Leafs set to blow up roster

[highslot]

hopefully they bring them back. Oilers biggest mistake was not surrounding their young stars with solid veterans to keep them in check. I don't want Rielly, Nylander and our 1st pick from this year turning into self-entitled Prima Donnas

i agree 100%. at least santa; he's capt material.

but even if they go, at least we have komorov, robidas for leadership, and polak wants to win. holland is motivated to play in the nhl (shown when he asked carlyle to help him be a defensive forward).

and if percy or brown make it up next year, they were former captains.

we are in much better shape than the oilers, and not just in terms of talent depth.

although i might trade santa so he can go to a cup winning team but tell him we'll offer him 3x3 if no one else will.

 

[Leafidelity]

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

Re-signing Carlyle shook the foundation of my faith in this team. He openly admitted that he didn't know what went wrong or how to fix it. And that was enough to extend him.

 

[masarume]

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

I'm sure every leaf fan's dream season ends in a game 7 collapse of epic measures.
Maybe you enjoyed the shortened season, but I sure didn't.

 

[pspot]

They should have traded yak or that pick right away. He needs minss and opportunity to develop properly and they already had young guys they had committed to

The trick and where I think teams like the oilers get caught up is not being able to identify or choose which young guys. To keep. Out of fear they'll deal the wrong one, not get perceived value, whatever.

They all suffer as we are seeing

Over pay vets that. Represent how you want to play and insulate the young players is so important

 

[Mess]

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.

The Leafs a once proud organization have become the laughing stock of the NHL and the butt of many jokes, right down to tossing jerseys on the ice in disgust, and 11 game losing streaks setting new levels organizational failure. MLSE is all about branding and promoting that brand in a favourable light so if Simmons is right and there is reason to believe him based on viewing this big picture.

Dealing the UFA's is almost a no brainer at this point so Santo, Franson and Winnik are easy sells and trades as a seller at the trade deadline dealing rental players. I wouldn't really count Booth or Holzer as much, due to the limited expected return if moved.

The next group I see is Lupul, Bozak, Polak as the other trade deadline deals potentially brewing at present.

So I think we are about to witness something this trade deadline that we haven't seen in a long time. Its the beginning of something that is long overdue.

 

[buttman*]

Simmons is stating the obvious. It's almost a summary of what goes on around here. He has no sources. To add to that, a source can be anything -- something he read on the internet.

 

[johnny_rudeboy]

Re-signing Carlyle shook the foundation of my faith in this team. He openly admitted that he didn't know what went wrong or how to fix it. And that was enough to extend him.

While I kind of agree it was not that easy. I reckon Shanahan and Nonis respect Carlyle both as a former player but also as a coach. They wanted to change the way we played, he said he tried it but the squad did not understand or wanted to change.

So they hired two new assistant coaches with the hope that they better could get the team to play the way they wanted them to play. But the team did not respond very well to that either and Carlyle reverted back to play some sort of run and gun since he realized that was all they where capable of. Then they fired him and put the spot light on the core, as they said. And the core responded with the record setting losing streak. The spot light have always been on the core but for some reason they wanted to rule out everything before cutting in to it.

Not only did the core players publicly take a lot of the blame for last seasons collapse, I reckon they did so privately on the team meetings as well.
Already last summer Shanahan said that in what shape the players came back in and how they played this season would decide their fate. And it is pretty obvious all the talk from the players how sorry they where and how they would come back in better shape and play harder this season was just a lot of hot air. They have not changed and now their time as Maple Leafs is up.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Re-signing Carlyle shook the foundation of my faith in this team. He openly admitted that he didn't know what went wrong or how to fix it. And that was enough to extend him.

I need to try that in a job interview lol.

 

[Leafspoison*]

Reilly and kadri should be untouchable, not Reilly and jvr

sure, sure

Perhaps its time for some of you who are in love with Kadri to realize he just isn't that good of a player?

He has all the time in the Marlies and Leafs to show what kind of player he will be and I believe he has done that.

Kadri is as good as he is going to get and a lot of us have said that for 3 years now. What has he proven?

He makes a big hit once every 8 games. Doesn't put up consistent points on the board. Turns over the puck incessantly.

Sorry guys, but you were wrong on Kadri all along. He is average. Not going to be a star. He is a 3rd line centre at best. If you pay big bucks to Kadri, you will regret it for years.

I am hoping for the good of the team and the upcoming draft we sell Kessel, JVR, Bozo and Phaneuf. That gets us several more 1st round picks.

 

[GoonieFace]

Im pretty sure they blew up the roster with that blockbuster with Tampa. Wait till they trade Holzer for a 5th rd pick, madness.

 

[ShaneFalco]

We'll see. I hope it's true
Funny the guy who helped create this mess is still around scouting and helping in the decision-making process though.

 

[Al14]

I want to see Kessel and Phaneuf traded for packages including as many 2015 draft picks as possible.

Why wait till the summer? Why not do it now? There has to be a few teams looking to make a run at the Stanley Cup this year that could really use an elite scorer, and, a good #3 D. No?

The 2016 draft doesn't appear to be a very strong with only a few elite players available. We'd also have to wait for 2016 prospects to develop for a whole extra year!

 

[ITM]

And I say, hear, hear...Blow this island of misfits up like The Thrill left alone and locked in a Nabisco factory.

 

[Al14]

And I say, hear, hear...Blow this island of misfits up like The Thrill left alone and locked in a Nabisco factory.

Yes, these misfits should have been VOTED OFF the ISLAND last summer IMHO.

 

[fahad203]

sure, sure

Perhaps its time for some of you who are in love with Kadri to realize he just isn't that good of a player?

He has all the time in the Marlies and Leafs to show what kind of player he will be and I believe he has done that.

Kadri is as good as he is going to get and a lot of us have said that for 3 years now. What has he proven?

He makes a big hit once every 8 games. Doesn't put up consistent points on the board. Turns over the puck incessantly.

Sorry guys, but you were wrong on Kadri all along. He is average. Not going to be a star. He is a 3rd line centre at best. If you pay big bucks to Kadri, you will regret it for years.

I am hoping for the good of the team and the upcoming draft we sell Kessel, JVR, Bozo and Phaneuf. That gets us several more 1st round picks.

Anyone who wants Kadri over JVR is insane. JVR has proven to be a good consistent goal scorer. He has 4 20 goal scoring season ( Lock out 18) and one 30. He's the big presence we have been missing since the days of Sundin's departure, has a solid contract lining him up for next 5 years and you want to get rid of him?

I seriously don't get the love affair with Kadri. He's good, I really want him to do well but he's got nothing on JVR

 

[Al14]

Im pretty sure they blew up the roster with that blockbuster with Tampa. Wait till they trade Holzer for a 5th rd pick, madness.

Until I see a BIG NAME PLAYER traded for a reasonable return, I'm not holding my breath they'll really start a FULL REBUILD.

 

[666]

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?

Be careful for what you wish for. Have you seen the Oilers lately? Or have you seen the oiler for the last 10 years?

 

[gamer1035]

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

oh yeah, i didnt even think of that. scratch clarkson for the 6 years.

eventually he'll have enough and retire.

 

[Northern Dancer]

Don't know why everyone is saying long-term, there is absolutely no reason why things can't be turned around in 2 years. We have a very good base. The team is in much better shape than what Burke inherited.
BTW I am all-in for a blow-up.

 

[fahad203]

oh yeah, i didnt even think of that. scratch clarkson for the 6 years.

eventually he'll have enough and retire.

Pull a page out of Lou Lomerallo, he even waived Alex Mogilny in his later years

Bench him, scratch him. Just let him know verbally he wont' be playing again this year.

 

[SprDaVE]

Be careful for what you wish for. Have you seen the Oilers lately? Or have you seen the oiler for the last 10 years?

Have you seen the Islanders lately?

I'd rather be bad like the Oilers/Sabres then to be bad like the Leafs.

 

[timlap]

Simmons is stating the obvious. It's almost a summary of what goes on around here. He has no sources. To add to that, a source can be anything -- something he read on the internet.

I have no need to defend Simmons, but why do you say he has no sources? It seems logical that a journalist who has been in business as long as he has, working for a major media outlet, can't help but have sources.

 

[WilliamNylander]

Blow this thing up right and we're looking at a seriously good core in a few years

Strome/Marner, next years 1st (lottery?), Nylander (top 6 forward), Rielly (top pairing d), Kadri (top 6 C), and then whichever prospects we get back for Kessel and Phaneuf to fill the holes...

 

[Kingstonian84*]

Simmons does have sound insider information. Doesn't break a lot of things though.

Not really earth shattering but it's nice to finally start seeing smoke. Hopefully the fires blow up.

The categories are:



All these make sense except for Reimer. They should put the For Sale sign next to his name. Perhaps he doesn't get moved due to the demand being low, but at least get his name out there.

Again... doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who is movable and who isn't, Simmons isn't reporting anything that everyone else isn't aware of.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Don't know why everyone is saying long-term, there is absolutely no reason why things can't be turned around in 2 years. We have a very good base. The team is in much better shape than what Burke inherited.
BTW I am all-in for a blow-up.

I'd say we need to do a rebuild for 3-4 years, but not 5-6 years.

Things that can make the rebuild go faster? Get better then expected returns for Phaneuf and Kessel. Plus if we hit home runs on later rounds.