ablatt wrote:Do you honestly think Phaneuf looks good and was deserving of the captaincy?
If you didn't know he was Phaneuf and just looked at his skating and hitting, what would you see?
The guy was picked strictly based on his past performance and he's not there any longer, for whatever reason. He can't move his feet. He can't skate backwards. He makes mistakes. His shot is nowhere near the net. He's weak at all the things that are supposed to be his strengths. Can't you see that? I wish it was different but that's what I see game in and game out. Some games he makes fewer mistakes and plays a decent defensive game, but he's not dominant in any one area that he should be such as hitting or shooting.
I judge Versteeg based on what I've seen. I don't like his skating style. So far, he can't score. He rarely comes up with the puck along the boards. He's not truculent.
I also now agree with the earlier poster about the Kessel deal. It was plain dumb to trade away two picks with this team, because they weren't going anywehere anyway. They even still had Toskola at the time. Save the money and build a young team through the draft and spend it later if you have a chance to make some playoff noise. That deal will hurt us for years. And as good as Kessel can look, and he does look very good at times, he doesn't make his teammates that much better and can look just as bad for games at a time.
Stajan, Hagman and White are not great players but all of them are as good or better than a lot of the 2nd, 3rd line players we have already. I don't see how you can argue that Bozak is a much better centre today than Stajan.
I believe Burke is an old-style GM, like Fletcher, that doesn't believe in building a team through the draft, and I disagree with that approach.
I think Phaneuf looks better than how the media is projecting his play and no I don't like how MLSE/the GM chooses a captain but that's a different topic. But looking at this team, who else do you see who has an alpha dog personality? Anyone better than Phaneuf? Are we supposed to leave our captain vacant for only HOFers?
I agree that Phaneuf's strongest attributes are his skating, shooting and hitting and they haven't been up to par but he's also taking on a ton of new responsibilities. Does he eventually have to score and hit? Yes, but I'm not going to write him off yet and I'm not going to disregard that fact that our D is better with him on it. He's 25 years old and everyone knows that playing D can take longer to develop. We know Phaneuf for his big shot and big hits and thats based on his raw talent. Opponents are obviously keen on this and now he has to learn to choose his spots. It's funny, when he was first named captain I wasn't too happy about it but I notice I'm sticking up for him b/c people are ripping him b/c he's not perfect.
You judge Versteeg on what you see? Did you not watch the playoffs last year? I was giddy when I found out he was coming to Toronto. The difference between Stalberg and Versteeg is that Versteeg has proven he has top six talent and Stalberg hasn't proven anything yet. And they're the same age. And Versteeg has a higher ceiling.
Not a fan of the Kessel deal but we gotta get over it. I don't like the fact that it fast-tracked us and we weren't able to build through the draft but it's not going to hurt us for years. So far, we've lost a potential first line centre, we can find another one. The Raycroft for Rask trade was waaay worst b/c we didnt even get a serviceable player out of it. We gave up two or three firsts for Raycroft AND Toskala. The Kessel deal isn't that bad comparitavely.
Stajan, Hagman and White are good players but they also work their ass off to get where they are. The difference between Bozak and Stajan is that Bozak has better vision and hands, which would be key for a first line centre IMO.
And Burke does believe in the draft, he just doesn't believe it's the only option. I think we drafted seven players this summer including McKegg.
Burke built an American Olympic team that wasn't the most talented but it almost won the gold with his plan. He knows how to build a winner in the current age of hockey.
I don't mean to be harsh but I just feel Burke and Phaneuf aren't being judged fairly. Burke has done more right with this team than wrong and Phaneuf's shortcomings don't take away from all the positive things he does.
I forget who threw out the comment that Burke has made this team worst but you seriously need to take a step back and remember what JFJ did.
