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seems like he has fallen into Keenan's doghouse and thats certainly not a good thing for either parties seeing hes a FA at the end of the season. Not sure how much money they have open seeing Phaneuf, Iginla and Kipper are all making big coin that they could be strapped to the cap and decide to not resign Huselius. Id think he'd get a contract around 4-5 million a year.

Kulemin Sundin Huselius

I don't think I would. At 5 mil a year, I'd much rather go somewhere else. He's in Keenan's doghouse for a reason, and I don't think he can strive under a 'tough' coach, which is exactly what this team needs with our youth coming through the system.

If this team is serious about rebuilding, I'll pass on a soon to be 30 year old Huselius. By the time the team is ready to make a push (after the rebuilding process) he'll be past his prime.

If we re-tool the roster and somehow end up with a half decent team that could compete next year, or the year after...he would be a good fit. However, where this team is at now...it doesn't make much sense.

Crowned wrote:I don't think I would. At 5 mil a year, I'd much rather go somewhere else. He's in Keenan's doghouse for a reason, and I don't think he can strive under a 'tough' coach, which is exactly what this team needs with our youth coming through the system.

If this team is serious about rebuilding, I'll pass on a soon to be 30 year old Huselius. By the time the team is ready to make a push (after the rebuilding process) he'll be past his prime.

If we re-tool the roster and somehow end up with a half decent team that could compete next year, or the year after...he would be a good fit. However, where this team is at now...it doesn't make much sense.

Ya hes in Keenans doghouse but he's still arguably more talented then any winger we have on this team. This team isnt going to be rebuilding, rebuilding would mean putting out a young team and hardly spending any cap and if you think this team isnt going to spend close to the cap I think your fooling yourself (they will almost certainly try a on the fly retool like Philly, even tho we dont have the same pieces). The Cap is apparently rising 6 million more this offseason so the Leafs will have money to spend and it will only further influence the fact that it will be a retool and not rebuild.

This team severly needs talented wingers and there isnt many around that seem to me available.

I follow the Flames as my second team behind the Leafs, and I would NOT sign Huselius for that type of money. He is a solid player and I'd be happy to have him on the team, but for something like $2.5 mil a season. 4-5 mil is just too much for his ability level, especially when you consider that he's had some better talent to work worth in Calgary then he would have in Toronto. (I'd say the Leafs are deeper at the bottom end, but Calgary's best players are far better).

The Leafs should be looking to grab a young, underrated guy who has room to improve. Someone used Daniel Paille as an example a day or two ago, and that's exactly the type of guy I'd go after (although in his case I think he's RFA). I think where the Leafs are, you go after young players who aren't too expensive but have potential upside. Maybe you go for a star if one is available. Guys in between are guys you stay away from. To compare with last off-season, we don't need another Jason Blake - but if you have the chance to get a Daniel Briere, then by all means go for it.

Marmoset wrote:I follow the Flames as my second team behind the Leafs, and I would NOT sign Huselius for that type of money. He is a solid player and I'd be happy to have him on the team, but for something like $2.5 mil a season. 4-5 mil is just too much for his ability level, especially when you consider that he's had some better talent to work worth in Calgary then he would have in Toronto. (I'd say the Leafs are deeper at the bottom end, but Calgary's best players are far better).

The Leafs should be looking to grab a young, underrated guy who has room to improve. Someone used Daniel Paille as an example a day or two ago, and that's exactly the type of guy I'd go after (although in his case I think he's RFA). I think where the Leafs are, you go after young players who aren't too expensive but have potential upside. Maybe you go for a star if one is available. Guys in between are guys you stay away from. To compare with last off-season, we don't need another Jason Blake - but if you have the chance to get a Daniel Briere, then by all means go for it.

Theres no way you get a player like Huselius for that cheap especially seein its rumoured the cap is rising about 6 million more then it currently is. Huselius is pretty much a 30 goal scorer going forward with first line minutes on a leafs team and thats worth about 4 million under the new cap system. Sure the Leafs should look at trying to pry a RFA but thats hard because most teams would match any offer a outside team would make unless you crazy overbid for him like the Oilers did with Penner.

Huselius is still relatively young (29 isnt that bad) with room to improve, I dont think comparing him to the likes of Blake is necessarily fair. I would like this team to rebuild as much as anyone but I dont see it happening and if they do retool I dont think Huselius at 4 million is so bad considering his skill and the fact our team severly lacks wingers with speed who can score and the guys also decent in the shootout and the rising cap figure.

"but if you have the chance to get a Daniel Briere, then by all means go for it"

^^ so you would be cool with this team paying Marion Hossa 8-10 million dollars a year?

Griff83 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Theres no way you get a player like Huselius for that cheap especially seein its rumoured the cap is rising about 6 million more then it currently is. Huselius is pretty much a 30 goal scorer going forward with first line minutes on a leafs team and thats worth about 4 million under the new cap system. Sure the Leafs should look at trying to pry a RFA but thats hard because most teams would match any offer a outside team would make unless you crazy overbid for him like the Oilers did with Penner.

Huselius is still relatively young (29 isnt that bad) with room to improve, I dont think comparing him to the likes of Blake is necessarily fair. I would like this team to rebuild as much as anyone but I dont see it happening and if they do retool I dont think Huselius at 4 million is so bad considering his skill and the fact our team severly lacks wingers with speed who can score and the guys also decent in the shootout and the rising cap figure.

"but if you have the chance to get a Daniel Briere, then by all means go for it"

^^ so you would be cool with this team paying Marion Hossa 8-10 million dollars a year?

I agree that there's no way that you'd get a player like Huselius that cheap, which is why I wouldn't sign him. He's not what the Leafs need right now, at least not for $5 mil a season.

Would I go for Hossa? Two years ago, absolutely. With Sundin possibly retiring, it's a more difficult decision. He'd be the wingman Sundin has always needed, but if Sundin isn't here, can Hossa carry a team? Many people in the NHL are skeptical of that, and I'm not sure he can either.

For me, the point is that where the Leafs are, they need impact players, not depth players. The Leafs have lots of good players, but very few impact players, both in terms of veterans and in terms of young players.
Huselius is a good player, better than most guys on the Leafs, but not an impact player. Hossa can be an impact player, and that's why I'd seriously think about signing him. He's still not too old either and has some very good years ahead of him. Ultimately, I probably wouldn't because I want to rebuild properly and that means stinking out the joint next year (and one or two after that) to try and land Tavares or another bright prospect or two.

BTW, I didn't mean to compare Jason Blake to Kristian Huselius in terms of their skills - it's more in terms of the types of signings. And Blake was clearly a more dangerous signing because it was 'career year syndrome'.
I don't think signing Huselius would be a particularly good or bad move, I just don't think it really gets this team anywhere.

It's not worth it at this point, and not what the leafs are trying to do.

I think if your building a young team you do need to have the right veterans in place to help the team along, but you don't want to give too much money to a guy like Huselius or Hossa because I personally don't think they are the type of player you build around or are the types to help young guys grow.

this FA crop is weak cause everyone re-signed with their own team (i.e. Iginla, Marleau, Thornton, Heatley etc.) The Leafs can't afford to do what they've been doing which is going after the best FA that will have them and then locking themselves in for another 4 or 5 meaningless years. They really need to have a plan of what they want this team to look like and how they want the team to play. If that player isn't there, then save your money.

But they really need the new GM to have such a strategy first