WordsOfWisdom Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Recent articles on Sportsnet.ca include: Lamoriello says "Babcock is the best coach in the league". Lamoriello says he's "extremely impressed by Phaneuf". It feels like one after another. It's Wayne Gretzky all over again. You all know the joke: Wayne Gretzky says that player X is the greatest player ever, where X = any player in the universe. I mean geez, it's a lost season. Lou needs to just shrink into the background and do some GM work to fix this mess. "Bystander apathy" isn't what we're looking for here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluPuk Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Yah there are a lot of voices saying the right things but nobody making an actual difference except Babcock. I want to see somebody DO something! This must be the pain that Mike talked of.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted January 30, 2016 Author Share Posted January 30, 2016 On 29/01/2016 at 8:06 AM, BluPuk said: Yah there are a lot of voices saying the right things but nobody making an actual difference except Babcock. I want to see somebody DO something! This must be the pain that Mike talked of.... The Leafs are nothing but painful..... to watch. They've been painful to watch for decades. Other bad teams in the NHL make trades to change the roster in the hopes of getting better. The Leafs continue to roll out the same cast of 3rd and 4th liners. The sad part is, the players that will be moved at the deadline are probably going to be Polak (the Leafs best defensive defenceman), Parenteau (nothing special), and Lupul (also nothing special). I'm not sure that any of those players can fetch the Leafs anything of value in return. It may come to the point where the Leafs need to make a very tough decision and trade names like JVR, Kadri, Bozak, Rielly, Komarov, or Gardiner, with the intent of getting 1st round draft picks in return and trying to land a franchise player. You can only dabble around with 2nd and 3rd round picks for so long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyercanuck Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 I'm not sure why you trade a Reilly or Kadri or even JVR (if I'm the Leafs) for 1st round picks. Isn't Reilly the kind of player you hope you get with a 1st? And to a lesser extent, Kadri and JVR. All 3 are young enough for a rebuild. Unless you just don't want them on the team of course. But you have to start building from somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluPuk Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 It doesn't look good that's for sure. The only prospect we can move up next year will be Nylander, and I'm not sure he's ready. He needs a two-way, two hundred foot game which he does not have now. Hopefully, he can add some scoring which we sorely lack right now. I think we've seen nearly everything else that the Marlies have to offer and there is nothing there, really. Certainly no impact players at all (with the possible exception of Nylander). Marner looks like a good player but I supect he will be in the AHL all next season. I know the Leafs will get two first rounders this season, their own, and Pittsburgh's. Leafs pick will be no better than 4th (unless they win one of the top 3 spots in the lottery), and it's looking like Pittsburgh's pick will be around 15th to 20th. Not great really. I'm not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted January 30, 2016 Author Share Posted January 30, 2016 4 hours ago, flyercanuck said: I'm not sure why you trade a Reilly or Kadri or even JVR (if I'm the Leafs) for 1st round picks. Isn't Reilly the kind of player you hope you get with a 1st? And to a lesser extent, Kadri and JVR. All 3 are young enough for a rebuild. Unless you just don't want them on the team of course. But you have to start building from somewhere. In the case of Kadri, it would be to make space for Nylander and Marner. (The assumption being that Kadri has peaked and the other two players have the potential to be much better.) With JVR it's a similar scenario. He's a good player, but is he a great player? It's really hard to improve in the current free agent-less NHL climate because you always have to give something of value up in order to get anything of value in return. Thus, if the players you currently have are only good enough for a 30th place finish, then you can't possibly get any worse by cleaning house. The Leafs could trade everyone they have now for 20 random players and come up with a better result next season. I dunno... I'm just thinking out loud... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyercanuck Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 I really don't see Marner as a centre. He's got the skillset for it, but he's got a very slight frame. Maybe he fills out but he doesn't look like the type. Is JVR great? Hell no, and never will be. He certainly isn't the type of player you build a team around (if he was he'd still be a Flyer) But he can score and you need that, right? Plus, you'd be damn lucky to find a better player with a mid to late first...and I doubt many if any teams picking top ten are giving that up for him. Same can be said about Kadri. And Reilly? How many other potential top pairing Dmen do the Leafs have in their organization? None. And they are few and far between, trust me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WordsOfWisdom Posted February 4, 2016 Author Share Posted February 4, 2016 Babcock now getting in on the fun too: Babcock: "Phaneuf better person than I could’ve ever dreamed" - Sportsnet.ca Translation: PLEASE TAKE PHANEUF OFF OUR HANDS!!! HE'S SUCH A SWELL GUY!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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