Most shocking recent Leafs news: Trading Clarkson, hiring Babcock, hiring Lamoriello?

[Gabriel426]

Am I the only one who thinks Clarkson will do well under Babcock and Lou.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Am I the only one who thinks Clarkson will do well under Babcock and Lou.

Well considering that he's not here...

 

[Duke Silver]

I still text my friends "I can't believe we traded Clarkson" at least once every 2 months.

 

[The Man with a Plan]

Obviously Clarkson getting traded has to be #1 and Lou coming here #2
but personally I put Shanny finally talking MLSE into a serious long term rebuild and gutting of the team as my 3rd and the ability of Shannycorp to enforce a "cone of silence" when it comes to team matters etc as my 4th. Welcome changes.

 

[Swervin81]

Am I the only one who thinks Clarkson will do well under Babcock and Lou.

First of all, I doubt Lou and Babcock are stealth double agents that work for the Jackets.

Secondly, people still have hope for that scrub? He's hopelessly bad. Even some of the goons we dressed were better than that miserable turd. He barely qualifies as an NHL player anymore. Hell, that's being really generous.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Am I the only one who thinks Clarkson will do well under Babcock and Lou.

People think that Babcock can turn bad players into good ones. Give me a break! He is a NHL head coach, not a miracle worker.

 

[mcleex]

Clarkson trade ... god that was a brutal tenure here

 

[ACC1224]

It's certainly not Babcock, who by being rumoured for at least a year beforehand is eliminated from consideration here.

I'd say the other two were about the same level of surprise. Moving Clarkson and Lamoriello jumping ship in Jersey to be the Leaf GM are two things I never saw coming. Clarkson looked to be totally untradeable and Lou seemed an absolute lifer in the Devil organization if there ever was one.

This for me. While Babcock was a pleasant surprise it wasn't totally out of left field like the other 2.

Just like people say about the JFK shooting, you'll always remember where you were when Clarkson was traded.

No idea where I was. I remember where I was September 11 and when the shuttle exploded though.

Am I the only one who thinks Clarkson will do well under Babcock and Lou.

I would think that you are.

 

[hfman]

Just like people say about the JFK shooting, you'll always remember where you were when Clarkson was traded.

c'mon man lol. Stretching it just a little?

I don't know if shock is even the word. It's professional sports, and anything goes down. Getting rid of Clarkson wasn't that miraculous considering the situation behind it. Toronto needed to get rid of that guy, and Columbus needed to get rid of Horton. That was a perfect flip for both sides that "fit" for both teams nicely. The proper circumstances arose for both teams at the right time and they did it - made absolute sense for both sides. A chance like that would have never come up again, so Nonis got *very* lucky on that one because it was a one in a lifetime chance to pull that one off that just happened to come across his desk at the right time- pure luck. It didn't save his butt though.

And anyone who praises Nonis for that hasn't looked at the whole picture - he's the one who got them into that mess in the first place - so all he did was "break even" by shipping him out of there - and it wasn't all Nonis behind it, Columbus also had a similar situation so both sides came together to make it happen. That's all. Not for one second would I ever look at Nonis like he's some kind of genius in that one LOL. He just saved face and that's it. Wasn't even all on him.

Signing Babcock is way bigger to me. The one coach who was sought after my many teams came to Toronto - who would have ever thought that? This is a city where for decades big name players have avoided like the plague. Toronto could never draw anyone of substance here. So why would anyone think Babcock, who was like the Sidney Crosby of management, would lower himself to coming to this city? What a step down he'd be taking: from the multi-Cup-winning city of Detroit to the dumpster-fire city of Toronto in terms of hockey- no way was he touching this place with a ten-foot-pole. So when they signed him - I would consider that to be the closest thing to a shock than anything else. Finally, Toronto signed somebody with substance, finally they attracted a really big-name "free agent"- something we haven't seen since... I don't even know.

But again, nothing "shocks" me lol. It's sports, this is what happenes. Look at the Jays. Signing all those big names and look at them now, top dogs. No one saw that a few months ago. Not shocked, seen it before. It's a complete repeat of 1992/1993. Same thing happened then, now it's happening again. But yeah I'd choose the Babcock signing to be the most memorable component to last season, definitely nothing to do with Nonis or Clarkson.

 

[Christ]

1. Clarkson- no one, I mean NO ONE saw this one coming. Clarkson was thought to be an impossible piece to move when suddenly one morning he was gone.
2. Lou- while I never expected him to be coming to Toronto, the writing was on the wall that something was going to happen with him in New Jersey with the addition of Sherro. Looked like he was being worked out of that organization, I believed that he would retire when suddenly he wound up with the Leafs.
3. Babcock- everyone knew about Shanny's interest in him and that the Leafs would throw bags of money at him. What few people believed was that Babs would be interested in the challenge of starting a team on a rebuild where the chances of making the playoffs were slim. He had a cushy/comfortable job in Detroit and there were other teams that offered far greater opportunity for success in the near future also making pitches. Still don't know if it was the money that tempted him or the challenge of making Toronto a winner and cementing his legacy as one of the greatest coaches ever that brought him here.

 

[Christ]

Am I the only one who thinks Clarkson will do well under Babcock and Lou.

Pretty much...Clarkson needs to play under said individuals to play well under them. You expecting Clarkson back in TO?

 

[81Leafs50]

Babcock is easily the most shocking move.

People all the time say this contract is untradable.

PEOPLE any player regardless of contract is tradable!!!

Chris Pronger is in the HHOF and his contract still gets traded every 2 years. .

What don't you people get?

 

[SprDaVE]

I think trading Clarkson was the biggest huge shock. No one expected it. Like no one at all. He was destined to be a Leaf player for a fairly long time.

We needed a coach and GM, so all though the names were surprising, at least most saw the signings coming, more or less.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Babcock is easily the most shocking move.

People all the time say this contract is untradable.

PEOPLE any player regardless of contract is tradable!!!

Chris Pronger is in the HHOF and his contract still gets traded every 2 years. .

What don't you people get?

One thing, Clarkson's contract is much more of an albatross than Pronger's. You can't just put Clarkson on LTIR. Pronger's contract can be just traded and put on the LTIR. You actually have to play Clarkson and you don't get any cap flexibility. What don't YOU get? We VERY lucky that Columbus would rather pay Clarkson to play than just pay Horton to stay home.

 

[ACC1224]

Babcock is easily the most shocking move.

People all the time say this contract is untradable.

PEOPLE any player regardless of contract is tradable!!!

Chris Pronger is in the HHOF and his contract still gets traded every 2 years. .

What don't you people get?

Obviously no one has your special insight into this. Can you explain the difference in situations between Clarkson and Pronger?

 

[Loosie]

Babcock was telegraphed at the beginning of least season, that's the least shocking news of the three.

Lamorillo came out out of nowhere and was quite shocking.

But NOBODY thought that Clarkson's contract could be moved. It wins.

 

[Finnish your Czech]

Here is how I'll describe each of these moves.

Babcock - unlikely -- if you told me this would happen prior to it actually happening, I wouldn't bat my eye; it's completely reasonable

Lamoriello - surprising -- if you told me this would happen prior to it actually happening, I would be surprised, but not shocked. There is a bit of reasoning that I could get from this.

Clarkson - shocking -- if you told me that Clarkson would be traded prior to actually getting traded; I would laugh in your face.

 

[Joey Hoser]

Babcock is easily the most shocking move.


What don't you people get?

I don't even understand how Babcock could have shocked you. We talked about it for like a year. We knew we'd throw the biggest contract at him. What was so shocking about it?

 

[Frelimo]

I voted Clarkson.

I think Lou Lam was much more of a shocker than Babcock, I don't get the votes aren't reflecting this. Babcock was rumoured to be coming here for a year. I know we all heard the Leafs were out of the race at one point, but there was plenty of speculation. I was pleasantly surprised, but by no means shocked.

I don't think there was any rumours or speculation whatsoever that Lou Lam was coming here. Reading that news required a double-take.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

Clarkson.

The other options barely registered as news to me, to be quite frank.

 

[Frelimo]

Babcock is easily the most shocking move.

People all the time say this contract is untradable.

PEOPLE any player regardless of contract is tradable!!!

Chris Pronger is in the HHOF and his contract still gets traded every 2 years. .

What don't you people get?

I don't get how something people said may very happen for a year before could actually still be shocking when it did happen.

That's like being shocked when the Leafs choke or collapse, or (being hyperbolic) that period 3 follows period 2.

 

[inthe6ix]

Moving Clarkson was the only brilliant thing Nonis ever did for our franchise. It's like he went to the Ujiri school of fleece jobs moving Bargnani and Gay when no one thought it possible.

Babs rumours were everywhere before he came, so it was less of a surprise.

Lou was a shocker - still can't believe McCrimmon opted to stick with the Wheat Kings over us.

 

[Primary Assist]

Easily Clarkson. I don't think there is a player in the entire league I wouldn't have traded Clarkson for, and the fact that we got a guy who brings us free cap space is nothing short of incredible.

 

[Leaf19]

I think Clarkson and Lamoriello were equally shocking in terms of news (they came out of absolutely nowhere), but my reactions were vastly different. When I found out about Lou, I literally burst into laughter. I did not expect that at all (hadn't even heard he resigned from NJ) so I thought it was some kind of joke.

When I saw the Clarkson trade on TSN, I literally sat there with my jaw dropped for 5 minutes straight. I did not know how to react, all I knew was that my brain was being flooded with dopamine and a euphoric feeling that can only be brought on by another Clarkson-esque move.

With Babcock, although it was a little surprising considering everyone said he was going to Buffalo that Wednesday morning.. however, as the potential players started being eliminated (Detroit, then San Jose, finally Buffalo), I had a good feeling he'd end up here. My reaction to Babcock (I was at work) was a nice fist pump but no where near what I felt when Clarkson was traded

 

[Reddaye]

c'mon man lol. Stretching it just a little?

Well, it was meant to be tongue in cheek.

Apparently a few people didn't get that.