Confirmed with Link: [TOR/STL] Leafs trade Carl Gunnarsson and 94th pick for Roman Polak - PT II

[The Legend]

The more I think about this trade... the more awesome I think it is for the Leafs.

And lol at people complaining about the 4th rounder... I don't think that matters at all.

Anything that gets us closer to that first overall pick next year is fine by me.

 

[ULF_55]

Ya. Player acquisitions on the Toronto Maple Leafs definitely deserve the benefit of the doubt. Why didn't we give Clarkson a chance?

Wonder if it was stage fright for Clarkson?

He looked horrible and couldn't possibly have been that inept in NJ.

I expect a much better performance this year.

Honestly, Clarkson played like a rookie who couldn't compete against NHL players, and Gord Stellick wouldn't have signed someone that bad.

 

[ShaneFalco]

Like some others, I'm thinking Boyle will be playing beside Phaneuf this year

 

[topched]

Wonder if it was stage fright for Clarkson?

He looked horrible and couldn't possibly have been that inept in NJ.

I expect a much better performance this year.

Honestly, Clarkson played like a rookie who couldn't compete against NHL players, and Gord Stellick wouldn't have signed someone that bad.

Was a combination of new team and system, nerves in front of friends and family and the fact that he missed 10 games off the hop.

I expect Clarkson to be much better this year. At the end of the day even if he plays like he did in NJ, the contract will still be an albatross

 

[Mess]

I'm speculating the Leafs might take a run at Keith Yandle to be paired with Phaneuf on the top pairing replacing Gunnarsson.

Otherwise Leafs might be prepared to play the Kids (Gardiner and Rielly) and accept the consequences even if they are picking in the same spot or earlier next entry draft.

 

[Gloob]

I'm speculating the Leafs might take a run at Keith Yandle to be paired with Phaneuf on the top pairing replacing Gunnarsson.

Otherwise Leafs might be prepared to play the Kids (Gardiner and Rielly) and accept the consequences even if they are picking in the same spot or earlier next entry draft.

So much this, Mess. If we had Yandle and Polak... two defensemen you can't push around and one that's offensively awesome...

 

[socko]

Otherwise Leafs might be prepared to play the Kids (Gardiner and Rielly) and accept the consequences even if they are picking in the same spot or earlier next entry draft.

There is no way Nonis is planning on failure. He has to know that he was very close to being fired this year and most neutral observers think he should have been. He's just incredibly incompetent and the harder he tries, the more he drags the team into the gutter. I fully expect to see some more terrible free agent contracts. Maybe Shanahan can stop them. I hope he can.

 

[Joey Hoser]

[/I]Otherwise Leafs might be prepared to play the Kids (Gardiner and Rielly) and accept the consequences even if they are picking in the same spot or earlier next entry draft.

I'm more into that idea with the draft that's coming up next year. This way you can play some kids, test the core's ability to really provide for this team, see what Carlyle is really made of, and have a shot at drafting high again.

Really opens things up to let the team determine their fate and future.

 

[Joey Hoser]

Maybe Shanahan can stop them. I hope he can.

That's actually exactly what his job is, to make sure that decisions are being made in the best interest of the team and not to secure jobs or other nonsense.

 

[realgoodleafs]

It would have made so much more sense to trade Gunnarsson for a draft pick if we were giving bigger roles to Gardiner/Rielly. This trade is just pathetic.

 

[Nithoniniel]

It would have made so much more sense to trade Gunnarsson for a draft pick if we were giving bigger roles to Gardiner/Rielly. This trade is just pathetic.

People go overboard as usual. This trade is in no way pathetic. It's meh. It's sideways.

And changing style on a shutdown D makes much more sense than giving your only shutdown D away for futures.

 

[Joey Hoser]

People go overboard as usual. This trade is in no way pathetic. It's meh. It's sideways.

And changing style on a shutdown D makes much more sense than giving your only shutdown D away for futures.

Agreed, the improvement here seems to be intended to come from being able to have more defencemen play their proper side and having more sensible pairings, more than from an actual talent upgrade.

 

[TheThrill81*]

Cap $$$ is gonna kill us. Players need to be moved pronto

Cap space isn't going to be a problem as I don't think Bolland, Raymond, Kulemin, McClement and Ranger are going to be resigned.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Hey guys,

According to Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, Roman Polak is a good fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Polak doesn’t have great ability, but he plays hard. Polak was the fifth defenceman on one of the strongest defences in the NHL, the fourth penalty killer, a large, physical, punishing defenceman of limited skill. Roman Polak might be the perfect partner for either Morgan Rielly or Jake Gardiner. He is not the most mobile of defenders.

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/06/28/brodeur-would-be-an-interesting-add-for-leafs

POLAK A GOOD FIT FOR LEAFS

Late in the season, when all was falling apart for the Maple Leafs, they played a mid-week game against the St. Louis Blues. A mostly forgettable game.

But what seemed apparent that Tuesday night wasn’t the difference in talent level between the two teams, but how much harder St. Louis played. The Blues competed on every loose puck, lost almost no battles, physically owned the play, almost willed themselves to victory.

And in between periods that night, I talked to a Western Conference scout who pointed out how impressed he was with the fight in Roman Polak. He doesn’t have great ability, the scout said, but man does he play hard. Polak was the fifth defenceman on one of the strongest defences in the NHL, the fourth penalty killer, a large, physical, punishing defenceman of limited skill.

A player like Polak doesn’t change teams: But on a soft Leafs defence in need of penalty-killing help and stay-at-home oomph, the right-handed shooting defenceman might be the perfect partner for the left-handed shooting youngsters, either Morgan Rielly or Jake Gardiner. He may not be the most mobile of defenders, but the Leafs will welcome his unwillingness to give up.

 

[TorontoToine]

Whoever is going to play with Phaneuf is a tough question and I really do think Nonnis/Shannahan have something lined up, but just as an option the leafs should explore the possibility of putting Rielly with Phaneuf (only saying they should try it out), because it gets me excited thinking about the possibility of Rielly being able to really bring out the offensive side of Phaneuf. This would be haevily dependant on Rielly's ability to play big minutes and be able to play good defense against the other teams best lines. Rielly still may be to young and to small for this but looking forward this definitely makes me excited. Am I completely crazy thinking this?

 

[Tak7]

I think people here rate Gunnarsson way too highly.

Shut down D, sure, but he's had chronic illnesses and has been equally as bad as anyone on that blue line recently.

But with that being said, possession wise and overall he's a better Dman than Polak, so Nonis giving away the 94th pick and retaining salary means it's not a good deal for Toronto.

Polak isn't worth your team's best shut down Dman + pick + salary retention.

Also - Polak has amongst the worst relative Corsi numbers on a pretty good defensive team in St. Louis, and still doesn't fix two of the Leafs biggest issues:

1) Inability to get the puck out of the zone.

2) Ability to respond to lose pucks in their own zone.

 

[Tak7]

Whoever is going to play with Phaneuf is a tough question and I really do think Nonnis/Shannahan have something lined up, but just as an option the leafs should explore the possibility of putting Rielly with Phaneuf (only saying they should try it out), because it gets me excited thinking about the possibility of Rielly being able to really bring out the offensive side of Phaneuf. This would be haevily dependant on Rielly's ability to play big minutes and be able to play good defense against the other teams best lines. Rielly still may be to young and to small for this but looking forward this definitely makes me excited. Am I completely crazy thinking this?

Yes.

If anyone internally is going to get time with Phaneuf, it's going to be Gardiner - not the sophomore.

 

[Smif]

Yes.

If anyone internally is going to get time with Phaneuf, it's going to be Gardiner - not the sophomore.

I thought this as well but if you listen to Nonis' interview he definitely leans more towards giving Rielly the first shot with Phaneuf.

 

[Tak7]

Hey guys,

According to Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, Roman Polak is a good fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Polak doesn’t have great ability, but he plays hard. Polak was the fifth defenceman on one of the strongest defences in the NHL, the fourth penalty killer, a large, physical, punishing defenceman of limited skill. Roman Polak might be the perfect partner for either Morgan Rielly or Jake Gardiner. He is not the most mobile of defenders.

I wouldn't put too much weight into anything Simmons says - he's very close with the organization, and isn't nearly as critical of their moves as he used to be under the Burke or JFJ era.

Basically in Steve's head - Polak is a good fit for Toronto, because Nonis believes he's a good fit in Toronto.

 

[studebaker17]

Whoever is going to play with Phaneuf is a tough question and I really do think Nonnis/Shannahan have something lined up, but just as an option the leafs should explore the possibility of putting Rielly with Phaneuf (only saying they should try it out), because it gets me excited thinking about the possibility of Rielly being able to really bring out the offensive side of Phaneuf. This would be haevily dependant on Rielly's ability to play big minutes and be able to play good defense against the other teams best lines. Rielly still may be to young and to small for this but looking forward this definitely makes me excited. Am I completely crazy thinking this?

i think it makes sense myself. he has a much higher iq than gardiner and would be able to cover some of the miscues of dion a little better. it just might be a little early to throw him into that role .at the very least i see them on the pp together with dion back to being a shooter where he belongs.

 

[Nithoniniel]

I thought this as well but if you listen to Nonis' interview he definitely leans more towards giving Rielly the first shot with Phaneuf.

In my opinion it doesn't really matter who gets the first shot, as long as they test both. Or even switch them back and forth depending on who seem to handle it the best at the moment.

 

[Tyler Biggs*]

Leafs have to have someone to clear the front of the net and maybe stop some of the 35 shots a game their goalies had to face last year.

 

[Smif]

Looks like we actually needed to fill Schenn's absence after all.

Schenn + Gunnarsson + 4th + $200K = JVR + Polak

We made the Schenn trade when we didn't have a replacement for him, hopefully this time around we have a replacement for Gunnar so we don't have to make another player for player + pick move.

 

[FifthLine]

Agreed, the improvement here seems to be intended to come from being able to have more defencemen play their proper side and having more sensible pairings, more than from an actual talent upgrade.

Couldn't have said it any better. Polak isn't necessarily better then Gunnarsson but he does fit our needs much better and in turn allow Rielly/Gardiner to play their correct side. Its like a puzzle.

 

[hockeywiz542]

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hock...cle_a7ae9c6f-9e1d-5cd8-a8d5-016073e36bbb.html

The Blues shook up their defense Saturday, sending Roman Polak to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Carl Gunnarsson and a draft pick.

The Blues entered the offseason with seven defensemen under contract for the 2014-15 season, and despite some sentiment within the organization that a shakeup was needed, the club wasn't sure a trade was feasible.

On Day 2 of the NHL Draft, the Blues finalized one that filled several needs in their mind, particularly giving the team a left-handed shooting defenseman — to play with Kevin Shattenkirk — in exchange for a right-handed shot in Polak.

Gunnarsson, 27, has spent the past few seasons playing alongside Toronto captain Dion Phaneuf.

"We really believe the strength of our organization is our defense," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. "When you have players like (Jay) Bouwmeester, (Alex) Pietrangelo and Shattenkirk, you want to build around that and I think getting a left-handed player at Gunnarsson's age, with his track record of playing with a top player in Dion Phaneuf, and against top players in the league, this was something we needed to look at.

"As I say, to get a left-handed defenseman, you rob Peter to pay Paul we have to give up a right-handed defenseman and a quality person. We paid a strong price to get what we hope is a strong player. (But) it was a deal that we were very comfortable making. We could have used (Barret) Jackman or (Ian) Cole in that position, as we've done in the past. But you're always looking to tweak your roster and we were able to do that."

Armstrong added that Gunnarsson's ability to play with a top defenseman and against the opponents' best offensive players allows the Blues to split up the pair of Bouwmeester and Pietrangelo if the team desires.