop him with this up and down between the Leafs/Marlies thing as well as coming up simply to spot minutes on the third line and the occasional powerplay. Frattin seems to have jumped ahead in the pecking order and Colborne is ripping it up. It'll be interesting to see how Burke plays his cards with Schenn/Kadri/Franson.

[YogiStewart]

yeah, i'm confusing McKegg with someone. not sure whom.

Kadri: one thing to remember is that he wasn't the player the Leafs were targeting.
Tavares was the so-called priority (but that was a clear BS bluff), but Schenn was their likely target. Kadri was taken because he was there.
Ottawa really wanted Kadri and tried to trade up for him.
Methinks that, as of now, they're satisfied with their pick, who actually made the Sens this year.

[s e n s i]

lol outscored 11-0 in their last 6 periods. gustavsson is the laughingstock of leafs nation right now. guy lets in probably somewhere in the vicinity of 1.5-2 weak, stoppable goals on average per game.

[hsb]

Not sure where the Leafs are going to generate offence when Kessel is not on. This might be one of Theodore's easiest shut out.

Edit: Kessel right on cue with his 11th.

[hsb]

lol outscored 11-0 in their last 6 periods. gustavsson is the laughingstock of leafs nation right now. guy lets in probably somewhere in the vicinity of 1.5-2 weak, stoppable goals on average per game.

The last goal by Scrivens is going to help alleviate some of the heat from Gustavsson.

The legend of Reimer will grow though.

[_venom_]

I still can't believe Burke didn't go out and get a better backup goalie in the offsesason. Gustavson was awful last year and he's still awful.

[Crowned]

Anyone have Marty Turco's phone number?

[_venom_]

So apparently the Leafs have interest in Evgeni Nabokov. I'd be all for it as long is we don't give up anything valuable. Anything to stop having to see Gustavson and his horrible positioning and lack of confidence be out there.

[Crowned]

I really don't understand why Burke chose to go with Gustavsson over Giguere, especially after it became public that Reimer saw Giguere as a mentor. I get that he had offseason surgery, but Gustavsson isn't exactly typically healthy either.

Regardless, it's becoming more apparent that Reimer will be out for an extended period of time. If the Islanders want something insignificant in return for Nabokov, go for it. Otherwise, I think signing Turco outright may be a better option as a temporary stopgap.

[Homer Jay]

Bring back Allan Bester for all I care, just get The "Monster" off my Leafs. Burkie made a mistake, admit it, and move on. Yet another overhyped Swedish FA bust to follow Fabian Brunnstrom.

[LLJ]

Sh*t, that hit on Reimer didn't even look all that bad, and now it looks like he'll be out for a whole?

[hsb]

Having three consecutive power plays is a good way in getting out of a scoring rut.

Kessel with another goal.

[Crowned]

Scrivens steals the game.

[s e n s i]

yea that was the absolute definition of escaping with a win.