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Leafs had a good day....


jammer2

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  Not an outstanding day, but they played it conservative and got some decent results. They got Matt Frattin back, via Columbus, signed Stephane Robidas to a 3 year 9 mill deal, a physical hard working player who is always popular with teammates....and getting Komorov back, that solidifies the 3rd line. Giving him a 3rd line job though, it guarantees the 3rd line will always be a checking line, I'd hate to be a Leafs prospect trying to break into a scoring role, cause all the jobs are spoken for unless some trades go down.

 

 

 Also like the Roman Polak deal. Here we have a guy who takes his craft seriously....one of the fittest players in the league. Last fall the Blues had to stop him from doing reps of 315 lbs on the bench press cause he had already won the fittest Blue contest. Nice signing. Perhaps the biggest signing was the one they did not make....Bolland getting 5.5 from Florida is outrageous. They were wise to step back and collect themselves.

 

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@off_the_post  Ahhh, I thought he was around 34...he is 37, big difference, so he is gonna be good past 40? I dunno about that. Short term, the Leafs got more physical, but 3 years to Robidas at that age...they could have invested elsewhere...agreed.

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Yeah I'd rather have Kimmo for $2m at 40 than Robidas at 40 for $3m. 

 

 Can't argue with that line of thinking at all. The puzzling part is this...the Leafs have a fine young crop of d-men prospects, with the Polak trade and Robidas signings....they effectively blocked their way. It was kinda like the old Pat Quinn Leafs...no youngsters allowed....even the forwards are blocked by Komorov turning the 3rd line into a checking line. Don't follow Nonis's line of thinking here, but I'm ok with them blocking the kids!!

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  Just watching the Leafs presser with GM Dave Nonis.....everytime I look at this guy I picture him 40 years younger getting beat up for his lunch money!! LOL!  I'm not sold that this guy knows what he is doing. I think Shanny has him on a very short leash.

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I think the day was alright. Pluses and minuses.

 

Robidas is a solid veteran presence who can still eat minutes, assuming his leg is healthy. $3 million is not a bad deal for him (especially considering some of the deals handed out for defensemen), but a 3 year term is pretty bad. It's risky. On the other hand they may be able to pull a Flyers/Pronger LTIR trick if things get hairy in year 3.

 

Komarov being back is great, because they really needed him back. Unfortunately, $3 mil is a lot for a guy who doesn't really put up points. He was on pace for just over 15 points in his first NHL season I believe. That said, it's hard to be mad about it because I love Komarov.

 

Frattin coming back is kind of a meh trade, but I like Matt Fratt. Hopefully he can regain some of the gusto he had before he left.

 

Polak probably fills more of a need for the Leafs than Gunnarsson positionally, but I can't help but think we gave up the better defenseman, retained a tiny bit of salary, and added a pick. Not sure it was a great trade value-wise, but not horrendous I guess.

 

 

 Can't argue with that line of thinking at all. The puzzling part is this...the Leafs have a fine young crop of d-men prospects, with the Polak trade and Robidas signings....they effectively blocked their way. It was kinda like the old Pat Quinn Leafs...no youngsters allowed....even the forwards are blocked by Komorov turning the 3rd line into a checking line. Don't follow Nonis's line of thinking here, but I'm ok with them blocking the kids!!

 

The Leafs do have a fair few young D with potential, but the issue is they need guys to shelter their youngsters who aren't quite ready yet. Assuming Franson doesn't return, they will still need to add one rookie defenseman (probably Granberg or Percy) to Gardiner and Rielly. That's quite a bit of unprovenness. Robidas and Polak give them a bit more stability and some mentors, so I can see the logic.

 

I think it was meh, Robidas is 37 and plays on 1 leg, Komorov is okay but that is it. the fact that they didn't deal Reimer IMHO was a bad move. Same with Fransen.

 

Nonis seems very reluctant to deal Reimer for what he's probably worth on the open market, which I'm guessing is around a 3rd rounder at the very best. Best case scenario for a Reimer trade, I'm guessing, is to move him for another young but less proven backup.

 

By all accounts the Leafs tried to move Franson for Gorges, but Gorges rejected the trade. I'm guessing Franson is still in play, but we'll see.

 

I should add that the brightest part of free agency so far is that the Leafs didn't pull another Clarkson contract, when a fair few horrible contracts were handed out.

 

Huzzah for small victories!

Edited by Commander Clueless
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  Just watching the Leafs presser with GM Dave Nonis.....everytime I look at this guy I picture him 40 years younger getting beat up for his lunch money!! LOL!  I'm not sold that this guy knows what he is doing. I think Shanny has him on a very short leash.

 

It really seems like Nonis is just Shanny's puppet at this point. Maybe it's time they just get rid of him, or move back to AssMan.

 

Shanaban him, Shanahan, Shanadammit!

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@Commander Clueless  Thanks for your input. You fall exactly where my Leaf buddies do on all of this. They felt Robidas was the right money but the wrong term....and they all love Frattin and Komorov....sentimental favs if you will. Komorov brings the type of edge that the Leafs were missing....the kinda thing that Clarkson was supposed to bring. It's funny, Komorov infuriates people with that stupid stare of his, he will elbow you in the ribs and just give you this far away stare that drives opponents crazy. It's quite funny to watch.

 

 I've seen Stuart Percy first hand. A wonderful skater and thinks the game on another level...he is a legit top 4 d-man waiting to happen. I don't know all that much about Granberg except he is highly thought of...would be a shame to waste Percy in the AHL for another year...the kid is *ready*.

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@Commander Clueless  Thanks for your input. You fall exactly where my Leaf buddies do on all of this. They felt Robidas was the right money but the wrong term....and they all love Frattin and Komorov....sentimental favs if you will. Komorov brings the type of edge that the Leafs were missing....the kinda thing that Clarkson was supposed to bring. It's funny, Komorov infuriates people with that stupid stare of his, he will elbow you in the ribs and just give you this far away stare that drives opponents crazy. It's quite funny to watch.

 

 I've seen Stuart Percy first hand. A wonderful skater and thinks the game on another level...he is a legit top 4 d-man waiting to happen. I don't know all that much about Granberg except he is highly thought of...would be a shame to waste Percy in the AHL for another year...the kid is *ready*.

 

 

A lot of people were seeing Granberg as the better fit as a big, stay at home guy, but with the acquisition of Polak for Gunnarsson I'm thinking Percy might be the go to guy next season.

 

It really depends on right vs. left IMO. If Carlyle is going to be a stickler on what side the defensemen shoot, then he may force Phaneuf back to the left side again. This means that Granberg's right handed shot might be more appealing to the Leafs.

 

If Phaneuf stays on the right and they have Robidas and Polak also on the right, then Percy slots in nicely on the left side of the bottom pairing with Polak. Have to think he'd compliment Polak quite well. Either way, I'm positive we'll see both Granberg and Percy in at least at some point of the season.

 

Andrew MacWilliam has an outside shot as well. Not much puck skill, but big and mean. Matt Finn had a great OHL season, but he almost certainly will need AHL time.

Edited by Commander Clueless
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@Commander Clueless  You are right, the Leafs value, even demand equality on the right and left handed shots from their d-men. This could easily dictate who is added from the Baby Leafs.

 

Carlyle must be happy with the thought of actually having three right-handed shots on the blueline instead of just one. :lol:

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The Kontiola signing seems like a decent low-risk move, apparently for $1.1M for 1 year.

 

Not sure exactly where he'll fit in the lineup, but still pretty low risk.

 

 

Apparently, the Leafs are after Legwand as well. Could be a decent fit there too, depending on price. We could really use another solid penalty killer with the departure of McClement.

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@Commander Clueless  Ya know, I just do not understand the Leafs not re-signing McClement. He was by far their best pk guy, and his 53.6 % winning percentage on draws puts him in (or close) to the top 10 in the league. I don't know what the Leafs were thinking here. The guy signed for a measely 1.1 Mill for God's sake!!!  I can only assume the player wanted to move on, but really....if the Leafs had offered him 2 mill....for the excellent services he supplies, I don't think anyone would view it as an overpayment. My gut says he did not like playing for Caryle and wanted to move on. Randy has a way of rubbing guys the wrong way I'm thinking....this was a HUGE loss. Legwand would fill the void a bit, but almost impossible to replace what this McClement brought to the table.

 

 The other factor is Peter Holland. I believe in this guys skill set. I think he may be a real diamond in the rough. He shows nice hands and nice wheels. He deserves a *legit* chance to break into this roster. If it's in a 3rd line capacity and not 4th...his offensive capabilities can be utilized a lot more.

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No idea @jammer2. I wanted McClement back.

 

There were rumours that McClement wanted to come back, but the Leafs didn't offer him a contract. If true, that's a little puzzling.

 

If Holland is the factor, that's one thing, but Holland has offensive potential too. Also, that leaves us without a great penalty killing centre, and that's not good for a team that finished 28th on the PK last year.

 

IMO, they really need a guy like Legwand or perhaps a guy like Vern Fiddler to fill the void that McClement leaves.

 

I also think there is a legitimate shot that Holland is being considered for 2nd line RW with Lupul and Kadri. Or maybe Kadri slides to the wing, although he's been much better as a centre.

 

To be fair, Nonis has said he wants the 4th line to play 10-12 minutes a night, so maybe he's looking for an energy line with some scoring punch. A line featuring Carter Ashton - Peter Holland - Matt Frattin, for example, gives speed, energy, and potentially some tertiary scoring.

 

 

My biggest concern here is the penalty kill. There are arguments both for and against the Leafs improving in certain areas, but the PK to me hasn't really been touched. We got Komarov back, but lost McClement and Kulemin. I'm pretty sure that's not a net gain where PKing is concerned.

 

Gunnarsson was also one of our top penalty killing defensemen. I hope Polak/Robidas can fill that void, although I don't know enough about them to say if they can or not.

 

Bright side is it will be tough for the PK to get worse.

Edited by Commander Clueless
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@jammer2 Yeah, not to mention Bernier posting a .924 sv%, so you can't blame goalies. And after being 2nd (I think) the year before with those same guys plus Komarov.

 

 

My, how times have changed.

 

 

To be fair, the Leafs played one of the most passive PKs I've seen in some time last year.

Edited by Commander Clueless
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Looks like Santorelli is the man. Vancouver fans loved him, so it might be good.

 

Reportedly, he can play penalty kill and is decent at faceoffs. Can also play wing and put up a few points.

 

Could work out.

 

 

To the Leafs' credit, I like these low risk depth signings a lot better than the Clarkson/Komisarek-esque signings of the recent past. Looks like they might finally be relying more on homegrown talent...or at least as close as the Leafs get to that.

 

We are building through the draft. Just not our own draft. :lol:

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@Commander Clueless  Hmmm, 10 goals and 18 assists playing limited minutes....not bad. His true worth will be in defense, but nice having some contributions from the 3rd line.

 

 Whoa...28 pts in only 49 games.....very nice. I remember Mike was pretty decent on the Panthers a few years back.

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