Sportsnet: Leafs are Shopping Phaneuf - MOD WARNING #394

[yubbers]

Malkin.....

God help us

 

[Durrr]

Malkin? Haha brutal, not a chance.

Yakupov was mentioned earlier, he'd be a good target. Kid has 40/40 potential. Elite talent is always welcome, especially at 20 years old. Yak-kadri would be nasty.

So you want us to trade our #1 D (already a team weakness) for a winger with potential? That rationale hasn't burned us before has it???

 

[glasses91]

You would have to put Kulemin on the wing of that line for some D and muscle

 

[Jer416]

So you want us to trade our #1 D (already a team weakness) for a winger with potential? That rationale hasn't burned us before has it???

I wouldn't mind if there was another trade in place that sent a winger (Lupul) for some D help. Yak's value is probably at the lowest it will get.

 

[yubbers]

Vlasic?

 

[Griffski]

So you want us to trade our #1 D (already a team weakness) for a winger with potential? That rationale hasn't burned us before has it???

Yakupov was a 1st overall pick with elite talent who can already produce in the nhl. Has it burned us before? I can't think of anything similar recently.

You know what has burned us? Long expensive contracts for mediocre players.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Vlasic?

Pickles?

 

[yubbers]

Hehe

I call him pickle!
And I'd still trade that bottle straight up for phaneuf :p

 

[Durrr]

Yakupov was a 1st overall pick with elite talent who can already produce in the nhl. Has it burned us before? I can't think of anything similar recently.

You know what has burned us? Long expensive contracts for mediocre players.

The 5th pick, Kessel had proven a lot more then Yak has when we traded for him. People in here keep complaining that we invested to much into a winger, so why would we invest more into a winger who a negative image of being a selfish player who wont work on a 200ft game? This guy legitimately came out and said he wont change his game lol, we want this around our already questionable locker room?

 

[Durrr]

I wouldn't mind if there was another trade in place that sent a winger (Lupul) for some D help. Yak's value is probably at the lowest it will get.

Anything Lupul returns will not come close to replacing Dion.

 

[Menzinger]

If their trading Malkin, Kessel is almost entirely coming back. Kessel, 8th overall, Gardiner for Malkin seems decent I suppose

Over the past three seasons Kessel and Malkin have the same number of points.... just to put things in perspective.

So you want us to trade our #1 D (already a team weakness) for a winger with potential? That rationale hasn't burned us before has it???

Because recent #1 overals don't become available very often: when they do, it's definitely worth looking into. He'd be a key asset: we could flip him later for a big return, or trade one of our other (more expensive) wingers for defencemen or centres.

I think most of the media criticism directed against Yak is sheer sensationalism, driven in part by nasty sterotypes about Russians in the NHL. The kid is a pretty hard worker, he just needs time to develop.

 

[yubbers]

We already have 2 guys doing that. 3 if Granny comes up on the regular. We need someone to help stabilize the back end if Dion gets moved

 

[Jer416]

Anything Lupul returns will not come close to replacing Dion.

You need to give quality to get quality. You're right...the return won't replace Dion, but at the same time, Yakupov is younger, hasn't hit his prime yet, attainable for low(er) value due to a bad year + media, costs less and has elite potential compared to Lupul or any of our wingers not on the top line.

And I was just mentioning Lupul, but he'd probably be packaged with others to increase the return value.

 

[The_Chosen_One]

So you want us to trade our #1 D (already a team weakness) for a winger with potential? That rationale hasn't burned us before has it???

The idea we tank when Dion is traded. Anyone watching the games would realise that not only was Dion ridiculously over-utilised, but he was good at it in terms of GA On/ 60. For someone who supposedly looks like a jock, regularly makes mistakes, played with liabilities on the mid/ bottom pairing, defensively-weak forwards, he posted healthier numbers than Shea Weber. That being said, Phaneuf ( if traded) is going to get us a good return. If Yakupov is going our way, Edmonton will be adding to that.

You'd hope you get an all-round, top pairing youngster via trade with Kessel. If such a defenceman can develop into our #1D, he'd be considered elite. Otherwise Rielly will have to produce Duncan numbers playing with a top pairing ( near #1) stay-at-home defenceman that we'll acquire with Phil.

 

[Durrr]

The idea we tank when Dion is traded. Anyone watching the games would realise that not only was Dion ridiculously over-utilised, but he was good at it in terms of GA On/ 60. For someone who supposedly looks like a jock, regularly makes mistakes, played with liabilities on the mid/ bottom pairing, defensively-weak forwards, he posted healthier numbers than Shea Weber. That being said, Phaneuf ( if traded) is going to get us a good return. If Yakupov is going our way, Edmonton will be adding to that.

You'd hope you get an all-round, top pairing youngster via trade with Kessel. If such a defenceman can develop into our #1D, he'd be considered elite. Otherwise Rielly will have to produce Duncan numbers playing with a top pairing ( near #1) stay-at-home defenceman that we'll acquire with Phil.

I'd rather have any of the 4-5 players drafted under Yak on my team then Yak. Now that's just my opinion, but seriously, we have a elite winger. We need a high end C.

 

[yubbers]

Anything Lupul returns will not come close to replacing Dion.

Goals: tied for 33rd
Assists: tied for 50th
Points: Tied for 45th
+/-: tied for 105th
PPG: tied for 45th
GW: tied for 106th (with the rest of the dmen that scored ZERO)

And we'll make a side note for PIM cause being 3rd overall and 1st in minors is not a good start to rank well on

Forget the averages. The best he did on these standard numbers 33rd. I'm pretty sure Lupul could secure the 32nd best dman in the league

 

[rdawg1234]

Not interested in Yakupov, would rather get a more proven asset or futures of other kinds.

Dont want a (high potential) winger with defensive issues.

Hell I'd rather get Perron from them, that guy is a hard working two-way winger.

 

[WendelGartner]

If LA loses this round, I wouldn't be shocked if they and San José get in a bidding war for Dion's services.

Imagine Dion & Doughty together.

But what could we get from LA in return.

 

[WendelGartner]

Not interested in Yakupov, would rather get a more proven asset or futures of other kinds.

Dont want a (high potential) winger with defensive issues.

Hell I'd rather get Perron from them, that guy is a hard working two-way winger.

I so wanted David Perron last year. Imagine him instead of Clarkson on our 2nd line

 

[Leafin]

Mike Richards or Phaneuf.

 

[rdawg1234]

I so wanted David Perron last year. Imagine him instead of Clarkson on our 2nd line

The team would've made the playoffs imo. He's a 60 point, hard working two-way winger.

Problem is Edmonton needs like 3-4 more guys like him with the way their team is built as well.

We have too many 1-dimensional forwards, they're either strong physically but weak offensively(clarkson, and that's even debatable) or bad physically/defensively and strong offensively(Lupul, Raymond)

 

[yubbers]

Neither

 

[WendelGartner]

The team would've made the playoffs imo. He's a 60 point, hard working two-way winger.

Problem is Edmonton needs like 3-4 more guys like him with the way their team is built as well.

We have too many 1-dimensional forwards, they're either strong physically but weak offensively(clarkson, and that's even debatable) or bad physically/defensively and strong offensively(Lupul, Raymond)

The truly sad part, salt in the wounds territory: Edmonton traded for Perron most likely because their offer to Clarkson was rejected and he signed here. Wonder if Edmonton would do Perron for Clarkson

 

[Tyler Biggs*]

Do it by committee. They aren't contending in the next year or two so there is no need for a stud, shut down defenceman.

Could work....

Mirtle nailed it. Dion isn't bad but he is not a shutdown defenceman and should not get 25+ minutes of ice time, including PK's. The problem with the Leafs is that they are a team full of offensive minded defenceman who are shaky in the defensive zone. The Leafs need to bring balance to the D core and add stable lunch pail guys who are sound in the defensive zone. If trading Phaneuf achieves this balance, than it's a trade worth making.

 

[The_Chosen_One]

I'd rather have any of the 4-5 players drafted under Yak on my team then Yak. Now that's just my opinion, but seriously, we have a elite winger. We need a high end C.

Kessel doesn't even need Eric Staal. You get him someone like Jordan Staal or even Sean Couturier, and he'd look a lot better. What we need to start understanding is that Bozak is not a defensive pivot. He's barely above average in his own zone and doesn't play a consistent enough game to be centring JVR/ Kessel. Give either of the centres I mentioned those two wingers, and you will see greater than 50-point production out of either of them.

Could work....

Mirtle nailed it. Dion isn't bad but he is not a shutdown defenceman and should not get 25+ minutes of ice time, including PK's. The problem with the Leafs is that they are a team full of offensive minded defenceman who are shaky in the defensive zone. The Leafs need to bring balance to the D core and add stable lunch pail guys who are sound in the defensive zone. If trading Phaneuf achieves this balance, than it's a trade worth making.

Dion played fine under a shut down role. Simply put, you don't post a GA On/ 60 better than Shea Weber if you're hopeless. What he needs is stronger partner and two-way capable forwards up front.

If we kept Phaneuf, this is a roster that I think would look competitive:

JVR - J Staal - Kessel
LW - Holland - Clarkson
Komarov - Legwand - Ashton
D'Amigo - Carrick - Bodie

Gormley - Phaneuf
Gunnarsson - Rielly
Ranger - Granberg
MacWilliam?

Bernier

Kadri+ for Gormley

Gardiner+ for someone like Baertschi?

Legwand, by the way, is not washed out. He is steady defensively and can still produce 40-odd points.

PS: Move Phaneuf and we'd have to hope that Gormley can enhance his game immensely. In that case, Phaneuf for Yakupov+ could give us a secondary scoring line with Holland, Clarkson would enable him to play his game.