Speculation: 2013-14 Free Agent, Trades, and Proposals - Part 3

[IBeL34f]

Leafs need a trade coming up. I wonder if chuckwoods is here lol

Chuck doesn't give us the news anymore Someone ruined it for the rest of us

 

[pooleboy]

Chuck doesn't give us the news anymore Someone ruined it for the rest of us

there are some idiots on this board. this is why we cant have nice things

 

[pooleboy]

Well for starters you can stop focusing that the teams issues is on the blue line in the first place... Morgan Rielly in time will be the guy next to Phaneuf there's your top pairing D men and a hell of an upgrade in due time.

Phaneuf - Rielly
Gardiner - Franson

That's the top 4 for this team when it's ready to take the next step but as usual we have no patience and chase other teams players at bloated contracts only to hate them in the end.

The teams issues is at the other end of the ice. If they started to play more in the oppositions zone with more vigor and purpose by improving a rather none existed cycle game as 5 man units on the ice the shot totals wouldn't be so lob sighted and they would be playing a hell of a lot less in there D zone rope & doping like they are right now. People are constantly ripping on the D at every mistake they make as the reason for this hockey the team plays when it's actually the same issues as last year in that the offense can't sustain a cycle that's the weakness of this team. The D zone coverage is actually solid they just need to get there $hit together and pick up the pace and compete a hell of a lot harder on the cycle playing offense.

this is what i dont get, people have seen that development wins championships, we have a 2 potential top 2 defenders on our blueline and franson (gardiner and rielly) imo with Phaneuf in 1-2 years our D will be just like that and thats very very good Dcore. We dont need to find Phaneuf a partner, we have one for him he is just 19 and still learning to play the NHL game.

 

[pooleboy]

Certainly very few top-4 capable defensive defenders are available. Crap even we need one that's truly capable of top-4 duties.

IMO we should be shopping Franson, Gardiner and Kulemin. These guys are good, yes, but they just don't bring enough of what we need right now.

It's a bit of a crapshoot right now - moving targets, players are available in windows that may never open again. Really bizarre scene.

u say we need guys that are top 4 dmen but u want to trade 2 top 4 dmen? lol.... and there both young, i agree we should be looking at trading for a young potential top 6 C (couterier, couture type) and Gardiner or Franson will need to be involved but i would be very displeased if Nonis is shopping these players because they are good players and are part of our core.

 

[New Liskeard]

Ranger for Boyd Gordon?

not sure if the LTIR is enough to make it work long term but Gordon is a solid 3rd line C that would fill in for Bolland

Ranger is an Eakins guy

Ranger has a NMC
Ranger doesn't want to play anywhere but Toronto
Give it a rest

 

[dubplatepressure]

u say we need guys that are top 4 dmen but u want to trade 2 top 4 dmen? lol.... and there both young, i agree we should be looking at trading for a young potential top 6 C (couterier, couture type) and Gardiner or Franson will need to be involved but i would be very displeased if Nonis is shopping these players because they are good players and are part of our core.

We need an upgrade. I admit there's some bleedage in my argument, but basically I mean that based on our current roster the skills that Franson and Gunnarson bring could be upgraded with a skillset that's a better fit relative to our roster.

The way I see it, we have 4-5 two-way, or offensive-capable (whatever you want to call them) defenseman, one true two-way defender in Dion, and one true stay-at-home defender in Fraser. Rielly, Franson, Gunnar and Gardiner are all somewhat similar in their offensive ability, or lackthereof defensively. Ranger, well the book is still out on him, but at this point he's not capable of top-4 minutes right now so I'll leave him out of this. Out of the bunch I'd still rank them differently in term of offense vs defense, with Gunnar being the best defensively and probably Gardiner or Franson offensively. Gunnar, Franson, and Gardiner are also top-4 capable. Not top-pairing mind you, but top-4 capable. But their ability to log top-4 minutes rests on the relative complimentary skillset of their defensive pairing. Because these 4 defenseman are all relatively similar in skillset, strength and ability, they don't compliment each other. I'd use the success of Fraser-Franson last year as an example of how two different styles of play can fit with eachother and succeed, although they did play significantly sheltered minutes, which really helped them.

So, we have

Dion - true two-way / top-2

Gunnar - Offensive/two-way / top-4
Franson - Offensive / top-4
Rielly - Offensive / top-4
Gardiner - Offensive / top-4

Fraser - Defensive / bottom-pairing
Ranger - Defensive / bottom-pairing


Ranger may be able to regain some form and push into a defensive defender capable of a 2nd pairing load but the book is still out on him. So what remains is 4 of a very similar type of player, which is why IMO we need to look for a different top-4 or top-pairing D. Gunnar has been able to log top-pairing minutes because he's mobile and not small, but everyone would agree he has good and bad games and is not a true top-pairing defender. The Swedish team even declined to invite him to their summer camp this year... and indication that perhaps he's reached his potential.

So we're looking at targeting a top-4 capable and ideally top-pairing capable defensive defender. Top-4 or top-pairing indicates there needs to be some mobility there, some intellect and hockey sense, and some grit and panache. IMO we can accomplish this by replacing any of those four guys, and indoingso improve our team. In order of likelihood to be moved, I'd rank Rielly as least likely, but the jury is out on the other 3. I'd probably say Gardiner is next, with Gunnar and Franson being the most likely to be moved.

To accomplish this deal we're looking at pairing up Gunnar, Gardiner or Franson with a forward, likely Kulemin, Ashton, or perhaps another defender in Holzer or Brennan, and a pick, probably a 2nd or 3rd. It's just a waiting game now for Nonis - wait for the opportunity to present itself.

Girardi / Klein / Bieksa / Michalek / Mitchell / Regher (unlikely) / Macdonald / Smid / Coburn

 

[Defense]

Chuck doesn't give us the news anymore Someone ruined it for the rest of us

Someone owes Chuckwoods an apology

 

[Igy]

I wonder with the Jackets doing so poorly if it would be possible to pry Dubinsky away from them.

 

[Cor]

Dubinsky is no good. No spot for him when Bolland and Bozak comes back.

 

[ULF_55]

The Target:

“If somebody told me yesterday that I would be traded to Calgary, I would have been like, ‘Wow, you’ve gotta be crazy.’ But I guess it does happen. I was in shock ... But now I’m really, really excited.â€

The Return:

Horak is only 22 and was one of the Flames’ best defensive forwards for chunks of the 2011-12 campaign, but he’s been on a yo-yo between Calgary and Abbotsford.

The 20-year-old Brossoit just turned pro after an impressive junior career with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings. He is the ECHL’s reigning goaltender of the week after back-to-back shutouts for the Aces, but the Flames feel good about their stash of puck-stopping prospects.

The real target ... Bryzgalov

 

[Cor]

So, Ladislav Smid for Bryzgalov..... stupid Oilers

 

[showtime8]

The Target:


The Return:


The real target ... Bryzgalov

You've got to think that if Bryz was the target, they could have got a lot more for Smid.

Sure he's got some coin left on his contract, but he's a solid top 4 dman that will block shots and play some solid defence.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Why was Smid the expendable player in this scenario? Surely they could have scrapped from the bottom somehow?