Around the League: 2019 Offseason

[BigTruzz]

Wouldve traded Virtanen+ in a heartbeat for Jokiharju

 

[PG Canuck]

Can't believe the Hawks just moved Jokiharju for that. He got jerked around once Q got fired and his play went downhill, but Q was playing him with Keith and he was playing great - was playing in all situations I believe, and was running their PP. Sabres can now move Risto for a forward comfortably.

Hawks are going to plug Nylander with Toews/Kane probably and hope for the best.

 

[Derp Kassian]

Buffalo does in one summer what the Canucks have not been able to do in 5 years with Benning at the helm.

 

[Hansen]

Buffalo does in one summer what the Canucks have not been able to do in 5 years with Benning at the helm.

They have literally acquired like 4 top 4 defenders in the past year and a month and we have failed to acquire a single one during Bennings tenure

 

[DarrenX]

Ultimately signing (Tavares) is what created this whole mess to begin with.

They've got room for Marner. I wish we had a "mess" like Toronto had.

 

[DarrenX]

Personally, I'm more blown away by certain "Canuck fans" that are flat out worshipping the Canadian Rival "Shanaplan" model that has yielded them an exact total of ZERO playoff victories.

A bit harsh. The Leafs finished 7th overall last year (a result we won't be able to dream of for many years), and were rewarded for it with a road matchup with the *3rd* overall team (and eventual Eastern conference champion) in the first round, whom they took to 7 games.

I'd take their "problems" over ours any time. You forecast that the Leafs will "decline" this year... why? Losing Marleau? Replacing Kadri with Kerfoot? Their D is better balanced with Barrie and Ceci on the right side....if anything they might even be better this year. Sure, they're going to have some problems on D next year, but they'll still finish ahead of us for years to come.

 

[VanillaCoke]

This narrative is hilarious and ridiculous.

 

[The Drop]

If they’re smart they’ll trade Ristolainen, you could definitely get some stupid team to overpay to get him.

 

[Horse McHindu]

A bit harsh. The Leafs finished 7th overall last year (a result we won't be able to dream of for many years), and were rewarded for it with a road matchup with the *3rd* overall team (and eventual Eastern conference champion) in the first round, whom they took to 7 games.

I'd take their "problems" over ours any time. You forecast that the Leafs will "decline" this year... why? Losing Marleau? Replacing Kadri with Kerfoot? Their D is better balanced with Barrie and Ceci on the right side....if anything they might even be better this year. Sure, they're going to have some problems on D next year, but they'll still finish ahead of us for years to come.

The Leafs will be a good team this season no doubt, but do you honestly see them winning a cup? Keep in mind that they still need to create cap space to sign Marner and so it’s very possible that one of the players that you mentioned above will be moved to create space.

That’s one problem. After the Leafs lose in the first or second round this coming season however, what happens next? Will they be able to re-Sign Barrie? No. IF they find a way to sign Barrie, they’ll have almost 40 million tied up in 4 players (Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Barrie), and if the last 10 years has shown us anything, it’s that cup winners don’t have such a huge percentage of the cap allocated toward their top players.

On a concluding note, I’ll also say this to anyone that enjoys attempting to take an “objective” stance on the Leafs, praising their team, and praising the Raptors recent NBA championship: I lived in Toronto for 4 years. I heard their comments with regards to how they felt about Luongo, the Twins, Burrows, Kesler, and Vancouverites in general. I never heard as much as a single complement about anything Vancouver related. They gave us nothing.

If there ever came a day where Vancouver had the only professional team in Canada (let’s pretend it’s the NFL), those guys over there wouldn’t be cheering us like we did The Raptors. Often times if it comes to choosing between Seattle and Toronto (baseball), many of us choose Toronto. I guarantee you if the situation was reversed (Torontonians choosing between Buffalo and Vancouver), that all/most of those guys would choose Buffalo. These guys labeled ALL of us as rioters after 2011.

I hope you guys keep the above in mind before deciding to “flower” praise towards an enemy city like this.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

“what? ristolainen is available? i only gave up money and flexibility for tyler myers. i should have been patient and waited for the opportunity to give up money, flexibility, and assets for risto.”

 

[HelloCookie]

The Leafs will be a good team this season no doubt, but do you honestly see them winning a cup? Keep in mind that they still need to create cap space to sign Marner and so it’s very possible that one of the players that you mentioned above will be moved to create space.

That’s one problem. After the Leafs lose in the first or second round this coming season however, what happens next? Will they be able to re-Sign Barrie? No. IF they find a way to sign Barrie, they’ll have almost 40 million tied up in 4 players (Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Barrie), and if the last 10 years has shown us anything, it’s that cup winners don’t have such a huge percentage of the cap allocated toward their top players.

On a concluding note, I’ll also say this to anyone that enjoys attempting to take an “objective” stance on the Leafs, praising their team, and praising the Raptors recent NBA championship: I lived in Toronto for 4 years. I heard their comments with regards to how they felt about Luongo, the Twins, Burrows, Kesler, and Vancouverites in general. I never heard as much as a single complement about anything Vancouver related. They gave us nothing.

If there ever came a day where Vancouver had the only professional team in Canada (let’s pretend it’s the NFL), those guys over there wouldn’t be cheering us like we did The Raptors. Often times if it comes to choosing between Seattle and Toronto (baseball), many of us choose Toronto. I guarantee you if the situation was reversed (Torontonians choosing between Buffalo and Vancouver), that all/most of those guys would choose Buffalo. These guys labeled ALL of us as rioters after 2011.

I hope you guys keep the above in mind before deciding to “flower” praise towards an enemy city like this.

The leafs have finished 14th, 7th and 7th past three years and have built a young competitive core despite being against the cap. Unless they royally mess up how they fit marner in, I see them finishing top3 in their division and having a chance to compete for the cup this coming season. Not a favourite to win, but in the mix as of now.

I dislike Toronto and will never cheer for them out of selfish "small town guy" reasons, but it doesn't affect how I view their roster.

We'll know better in early October what kind of team they'll ice, but it will be better than ours - despite not being the perfect team.

 

[Horse McHindu]

The leafs have finished 14th, 7th and 7th past three years and have built a young competitive core despite being against the cap. Unless they royally mess up how they fit marner in, I see them finishing top3 in their division and having a chance to compete for the cup this coming season. Not a favourite to win, but in the mix as of now.

I dislike Toronto and will never cheer for them out of selfish "small town guy" reasons, but it doesn't affect how I view their roster.

We'll know better in early October what kind of team they'll ice, but it will be better than ours - despite not being the perfect team.

I don’t disagree with any of the above.

-I never said that the Canucks will be better than the Leafs next season.
-I never said that the Leafs wouldn’t be able to field a good team next season.

What I DID say however, is that I don’t see the Leafs winning a cup with their current core, and that their best chances of winning a cup was last year and the year before. Why? Because -
They will have too much money tied up in their top players. The teams that have won cups over the past 10 years followed the following model:

Cost controlled elite talent + depth.

Perhaps Dubas knows something about the future cap that we don’t (ie what the cap will go to once the NHL signs their new deal with NBC), but outside of that, I can’t see the Leafs being a winner. I see them being a consistent 1st and 2nd round team with perhaps the odd 3rd round appearance.

 

[HelloCookie]

Those are fair points, especially how the cap will restrict the depth management, and I mostly agree on how you project their play-off results. I find that their ceiling doesn't stop at 3rd round, unless they happen to butcher certain trades like Chicago has in recent years.

 

[Zombotron]

UND Hockey's All-Time Leading Scorer, Greg Johnson, Dies At 48 - KVRR Local News

 

[DarrenX]

The Leafs will be a good team this season no doubt, but do you honestly see them winning a cup? Keep in mind that they still need to create cap space to sign Marner and so it’s very possible that one of the players that you mentioned above will be moved to create space.

That’s one problem. After the Leafs lose in the first or second round this coming season however, what happens next? Will they be able to re-Sign Barrie? No. IF they find a way to sign Barrie, they’ll have almost 40 million tied up in 4 players (Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Barrie), and if the last 10 years has shown us anything, it’s that cup winners don’t have such a huge percentage of the cap allocated toward their top players.

On a concluding note, I’ll also say this to anyone that enjoys attempting to take an “objective” stance on the Leafs, praising their team, and praising the Raptors recent NBA championship: I lived in Toronto for 4 years. I heard their comments with regards to how they felt about Luongo, the Twins, Burrows, Kesler, and Vancouverites in general. I never heard as much as a single complement about anything Vancouver related. They gave us nothing.

If there ever came a day where Vancouver had the only professional team in Canada (let’s pretend it’s the NFL), those guys over there wouldn’t be cheering us like we did The Raptors. Often times if it comes to choosing between Seattle and Toronto (baseball), many of us choose Toronto. I guarantee you if the situation was reversed (Torontonians choosing between Buffalo and Vancouver), that all/most of those guys would choose Buffalo. These guys labeled ALL of us as rioters after 2011.

I hope you guys keep the above in mind before deciding to “flower” praise towards an enemy city like this.

1. Yes, with good health and luck (same as any team needs) they are absolutely in the mix to win the Cup this year. They don't have enough bangers and bruisers? I don't remember that Chicago had many either.
2. With the Horton LTIR they have 9 something million for Marner. He wants to play there. He'll be on the roster on opening night. If they need more money the Nylander contract (unlike the tens of millions of unmovable junk on our roster) is quite movable.
3. Any team that's any good in cap world is going to eventually run into the problem of too many good players and not enough money. They won't resign Barrie if he wants 8. They have two first round D prospects waiting in the wings for next year, both of whom are miles better than Juolevi. Better to have won then lost then never to have won at all (which is us by the way).
4. Having lived for a long time in both cities, the emnity and envy that Vancouver directs at Toronto is entirely, and I mean entirely, one way. It's not that Toronto hates Vancouver, rather, they don't notice it. As for the riots, they were not a good look for Vancouver or the fanbase, and that's simply an objective fact.

 

[me2]

Players like Lebanc were primed for it. and even if Lebanc wasn't interested in leaving, him taking that deal for $1m is bad for every other RFA in his union. Players/agents will not be pleased about that. He should have gotten much more on a 1 yr offer than a million bucks, no matter how much he loves NorCal.

He deal won't matter one iota to other RFAs, anyone attempting to as use it as a comparable would get laughed at.

 

[4Twenty]

He deal won't matter one iota to other RFAs, anyone attempting to as use it as a comparable would get laughed at.

You don't think teams would use it?

If I was a team I'd use it.

 

[Jyrki21]

On a concluding note, I’ll also say this to anyone that enjoys attempting to take an “objective” stance on the Leafs, praising their team, and praising the Raptors recent NBA championship: I lived in Toronto for 4 years. I heard their comments with regards to how they felt about Luongo, the Twins, Burrows, Kesler, and Vancouverites in general. I never heard as much as a single complement about anything Vancouver related. They gave us nothing.

If there ever came a day where Vancouver had the only professional team in Canada (let’s pretend it’s the NFL), those guys over there wouldn’t be cheering us like we did The Raptors. Often times if it comes to choosing between Seattle and Toronto (baseball), many of us choose Toronto. I guarantee you if the situation was reversed (Torontonians choosing between Buffalo and Vancouver), that all/most of those guys would choose Buffalo.

While it has pretty much nothing to do with evaluating the Leafs, and is really a non-sequitur in that respect, but the rest of this... mark this day down, Hin... I agree with you on something.

 

[Horse McHindu]

While it has pretty much nothing to do with evaluating the Leafs, and is really a non-sequitur in that respect, but the rest of this... mark this day down, Hin... I agree with you on something.

Lol, nice to hear.

 

[Dab]

Leafs ain’t winning a cup any time soon and sadly neither is vancouver.

 

[Melvin]

You know I think Ferland at 3.5 is alright but I'd sure rather a team in Vancouver's position roll the dice on gusev.

 

[a Fool]

Honestly I could see them trading Boeser for Risto.

 

[Josepho]

Honestly I could see them trading Boeser for Risto.

I really don't.

 

[Boose Brudreau]

You know I think Ferland at 3.5 is alright but I'd sure rather a team in Vancouver's position roll the dice on gusev.

I agree, though the blow up risk with Gusev is slightly terrifying and i consider myself a risk taker. at least with Ferland, you know you're likely going to get 2-3 good years out of him and possibly four. Can you imagine trading a high 2nd round pick in a solid draft and stretching yourself beyond the cap limit only to watch the player falter. I still would have gone the gusev route, but it certainly requires a leap of faith. Of course, if someone had locked JB in a closet last summer, we could have done both.

 

[timw33]

I agree, though the blow up risk with Gusev is slightly terrifying and i consider myself a risk taker. at least with Ferland, you know you're likely going to get 2-3 good years out of him and possibly four. Can you imagine trading a high 2nd round pick in a solid draft and stretching yourself beyond the cap limit only to watch the player falter. I still would have gone the gusev route, but it certainly requires a leap of faith. Of course, if someone had locked JB in a closet last summer, we could have done both.

I mean it's the kind of move that you can make if you've spent the last 2-3 seasons selling off veteran players at the deadline and at the draft and you have extra 2nds/3rds/4ths to put together a package and take advantage of this opportunity. Like how NYR had the 1st they traded for Trouba by renting WPG Hayes at the deadline, or how they had extra 2nds + 3rds and grabbed Fox from Carolina while still be able to pick in the 2nd round this year.