Leafs Regular Season Discussion

Post #501 » by **Crowned** » Sun Mar 4, 2012 9:13 pm

This is why picking a direction at the deadline was crucial. If Burke was so set on making a playoff run, a player like Dustin Brown would've been perfect. He's young, and wouldn't have cost us the farm.

Now, we're stuck in a tough situation. Had they acquired a couple of picks, we would've been in a perfect situation with a top 5 pick in a top heavy draft. Burke chose not to make any moves, and we're stuck in the middle. A couple of wins might make us finish in 9th or 10th, and a couple of losses might allow a top 5 pick.

Now, nobody knows what direction to go in.

Deron05 · Post #502 » by **Deron05** » Sun Mar 4, 2012 9:18 pm

Crowned wrote:This is why picking a direction at the deadline was crucial. If Burke was so set on making a playoff run, a player like Dustin Brown would've been perfect. He's young, and wouldn't have cost us the farm.

Now, we're stuck in a tough situation. Had they acquired a couple of picks, we would've been in a perfect situation with a top 5 pick in a top heavy draft. Burke chose not to make any moves, and we're stuck in the middle. A couple of wins might make us finish in 9th or 10th, and a couple of losses might allow a top 5 pick.

Now, nobody knows what direction to go in.

This Draft is not deep. Unless you meant the top 5. But I want us to fall. I want to get around the 3rd or fourth overall pick and maybe we can get Grigorenko.

_venom_ · Post #503 » by **_venom_** » Sun Mar 4, 2012 11:02 pm

That rant by Cherry about Burke purposely not bringing in Ontario born players was the dumbest thing I've seen on television in a long time. Cherry is an idiot. There is zero chance that Burke would say no to bringing in a player because he's Ontario born. He drafted Kadri who's from Ontario, and he just drafted Stuart Percy who's from Mississauga in the 1st rd in last year's draft. The fact that the Leafs currently have no Ontario players is pure coincidence. Cherry was taking out a personal beef against Burke on national TV but his argument was ludicrous.

Relentless88 · Post #504 » by **Relentless88** » Mon Mar 5, 2012 2:05 am

_venom_ wrote:That rant by Cherry about Burke purposely not bringing in Ontario born players was the dumbest thing I've seen on television in a long time. Cherry is an idiot. There is zero chance that Burke would say no to bringing in a player because he's Ontario born. He drafted Kadri who's from Ontario, and he just drafted Stuart Percy who's from Mississauga in the 1st rd in last year's draft. The fact that the Leafs currently have no Ontario players is pure coincidence. Cherry was taking out a personal beef against Burke on national TV but his argument was ludicrous.

I agree.

Post #505 » by **Crowned** » Mon Mar 5, 2012 3:07 am

Deron05 wrote:
Crowned wrote:This is why picking a direction at the deadline was crucial. If Burke was so set on making a playoff run, a player like Dustin Brown would've been perfect. He's young, and wouldn't have cost us the farm.

Now, we're stuck in a tough situation. Had they acquired a couple of picks, we would've been in a perfect situation with a top 5 pick in a top heavy draft. Burke chose not to make any moves, and we're stuck in the middle. A couple of wins might make us finish in 9th or 10th, and a couple of losses might allow a top 5 pick.

Now, nobody knows what direction to go in.

This Draft is not deep. Unless you meant the top 5. But I want us to fall. I want to get around the 3rd or fourth overall pick and maybe we can get Grigorenko.

...I never said the draft was deep.

Post #506 » by **YogiStewart** » Mon Mar 5, 2012 11:45 pm

chocolateSensi wrote: if the leafs can miraculously squeeze out 3 points in these games, then they will be in striking distance of a playoff berth with games against washington and florida right after. losing the next 3 games - which is very likely - will put the proverbial nail in the coffin though. should be an interesting finish to the season nonetheless.

not really, because you now have a playoff daisy chain.

buffalo vs wpg tonight. Sabres win, they're tied with the Jets. Jets win and they're 2 points behind Florida.
leafs play against the Caps and Panthers. if they beat the Panthers, its good for the Jets. if they lose to the Panthers, its good for Washington (kind of sort of). same thing for the Washinto scenario.

the East is simple. whichever team is hot will get into the playoffs. any team goes on a losing streak of 3 games and they're toast. realistically, ottawa can fall out of the playoffs if they crap the bed (which i doubt).

the Leafs, barring a miraculous streak, consistent D and above average goaltending, are done. the compelling story is Buffalo and possibly T-Bay making the playoffs.

sanity · Post #507 » by **sanity** » Tue Mar 6, 2012 2:23 am

^ Truth.

I think the Leafs are done and the firing that took place was several weeks too late. Going 1-10 pretty much crippled our playoff chances considering the upcoming schedule we got

We got Boston tomorrow... a win may start a miraculous run, but the chances of that are low.

ATLTimekeeper · Post #508 » by **ATLTimekeeper** » Tue Mar 6, 2012 12:18 pm

We still have two games in hand on Winnipeg. It's potentially closer than appears.

whysoserious · Post #509 » by **whysoserious** » Tue Mar 6, 2012 1:16 pm

ATLTimekeeper wrote:We still have two games in hand on Winnipeg. It's potentially closer than appears.

That's great and it does give us a chance, but you have to jump three teams to get past Winnipeg too, there in lies the problem with the three point system. The NHL likes it cause it clearly keeps more teams in it closer to the end of the season. I personally hate it. Too many buyers at the deadline, not enough sellers.

I'd rather they get rid of the point for a tie, simplify the standings to just Wins and Losses, get rid of the shootout and play till someone wins. If the games would go too late, too bad.

From what I've seen, the standings wouldn't change much, but you'd have a bit more separation and an idea of what teams are in it for real or not. Plus, you give teams like the maybe the Leafs a clear direction to build for next season as opposed to some false hope.

Deron05 · Post #510 » by **Deron05** » Tue Mar 6, 2012 4:09 pm

Crowned wrote:
Deron05 wrote:
Crowned wrote:This is why picking a direction at the deadline was crucial. If Burke was so set on making a playoff run, a player like Dustin Brown would've been perfect. He's young, and wouldn't have cost us the farm.

Now, we're stuck in a tough situation. Had they acquired a couple of picks, we would've been in a perfect situation with a top 5 pick in a top heavy draft. Burke chose not to make any moves, and we're stuck in the middle. A couple of wins might make us finish in 9th or 10th, and a couple of losses might allow a top 5 pick.

Now, nobody knows what direction to go in.

This Draft is not deep. Unless you meant the top 5. But I want us to fall. I want to get around the 3rd or fourth overall pick and maybe we can get Grigorenko.

...I never said the draft was deep.

Unless 'heavy draft' means something else.

whysoserious · Post #511 » by **whysoserious** » Tue Mar 6, 2012 4:14 pm

Deron, read carefully as he said Top Heavy Draft.

Deron05 · Post #512 » by **Deron05** » Tue Mar 6, 2012 5:52 pm

whysoserious wrote:Deron, read carefully as he said Top Heavy Draft.

OHHH, my bad.

whysoserious · Post #513 » by **whysoserious** » Tue Mar 6, 2012 6:22 pm

No worries, I think we could have acquired a couple of picks and used assets to move further up regardless of where we end up with our own pick.

Deron05 · Post #514 » by **Deron05** » Tue Mar 6, 2012 6:52 pm

I really think BB should have made a deal. We were falling at the time, so I think a deal was a must. I heard some where that BB offered schenn for hodgson, and if that got done, then they would flip grabovski for the first that was offered. It seems like BB knew how much he would have to pay to keep grabo here, so I get the feeling BB isnt that happy about this deal. Some many things went grabovski's way, like how he would be by far the most talented center out there.

whysoserious · Post #515 » by **whysoserious** » Tue Mar 6, 2012 6:57 pm

To me, he should have dealt him regardless of the Hodgson deal. This was the opportunity to give Colborne an extended look on the second line, maybe even first line.

I like Grabbo, the guy is fearless and takes some of the worse hits but keeps on going. He's talented and could improve but he's quite overpaid for his production so far.

Deron05 · Post #516 » by **Deron05** » Tue Mar 6, 2012 7:02 pm

whysoserious wrote:To me, he should have dealt him regardless of the Hodgson deal. This was the opportunity to give Colborne an extended look on the second line, maybe even first line.

I like Grabbo, the guy is fearless and takes some of the worse hits but keeps on going. He's talented and could improve but he's quite overpaid for his production so far.

Yeah, BB shouldve known it was going to take this much money to get him to stay. The team is better off getting the first and letting grabo walk.

sanity · Post #517 » by **sanity** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 2:46 am

Not a bad loss to take. Our defense infront of Gustavson is still weak as hell. The media is raging a bit too much on Grabovski's contract. At least he produces unlike those two useless sacs of crap Connelly/Komie

Our PP special teams at least resembles something decent now

Post #518 » by **Crowned** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 5:15 am

We'll be paying Connolly, Grabovski and Komisarek a combined 14.75 million dollars next year. To put things into perspective, we could probably go out and sign Parise and Suter for the same money. Awesome.

whysoserious · Post #519 » by **whysoserious** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 1:18 pm

Crowned wrote:We'll be paying Connolly, Grabovski and Komisarek a combined 14.75 million dollars next year. To put things into perspective, we could probably go out and sign Parise and Suter for the same money. Awesome.

And this is where Burke's shortcomings are on full display. Cap management and signing the right people or spending money wisely. Burke's done a good job stocking the farm system and there's good players on their way up that should be here in the next few seasons. But having that much dead weight on the team is just horrible.

If he was going to bring in Carlyle, and Wilson's firing was on the wall before the deadline (he made it sound like management was discussing it for a bit) he should have moved Grabovski, he should have moved MacArthur and saved the money for a guy like Suter to rebuild a bit of the defense.

I know we won't be able to move Komisarek any time soon, but the young guys should have been called up to finish the season and make some moves.

I don't think Burke is a complete failure, he's done good things. The one thing he hasn't done is have a clear vision and stick to it. He's tried to rebuild at the same times as contend for a playoff spot.

Post #520 » by **YogiStewart** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 1:19 pm

Crowned wrote:We'll be paying Connolly, Grabovski and Komisarek a combined 14.75 million dollars next year. To put things into perspective, we could probably go out and sign Parise and Suter for the same money. Awesome.

THESE are the horrible contracts:

Connolley: $4.75 mil next year. Pro: his contract only lasts 1 more year. I poo-pood this signing when it happened. overpaid by $2 mil/year
Colby Armstrong: $3 mil/year for a 3rd line player who misses lots and lots of games. Pro: only 1 year left.
Phaneuf: $6.5 mil a year (!!!!!) for a non-elite D-man. Pro: wish there was a pro. His contract's for 2 more years at that coin.
Komisarek: $4.5 mil. And he can't be sent to the minors.and he has a few more years left.
Liles: getting Kaberle money to essentially be an slightly above average offensive defenseman. $4.5 mil/year was his extension, i think.
Colton Orr: gets $1 million/year to sit in the minors. dude was never a great fighter. what a waste.

that's $25 million next year on those 5 players. that's almost half the salary cap.

2013 is the next year that the Leafs can afford a significant UFA....that is, if Lupol doesn't get a $6 mil/year contract