Speculation: Roster Management time table..

[Wafflewhipper]

There are certain hurdles and illusions hindering quality discussion on roster movement. By this i mean continued development of the team.

Andersen causes a illusion of contendership and roster quality.

Matthews has moved things along on the rebuild. There is some players holding down roster spots currently that o feel are holding down some players that are developed enough for a more permanent roster position.

Polak
Moore
Komo
Bozak

These four in particular could be replaced by younger, faster, hungrier and arguably better prospects right away.

I am wondering what posters thoughts are on timeline and choices for Lou to make on getting the rebuild continued.
The next circumstance dictated by development seems to be saying to me its time players get mored out for younger guys that have developed enough.

More speed and jam is going to be needed for babs to implement this dump chase slash possession game hybrid he is currently trying to make take shape as a team trademark. Sustainability on how our team will compete as a diverse playing style seems paramount.

I believe that is what we are seeing take shape. I will take the struggles of implementing this style but the players currently are definitely not the right mix.

Any ideas on this thought? Agreeing with me or not opinions all appreciated. Thoughts?

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[Mr Hockey]

I think the Shanaplan has Jvr, bozak, leo, moore, polak, gardiner all replaced next season, this season is still considered an developmental season by Leafs management.

 

[The List Of Jericho]

I think the Shanaplan has Jvr, bozak, leo, moore, polak, gardiner all replaced next season, this season is still considered an developmental season by Leafs management.

Gardiner has regressed this season but long-term is still in their plans I think

 

[Wafflewhipper]

I think the Shanaplan has Jvr, bozak, leo, moore, polak, gardiner all replaced next season, this season is still considered an developmental season by Leafs management.

I think that is the case too. I might not agree on JVR not resigning with us but the others all seem like reasonable choices to be relieved.

 

[member 262271]

Very nice thread. It's hard as a fan to view a season as development when you want to be entertained and all, but Wafflewhipper absolutely nailed it. Our long win streak while not playing good hockey really masked a lot of things - and I got caught up in the damned hype again. Lesson learned... maybe? Either way I hope to see some improvements going forward, and maybe some UFAs sold or lessened in usage.

 

[Mr Hockey]

Most on here don't understand or are not bright enough to see that there is plan/strategy in place to develop this team into a perennial top 5 NHL team. We are a couple years away from that.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Most on here don't understand or are not bright enough to see that there is plan/strategy in place to develop this team into a perennial top 5 NHL team. We are a couple years away from that.

yes we can't be good until our top 3 players are making 24m combined rather than on their ELCs

 

[Mugzy97]

yes we can't be good until our top 3 players are making 24m combined rather than on their ELCs

We can’t be good until our top 3 players have developed

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

We can’t be good until our top 3 players have developed

wrong
if you can't figure out how to build a winning team with 2x ~60 players on ELCs and a talent like Matthews on his ELC, then you probably never will. You sound like the people who thought there was no way we'd make the playoffs for multiple years after the Matthews draft

 

[BlueBaron]

Next year appears be a transition year, the only FA I see with a chance of returning is JVR now that it looks like the Cap is jumping big and that is no sure thing by any stretch.

Bozak-Nylander shifts to C and Kapanen becomes Nylander
Komo-Lievo
Moore-could go a few ways including a vet or a Marlie
Polak/Carrick- Dermott/Longshot Timmy/Other Marlie/New Russian guy
McBackup-stays/Packard/Sparks

Longshot-Taveres replaces Bozak which means bye bye JVR

 

[wingman75]

I am not sure Gardiner falls in that group, but I agree on the others. Of those, the only one I think that garners even a little consideration for re-signing is JVR. He brings a specific skill set that I don't really see from any of our prospects (maybe someone in the A?). Has to be a team friendly number though for it to work. The rest, I think will be with the team through the playoffs but will not be offered new contracts for next season. Caveat being an over the top offer on one of those players that helps us long term.

Also agree that this is a development season, we all want this team to be ready, but they clearly are not. Again, once these young guys get into season 3 of their professional careers I think the expectations change (go way up).

 

[Menzinger]

There’s no no reason to bring any of them back. All really haven’t been good this season and there are likely internal replacements for them.

Other than Bozak I’d be fine trading them even by the TDL too, doubt it would be any major blow to the teams on ice effectiveness, but I suspect management may end up being buyers than sellers anyways.

 

[Mugzy97]

wrong
if you can't figure out how to build a winning team with 2x ~60 players on ELCs and a talent like Matthews on his ELC, then you probably never will. You sound like the people who thought there was no way we'd make the playoffs for multiple years after the Matthews draft

It’s not always about points. The kids have to learn how to play consistent and how to handle themselves in the league for a complete season. There’s no reason for me to waste time arguing with you tho because you’re one of the most negative people on here.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

I like that blue baron mentioned Tavares in this thread. We could not afford both he and Jvr but still liked seeing him mentioned.

All options deseve to be discussed in this thread. Asset management ideas should be accepted for discussion also.

I potentially see certain contracts being let go throughout the organization.

Some big changes seem to be possibly coming due to development.

The next phase seems like it should be right now!

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

It’s not always about points. The kids have to learn how to play consistent and how to handle themselves in the league for a complete season. There’s no reason for me to waste time arguing with you tho because you’re one of the most negative people on here.

Yeah thinking we have enough talent on the team to compete is very negative

 

[francis246]

There’s no no reason to bring any of them back. All really haven’t been good this season and there are likely internal replacements for them.

Other than Bozak I’d be fine trading them even by the TDL too, doubt it would be any major blow to the teams on ice effectiveness, but I suspect management may end up being buyers than sellers anyways.

There is no internal replacement for JVR or Gardiner

 

[Mugzy97]

Yeah thinking we have enough talent on the team to compete is very negative

 

[Menzinger]

There is no internal replacement for JVR or Gardiner

I was referring to UFAs - which wouldn’t apply to Gardiner, though in a couple seasons we may see Dermott be able to slot into the top four.

There’s certainly no clone of JVR offensively, but there are NHL ready wingers on the Marlies who may be better defensively than he was.

 

[EXTRAS]

I'd like to see Andreas Johnsson on the team next year

 

[CelticDruid]

I believe that we will see substantive changes to this team and that the roster will look different come playoff time.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

A thought i have had on Jvr vs Tavares evolves around Nylander slotting in as a center.

Slotting Willy at center and signing Jvr for less money than Tavares has some solid merit.

I have also thought Marner would be a more effective center down the road a couple years when he is stronger. I believe he could be a great 200 ft center. Not say he should be but could be.

I say that predominantly because of our depth on scoring skilled wingers.

 

[francis246]

I was referring to UFAs - which wouldn’t apply to Gardiner, though in a couple seasons we may see Dermott be able to slot into the top four.

There’s certainly no clone of JVR offensively, but there are NHL ready wingers on the Marlies who may be better defensively than he was.

good for them if they are going to be better defensively (which I don't see), they still don't address the issue at hand, who is going to replace JVR's production and no one can provide a concrete answer, they go to the default, they'll play better defense...

 

[Trapper]

Yeah thinking we have enough talent on the team to compete is very negative

We have talent to compete. But it takes more than that to be a long term successful franchise. It takes more than that to put it all together. You don't just draft Matthews/Nylander/Marner/Cup. The end. Hey we have 2 60+ point players. What do you have Tampa? St. Louis? Washington? Got any of those New York? What about you Pittsburgh? Nashville just wasted their time trading for Turris cause we're doing it now.
Out of the past 10 years, only 6 of 30 teams have won the Cup. It's too bad nobody else has the talent to compete.
Let's see this team give us a sample size before we start trading 1st round picks and losing all our UFAs for nothing.
We are currently on 1 playoff appearance in a row with 6 playoff games as our resume. Let's go for 2 in a row first and see where we are.
I still think we should look to be moving those not in the long term plans. There are missing components on this team and organizational depth missing at key positions plus higher quality positions. In order to make higher grade trades, we need higher grade tradeable prospects. Once we promote Marlies for departing UFAs, we need higher talent developing behind them.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

I'd like to see Andreas Johnsson on the team next year

I'd like to see him on the team this year

 

[Brownbeard]

It's hard not to feel like this team could be better if Komarov, Polak, Bozak and Gardiner weren't taking up spots that younger, perhaps better players could take. I don't know if getting rid of Gardiner would be smart because of his wheels and skillset, but his hockey IQ or lack thereof is hurting us. He's regressed, after doing better in some ways last year, despite still being frustrating then.

I was a Bozak fan. I still like the guy. But he's had a horrible year. He's not the same player, he's not creating any offence and he's just wasting a roster spot right now. Kapanen should be playing every night, and Bozak is one who shouldn't. I was worried about losing him, because I thought he was underappreciated when he was our first line centre and even last year. But he's really fallen off this year.

Komarov's made some good defensive plays, but he's not the same player and is regressing as well.

Polak has his pros and cons, but he's not ideal and is just a stand-in right now. Who knows if Dermott or Rosen would make better use of that spot, but they likely wouldn't eat up PK minutes.

Something has to change, though. This is hard to watch, worrying and frustrating.

I do hope we can keep JVR though. Losing him would hurt.