Confirmed with Link: Leafs re-sign Sparks to a 1 year 750k contract

[diceman934]

San Jose actually has a starter and a backup with worse numbers than Sparks. At least they don't have to worry about a downgrade if their goalie gets hurt!

And Calgary's in a great position since their starter is worse than Sparks, but if he gets hurt they get an upgrade in net.

Your analysis of the Caps goaltending suggests you're just looking at wins and losses (since that SV% is worse than Sparks's), which I think sums up your stance in this conversation quite nicely.

Lol. I look at all the info which clearly shows who has the better back up Caps or us. Caps can play their goalie more and he wins at a high rate you complaining about the difference of 902 sv% vs 901 sv%. GGA Washington back up 3.06. Sparks 3.09

Started games Sparks 15 record 7 wins 5 losses

Copeley games started 20. Record 14 wins 5 losses.

Get off your high horse Copeley is better and trusted more with more Starts.

 

[MattySnipes]

Nothing to dislike about this. Good deal.

 

[Paradoc]

Damn, the twitter comments are ruthless against Sparks. But he really needs to improve his technique if he wants to go anywhere because right now he’s a mediocre back-up.

 

[ottomaddox]

Some of you peeps (not naming names) promised me that McElhinney would be placed on waivers and TOR could claim him again. This dream has been crushed.

 

[Sniper99]

Oh, little song, little dance, Dubas's head on a lance.

Lol what?

 

[PromisedLand]

750K not too worried. If we don't have enough money left over after signing kappy, mango and marner for a decent back-up; then this will suffice

(hoping we improve defensively as a team so there is less pressure on sparks to put on vezina performance on the night he plays)

 

[TheShape]

We need a quality backup next year. I don’t want Andersen playing more than 60 games. Personally I think Hutchinson can give us 22 games, for whatever reason Dubas sees something in Sparks.

You get what you pay for tho, a quality backup is going to cost us and we have little to no wiggle room next year.

 

[Daisy Jane]

It was the right move at the time, and no hindsight is going to change that.

it was never the right move to make at the time.
the only people who ever thought that was beating the "ooh but he's young !" drum or the "oh but he's the AHL goalie of the year!" drum. to which - per usual, I said (and asked)

Why does it matter?
the only reason that it matters - is that the organization/you see Sparks as someone to take over Andersen when his contract expires - thus you are grooming him for that role. which would be fine, but does anything in Sparks's game scream to you "future #1 top 5 goalie" to you? (i mean even taking into account that goalies develop stupidly weird and long, do you even see glimpses of that in his game right now?)

the right move was to keep McBackup for a year, then get another veteran goalie (obviously younger than McBackup) after while we either trade for/develop a backup who could be the Future #1 Goalie of this team when Andersen leaves/prices himself out.

now in regards to his contract - i stand by my original statement. whatever. it's obvious that Dubas was gonna stand by him and we'll see how his game improves. but i still don't think that this is the right goalie that a team with the aspiration that the Leafs have - should have. Or - even if he was - there's nothing to his play that has indicated that he's earned that benefit of the doubt now. He's simply just 'okay'. and i don't know if that's really a good thing.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Do you not see the difference between pointing out flaws and freaking out over a contract that is close to the league minimum. A contract that pretty much every GM in this position would do?

.... i'm not freaking out over the contract though?
actually i don't see anyone freaking out over the contract. i think the discussion is more is this the guy who should actually have said contract - which... could be seen as a flaw.

 

[-DeMo-]

nothing wrong with re-signing Sparks to a contract like this, I do hope he's not our backup next season tho. on a side note I know Scott will likely be on the Marlies next year will Woll be leaving College this spring? and need starts aswell next year?

 

[Leafidelity]

For the record the money is fine. It's the sieve attached to it that sucks so much.

Would love to hear the Managements comments on attempting to develop a young goalie in a 15-20 start role. Or why you would even bother for such a small (yet important) role. It's sheer idiocy.

Are the growing pains with a young backup worth it when the end result is... a
potentially better backup goalie?

 

[Daisy Jane]

Daisy usually i agree with you but in this case. Its not that big of a deal. It IS fine. We just signed an alright goalie at almost league minimum. Like others said we can easily bury his contract and send him to the Marlies if we find someone better. I dont know why people are overreacting so much but this is HF

but - again.
my first post here was "whatever."
I didn't make big deal out of it.

but if people want to discuss what this means (and sorry even though it's not even league minimum ,that couldbe money sent to a better goalie, even if we had to pay a touch more) - is worth a discuss. and i guess that's my point. like people discuss this and it's like "but it's the back up goalie though."

ya. the back up goalie, that the leafs signed - who really doesn't really bring a "peace of mind" when you hear he's in the net. but regarding what he signed for - i am not making a deal out of it.

 

[Duke Silver]

Is this for real ? Mind you i have no problem making him the highesr paid goalie in the ahl. This honestly makes me feel a bit ill

The minimum contract for any player next year is $700k. I don't think the $50k is going to sink us. And if a better option becomes available we can sign/claim them for around the same money and bury Sparks. There's almost zero risk in this.

All this being said, I'm not confident Sparks is an NHL goalie and I'm on record saying that for years now. But whether it's him or another goaltender, we'll be spending $700-$750k on our backup next year so has no impact on our cap aspirations.

 

[Deebo]

.... i'm not freaking out over the contract though?
actually i don't see anyone freaking out over the contract. i think the discussion is more is this the guy who should actually have said contract - which... could be seen as a flaw.

I didn't say you were freaking out.

Posts like "Dubas is a joke" and "We're going to miss the playoffs next year" or "this honestly makes me feel ill a bit" in response to this signing is freaking out in my books.

Also, is anyone is saying *swoon, isn't this team so amazingly dreamy* based on this contract?

 

[ToDavid]

Same things as some players who have been mailing it in for months *cough* Matthews *cough* . Some fans seem to think people are complaining about 1 game or something, but when the pattern becomes so apparent then there is likely a problem there, production aside.

Same thing applies here. On paper, Sparks numbers are ok for a backup. However scouting him, he swims worse than Riemer with worse positioning than Gustavsson. He relies on his reflexes to make saves which is not any sort of long term way to stay in the league.

And to make matters worse, McBackup outplayed him last year AND in pre-season, but Sparks was gifted the job because of his age. It completely crapped all over the entire "accountability" thing they had been preaching all this time.

Babcock preaches it but keep in mind that Babcock's job is to think about the next game. Dubas' job is to manage the team for next game and the next month, the next year, and so on. Managing a team entirely based on who is outplaying who at the moment with no concern for the future doesn't work. Age and free agency status are absolutely relevant.

Realistically, if we keep McBackup and lose Sparks and Pickard, we're most likely in the exact same position in the standings (the team averaged 0.8 goals per game in Sparks' 5 regulation losses). However, we're then going into a year where we have virtually no cap flexibility either without a backup or overpaying for a 36 year old journeyman who's going to be the hot free agent goalie (Hutton's 3-year, $2.75 million per is probably the ballpark).

Sparks has not been good enough, no excuses, but IMO it was still the right decision to keep him.

 

[Duke Silver]

Why does it matter?
the only reason that it matters - is that the organization/you see Sparks as someone to take over Andersen when his contract expires - thus you are grooming him for that role. which would be fine, but does anything in Sparks's game scream to you "future #1 top 5 goalie" to you? (i mean even taking into account that goalies develop stupidly weird and long, do you even see glimpses of that in his game right now?)

You could clear buildings with this leap.

 

[supermann_98]

Bobrovsky about to get paidddddd with his .904 save. But Sparks is being thrown to the wolves cause his .902 got him 750k

Gotta thnik Sparks is actually a team player.

Bobrovsky has to be in the running for most overrated goalie in hockey. He’s a career playoff choker and whoever pays him close to what Carey Price is making which is rumoured to be his asking price, is making a BIG mistake.

 

[Notsince67]

Dubas put his personal relationship and loyalty ahead of the team by picking the inferior player and circumventing the process. He did it despite the great relationship that Mcbackup had with babcock and the rest of the team.
I understand that in all other circumstances that it might be prudent to resign the guy if he had won the job fair and square. The problem is that he made the team based on a singular relationship and he turned out to be a non-performer. It looks like Dubas doesn't care about correcting the problem. It is a long way from Jul 1 and there was time to look at other options. On the scale of things, it looks like nepotism over team.

Dubas should be smart enough to see the optics are bad. He is not a good gm

 

[DarkKnight]

This is a "hanging on by a thread" deal. 50 grand above minimum next year, one year gig. Again, there is zero team risk here. Why not sign him to the lowest contract possible? It actually speaks to how shakey he has been that his agent couldn't extract more, no leverage. The Leafs aren't tied at all, it's even attractive on waivers.

Read between the lines, this isn't a vote of confidence and I think people kid themselves if we don't see another capable guy in camp next year.

No reason to poo poo this deal, it actually is quite a tell.

 

[gamer1035]

meh, we can send him down no cap penalty. But dude isn't an nhl goalie, I don't care how old he is.

McBackup should've stayed. Sparks wont ever be as good as McBackup is now

 

[Menzinger]

Dubas put his personal relationship and loyalty ahead of the team by picking the inferior player and circumventing the process. He did it despite the great relationship that Mcbackup had with babcock and the rest of the team.
I understand that in all other circumstances that it might be prudent to resign the guy if he had won the job fair and square. The problem is that he made the team based on a singular relationship and he turned out to be a non-performer. It looks like Dubas doesn't care about correcting the problem. It is a long way from Jul 1 and there was time to look at other options. On the scale of things, it looks like nepotism over team.

Dubas should be smart enough to see the optics are bad. He is not a good gm

Oh please lol.

You wouldn’t say this if he had signed some random average AHL goalie (and we know Sparks if he does go to the Marlies next season has proven to be among the best at that level).

 

[ToDavid]

Lol. I look at all the info which clearly shows who has the better back up Caps or us. Caps can play their goalie more and he wins at a high rate you complaining about the difference of 902 sv% vs 901 sv%. GGA Washington back up 3.06. Sparks 3.09

Started games Sparks 15 record 7 wins 5 losses

Copeley games started 20. Record 14 wins 5 losses.

Get off your high horse Copeley is better and trusted more with more Starts.

Sparks missed time with a concussion and Holtby has not been great this year. Completely different situation that you can't just blindly attribute to trust. Did you also factor in that the Leafs didn't score more than 1 goal in any of Sparks' five regulation losses? Is that his fault too?

 

[Daisy Jane]

I didn't say you were freaking out.

Posts like "Dubas is a joke" and "We're going to miss the playoffs next year" or "this honestly makes me feel ill a bit" in response to this signing is freaking out in my books.

Also, is anyone is saying *swoon, isn't this team so amazingly dreamy* based on this contract?

well to be fair, if people are saying that, i don't see it, (bless the ignore button).
and no. but again. you have to admit - anything critical (unless it's towards babcock, or players we're supposed to hate) - is generally met with that sort of response.

"look at the standings" "we have a good team" etc etc etc.

 

[diceman934]

Sparks missed time with a concussion and Holtby has not been great this year. Completely different situation that you can't just blindly attribute to trust. Did you also factor in that the Leafs didn't score more than 1 goal in any of Sparks' five regulation losses? Is that his fault too?

Why is it that even when he was Healthy Hutch started over him? Lack of trust. Babs does not trust Sparks he wanted to cut him but Dubas over ruled him

Sparks has shown himself to not be an NHL goalie. Just watching him play should be enough for a average fan to see.

 

[Daisy Jane]

You could clear buildings with this leap.

how is it a leap? (to be fair i did forget the word, if, which does change the context of what i said).

the only reason why Spark's age matters is if the organization thinks he's to take over Andy.

if that's not the case. then Sparks' accolades and his age shouldn't have mattered, or been any part of the consideration, nor should it have mattered if we lost him on waivers - because we had a very steady backup, who played butt-clenching games for us and stood up tall for the Leafs.

if it is the case - i stand by what i said
if it was simply picking the "younger" goalie -for the sake of picking the younger goalie than it was a stupid decision. someone said it was also to show if you did time w/the marlies you get shown loyalty by going to the leafs,and that shouldn't matter either. sometimes you get passed by. that's sports.