Great Article (IMO) on The Leafs/media and Kessel

[Sniper99]

Hey guys a friend posted this on FB and I thought i'd share it with you. I agree with pretty much everything especially what he said on Simmons.

http://mapleleafshotstove.com/2015/07/06/phil-in-the-pits/

Click to read more...

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Also heard that reporters have already asked Kasperi about the Tucker hit on his dad.

Makes me so angry

 

[WTFMAN99]

Also heard that reporters have already asked Kasperi about the Tucker hit on his dad.

Makes me so angry

Saw that on my twitter timeline, was shaking my head about it.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Very good article thanks for sharing!

A couple of minor quibbles on my part:

I don't think it was Don Cherry's fault he never won a cup with the Bruins, he was a good coach and I think most of his players would say so too.

Boston didn't run Bobby Orr out of town, his agent Al Eagleson was a crook who never told him what Boston was ready to offer him (part ownership of the Bruins). Had Orr known that he would have never left and he was also universally loved by Bruin fans.

What the hell though, hard to write an article that long without missing a thing or two along the way and it really was a very good article IMO!

 

[SeenSchenn2]

Also heard that reporters have already asked Kasperi about the Tucker hit on his dad.

Makes me so angry

Wish we could rebuild the Toronto media as well.

 

[IBeL34f]

Wish we could rebuild the Toronto media as well.

Babcock's gonna try.

That was an excellent read. I stand by my feelings on the Kessel situation, I backed him while he was here and always wanted to see him get the support he deserved, but his time here was done now that we're moving in a new direction. I wish him the best of luck, and would love to see him succeed playing with some of this generation's greatest talent.

 

[crump]

Media are gorging themselves on the Leafs. If they are eating at the Leafs table, they should have better table manners.

 

[Shanty]

What a great article.

Very much agree with this sentiment. I've started specifically avoiding any information about the Leafs, past what's actually happening statistically, and on the ice.

I don't listen to any commentators anymore, because it's so furiously negative. Even more negative than I ever remember seeing before.

Watch the games, and try to enjoy them. Look up information about the prospects, watch clips. Stop listening to the media, because the negativity is crazy.

 

[deletethis]

I despise phony revisionism. Fans didn't drive Phil Kessel or Frank Mahovlich out of town. Both were management decisions not decisions by the fans. Phil Kessel would still be here if Burke or Nonis were still running this team. Frank Mahovlich had a decade of clashes with Punch Imlach.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Also heard that reporters have already asked Kasperi about the Tucker hit on his dad.

Makes me so angry

Saw that on my twitter timeline, was shaking my head about it.

well - Kapanen brought it up himself in an interview with Leafs TV so I guess that's why?

i guess that doesn't excuse it but again, he has brought it up himself (Henny didn't ask him about the Tucker hit).

 

[diceman934]

I despise phony revisionism. Fans didn't drive Phil Kessel or Frank Mahovlich out of town. Both were management decisions not decisions by the fans. Phil Kessel would still be here if Burke or Nonis were still running this team. Frank Mahovlich had a decade of clashes with Punch Imlach.

Quoted for truth....

I hate that he mentions the Big M in an article defending Kessel.

 

[Sniper99]

What a great article.

Very much agree with this sentiment. I've started specifically avoiding any information about the Leafs, past what's actually happening statistically, and on the ice.

I don't listen to any commentators anymore, because it's so furiously negative. Even more negative than I ever remember seeing before.

Watch the games, and try to enjoy them. Look up information about the prospects, watch clips. Stop listening to the media, because the negativity is crazy.

Yeah that's pretty much what I've been doing too. Being from Edmonton I'm lucky I don't have to read the crap in the Toronto Star/Sun every morning. I avoid The Reporters show with Hodge and Simmons(Especially that ***hat) and Off The Record. Simmons is a guest at least once a week on that show too.

 

[Mike1]

The key with stopping the media insanity is to support other alternatives that actually provide to real insight & quality discussion for the fan. The stuff is out there, we just gotta inform other fans it exists.

If you're a Leafs fan demand more & stop supporting hacks who creepily follow players around to see where they buy hotdogs. You deserve more interesting & quality content.

 

[deletethis]

I have a theory about the psychology behind all of this hubbub regarding Steve Simmons' sniping hot dog article. Fans of Phil Kessel are heavily conflicted right now. They want someone to be angry at for the trade but they don't want to direct it at the team's management group led by Brendan Shanahan because the honeymoon with Shanny, Dubas and Hunter isn't over yet. So there is lashing out at the media for making a few weak jabs at Kessel even though it's Shanahan and his deputies, not the media or the fans, who dispassionately evaluated this team and decided that Phil Kessel's days as a Leaf were over.

 

[wulfio*]

Wish we could rebuild the Toronto media as well.

You can. By not paying attention to them.

 

[Northern Dancer]

I have a theory about the psychology behind all of this hubbub regarding Steve Simmons' sniping hot dog article. Fans of Phil Kessel are heavily conflicted right now. They want someone to be angry at for the trade but they don't want to direct it at the team's management group led by Brendan Shanahan because the honeymoon with Shanny, Dubas and Hunter isn't over yet. So there is lashing out at the media for making a few weak jabs at Kessel even though it's Shanahan and his deputies, not the media or the fans, who dispassionately evaluated this team and decided that Phil Kessel's days as a Leaf were over.

Wrong, I think we think Simmons is a tool, was a tool and always will be a tool.

 

[Gabriel426]

Truth is I am a Phil fans but what happened last season was byfar the worst efforts I seen from any professional players.
Having said that, I think the attacks on Phil from medias and fans were way over.

Now, am i mad that Phil is gone. Not really b/c thats the direction the Leafs needs to go. Put it this way, say salary aside and Leafs can pay equal value for all the players and get who were traded and signed this past weeks. The Leafs would have added D. Hamilton, Hodgson, Lucic, Saad and OReilly. Now would these 5 makes the Leafs a contender? And at what cost would the Leafs have to pay to get all 5 of them. Probably their 4th overall this year, JVR, Kadri, Brown, Jake, Nylander, and a few more pieces.
Now they probably can make some noise in the East but won't be able to compete with Hawks, Ducks, and Lightings. Thus whats the point. Why not hit the reset button and starts over, since by the time guys like Nylander, Brown, Reilly, Marner hits their prime 5-6 yrs from now, things will be completely different than now and Nylander and Marner might be the Toews and Kane of today, while Brown is like Sharp and Reilly is Keith.

 

[dimi78]

Quoted for truth....

I hate that he mentions the Big M in an article defending Kessel.

Of course you do

Anyway the best thing to quote from that article is this

"Find talent, feed talent."

This is what excites me about the change in management at this early stages of it seems to be all about.

 

[TootooTrain]

I have a theory about the psychology behind all of this hubbub regarding Steve Simmons' sniping hot dog article. Fans of Phil Kessel are heavily conflicted right now. They want someone to be angry at for the trade but they don't want to direct it at the team's management group led by Brendan Shanahan because the honeymoon with Shanny, Dubas and Hunter isn't over yet. So there is lashing out at the media for making a few weak jabs at Kessel even though it's Shanahan and his deputies, not the media or the fans, who dispassionately evaluated this team and decided that Phil Kessel's days as a Leaf were over.

It's not a concentrated one time event. It's a footnote in a long historical series of rubbish. That's the purpose of the article and the understandable criticism of the Simmons piece.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

Wrong, I think we think Simmons is a tool, was a tool and always will be a tool.

he is a tool shed.

 

[TMLegend]

It's not a concentrated one time event. It's a footnote in a long historical series of rubbage. That's the purpose of the article and the understandable criticism of the Simmons piece.

Except Phil Kessel drove himself out of town with his uninspired play on the ice and whatever character concerns he had off the ice. If Phil showed the qualities of a Mike Santorelli, and gave 100% effort every game and conducted himself in a professional way, he'd still be here.

Blaming the media or the fans for why Phil was shipped out of town is absolute rubbish, and poor journalism as far as I'm concerned.

 

[1995]

I keep Steve Simmons articles in my bathroom cabinet. Just in case we run out of toilet paper.

 

[TootooTrain]

Except Phil Kessel drove himself out of town with his uninspired play on the ice and whatever character concerns he had off the ice. If Phil showed the qualities of a Mike Santorelli, and gave 100% effort every game and conducted himself in a professional way, he'd still be here.

Blaming the media or the fans for why Phil was shipped out of town is absolute rubbish, and poor journalism as far as I'm concerned.

It's not 100% of the equation, but it's a factor. This is less about who moved him out, and more about the dysfunctional circus that is the toronto media. Players are human beings let's not forget. Takes a strong will to block it out when it's every day or every week. The first week of pre-season practice last year all they could talk about was how Kessel was a detriment to the team because he "wouldn't alter his play to Spott's needs". Not the prospects, not the outlook of the team in general, it was hey let's see how much of a circus we can make this. That's their mentality, and it digs away at those who aren't able to block it out. In the end though, the general public or sheep that follow the fad of instant reaction is just as much to blame.

 

[GordieHoweHatTrick]

Thanks for sharing. I learned alot about the Leafs history.

Also, yea, the media is disgusting and simply not worth reading at all these days.

 

[Gabriel426]

The thing is, we all talk about drafting and developing. While to us, drafting is a 2 days event(actually more due to scouting players...) while developing takes years and years, something we often overlook. We all want the Detroit system, but can we really stomach it. Like how Brown and Nylander were both kept with the Marlies instead of being called up to Leafs last season after the deadline. What if both of them are with the Marlies again this whole season instead of getting a spot despite impressing at training camp. Think the development of players are probably more important than drafting .