Randy Butternubs
Registered User
Y'all continue on here.
Domi is an interesting player, and Rust is a prime target as a guy to move for a retool. But not sure how moving Rust's contract out for likely a more expensive one in Domi jives with the news of internal cap.
If Rutherford wants to put a competitive team out there and restructure the cap with 10 mill lower that means he needs to offload guys like Johnson, Hörnqvist, Bjugstad and maybe even Letang with little or no salary coming back.
Not sure how he will pull of this mission impossible. But this off-season will be the most interesting in years for all the boards "trade guys" since judging by comments every name but Crosby and Malkin could be traded.
Zucker and Tanev are too recent acquisitions and didn't win anything with Pens, so doubt Rutherford is looking to move them.
So listening to 31 thoughts on us...
- Friedman heard the rumour on the assistants going on Sunday but couldn't get it strong enough to run
- Compares it with Wilson and Babcock getting assistants shortly before getting fired and says deffo on notice
- Wonders if Bordreau mightn't become a highly paid assistant if he's not a HC
- Says that Rutherford might say the three aren't getting moved but that if he thought he was a dman away, he'd call on Letang, and he'd call on Malkin as well, and that the Penguins might be hoping someone makes an offer they can't refuse
- Thinks the Leafs should call on Letang - he talks highly of Letang's competitiveness
- Says he'd try changing Rutherford's mind on Malkin if he was Montreal
- They say that after the first 2 shifts, they thought Malkin was going to have 25 points and there'd be a sweep
- Shocked by Game 4; thought they didn't care
- Can't think of a team that's as skillful as the Penguins that needs to work as hard to win - it's either foot on the pedal and brilliant, or doesn't work and all falls apart
- His early bet on Domi - I don't hear Friedman say Rutherford's pursuit will be revisited in the summer - I didn't hear anything that made me think it was anything other than speculation, as obviously everything he said here was
Domi's been shit. But he's an intriguing buy low target. If we're swapping Rust with him, I want something else.
Assists are as good as goals.
Agreed that Letang would be a hell of a pickup for Toronto.
And any team in need of a 1C should be offering up the cupboard for 71.
Centres with three consecutive 40+ seasons, one of which was 70+, are rarely buy low targets.
That's still 1.5-2.5m extra slapped onto a team that's already having to lose about 8m more than expected from the cap. That's going to be hard.
Nevermind that I think switching one of the LWs to RW, switching a guy who's only thrived at C to W, and ignoring the bottom 6 and praying we don't have to find out what happens when the top 6 breaks down again and we need some goals is a lot of risks. That bit's doable. Just quite likely not to work.
Of course Sportsnet takes what JR said about Malkin and Letang and somehow makes it about Montreal and Toronto.
Sid & Geno being at half a point per, I mean sure that’s bad based on what they are capable of, but for me, seeing the Islanders series and the Habs series, they can only do so much when they’re “sticking to their game” and the other team is 100% prepared and planning for “their game” and adjusts while you’re trying to ram a square peg in a pyramid hole.
They were by no means, stalwarts in both runs, but I think when you are trying to do as much as you can and the game plan is to just stick to what we normally do while across the rink you see a team that keeps adjusting to your team and the lines and match ups, it has to be frustrating.
Every time Sid or Geno popped over the boards, so did Weber and Petry and their units and our coach had literally no game plan around that, no way to split those lines up to make it harder, literally just played stubborn ignorance. LITERALLY what Bylsma did vs the Islanders and then the Senators and finally the Bruins and got owned, that one year.
True.
Montreal would have to be pretty dumb to think they're now ready and it's time to get a great 1C and go. Toronto and Letang though... if they could afford it, it would make sense. For them at least.
His name gets brought up every year as a possible trade candidate because of JR’s ties to his family...lol
Friedman is as much of a Leafs/Canadian Sports media homer as the rest of those guys, he’s hit or miss for me at times, I recall him getting a ton of crap for the Malkin rumours last year or the year before, then back peddled super hard about it.
I still think the correct course of action is to move Malkin to wing and find a 2c and then shift the depth down a little based on that. It frees up Malkin to be a more effective offensive weapon, sure he might prefer being a C, but I look at other players that get older and having young talent and its done wonders for them (namely Giroux).
I think it’s high time Guentzel has his own line.
Malkin, Crosby, Zucker
Guentzel, 2nd line C, Rust/Hornqvist
LW, C, Rust/Hornqvist
ZAR, Blueger, Tanev
I look at someone like even RNH in a deal for Murray + or someone like that. (Not RNH per se, just a solid 2nd pivot that can slot in to move Geno up to the first line, which makes it a harder line to match-up and then you have Guentzel on the 2nd line, etc).
Or you go
Malkin, Crosby, Hornqvist
Guentzel, C, Rust
LW, C, Zucker
You spread the talent out because you can and should and then find the supporting pieces there. I think its time to move on from McCann.
JR’s ties to his family? Mario has ties to the family, he’s good pals with Tie Domi, which is still weird imo, but yeah.
For off season boredoms sake...
A. What do you think Toronto gives up for Letang?
B. What would you ideally be happy with as a return?
Two things I agree with. I don't think we're making an effort to move those two, but I think the team is far more open to making a move than ever before. Even last summer when there was chatter about one of them being moved, I don't think anyone really thought much of it realistically. Now? Two embarrassing playoff bombs in a row, the core is that much older, this roster needs a bunch of work. I don't know, I don't think Geno will ever be dealt unless he makes it known that he's entirely open to it, but I don't think Letang's in that same category. Not that it'd do much to help, as removing Letang from this blueline corps is essentially calling an end to the era unless you've got something seriously significant lined up, but still.
As for the second part, he's right on the money. This is the same thing we saw for years with Shero and Bylsma. Flashy, great regular season success, always in a playoff position despite roster flaws. Immediately falls apart in absurd fashion come playoff time.
Because for all the talent and good Kris Letang does, he has largely embodied all the bad habits of our defense. Funny enough, i thought he was excellent vs Montreal. Dumo seemed to be the one caught out of position. But that has not been the case for most of his career. Letang's career is a sporadic timeline of flashes; both good and bad.
It is true he is undervalued from a cap hit perspective (although you could make a case that he loses value because hes not a PP qb like a lot of elite RHD) but if the plan is to do a mini rebuild on a budget salary, you will get there faster by trading Letang for assets now rather than waiting another year or two where age starts to decline his skills.
"I know why McCann was scratched and it wasn’t because of how he was playing."
- Bergevin (probably)
I can’t imagine a lot, they for one have to dump salary in that deal, they also have interest in Murray apparently because Dubas loves his SSMG homies, so if you consider that a pair that they want, it’s about 12-13m in cap that the Leafs need to move to make that deal worth it for them.
So maybe they say ok it’s time to move on from Tavares and make it truly Marner & Matthews’ team?
Or its a bunch of pieces?
Just a lot of cap that needs to move from one side to make it work.
Maybe his name keeps getting brought up because JR keeps showing interest in him
Good, young player that could help an aging team now as well as into the future? Gosh, those darned retreads.
if he was all that good, that’d be fine...but he’s not...he’s mediocre...Rust is a better player
Murray to Toronto still makes no sense to me, Andersen is a damn good goalie.
If "mediocre" players can put up 70 points in a great year and 50 points in a normal year, with a majority of that being at ES, I'd love for this team to be filled with "mediocre" players.
