Ville Leino to be bought out

[flyercanuck]

Is Hockey Junkie Halibut Rick?

 

Read through this thread....it's just like the good ol' days,

[AbelMorpheus]

I did. That's why I asked. My gosh the paranoia is unbelievable. Life must suck when your only haven (fantasy Hockey) is trying to undermine your entire existence. :wacko:

[flyercanuck]

@AbelMorpheus

 

 Gobble gobble

[Polaris922]

In his defense he was injured often and he was in the middle of a mess with all the trades and the firing of Ruff. He is not as bad as you guys say.   Any time someone leaves the Flyers he is terrible.  If he comes to the Flyers he is just plain great.  Come on.  Lets get real here.  Can't you see the bias here?

 

 

Sorry man but there is no defending this guy, or the contract he got.  He had one decent season and bankrolled it.  Since then he has made $293,000 per point he's scored.  That's just ridiculous.

[radoran]

Sorry man but there is no defending this guy, or the contract he got.  He had one decent season and bankrolled it.  Since then he has made $293,000 per point he's scored.  That's just ridiculous.

 

Well, there is a bit of "defending" to be had - but not about the contract or his play. And it wasn't one decent season, it was one PPG playoff and then a 19/53 season.

 

Leino was the third wheel on the Briere/Hartnell second line for the Flyers. Briere was still a fairly effective player (34 goals, 68 points) and Hartnell ate up space (24 goals, 49 points). Leino got lost in the shuffle and took advantage (19 goals, 53 points.

 

He's a complimentary player - not a force in and of himself. He was signed as a second line winger and Ruff decided in his infinite wisdom to force this square peg into the round hole that was the first line center job in Buffalo. A ridiculous decision that anyone could have seen was a disaster waiting to happen - Leino had never played center before at any level. And it was.

 

When that blew up, Ruff put him into his infamous doghouse and relegated him to 3/4 line with muckers and grinders that virtually nobody could score with. When he didn't live up to the contract that the team itself offered him it suddenly became the player's fault.

 

Did he underperform? Yes. Is he a great player? No. Was it his fault Regier gave him that contract? Was it his fault Ruff played him out of position? Was it his fault his complimentary skills didn't make the 3/4 line in Buffalo immediately better?

 

IMO, no.

 

If some damn fool comes up and offers ridiculous money and a player signs it, it's not his fault.

 

Maybe taking a guy who was just making $825K and giving him a HUGE raise and a long term contract commitment based upon one season of work isn't the best idea in the world?

[flyercanuck]

Sorry man but there is no defending this guy, or the contract he got.  He had one decent season and bankrolled it.  Since then he has made $293,000 per point he's scored.  That's just ridiculous.

 

That's almost three hundred grand a point more than I make.

[flyercanuck]

 

If some damn fool comes up and offers ridiculous money and a player signs it, it's not his fault.

 

Maybe taking a guy who was just making $825K and giving him a HUGE raise and a long term contract commitment based upon one season of work isn't the best idea in the world?

 

I'm confused...are we still talking about leino, or MacDonald here?

[radoran]

I'm confused...are we still talking about leino, or MacDonald here?

 

Why would you jump to that conclusion? There you go again, flogging a dead horse!

 

My post was clearly about Leino!

 

[flyercanuck]

@radoran

 

Thanks for including that clip....I'm going to go shoot up some heroin now.

[Polaris922]

Well, there is a bit of "defending" to be had - but not about the contract or his play. And it wasn't one decent season, it was one PPG playoff and then a 19/53 season.

 

Leino was the third wheel on the Briere/Hartnell second line for the Flyers. Briere was still a fairly effective player (34 goals, 68 points) and Hartnell ate up space (24 goals, 49 points). Leino got lost in the shuffle and took advantage (19 goals, 53 points.

 

He's a complimentary player - not a force in and of himself. He was signed as a second line winger and Ruff decided in his infinite wisdom to force this square peg into the round hole that was the first line center job in Buffalo. A ridiculous decision that anyone could have seen was a disaster waiting to happen - Leino had never played center before at any level. And it was.

 

When that blew up, Ruff put him into his infamous doghouse and relegated him to 3/4 line with muckers and grinders that virtually nobody could score with. When he didn't live up to the contract that the team itself offered him it suddenly became the player's fault.

 

Did he underperform? Yes. Is he a great player? No. Was it his fault Regier gave him that contract? Was it his fault Ruff played him out of position? Was it his fault his complimentary skills didn't make the 3/4 line in Buffalo immediately better?

 

IMO, no.

 

If some damn fool comes up and offers ridiculous money and a player signs it, it's not his fault.

 

Maybe taking a guy who was just making $825K and giving him a HUGE raise and a long term contract commitment based upon one season of work isn't the best idea in the world?

 

 

I blame him for his play.  I blame the organization for being stupid with their money.  So no defending in my eyes.  Each bears a responsibility.  

[Samifan]

Darcy Regier never had any money to spend on free agents. Pegula comes in, gives him a blank check and Regier blows his wad on a 2/3 line winger that he wants to convert to a #1 Center.

That was like giving a Virgin a couple of hundred bucks and drop them at a Cathouse. He was going to take the first person that said yes regardless of price or attractiveness!

Edited April 22, 2014 by Samifan

[radoran]

I blame him for his play.  I blame the organization for being stupid with their money.  So no defending in my eyes.  Each bears a responsibility.  

 

Yes, they do. And the player simply hasn't lived up to the contract.

 

But he didn't offer the contract, he simply signed it. And any other player on the planet in his position would have, too.

 

I said it was an egregious mistake at the time. I've said it was an egregious mistake throughout his tenure in Buffalo. I agree it is an egregious mistake now.

[Polaris922]

Yes, they do. And the player simply hasn't lived up to the contract.

 

But he didn't offer the contract, he simply signed it. And any other player on the planet in his position would have, too.

 

I said it was an egregious mistake at the time. I've said it was an egregious mistake throughout his tenure in Buffalo. I agree it is an egregious mistake now.

 

 

I would never expect a player to turn down money.  That wasn't my point.   LOL   I was replying to Junkie's half-hearted attempt to defending him.  

[radoran]

I would never expect a player to turn down money.  That wasn't my point.   LOL   I was replying to Junkie's half-hearted attempt to defending him.  

 

Right, well, Junkie is a worse defender than Mike Weber.

[Samifan]

The only thing that could possibly make the Leino fiasco even more entertaining is if he claims to be injured and cannot be brought out as a result.

[Bertmega]

@Hockey Junkie

 

 Leino is terrible and has arguably the worst contract in pro hockey. Nobody said when a Flyer leaves they are automatically garbage, have you seen the insane amount of Patrick Sharp threads posted in these parts? Leino on the other hand is not Patrick Sharp. He is more like MacGregor Sharp.....

[Bertmega]

.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Bertmega

[Buffalo Rick]

Really forum police you had to edit my comments? Why do you baby this @$$hole so much? Weak 

Now you are calling me an A hole?  For what?

[Commander Clueless]

Terrible?  No that is too harsh. 

 

Then have I got the guy for you!

 

David Clarkson from the Maple Leafs. Power forward with intangibles coming out of his intangibles coming out of his unmentionables. Normally worth multiple of 7th round picks, now on sale for the low low price of future considerations!

 

 

.....please?

[Commander Clueless]

@Hockey Junkie

 

Deal

[Commander Clueless]

@Hockey Junkie

 

I always thought more was a good player. Not a great one, but a good one. What he's doing for New York is about what I'd expect out of him. In Toronto he was thrust into more of a scoring role than he should have been, but excelled well enough. I was honestly surprised at his weaker performance for the Sabres.

[fanaticV3.0]

Guys like Leino are why I always worry about guys like Raffl. I like Raffl's game a lot, but late bloomers scare me.

[radoran]

Guys like Leino are why I always worry about guys like Raffl. I like Raffl's game a lot, but late bloomers scare me.

 

That was why no one here was sorry to see Leino go.

 

Raffl is signed at $1.1M per for the next two. If they'd kept Leino at that, almost everyone would have been fine with that.

 

$4.5M? What kind of an idiot takes a guy making $8XXK and bumps him North of $4.5M based on one season?

 

Never mind, answered my own question...

[fanaticV3.0]

That was why no one here was sorry to see Leino go.

 

Raffl is signed at $1.1M per for the next two. If they'd kept Leino at that, almost everyone would have been fine with that.

 

$4.5M? What kind of an idiot takes a guy making $8XXK and bumps him North of $4.5M based on one season?

 

Never mind, answered my own question...

 

It doesn't matter to me how much Raffl is making if he ends up pulling the kind of Houdini act like Leino did. It might hurt the cap less and all, but at the end of the day if you can't play you can't play. I just hope he sustains. Seen too many of these guys come and go.

[radoran]

It doesn't matter to me how much Raffl is making if he ends up pulling the kind of Houdini act like Leino did. It might hurt the cap less and all, but at the end of the day if you can't play you can't play. I just hope he sustains. Seen too many of these guys come and go.

 

Well, in a capped league it certainly does matter what guys are making. A $4.5M "hole" is a much bigger problem than a $1.1M "hole."

 

He's Branko Radivoievic (9-14-23 in 88 games for Flyers; Raffl 9-13-22 in 68). You've got to have steady, productive guys pulling down $1-$2M if you're going to have room for the $8.75M superstars.

 

The Sabres expected Leino to be a first line center for them. Why? I have no freaking idea. But that, along with his steep drop in production when paired with the Sabres' vaunted 3/4 lines, has certainly hurt that team's compete level.

 

If Raffl doesn't pan out, there's not a whole lot ventured and not a whole lot lost.

 

That said, I expect him to be around a 10/20 guy.