Leafs set to blow up roster

[Jack Bauer]

Oh AND SCRATCH CLARKSON INTO RETIRMENT!!!!! or atleast contract termination.

Would you retire if you showed up to work, was told to watch everyone else, and still got paid the same?

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

Well, good news is this is the right way to go about building a long term contender

Bad news is we will be watching a terrible team for atleast another few years. O well

 

[Mess]

Yeah, im sure you were suffering during the shortened season.

Did you think that season had a they lived happily ever after ending?

That actually might have been the biggest heartbreaking end to all of them.

 

[CellarDweller0]

i wish we would keep Santorelli and Winnik. They play the game the right way. Work hard on and off the ice. Good models for our younger players.

Kessel, JvR, and Phaneuf can all GTFO.

I agree with keeping Santo and Winnik but I would also add JVR to that list. I really think given the opportunity to step up as a leader that he would embrace it.

 

[SprDaVE]

Well, good news is this is the right way to go about building a long term contender

Bad news is we will be watching a terrible team for atleast another few years. O well

At least it will be watchable. It's always exciting to watch young players and see them develop, even if there are a lot of growing pains.

And who knows, maybe they'll actually try to play hard despite the losses? Maybe a little bit of desperate hockey?

 

[Willy Styles]

Would you retire if you showed up to work, was told to watch everyone else, and still got paid the same?

Haha, but i dont work as an NHL'er.

Clarkson would be hated for in his hometown if he was continously scratched without retiring or waiving his NMC. Its more a matter of honor than anything else.

We should take Nonis' salary and life savings and give it to Clarkson as he is dumba** who signed him.

 

[Deebo]

Did you think that season had a they lived happily ever after ending?

That actually might have been the biggest heartbreaking end to all of them.

Weren't you talking about how that team was all Nonis?

I remember "In Nonis we trust" was your catch phrase for a few months.

 

[CellarDweller0]

Well, good news is this is the right way to go about building a long term contender

Bad news is we will be watching a terrible team for atleast another few years. O well

and this is any different than the last 6 how? if they don't do a teardown now we would be watching a terrible team for much, much longer than actually tearing it down. the last 6 years is submission of proof of that

 

[YearsintheWilderness]

**** rolls downhill.

Always has, always will.

This franchise hasn't hit rock bottom, and is insulated in ways that it quite possibly never will.

As a result, the probability of things changing significantly isn't high.

The Leafs have never had a solid and longstanding team culture (at least in the modern era). The only constant is the self-serving arrogance of the turds at the top.

 

[Leafidelity]

I'm in the camp of "believe it when I see it"

Sadly I'm in this camp aswell; been burned too many times now. I'm not sure I trust this management group will do what's best for the long term, and not just save their employment.

But we will see soon enough.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

On deadline day there are so many trades to analyze that you don't get to appreciate the smaller ones.

 

[Banana Squid]

But guys ... We're only five, maybe six guys away from contending!


... All seriousness this is exactly what we needed the year the first lockout happened. It's been too many years of trying to win without developing talent that we drafted and far too many band aid solutions. How do all the top teams do it? While it is too bad it took this long, I feel as though I can't complain. I've been cheering for the Leafs since the early 90s. Other people have had to endure two more decades of crapulance. Stay strong Leaf nation. If this is true, this may be the turning point of the franchise.

 

[johnny_rudeboy]

It is so strange that I and I guess I am not alone, feel more excited about going through this rebuild then I have been for the start and hope of playoff hackey the last couple of seasons.

 

[BlueBaron]

Haha, but i dont work as an NHL'er.

Clarkson would be hated for in his hometown if he was continously scratched without retiring or waiving his NMC. Its more a matter of honor than anything else.

We should take Nonis' salary and life savings and give it to Clarkson as he is dumba** who signed him.

And the Leafs would become a place no one would want to play for acting like 8 year old dirt bags.

 

[13pacheco31]

If that's the case, we should all just boycott all Robbers and Hell services. Who needs cable nowadays anyways with just about anything and everything being streamed online, and I can go get my Internet and phone plan elsewhere. I mean, if the fact that they collude, fix prices, and pretty much run a wireless cartel wouldn't make you boycott,this should give you a pretty damn good reason to. Hit them in their wallets.

Good luck trying to find an internet provider that isn't affiliated with Rogers or Bell in some form or another. Most of those independent providers are just basically renting Bell lines and reselling it.

 

[Banana Squid]

And the Leafs would become a place no one would want to play for acting like 8 year old dirt bags.

... As opposed to the place that no one wants to play because both the BOD and media act like a bunch of 8 year old dirt bags?

 

[Mess]

I'm in the camp of "believe it when I see it"

Its true, its hard to believe in reality that a scorched Earth draft rebuild process is truly in the cards for MLSE plan going forward.

However I guess there is just so much embarrassment they can take, by the poor play and ratings plummeting that everyone has a breaking point.

I think the reality of the situation is that there is no fixing this mess with more band-aid quick fix attempts and that a reset and start again is the best course of action. Now will MLSE make the financial sacrifice to see it through is million dollar question.

 

[Trapper]

I have been referring to this as DeBurkenizing the Leafs for a while now.

It's just too bad we had to endure 6 years of suffering.

6 years for this organization to finally get it is worth it.
Going back the Sundin era, many questionable moves were made. I get the fact that they were trying to win a cup, I really do with the like of Sundin/Tucker/Roberts/Joseph/Domi/Kaberle etc. and questionable moves were made towards that effort. The only way we were able to get help was by overpaying UFAs or giving up our future to pull in yesterdays stars. The organization featured nothing on the horizon that was ever going to help. For all these efforts we still couldn't get Sundin the help an entire team needed. That's why I laugh at the just get Kessel help. It's not coming.
After Sundin left I thought this organization was finally set to take the necessary steps to build a solid organization top to bottom. What we got was fast tracking, a lot of big words and a team that today is as bad as the team in 2008. Long overdue but I will believe it when I see it.

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

At least it will be watchable. It's always exciting to watch young players and see them develop, even if there are a lot of growing pains.

And who knows, maybe they'll actually try to play hard despite the losses? Maybe a little bit of desperate hockey?

Yup, that would be the best case scenario for the next 2-3+ years. It's just a bit disappointing that it took this long for them to realize a full rebuild is required.
Better late than never, though.

and this is any different than the last 6 how? if they don't do a teardown now we would be watching a terrible team for much, much longer than actually tearing it down. the last 6 years is submission of proof of that

Yup, we've been watching bad hockey for close to a decade now. They should've done this a looooong time ago, though. Thank god Shanny's apparently come to that realization now

 

[johnny_rudeboy]

Its true, its hard to believe in reality that a scorched Earth draft rebuild process is truly in the cards for MLSE plan going forward.

However I guess there is just so much embarrassment they can take, by the poor play and ratings plummeting that everyone has a breaking point.

I think the reality of the situation is that there is no fixing this mess with more band-aid quick fix attempts and that a reset and start again is the best course of action. Now will MLSE make the financial sacrifice to see it through is million dollar question.

But will they actually lose money on a rebuild? The team we have today are not making the playoffs and latest I heard was that the TV-ratings had gone down. And there is simply not any hope of this team ever making it, not with this core. So the wise decision would and should be to start over.

And if they are somewhat smart they at least have a look around the league and look at successful franchises and realize most of those teams become good after they drafted and developed their own cores. And that you can not simply buy your way out of mediocrity/basement finishes.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Sadly I'm in this camp aswell; been burned too many times now. I'm not sure I trust this management group will do what's best for the long term, and not just save their employment.

But we will see soon enough.

Its true, its hard to believe in reality that a scorched Earth draft rebuild process is truly in the cards for MLSE plan going forward.

However I guess there is just so much embarrassment they can take, by the poor play and ratings plummeting that everyone has a breaking point.

I think the reality of the situation is that there is no fixing this mess with more band-aid quick fix attempts and that a reset and start again is the best course of action. Now will MLSE make the financial sacrifice to see it through is million dollar question.

This thing was beyond salvaging last summer but we still went ahead with some meat head signings.

I need to see Franson/Santa/Winnik and 1 of Lupul/Reimer go at the deadline to have faith. Kessel and Phaneuf will go this summer if we're truly rebuilding NOT retooling.

 

[CellarDweller0]

Yup, we've been watching bad hockey for close to a decade now. They should've done this a looooong time ago, though. Thank god Shanny's apparently come to that realization now

IF this is true.

 

[timlap]

I don't mind Simmons, but I consider him to be more at the sensationalist end of journalism- fitting for the Sun, I think. There's no problem with that, but it does me lead me to take him less seriously.

In this case I would like to believe him, but I'm taking a "wait-and-see" attitude. Five deals between now and the deadline would be awesome. I don't even care a whole lot about the return on those deals. It's more the overall direction that I care about.

 

[thewave]

Kinda hard to do with those contracts. Clarkson aint going anywhere

It doesn't matter how you get rid of him. Even if it perm. Press box until he begs them to do something.

 

[Willy Styles]

Still fail to understand why management doesn't see what is so apparent to thousands of leafs fans.

For **** sake I could do a better job than Nonis.