Is Nikita Zaitsev one of the top free agent signings of the last few years?

[LeafFever]

Don’t you think it’s a little early to give a 7yr contract to a mediocre middle pairing defenseman?

He's mediocre because you ignoring his season last year and assuming he will play like this the rest of his career.
I know you want to believe he's a bust and will never play better and want to forget him looking very good last season but I can't take you seriously.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Holy hell the haters are relentless. We get it we are losing the series, keep rubbing it in a bit more.

 

[StephenPeat]

So this is payback? I've had threads bumped on me many times prior before I ever bumped a thread.
Zaitsev is 25 and had a very good rookie year. Let's see him next season when he's healthy.
BTW, notice I am litterally the only person who gets a thread bumped up who is a man and responds? Everytime I did it to someone we never heard from the individual.

Maybe that's a sign to tone down the rhetoric, or simply get on the same plane of reality as everyone else.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

He's mediocre because you ignoring his season last year and assuming he will play like this the rest of his career.
I know you want to believe he's a bust and will never play better and want to forget him looking very good last season but I can't take you seriously.

Can you take Don Cherry seriously? Cause he doesn’t like Zaitsev or the contract either.

He’s not a bust, nor do I believe he’s a bust. He’s just an average player who was prematurely extended to a lengthy contract he didn’t deserve.

 

[LeafFever]

Maybe that's a sign to tone down the rhetoric, or simply get on the same plane of reality as everyone else.

What? So I am the only one who gets threads bumped up? Do you use that philosophy on every other person?
Maybe you need to realize the reality that all of you are constantly wrong about the Leafs. Move your bias out of the way and judge the team as it is. They were dead-last 2 years ago.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Maybe that's a sign to tone down the rhetoric, or simply get on the same plane of reality as everyone else.

You mean the reality that it's impossible to go from last place to a playoff spot? Or that the Leafs wouldn't make the playoffs for Babcocks first 5 years? Or that it's almost never happened where three rookies stepped in and contributed right away? Or that the Leafs were lucky and only got in based on luck and would suck this year? Do I need to go on?

This nonsense that non Leaf fans are somehow more knowledgeable both about the game and the Leafs than Leaf fans is old and quite frankly tiring. Non Leaf fans have been VERY wrong over the years but that is all ignored, and if a Leaf fan DOES bump something, they are called petty. Yet we have shit like this for years.

People sit here and say "This is why people hate the Leafs". Well guess what? 50+ years of cheap shots and joke while the team was largely trash, and even more hate now that they are a decent team. You are friggen right we are going to rub it in everyones faces. You all deserve it.

 

[LeafFever]

Can you take Don Cherry seriously? Cause he doesn’t like Zaitsev or the contract either.

He’s not a bust, nor do I believe he’s a bust. He’s just an average player who was prematurely extended to a lengthy contract he didn’t deserve.

So now you love Don Cherry? You are in the minority. He is treated as a joke on here.
Don Cherry believes the Leafs made a massive mistake drafting NYlander and should have taken good ole Toronna boy, Nick Ritchie.
Chery also think it would have cost Mitch Marner to get Gudbranson.

 

[StephenPeat]

No, I just think it's ironic.

It also has an element of hypocrisy.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

So now you love Don Cherry? You are in the minority. He is treated as a joke on here.
Don Cherry believes the Leafs made a massive mistake drafting NYlander and should have taken good ole Toronna boy, Nick Ritchie.
Chery also think it would have cost Mitch Marner to get Gudbranson.

Cherry gets a lot of crap wrong, but Zaitsev isn’t one of them.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Can you take Don Cherry seriously? Cause he doesn’t like Zaitsev or the contract either.

He’s not a bust, nor do I believe he’s a bust. He’s just an average player who was prematurely extended to a lengthy contract he didn’t deserve.

He was very good last year and very good to start the year. He missed extended time and then got hurt almost right after coming back and has been a step behind all year since getting hurt. Has he been good in the playoffs and down the stretch? No. However he like everyone else deserves the benefit of the doubt that he will get back up to where he can play when he is healthy next year.

 

[LeafFever]

You mean the reality that it's impossible to go from last place to a playoff spot? Or that the Leafs wouldn't make the playoffs for Babcocks first 5 years? Or that it's almost never happened where three rookies stepped in and contributed right away? Or that the Leafs were lucky and only got in based on luck and would suck this year? Do I need to go on?

This nonsense that non Leaf fans are somehow more knowledgeable both about the game and the Leafs than Leaf fans is old and quite frankly tiring. Non Leaf fans have been VERY wrong over the years but that is all ignored, and if a Leaf fan DOES bump something, they are called petty. Yet we have **** like this for years.

People sit here and say "This is why people hate the Leafs". Well guess what? 50+ years of cheap shots and joke while the team was largely trash, and even more hate now that they are a decent team. You are friggen right we are going to rub it in everyones faces. You all deserve it.

Absolutely. Their predictions on the Leafs are so embarrassingly bad, you would think they would give up. As recent as 2016 we were told Buffalo had an amazing future and the Leafs were years from "Sniffing" the playoffs.

 

[LeafFever]

Cherry gets a lot of crap wrong, but Zaitsev isn’t one of them.

Oh ok this one time he is right when it fits your narrative.
BTW, Cherry used +/- to prove Zaitsev is terrible. If you want to go with an outdated 80's stat, so be it.

 

[StephenPeat]

You mean the reality that it's impossible to go from last place to a playoff spot? Or that the Leafs wouldn't make the playoffs for Babcocks first 5 years? Or that it's almost never happened where three rookies stepped in and contributed right away? Or that the Leafs were lucky and only got in based on luck and would suck this year? Do I need to go on?

This nonsense that non Leaf fans are somehow more knowledgeable both about the game and the Leafs than Leaf fans is old and quite frankly tiring. Non Leaf fans have been VERY wrong over the years but that is all ignored, and if a Leaf fan DOES bump something, they are called petty. Yet we have **** like this for years.

People sit here and say "This is why people hate the Leafs". Well guess what? 50+ years of cheap shots and joke while the team was largely trash, and even more hate now that they are a decent team. You are friggen right we are going to rub it in everyones faces. You all deserve it.

If this is to be your MO, you should prepare yourself for a steady diet of retribution bumps just like that in this thread.

 

[LeafFever]

If this is to be your MO, you should prepare yourself for a steady diet of retribution bumps just like that in this thread.

It is a good point. I have been told dozens of times "THIS" is why Leaf fans are hated, and it has been a different reason every time.
Just be honest, you guys just hate the Leafs. The fact is your predictions are horrific with the team.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

Oh ok this one time he is right when it fits your narrative.
BTW, Cherry used +/- to prove Zaitsev is terrible. If you want to go with an outdated 80's stat, so be it.

I use the eye test to tell me he’s terrible.

 

[LeafFever]

I use the eye test to tell me he’s terrible.

He was terrible in his first NHl season?

 

[McGuires Corndog]

He was terrible in his first NHl season?

No. But he wasn’t 7yr 4.5m good either.

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

Holy hell the haters are relentless. We get it we are losing the series, keep rubbing it in a bit more.

Can you really be surprised how people are acting with the leafs getting dominated by Boston?

All year long we’ve all had to deal with a million leafs brag threads all over the main boards. Of course this was going to happen once they eventually began losing.

 

[LeafFever]

No. But he wasn’t 7yr 4.5m good either.

So then he is not terrible perhaps?

 

[StephenPeat]

Absolutely. Their predictions on the Leafs are so embarrassingly bad, you would think they would give up. As recent as 2016 we were told Buffalo had an amazing future and the Leafs were years from "Sniffing" the playoffs.

But you keep giving us all so much fodder it's impossible to ignore. Of course people are going to throw it back in your face when it all blows up. It's okay to be enthusiastic about your team and noone will fault you for it. However, the Holier Than Thou attitude and Victim shtick that pervades all these threads is why certain fanbases have the reps they do (and the Leafs are not alone in this).

 

[LeafFever]

Can you really be surprised how people are acting with the leafs getting dominated by Boston?

All year long we’ve all had to deal with a million leafs brag threads all over the main boards. Of course this was going to happen once they eventually began losing.

Yes because of non-stop shots at the Leafs by non-Leaf fans. You guys always gloss over this. The Leafs start the season 5-1 and there's threads about how much the team sucks or is Marner the next Yakupov. Funny how that's always forgotten.
You guys love Phil Kessel now, right?

 

[StephenPeat]

So now you love Don Cherry? You are in the minority. He is treated as a joke on here.
Don Cherry believes the Leafs made a massive mistake drafting NYlander and should have taken good ole Toronna boy, Nick Ritchie.
Chery also think it would have cost Mitch Marner to get Gudbranson.

I mean this is de facto slightly (for Don Cherry) ridiculous but watching the Leafs in those first two games of this series, Ritchie seems like the kinda player the Leafs could have desperately used.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Can you really be surprised how people are acting with the leafs getting dominated by Boston?

All year long we’ve all had to deal with a million leafs brag threads all over the main boards. Of course this was going to happen once they eventually began losing.

Right god forbid anyone speaks positively about the Leafs on the main boards. Nevermind the fact that there is a history of YEARS of Leaf bashing threads and were just as many bashing this year as there were pump up threads.

 

[LeafFever]

One thing I would like to point out is, the last time I bumped a thread it was an old one I made about why the media thought the Larsson/Hall trade changed the price for a top 4 D (At the time the trade was liked much more before this season started). Well the mods within 5 minutes closed it out of worry it was bashing Oiler fans.
How long will this stay open. Is it ok because you don't mind Leaf fans getting bashed?
Here we go as evidence:
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/threa...rsson-trade-changed-the-trade-market.2188205/

 

[LeafFever]

I mean this is de facto slightly (for Don Cherry) ridiculous but watching the Leafs in those first two games of this series, Ritchie seems like the kinda player the Leafs could have desperately used.

Oh come on. Ritchie' scareer high is less than half of what Nylander has gotten in his first 2 years. Let's not go down that path. Ritchie is not in the same universe. His acreer high is 14 goals/28 points vs a guy who's had 60 each of his first 2 years