Daisy Jane
everything is gonna be okay!
- Jul 2, 2009
- 70,250
- 9,264
Loose-Leafs
song of the post: Call Me Maybe By Carly Rae Jepsen
song of the post: Call Me Maybe By Carly Rae Jepsen
First of all, Happy Love Day, Everyone!!
We may bicker, and fight, etc etc, but we are all connected by.....the most intriguing, frustrating team in the world. Let's be honest. when this team is good - they'll still be intriguing, and they'll still be frustrating. but at least we never have to worry about being bored with this team. They'll always bring some kind of. "And what now?" with them.
Seriously though - Happy Valentine's Day guys. Even if you think today is the stupidest day every, go tell your significant other how much you love them, and if you're single, go be all cute and ask the person you like to be your valentine today. No matter how much they say bah-humbbug, it does make a big difference
Happy Anniversary to the start of the Voodoo Magic.
February 13th, Brandon Leipsic played in his first NHL Hockey Game, scored his first NHL goal, which turned out to be his first NHL game winning goal
seriously, tres awesome, little one. Seriously. Leipsic is TINY y'all
And let's remember how we got him. We traded Cody Franson, & Mike Santorelli for the first round pick (who ultimately became: Dermott, Bracco and Dzierkals). and one Brandan Leipsic. And the trade happened the day after Valentine's Day and Leipsic put the dagger in the Vancouver's playoff aspirations. (maybe. Like I don't know, but the way Hughson was going on about it - you kind of got that feeling).
Kinda funny how it all worked out.
Maybe it's kind of strange but I think Leipsic is the symbol of the rebuild. (I don't think he'll ever really get any credit for it, people will point to Marner - or even Nylander etc - which, granted, yes) - but Leipsic completely deserves some consideration, because - and I will put myself in that category:
People wanted Franson to get extended. Not everyone. But a lot of people. He was still putting up a lot of powerplay points and he was looking relatively good - even though he was starting to decline a bit. but all throughout the media, there were just whispers of "Mayyybeee we keep Franson. We could move someone else. Do we haaavveee to give up Franson?"
yes. yes we do
A few weeks from now - is what I like to nominate as "Wizardy Voodoo and Bullpoop Day" because a few weeks later - David Clarkson was traded.
your reaction on hearing Clarkson was traded - without retaining or a gross contract back
Jarmo Kekalainen gets a huge massive bouquet of flowers - for not only not getting insurance on Nathan' Horton's contract like most teams do - but for also triggering the phone call that made this all possible. This isn't making light/fun of the suffering that Nathan Horton is going through - just simply put. Pirdham was already trying to find some wizardy ways to move Clarkson - and Jarmo was like "Soo, how about my back problem (literally), to your back problem (Leafs Nation-ally)?"
but this is where it all gets better
David Clarkson was this close to being an Ottawa Senator. Twice
I think he would have fit in, don't you?
Murarry was really pushing for Clarkson to sign with Ottawa. And then we got him. Yay. And then Nonis was really pushing to trade him to Ottawa, and Ottawa was liking the idea - but they didn't like the pieces they'd have to give up (have you noticed - lot of players that Nonis "didn't want to give up" - never got traded because the other team was like "are you for real, we're not giving you that for him"
So that trade didn't happen, and the Columbus one did. And fastforward a year later and enter.....
Imma gonna make you an offer you can't refuse.
Lou Lamoriello traded Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa. For most of the pieces that we would have taken back if we traded David Clarkson this time last year. but without Lindberg. And we'd have to retain.
So basically. we owe Columbus + Jarmo a huge thank you for taking Clarkson off our hands, so Bryan Murarry could then take Dion Phaneuf off our hands.
And this is where we stop and marvel at the fact that the three pieces of our "core" that was supposed to make us so good - David Clarkson, Phil Kessel, and Dion Phaneuf, got traded in less than a Calendar year - and we only have to hold onto 1.2 milllion dollars. And if I told you that Phil Kessel was the player we had to retain on - I don't think you'd believe me until you checked it out.
Our front office ... well...
and Shanny. And Lou.
So it makes you wonder how much more magic between now and the Trade Deadline Day - can Lou really do. I mean - for the most part, I don't think we needed to pull this out yet...
it's an unfortunate set of circumstances - it's no one's fault
But things are - kind of status quo. Until it's not, and it just slams us against the head. There is still a lot of players we can trade to get picks from (the PAPs, the Grabners etc) - and then the serious hard questions of:
"Do we neeeeeed Leo Komarov?"
"do we neeeeed James Reimer - especially if he's not looking right now if he'll extend with the Leafs"
"Do we neeeeeed [insert name here]." Still some difficult cuts in my opinion to be made.
But with almost 30 million in cap space, a lot of contract space to play with (if we don't qualify everyone - and I don't think we will) and the cap reported to come down- Lou has armed himself perfectly to be aggressive in trading, aggressive in signing, and to support the Marlies as they come up.
So NHL - call Lou, Maybe?
I honestly think though we are trending on the right path here. Now there are some people who don't think we are - and others who want to wait and see what happens. there has been a lot of change between February 15th 2015 - and February 13th 2014. Mostly good. A little questionable. A lot of people want to to think that the Shanagement is in a honeymoon phase and so next year, or the year after, people will be more grumpy and less accepting of the pain. Some people just hate everything now because the team sucks, and some reasons - something something we were in the playoffs. Some people will continue to gripe about the softness...
My argument is - we're ingredients. like we're not even ready to be made into cookie dough yet. It still seems like Shanahan and company are still at the grocery store, tossing things into the cart, and that's what the leafs are. a little bit chocolate chip, a little bit flour, etc etc. don't be upset if you're not sure what the end result is going to be. Just be patient, and enjoy the process of making the cookie.
Hmm. Cookie...
I don't think the honey moon period has to "end" per se - I don't need the team to be perfect - or the Shanagement to be perfect - there are going to be some mistakes, and some questionable decisions, every team has them, the thing is -are they capable of minimizing them - and eliminating them for the most part if they happen. If we mess up on one pick - can another pick step up. The love doesn't have to stop in a year and we get all grumpy and be miserable at them. It can be all love all the time. (or most of the time)
See ya next time
oh and 40,000 posts - that's a lot of GDTing with you guys, a lot of Loose-Leaf rambles, a lot of facepalming about the team. but I'm glad to be part of this community, and for the most part knowing a lot of you guys. you make it interesting.
hopefully i'm here for 40,000 more
