Commander Clueless

There are Flyer fans on this board!!????

Lucic is a beast of a player, but a complete asshat. I like the Bruins' physical style of play, but him and Marchand make me hate that team...which may not be fair. Those two players are good players but giant jackasses. Their antics have no place in the ideal game of hockey....that exists only in my head....so there.....or something.....yeah.

Diving is the new thing. I know we said drawing penalties is great, guys, but you're supposed to draw them by outskating your opposition, not wearing a tutu. That said, the Rangers aren't the only ones guilty of this. Every frickn' team does it and it pisses me off. I think we need more punishment for obvious embellishment because it needs to stop. It makes the refs' jobs harder and the game stupid.

Connor Brown, because he was a top scorer in the OHL this past season. This may not make him a top prospect because of his apparent lack of NHL potential according to scouts, but somehow that still puts him miles ahead of the rest of what the Leafs call a cesspool...I mean "prospect pool".

Well that would depend on which teams were part of the six, now wouldn't it?

NO! If they do this then the Clarkson contract will be in a league of it's own! Bad idea! I'm going to laugh tears of sadness when Toronto buys Clarkson out all non-compliancey and have a decade long cap penalty because Nonis is the smartest man I know.

Winning the what now?

@yave1964 I hope the Leafs actually do give him the control he wants, and that he can take the reigns and make this his team. I was hoping this was the strategy they would take when they were talking about Scotty Bowman years ago. Tim Leiweke seems adamant on Shanahan running the team, so here's hoping.

Wings sweep. Series star: The Toronto Maple Leafs. Okay, I'm still picking Wings. Just cuz. @yave1964 Rask has been known for some mental meltdowns in the past, although I doubt he's quite on Fleury's level.

If Trotz is available and Carlyle is fired, the Leafs could maybe use him. They could use some of that...what's it called? Deafens? Defenz? De-Fents? Something like that anyway.

It seems the Leafs have found their new scapego...err saviour. Brendan Shanaban. Han. Shanahan. The new boss, whom Dave "Deer in the Headlights" Nonis affectionately refers to as "Shanny" (obviously there is no respect in this organization) will supposedly have full control of the team's direction, according to Tim Leiweke. Mr. Leiweke also stated that the Leafs do not have the right team <insert buzzword here> to win. In all seriousness, it is nice to hear these things coming from the Leafs brass. I was expecting to hear the traditional "well we have a good team, but bounces and injuries and blabbity blah blah" speech that Leaf fans just translate as "Next year, baby!". I've always liked Shanahan, and I think he's a "character" guy. I don't know if he has the credentials or the know how to be the guy Leiweke is looking to run the team and change the "culture", but I do like the idea of a change to the team's direction. I'm not sure what changes will happen as they claim to need time to assess the team and come up with a strategy (which is fair), but I'm hoping that if and when Shanahan makes this team his, his team is a winning one. What do you guys think? Help us Obi-Shan Ananahan, you're our only hope.....

Good player, and he seems to have played well for the Flyers. Good on them to keep him. That said, $5 mil per for MacDonald seems a bit...steep. Of course this is coming from a fan of the team that pays Phagoof $7 mil, so....what do I know?

But do you toss and turn at night with visions of Dion Phaneuf's ugly mug with a blue background? If so: Welcome to the club, brother. ....Get out while you still can.

@flyercanuck I know you don't want Phagoof's contract, but honestly I think he'd do quite well in Philly. Suits his style and he wouldn't be relied on near as much. I think you'd be in for a surprise, despite the flak he catches. If he becomes available, I wouldn't be surprised to see Holmgren in hot pursuit, if it weren't for cap space issues.

I'm rabbling as hard as I can. Rabble rabble! I'm not sure discontent is the right word. It's more of a confused hatred. A soul-search with added rage. The team is a mess right now. Us Leafers thought that we were finally seeing progress. A glimmer of hope. And now it's come crashing down again with the spectacular third season-ending collapse in a row. We thought last year was a bad one, but at least that was in the playoffs instead of collapsing themselves out of the playoffs at the last minute. The forward corps as a group is badly balanced and poor defensively. The defense group is weak in their own end and lead by a somewhat overpaid Bryan McCabe 2.0. Goaltending is good and young, so that's a plus. The forward group needs an overhaul and a balance between offensive and defensively strong forwards, as the entire top six is piss defensively except Bozak (JVR is not horrid, but not good), and the bottom six is baby's bottom soft outside of Kulemin and Bolland (who was gone most of the season), and with the exception of those two seems to play like a bunch of top six rejects. They need strength down the middle especially. Phaneuf might have worn out his welcome in Toronto, but he's still a good (overpaid) defenseman despite the knocks. The defense might be able to be rebuilt internally as they have two young good players in Gardiner and Rielly, as well as a pretty decent prospect pool. Unfortunately, next to the title "forward prospects" the Leafs have a picture of a giant turd, and next to "goaltending prospects" the Leafs just have a blank. The system right now is a joke. They play shinny until they get a lead, and then sit back playing "defense" (which is basically allowing shots on net and lettle Bernier and mid-season Reimer bail their asses out). I don't think Carlyle is a bad coach, but he seems to be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. He wants to play a Boston game, but he doesn't have the personnel. He's got a soft speed group and seems to be trying to play a grit game. I think he'd be a good coach if he had the right personnel, but I doubt he'll be given the time for Nonis to try and fix this. He's likely gone. I don't think it's all doom and gloom, but it's disgusting. Time to get creative and get this team back on track. Unfortunately, the Leafs are awful at contract signings and have some dead weight going forward.

I don't know if Ranger will win the trophy or not, but I think he's an easy nominee from the Leafs perspective. The fact is we don't know why he took his hiatus. We have no way to know if it was a trivial or selfish reason or if it was a perfectly legit reason. Fact is something caused him to not be able to play, which for a guy who seems to love hockey so much...it must have been hard. I don't think this is a case of giving up, I think this is a case of outside issues interfering with his career. Coming back now is perserverance on his part, and I think he deserves consideration. I think it does show the type of dedication and perserverance that the Masterton is all about. Maybe not a win, but consideration for sure.

They have some good pieces, but the team structure is all wrong. Weak down the middle with overall weak defense. Looks like good goaltending, though, and some high octane offensive guys. If they could somehow add a big center and some defenseman that know how to play defense, they could maybe turn this around. I'm hoping for big trades or a lottery win, but I'm thinking both of them have about as much chance of happening as I do of finally figuring out what the heck a "girlfriend" is. It's an unsolvable mystery, really.

True enough. It seems like they can't decide between diversity or divisional, and keeping bouncing around. And to your last point, bingo. Why not encourage more diversity in playoff series? Let the hate flow! I'm good with removing the divisions altogether.

I actually agree with you. I guess I should have said that I appreciate what the NHL is trying to do - get people pumped up. To that end, why not let more rivalries be born in the playoffs? Sure, play more regular season games against established rivals. That's probably a sound business move.

Whether it's expansion or a re-re-organization, they really need to fix this. For the reasons you mentioned, its stupid. I also hate the divisional emphasis. I appreciate the rivalry thing, but let teams develop their own rivalries. It should be the best teams make it and the top teams play the lower teams, period. If it's all teams from one division, so be it. If they do expand, then maybe we can try the everybody makes the playoffs format. Pure chaos. I'm an agent of chaos.

Well, I was kidding around a bit with the second idea, but really....as long as they are even. Having more in one conference than the other is idiocy, IMO.

Top 8 teams in the conference make the playoffs. 1vs8, 2vs7, etc. Seems logical. OR Even better! Cut the regular season short. All teams make playoffs. Go back to 16 teams per conference (because it's stupid not to). 1vs16, 2vs15, etc. Leafs can participate! YAY PARTICIPATION!

Well Burkie's rebuild tactics turned out to be trades. It's impossible to say he hasn't improved the Leafs (because man, awful AWFUL team with awful prospects when he came in), but was it the right path? Who knows. Doesn't look good so far. Either way, it was a rebuild because we had to suffer 5 years of suckage. Doing another one so soon is probably not going to happen, so us Leafers may be in for another wonderful playoff scramble for 3-4 years before another 5 year rebuild at minimum. Sounds like fun. Being a fan of this team, I'm honestly I'm surprised I haven't taken up drinking.

@yave1964 I'm guessing you have very little worry there. The best the Leafs can manage is probably their traditional march to 9th/10th place.

The goalie being Philly's weak link? Whoa. Say it ain't so! No but traditional Philly-based jabs aside, Mason's play for the Flyers has been in stark contrast to his post-early play for the Jackets. This is the second time he's demonstrated that he can play at a high level, so who knows? I don't think it's unrealistic to say he will stay at his current level, but would anyone be surprised if he reverted back to his old form? Tell you what though, if he falters the Leafs will trade you Bernier. But only if you take the rest of the team too.