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

[SmoggyTwinkles]

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?

It was the way it went down at the end.

Sure for over a year people were talking Babcock maybe coming to the Leafs. But the media had it sounding like the Leafs were out of the running for like a week, then Buffalo has all but signed Babcock then bam the next morning Babcock decides to go with the Leafs.

Crazy!

 

[Menzinger]

The Clarkson trade.

We owe Columbus' GM a big debt of gratitude for propsing the deal that got the Leafs offf the hook for the worst contract in the NHL. I thought he was unmoveable.

It saved the rebuild from having a 5.25 million anchor on it.

 

[Purity*]

Reactions when we traded David Clarkson :

 

[babblemoth]

Because if we still had Clarkson, having Lou and Babs wouldn't be nearly as exciting. He was a huge albatross that needed to be shed desperately. Why would you want these 2 gentlemen be handcuffed right from the start?

I get that, but to be the happiest about that?

Shocking it was, but I just find it funny someone would be more glad to get rid of a bad contract for a period of time we might not even need to spend to the cap, over getting in a premier coach.

Which would you take? I'd take the coach, because last I checked that's a greater factor in winning than shedding a bad contract.

 

[TheProspector]

Really? Trading one scrub was more shocking than hiring Mike ****ing Babcock and Lou ****ing Lamoriello?

This board is always surprised when we trade some guys that we thought were undesirable. I remember we couldn't possibly get rid of Jason Blake. Hell, we even traded Brett Lebda for Lombardi and Franson.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

I get that, but to be the happiest about that?

Shocking it was, but I just find it funny someone would be more glad to get rid of a bad contract for a period of time we might not even need to spend to the cap, over getting in a premier coach.

Which would you take? I'd take the coach, because last I checked that's a greater factor in winning than shedding a bad contract.

I have been a Wings fan for 16 years and I want to congratulate you guys. Babs will be a great coach. I am actually pretty exited to follow the Maple Leafs and see how stuff goes. I have missed maybe a total of 10-15 games overall in Babs 10 year run in Detroit and my one piece of advice I can give you guys is don't get to exited. Babs is a good coach, but that only goes so far. If anything you guys should be more exited about the "culture" that the brass in Toronto is trying to create. (simalr to the Wings) I would bet that Detroit will have a better season this year under Blash, just to put in perspective that Babs wasn't everything. Anyways enjoy the run, hope you guys beat the Nucks to the cup.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Clarkson by quite a bit. I actually remember being out for dinner with the wife and my friend and when it popped up on my phone I had to rub my eyes a few times. It took a moment to settle in and I'd assumed we got a lot of crap in return while using assets to rid ourselves of him. Of course, we got back one player who won't even count against the cap. Sadly, it's one of the best moves this club has made in recent times. Babcock was a bit of a surprise but given the money we could throw his way, it wasn't a total shock. Lou wasn't a big deal to me, once you realize the situation in NJ, it wasn't too far fetched that he'd take a job somewhere else. With him it was just about how long he'd been there for, kinda like watching Ray Bourque wearing a different jersey.

 

[pcruz]

The thing with Clarkson though, is that we all knew that the Leafs wanted to unload that contract.

David started his tenure here in the worst possible way, made it much, much worse with his play after the suspension and then never actually recovered!

There was nothing to suggest that the Maple Leafs were interested in Lou.
There was nothing to suggest that Lou was interested in Toronto.
There were very slight whispers that Lou was starting to lose interest in his position in New Jersey, but nobody was even talking out loud about his even leaving, nevermind leaving for another team in a lesser position!

I'm still stunned that Lou is here to this day!
I'd have Lemaire ahead of the Babcock signing to be honest, I'm still reeling from that one.

 

[hotpaws]

The thing with Clarkson though, is that we all knew that the Leafs wanted to unload that contract.

David started his tenure here in the worst possible way, made it much, much worse with his play after the suspension and then never actually recovered!

There was nothing to suggest that the Maple Leafs were interested in Lou.
There was nothing to suggest that Lou was interested in Toronto.
There were very slight whispers that Lou was starting to lose interest in his position in New Jersey, but nobody was even talking out loud about his even leaving, nevermind leaving for another team in a lesser position!

I'm still stunned that Lou is here to this day!
I'd have Lemaire ahead of the Babcock signing to be honest, I'm still reeling from that one.

The shock isn't that we wanted trade him, the shock was someone would take him.

 

[LeafsNation75]

The shock isn't that we wanted trade him, the shock was someone would take him.

If it wasn't for Nathan Horton and this whole insurance thing with his contract and Blue Jackets not insuring it, I guess Clarkson never gets traded. There was reports of Dave Nonis talking about trading him back to New Jersey or Ottawa, however it was said Toronto might have needed to add extra players or retain some of Clarkson's salary.

 

[fahad203]

Hands down Clarkson.

I remember coming home, grabbed some food and waiting for some small trades updates since I think it was few days before the trade deadline

Man you should have seen the look on my face.Shock cannot describe it.

I still can't believe we got rid of him.

 

[Guy Boucher]

Really? Trading one scrub was more shocking than hiring Mike ****ing Babcock and Lou ****ing Lamoriello?

This board is always surprised when we trade some guys that we thought were undesirable. I remember we couldn't possibly get rid of Jason Blake. Hell, we even traded Brett Lebda for Lombardi and Franson.

Lou came out of left field but I actually thought Babcock would come to Toronto (mostly because of his ego) and I wasn't alone.

But Clarkson was the complete shocker. No question it's the winner here.

I don't know how you can even compare him to Blake who was a) a useful player and b) had a front-loaded contract making him attractive to budget teams. Clarkson's contract was backloaded not to mention his bonuses. And his play wasn't NHL quality, let alone useful.

 

[LeafsNation75]

Hands down Clarkson.

I remember coming home, grabbed some food and waiting for some small trades updates since I think it was few days before the trade deadline

Man you should have seen the look on my face.Shock cannot describe it.

I still can't believe we got rid of him.

Clarkson got traded on the Thursday before the trade deadline. I only remember the day because the Leafs ended up defeating the Flyers that night.

 

[senor martinez]

Really? Trading one scrub was more shocking than hiring Mike ****ing Babcock and Lou ****ing Lamoriello?

This board is always surprised when we trade some guys that we thought were undesirable. I remember we couldn't possibly get rid of Jason Blake. Hell, we even traded Brett Lebda for Lombardi and Franson.

The shock isn't that we wanted trade him, the shock was someone would take him.

I'm with y'all. Babcock, Lamouriello and Lemaire are such great characters and names to be had. They will make HUGE impacts and already ready have done so. These lock ups were so big... our biggest moves during these last seasons. Making us a real solid club again to party for.

And hotpaws has it right. The amazing thing was that somebody had been watching clarkson play games with us.... and still wanted him.

 

[TLeafsFan]

Hiring Lou was the most shocking as it wasn't on the radar or remotely discussed as a possibility.

Clarkson is #2, because it was known that if they could ever manage to find a taker for him, he'd be trader.

Pronger got traded in a similar deal this off-season, too.

 

[Apollo Leaf]

For me, it was hiring Babcock because nothing good ever happens for the Leafs and that was the first time something went our way in god knows how long.

I chose Babcock over the Clarkson trade simply because of the overall impact he'll have on this team.