I think Burke does get his fair credit. But I think something that people seem to push under the rug, or go "well WHO was the GM?" is that Nonis was the one who did a lot of the heavy work to GET Phaneuf, Lupul/Gardiner to Toronto. Burke SAID it.
Kessel was all Burke (Nonis himself said if it were him he'd probably not have done it. Which - you know could be a different story, because it doesn't necessarily mean that Seguin would not have worked here).
JVR - all Burke (I don't remember reading anything that Nonis did any leg work on that one. [and again - that was like the steal of a lifetime].
But Phaneuf? right off the bat, Burke was like - "Nonis did most of the work on that trade, I just closed the deal off."
Lupul/Gardiner - Burke again thanked Nonis for doing the majority of the work.
Nonis is doing a great job. I've said this before - I like how he's not just flinging unnecessary money at people. Grabo more than likely would still be a leaf had he been making 1 to 1.5 million dollars less. [Komisarek and Liles would have probably been the two buyouts]. whatever you want to say about his point production etc - there was no way that Grabo could have stayed at 5.4 million and then go to Kadri and Bozak and go "so, even though you have more points, and all of that other than Grabo - you have to take less money, kthnxbye."
But more importantly what's really telling to me: Nonis is prepared to lose his job - to ensure that he doesn't screw the future of the team he's working for. Think about that for a moment. Nonis got fired for not getting Brad Richards, which would have meant dealing Schnider and a lot of other assets/picks to "help" Vancouver.
How many times in Toronto have we SEEN GMs (Quinn/JFJ) make moves (albeit due to the board) slap mud on a sinking ship to help us limp into playoffs.
So for Nonis to know where the wind was blowing - and
refuse to screw the team over - that speaks VOLUMES, because you know the pressure here is like 1000x worse.
And what does Nonis do/say about it.
"If the player comes to me and tells me he wants to stay in Toronto, I will do my best to make it happen to the betterment of the team."
He puts the ownus on the player AND himself to make a better Toronto Maple Leafs franchise.
Heck. Yeah.
The Bernier trade looks good value-wise, however, he was not needed, and it is only a 1 year thing. We can't afford both after this season. So we traded for a goalie, and then 1 year later, we will have to trade one away. And getting good value for goalies is difficult. It doesn't even matter which one we trade, because they are the same quality essentially, with different strengths and weaknesses.
There are a few 1A-1B tandems in the League that work. (St Louis comes to mind instantly).
This is not a slam against Scrivens in the least (considering he is doing very well in LA). but when elite, quality ANYTHING is available - you get it. End of story, period. I don't know what more can be said when the GM of LA was pissed off that he had to trade Bernier (but had to because he made him a promise), the FANS were like Bernier was the #1 reason they made the playoffs last year (when Quick was injured) the media (who tends to
ANY trade we do - said we pretty much did something great), that people are still quibbling that we got a fantastic goalie.
Because once again it works like this
A: Reimer is awesome
B: Bernier is awesome
C: if one sucks - the other one is good enough to steal a game (see: Ottawa game)
D: it's very unlikely BOTH will suck at the same time
E: one of the two can net us some pretty high end draft picks
so either way - the Leafs are looking good and sitting pretty.
The Bolland trade was also a good move, as long as we are able to keep him past this year. Has filled in well in the 3rd-line role. Though with all these extra offensive chances given to him, we may very well price him out of our team, or out of the 3rd line role that he fits in. We will probably afford one of Kulemin or Bolland, so we essentially spent draft picks for no net gain past this year.
I don't understand why people think Bolland is going to bolt this summer. (esp. because it seems that people think Nonis won't find the money to keep Bolland). Bolland is getting a lot of chances he didn't seem to get in Chicago. He can play on the 2nd line, he's getting PP time, PK time, and as well as the crucial minutes like he's used to. And again - considering the second the cup was presented, Nonis called Stan Bowen to say "I want Bolland." makes one think that Nonis did not do this for a 1 year bandaid.
And therein lies the problem. Nonis' bad cap management has cost us the great cap position that Burke left us in. And this may cancel out the good that Nonis has done.
hooboy.
Bozak signing was bad. Not needed and no long-term role on this team. Is not a 1st or 2nd line center. Heck, we don't even know if he is capable of being a 3rd line center, and is redundant (and overpaid) with Bolland/Gauthier. Nobody knows how he will perform with 3rd-line minutes, no PPG wingers, no PP time, etc. but that is where he will eventually end up.
as I doubt Gauthier will be up here any time soon - i doubt that makes Bozak redundant.
the options were this
A: Weiss - no thank you
B: shove Kadri up there - which is going to end up anyway - Randy's giving him more responsibility
C: Grabovski
D: Bozak
I get people loathe/hate him whatever, but I like option D better. and I LIKED Grabovski.
Clarkson signing was bad. Sure, he's a nice player to have, and has a role this year, but that 5.25 million for 7 years will kill us on the 3rd line, which is where he will end up eventually, if he can even keep up this current level of play over that time.
I'm not saying the guy is Gary Roberts, but I think the mantra is - if they can get 4 really good years out of Clarkson - 5-6-7 is a wash. And I think in a cap-era, you are going to have to wrap your head around getting some players means you are going to get some lengths in term that sound weird but you're paying for the quality of the KEY years.
I truthfully don't understand how people always bemoan that people don't want to sign in Toronto, then they DO sign in Toronto and then bemoan the fact that they spent money. There is a huge chunk of our team - love them - that doesn't go to the front of the net. JVR does, Raymond kind of does, and Lupul does. the rest kind of drive TO the net, but you see it on the powerplay (In Calgary). Randy is screaming on the bench "WHO IS AT THE FRONT OF THE NET!" that's Clarkson's job. AND he's got a great board game, and he can piss people off, AND he brings leadership, AND he's got some SCF experience.
he's necessary. the end.
Nonis' compliance buyouts were bad. If Grabovski had been kept (which he should have been), then Komisarek and Liles should have been bought out. If Grabovski was not being kept, then Grabovski and Liles should have been bought out, and Komisarek should have had a regular buyout. As a result of Nonis' moves, we have dead cap space for the next 3 years (you could argue more, with Bozak's contract for 5 years as a result of buying out grabovski, who would have been a better top-6 player).
But. HE. WASN'T. Garbs and Pi posted this several times. Grabovski wasn't instantly demoted to the third line. That's where KADRI was. I don't mean to be so blunt about this - but Grabo sucked last year. He sucked bananas. Kadri outplayed him and was moved, and in his new role, Grabo couldn't/wasn't able to perform well.
Bolland can. He can play 2nd line minutes, he can play third line minutes. and to this I'd just like to point out something:
has anyone noticed - or realized - that the Leafs have only blown 1 lead that was carried into the third period that resulted in a Loss? (Carolina). I'm not saying that ALL the blown leads we ever had last season was Grabos fault, but let's also call a sugar cookie a sugar cookie - despite our "defensive" failings we aren't blowing leads.
(compared to last year that we were blowing leads on almost a nightly basis and either coming BACK to win in regulation (rare) or losing in the shootout (more often than naught).
And this also goes back to my earlier statement: You can't blame Nonis for buying out Grabo without putting the ownus on Burke for giving him that MASSIVE contract extension. that's what hurt the team.
and the Komisarek/Liles thing: liles is still tradeable (the cap is low, which is why i feel there is no movement). someone broke it down that it worked out better to keep Liles over Komisarek.
Liking Nonis' moves is all well and good. We all have our opinions. But don't forget the REAL man that brought this all together.
and Brian Burke would give David Nonis the credit he was due. End of story.
(as Nonis gives Burke).
