anderson3133
Registered User
Lucic is a hell of a player, that goes without saying. However, you can't easily quantify Lucic's ability to help a team win a game, that's what my point was.
Lucic is a hell of a player, that goes without saying. However, you can't easily quantify Lucic's ability to help a team win a game, that's what my point was.
Aki and that old skeleton Lumme...the tandem that got the Leafs to the conference finals.
Agreed. His value is hard to measure. It's nice to see the Leafs now have players who can stand up to him, even though they don't play much of role other than being tough.
I thought Lumme was a Canuck? I think another poster qualified you as a troll. Did he mean the verb or the noun? I think the latter.
Aki carried Lumme on Aki's back for a season and a half for the Leafs. Lumme made a name for himself off Aki's blood, sweat and tears.
The Winter Soldier
Registered User
- Apr 4, 2011
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Troll? Look at this poster's start date.
This poster is beginning to think you might be trolling. alflives...if that's your real name.
The Winter Soldier
Registered User
- Apr 4, 2011
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Who would you take? Mikael Granlund, Armia, or Barkov.
BTW what happened, according to some Finland were gold medal winners this year at the worlds.
All 3 will be stars and rule the world/NHL
Without Aki, the Finnish team looked weak.
Aki: 54 career Leaf playoff games, (+2 for Aki's career)
Kessel: 0 career Leaf playoff games (this poster can't give Kessel a plus or minus b/c he has played 0 playoff games as a leaf
)
The Winter Soldier
Registered User
- Apr 4, 2011
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The Winter Soldier
Registered User
- Apr 4, 2011
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Aki was picked 3rd overall, if Barkov is picked #3, is this where the similarities end?
The Winter Soldier
Registered User
- Apr 4, 2011
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You mean Barkov is better than Aki, or shall we say his somwhere between Kessel and Berg?
Different positions.
If Barkov was a #6 dman, we could talk.
But yes both are fearless, gritty, and ooze leadership.
Edit: It's too bad leadership doesn't show up on the scoresheet every night.
The Winter Soldier
Registered User
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Damisoph
Registered User
- Jun 29, 2010
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You don't say!? Anyone with half a brain could have gathered that from your posts. So never mind, that's only about a quarter of the posters in here.
johnny_rudeboy
Registered User
I think that is pretty good numbers actually. He is our most dangerous player with the puck but sadly also with out the puck. I do admit he show improvements and are buying in to the system but they said similar things in Boston as well. Go and do a search on the Bruins board for Kessel discussions from his time there. They talk about how weak defensively he is and how soft his play is and then there is several others who comes to his rescue and point out that he is beginning to buy in to the system, that he looks more committed etc. The same discussions we have had here since day 1. But who knows, perhaps he finds the perfect balance between playing a team oriented system and also cheat just enough to keep being one of the leagues best snippers, other players have done it so I dont rule out he can do it as well.
I think he likes playing in Toronto and enjoy his teammates and also that he is well liked among them. So in that regard I do think he have become a lot more mature. But then the demands, realistically, have not been very high during his tenure. We have been a team hoping to make the playoffs but no one demand the team to make it and even less so win it all. How playing under Carlyle effects his goal scoring long term is just as much an issue for him as it is for us seeing as scoring goals is what defines him as a player.
He have some characteristics that is pointed out as weaknesses but that just as well be a strength. When he dropped during his draft year he was often asked how it felt going from #1 to almost out of the top 5 and he said, honestly, that he did not care. After the All star draft circus he made the same comments, and I believe him. The same way that he and others have said that he actually is not very affected by the media, even in Toronto I think that the personality he posses would do well in pressured situations like a playoff series.
But I still think that a 5 year deal is good. No need to commit any longer to a goalscoring winger whose game is purely based around his offensive production and Kessel would be one of the exception if he keeps scoring at the level he have done for more then 10 years in the NHL.
$6m per year, well that can of course be a bit higher, depending on the cap, who else we need to resign etc. But since what he brings is goals and assists but noting else than $6m is fair imo.
Commander Clueless
Hiya, hiya. Pleased to meetcha.
- Sep 10, 2008
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I miss Aki Berg. People like to crap on him but I think he was just over-used.
Jyrki Lumme was slow when he played for the Leafs and it cost him.
That said, I gotta say this post of yours made me think you are a hanar from Mass Effect. Is this true? /nerd
Anyway enough with the OT stuff: Phil Kessel is an excellent player. He isn't the meanest or the most proficient defensive player, but he puts up points. He is by far Toronto's best offensive player and that is worth money in this league. If you think Kessel isn't worth a big contract then IMO you're buying into too much anti-Leaf propaganda on these boards.
I hope Kessel sticks around. We'd better not lose him for nothing though....that would be devastating.
Thanks - For what its worth:
I also loathed Ron Wilson - when 70% of these forums adored him and his extension
I also hated Brian Burke - when 80% of the posters wanted him extended (before he was fired!)
I also have predicted that this team was not good enough to make the post-season every year for last 8. (8for8) - While majority on here proclaim saeson after season that its all but a sure thing.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Phil Kessel holds negative value to this hockey club. It will take too much additonal resources to turn him into a player that contributes significantly to the teams overall win/loss record - than from a player who's individual stats are excellent.
Rarely am I wrong - seems like majority of you are almost always. Thankfully Dave Nonis and company owe no allegiance to Phil the Thrill Kessel and all appear to be well versed in 'Common Sense" so I am confident they will do the right thing and trade him - thus putting this franchise back on track to compete for a Stanley Cup. And endign one of the worst eras in Maple Leaf history.
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