Daisy Jane
everything is gonna be okay!
- Jul 2, 2009
- 70,217
- 9,210
Nonahan Watch
apparently they are in Vegas discussing things like the drat and what to do on Carlyle. which means.......
Carlyle Firing Watch
fire him, fire him not.... fire him.. fire him not.
still applies
Creating "LeafsHockey"
This summer (and the new few summers, if we're going to be honest) we're going to be re-creating the Image & the Identity (the Culture - buzz word, buzz word) here. And then it made me wonder... did the Leafs really have a culture etc etc to begin with?
The Flyers has always been this:
the Broad Street Bullies, Beating up some Canucks
The Bruins for the most part has always been known as "Big Bad Bruins
And now. Comeback Kids.
Bruins came back against Montreal... but are still losing
We know about Detroit (model of patience) Chicago (which is now held to the pinnacle of all things 'drafting properly), Oilers seem to want to be like the 80s high flying teams....
We used to be the Bay Street Bullies (I think that was a Bowen-ism), but I don't know if it ever really took off ... so what were we? Also - what do we want to become?
like we want to take pieces and parts of everyone's models to graft it on to us. I think it should be a given that we want to draft well - and let them develop well. It should be a given that we want to sign well and know when to remove pieces that don't fit that system. To me that's not so much "bruins hockey' or 'Detroit model system" etc that should simply be good business practices from the management.
But what do we want the product on the ice to be? What do we want them to do (and simply 'work harder' 'look like they give a crap' doesn't count).
I've even said this - When the Leafs grow up, I want them to be Like ____________. Which is wrong. When the Leafs grow up, I want them to be better Leafs. I want them to exude Leafs Hockey. But what is that? I simply have no idea.
What do we want our prospects to aspire to - what's the first thing we want to think of the moment we see this:
The thing I remember most (and this came from talking with a friend as well) - is that the Leafs as an organization does best when it's a US vs THEM mentality. the Underdog, the David to the Goliath. Sparta vs. Perisa. And this is true. 93 - no one counted on us - we get to the eastern conference finals. Ottawa swept us in the season series one year - we sweep them in the first round. the last great playoff run - Leafs make it to game 6 of the conference finals after beating up the Islanders and Ottawa on the back of Alyn McCauley and Gary Roberts.
But do we really want to develop a "Leafs vs. the League" mentality? Or do we want to do something else? I am really stumped on this.. What about you?
DaisyVision #5: Trevor Smith, Petter Granberg, Jerry D'Amigo, Josh Levio, Peter Holland, Troy Bodie, Carter Ashton: The Call Ups & The Future
Because of our injury plague season (which has nothing on Detroit), we had a few call-ups this season. And because of the fact that we have 12 roster spots committed going into the 14-15 season - the big huge question is "do we call up some kids?" [even though - not all of them are kids].
So Today's DaisyVision - touching on ALL the Call Ups.
Bodie: I remember how everyone was all massive eye roll when Bodie was signed, because he's Lieweke's son in law. But I have to say that in the 47 games that he played - he really impressed me. He never really made me go "Are you freaking serious?" in his play, he hustled, and he fought (badly, but that's okay). And most of his goals were really timely (either the first goal of the game, a goal to tie it up, and I do declare even 1 game winner). He floated around the third/fourth line and he didn't look out of place.
He's a UFA this year - but I really hope we keep in in the organization because he never 'quit' regardless of the minutes that he played. and unlike some people who actually played on the 4th line, he actually made the 4th line look good.
Levio he showed a lot of energy the few games that he was up. I don't know why he couldn't do better playing with the Marlies for another year and really hone his game though - though he could get some minutes on the third line - but it would depend on who is running the third line next year.
Ashton: I would assume 100 percent that he's expected to make the team next year. I feel so bad for the kid. 2 broken noses, a suspension, and then having to deal with Captain Stupid as a coach. (who had the unmitigated gall to say "Well we're moving Carter to the 2nd line with Naz, to give him confidence. We don't understand how he tears up the AHL, then comes up here and doesn't score." [probably, Randy - because you put him on the 4th line and play him 3 minutes]. I really want him to make the team and get that first NHL goal.
D'Amigo (Jerry!
): I love him 
so anything i say here is completely biased 
. But in all honesty - again - when he was playing on the third line, he was really impressing me with his speed game. I know that he had some PK time (which isn't fair because our PK unit was 100 percent garbage). I know that people think he's a plug (a word I think a lot of Leafs Fans throw on our prospects way to easily, in my opinion) - but reading up on him, and watching him in the playoffs - he seems to find the next gear when it's playoff time. One would have to believe that this could apply to the NHL level as well (it might not be Bickell-esque - but I think it speaks volumes that he can do that. Go Marlies). He should be part of the third line next season -if not the 4th line. Granberg: the one game (and few minutes - Seriously, Randy?) that he played this season - I was impressed. Why? The dude broke up a 4 on 1. A FOUR. ON. ONE. And Ottawa didn't score. It was so amazing:
[NHL]602224[/NHL]
I can't believe how much the Leafs sucked that they gave Ottawa a 4 on 1 (no matter how bad we were before - we never gave up a 4 on 1), and you can say well Ottawa didn't execute the 4 on 1 well - but Granberg totally played that the best he could, and he didn't get scored one. I'm assuming Granberg is going to be the one (of two) defense Rookies that make it up next season. And Hopefully he'll be as excited as he was when he got drafted:
Holland: all of his points came when he played over ten minutes. true fact. Why is this important? Because Randy constantly played him again on the 4th line or with the black holes on this team. (Poor Peter). He also bounced up and down from the Marlies to the Leafs (and suffered from lace bite, which pretty much cut his Leafs career short this season). He was traded for when we were decimated down the centre in November. And he is the one who is going to have a lot of question marks on. He should be on the team. He's developed in the AHL. We lost a 2nd round pick (mostly because he was playing 4 minutes a night, thank you Randy), so we should put him up in the line up and see what we've got.
MacIntyre: As I don't want this to dissolve into something unpleasant - I'm simply going to say, I don't think he'd be a bad backup for the Leafs. he's a UFA, and he'd be a cheap one (and we can even two-way his contract if a better UFA option for a backup comes along).
Smith: He was the Leafs highest scorer in November. (so that tells you how bad we were doing then). And I think he was performing at a good clip for what he was supposed to bring (until he broke his hand - and that ended his Leafs season). he's doing well with the Marlies. He's a UFA as well - and I don't know what to do with him. Two way his contract? let him captain the Marlies again? I dunno.
there we are. (phew) All the call ups (i remember that we had!)
love it.
