2008/2009 Hockey Thread v2.0

[Reddaye]

I think John Mitchell has pretty well proven the point about why Dominic Moore wasn't worth more than 1.75 million a season. We already have someone who could replace him. ^_^

[Clawson]

Honestly, I'm down for giving Mitchell his favourite number in 93. Seems like he could be a less-talented Dougy for us.

[Reddaye]

He should be able to use it if he wanted to, shouldn't he? I thought we were only honoring numbers now, not retiring them?

[caucasianheat]

Gary Roberts has not been picked up on waivers and said this would be his last year. So effectively, he's retired. It's too bad because he absolutely deserved better, but the bizarre contract Tampa had him on made him pretty unappealing to most teams.

[Gabriel]

Gary Roberts has not been picked up on waivers and said this would be his last year. So effectively, he's retired. It's too bad because he absolutely deserved better, but the bizarre contract Tampa had him on made him pretty unappealing to most teams.

That's what I've been hearing... Roberts to Calgary would have been a lock, but with Jokinen and Leopold being acquired, there wasn't room for him under the salary cap because of his awkward contract. Had the Flames not been able to make one or both of those moves though, there would have been a trade with Tampa Bay to secure Roberts for the rest of the season.

It's too bad. He definitely deserved to go out a lot better than this.

[Plubby]

Carolina must have read Gabe's post and were all like "No. We will NOT be next and in fact, this is what we think of your smelly deadline trades!"

[Toe]

Montreal just can't do anything with the puck tonight against Atlanta. Carey Price is playing well, but the rest of the team is going to let his efforts go to waste.

[Gabriel]

Carolina must have read Gabe's post and were all like "No. We will NOT be next and in fact, this is what we think of your smelly deadline trades!"

I understand putting McElhinney in to try and give him some confidence down the stretch... what I don't understand, is keeping him in there when it was apparent after the second period that every mistake we made was going to end up in the net.

When that happens, it's not necessarily the goalie's fault... but the team completely lost all momentum after the second Carolina goal. That was bad coaching by Mike Keenan to not recognize that Kipper should have been inserted for the start of the 3rd at the very latest.

It was also a bad all around effort from the team. The forecheck looked good from the bottom two lines, and the top line turned it on near the end of the game, but it's not enough.

Poor Adam Pardy was a healthy scratch last night, and it's very obviously affected his confidence. He looks like he's worried about being demoted with the addition of Jordan Leopold to the lineup, and it showed in his performance and mistakes.

What happens between now and Sunday afternoon is going to determine whether or not we'll be able to make a serious drive for the Cup. We'll see how the team looks against Atlanta. If they bounce back, we're all good. If not, then I'll already be able to proclaim the trade deadline as a bust in terms of this season.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Gary Roberts rides off into the sun with nothing more to prove. He's got a Cup, he's beaten the Christ out of many and those he hasn't are scared shitless of him anyways. He made fans laugh, cheer, and cry all in the same game. He could make most manly men look gay in comparison. He broke his fucking neck, was written off, came back QUICK TIME and still ran shit. And if it wasn't for the injury and the lockout, he'd most likely have a cool 1000 points, including 500 goals, in his pocket. But just being Gary Roberts means he can take his 900+ points, add it to his over 2500 penalty minutes, and pretty much be in line to tell any other hockey legend to cram it with walnuts sucka because he's fucking Gary Roberts. And just for the hell of it, he could sleep with their wives and daughters and get away with it with zero consequence. Because he is, and always will be, Gary F. Roberts. Gary Fucking Roberts.

No more Post Lockout Era. No, now it's Post Gary Roberts Era. Because a hockey without Gary changes the game that much.

[Toe]

Any hopes of some sort of miracle run by the Leafs are gone now, I think.

Also, Antropov just scored a great goal for the Rangers and I marked out. I hope he does well for them.

[Reddaye]

I think the loss of two of our bigger offensive pieces reared it's ugly head last night. I know Roloson has been on a tear this season (and good for him, I like Rollie) but we should have been able to get at least one more goal. I like how every game Roloson loses his stick, and sometimes his mask.

Tough to see your team out work the opposition and still not get the win. Also, Ben Ondrus needs to stop with the fighting...it was nice the first game he did it, but now he's just over doing it. I like that the guy has spunk, but he's not much of a fighter.

Glad to hear Nik is getting along well in New York. He'll now suddenly become a worthwhile player in the eyes of non Leafs fans just because he's on a different roster. I hope he does well, and would like to see him back someday.

[Toe]

He is a free agent this summer and you never know, he could come back. I see him asking for too much though. Not too much for what he has done, but too much for Brian Burke to want to pay.

I'm stealing this stuff from HockeyBuzz.com...this is Eklund's top 40 free agent forwards.

1. Hossa

2. Havlat

3. Franzen

4. H. Sedin

5. D. Sedin

6. Cammalleri

7. Gaborik

8. Gionta

9. S. Koivu

10. Tkachuk

11. Knuble

12. Sykora

13. Kovalev

14. Cole

15. Tanguay

16. Lehtinen

17. Sundin

18. M. Samuelsson

19. Antropov

20. Guerin

21. Laperriere

22. Dominic Moore

23. Holik

24. Fedorov

25. Lang

26. Reinprecht

27. Weight

28. Viktor Kozlov

29. Recchi

30. Madden

31. R. Neidermayer

32. Pahlsson

33. Chris Neil

34. Afinogenov

35. Fedotenko

36. Jason Williams

37. Grier

38. Comrie

39. Zednik

40. Calder

Here is the defensemen.

1. Jay Bouwmeester

2. Michael Komisarek

3. Johnny Oduya

4. Mattias Ohlund

5. Rob Blake

6. Jordan Leopold

7. Derek Morris

8. Niclas Havelid

9. Mathieu Schneider

10. Adrian Aucoin

11. Ville Koistinen

12. Steve Montador

13. Greg de Vries

14. Jaroslav Spacek

15. Francois Beauchemin

16. Greg Zanon

17. Andrew Alberts

18. Cory Murphy

19. Ossi Vaananen

20. Christian Backman

21. Lasse Kukkonen

22. Nick Boynton

Edited March 8, 2009 by Toe

[Reddaye]

He is a free agent this summer and you never know, he could come back. I see him asking for too much though. Not too much for what he has done, but too much for Brian Burke to want to pay.

I think that was the overall problem anyways, wasn't it? Nik wanted like four million a season for his extension and Burke wouldn't pay it? That's what I remember hearing anyways.

Similar situation with Dominic Moore, who's becoming popular in Buffalo for his work ethic and skill.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Let's close the book on Nik Antropov. If he's meant to flourish somewhere else, so be it, he wouldn't be the first guy to do it. He's had two healthy seasons, if you ask me he's due for a few good ol' injury ridden, vintage Antropov campaigns. If you wanna spend 4-5 mil on a guy who can either injury something or disappear for long stretches of games on a moments notice, go nuts. Brian Burke knows the score and he wants nothing of Antropov or the book he wrote on how to execute the perfect vanishing act.

Now, let's get back to the real agenda and that's trying to find the best possible way of packaging Poni up and dealing him before the draft for something nice in return...

Serious note; Mike Van Ryn can't catch a fucking break. Poor guy. Poor Leafs. The D plays with that much more confidence when he is in the line up. Which isn't very much, but they do. I really wish we could have had a healthy line up of Kaberle, Kubina, Schenn, Van Ryn, White, and Finger all season. I know shit happens, but it's been a revolving door of injuries and defensive call ups.

Looking to next season with as much optimism as possible, if the defensive end is destined to stay as it is, I think it can improve itself nicely.

Kaberle is a top defenceman, a motivated Kubina is too. Schenn will have had a full season of development and I'm expecting a strong offseason where he can hopefully gain some extra mass and keep his confidence growing. A healthy Van Ryn can match into a second d-line or at least he has shown he can this season. Finger is reliable deeper in the ranks and White has shown a lot of promise, continued on the job training is key for him now.

And with Burke, who really knows? I don't expect him to dump anybody without going back on the trade or free agent market and trying to replace what he lost the best he can. That goes on both ends of the ice, not just on D.

Looking at those FA lists, if I could play fantasy GM again just for the sake of it, Cammalleri would be great for the Leafs for all the obvious reasons. Ian Laperriere is an effective Burke-type player who could fill a massive hole in this line up and the fans would eat him up. Chris Neil as well, complete with Senator defection for added signing satisfaction on Leaf fans part. Depending on who the Leafs get rid of, John Madden is an excellent mix of offense, defense, leadership with veteran intangibles. No more pure skill scoring types are needed on this team, that's for sure.

On defense, you can't go wrong with any of those top three guys on that list if you are looking to build yourself a nice fresh, defensive core.

Bouwmeester obviously has the most upside. A skilled player as he is right now who can log big minutes, he's still going to get better and probably has a season or two before he'll start playing his prime hockey. I'm on the fence about where he needs to go. He could come to Toronto, with at least one more year of consequence free hockey (at least that's what I'm anticipating) and ease into the role of being a legit top star. Best case scenario, Leafs and Jay are on form at the same time by then. Or he could make the switch to a competitive team where he can get some serious, post season experience at the risk of possibly not fitting into his role that the team asks of him. As much as we all rave about Jay, does anybody pay serious attention to Florida? IMO, he's not the elite, headlining defenseman his market value is making him seem like. Yet. He still has room to grow and while it would be nice to see him play some meaningful hockey, he'll only be 26 next season. Maybe the best fit would be a team like Toronto where there won't be pressure for Jay to knock the socks off people ASAP, allowing him to continue to grow into his potential while being a top feature at the same time. It's really a rare opportunity that could benefit Jay's development into the top star he's pegged to be.

Edited March 8, 2009 by Enter Blue Guy

[Gabriel]

When a good team is going through a rough patch, none of the bounces seem to go their way, calls are made that shouldn't be, calls that should be made aren't, and you just generally can't catch a break.

That's where we're at right now with Calgary. Horrible timing for it, but oh well. Our entire second line is out with injuries right now, and everyone is getting frustrated.

We play great for stretches, get momentum and be physical...and then we get a stupid call, or a bad goal goes in, and it all goes to hell. Players get frustrated and start making mistakes, taking stupid penalties and letting it get to them.

We have until Tuesday night to figure it out. Then we have Jersey, and then Detroit on Thursday. We can't afford to be on this cold streak any longer.

[Reddaye]

If you wanna spend 4-5 mil on a guy who can either injury something or disappear for long stretches of games on a moments notice, go nuts.

Looking at those FA lists, if I could play fantasy GM again just for the sake of it, Cammalleri would be great for the Leafs for all the obvious reasons.

Bouwmeester obviously has the most upside.

I don't recall saying we should bring Nik back for 4-5 million a season. In fact I'm glad we traded him considering that's how much he wanted. I like the guy, but I wouldn't bring him back for that much. 2.5 to 3 million tops.

Cammalleri would be a good pick up, but not for Iginla money like the rumors are saying he wants. He's having a career year this season, but look at who he's been playing with. Who do we have on our roster right now to make him as effective a player as he's been in Calgary? When you're paying someone an Iginla like salary I'd be expecting a high output. That being said, if Cammy wanted less money I'd say we should gobble him up for sure. With the cap dropping during the 10/11 season, we really need to watch salaries.

I'd like to see Bouwmeester, but it'll never happen. If he doesn't want to be in Florida because they can't compete, why would be want to come here? We probably won't be ready to seriously compete for at least three to four years.

All IMO, of course.

EDIT: Stralman and Oreskovic have both been called up from the Marlies. I'm excited to finally see Oreskovic...the guy supposedly hits like a freight train from what I've heard.

Edited March 8, 2009 by Drifter_2000

[Plubby]

Something must be wrong because we scored five goals and Budaj only conceded one.

[Toe]

Looking at the Leafs, unless they move Kubina or Kaberle, I don't think Bouwmeester fits here. If Kaberle is moved, then Bouwmeester would be a good fit although I cannot see him coming in at a price I would be happy with.

[Reddaye]

According to Leafs Lunch:

Mike Van Ryn is out for the rest of the season with a torn MCL. He won't need serious surgery, and will rehab it over the summer. This guy has turned into the new Cola.

Jonas Frogren going for an MRI soon, and will likely be down for the rest of the season as well.

On a personal note I won't be able to see the Leafs versus the Sens tonight. Local blackout of all Sens games on NHL Center Ice. Normally it wouldn't bother me...but this time it bites me in the ass.

[Clawson]

You live in Nova Scotia. Why the fuck would Sens games be blacked out?