Speculation: Toronto Tinker Trades

[JT AM da real deal]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Holl. I saw him play at least 10 times last year for Marlies and all the playoff games. He was their 2nd best defense after Dermott. And some games he outplayed Dermott. This is entirely a Babs issue. If Holl was inserted into Leaf defense you would see a steadier guy who does not throw the puck away. He is not spectacular in any way. He is not afraid to take a big hit to keep puck possession. He is not a stretch passer and lateral skater boy. He is big and plays a strong game on the puck and man. Again Babs like the Euro type player which Holl is not.

 

[Once]

Older doesn't matter. We are trying to win a cup and we need depth in the system that knows whats going on. Fine dime a dozen I agree but now we need to trade for a wild card. What we have as depth sucks, we have to pay larger value. Our 4th line was good and now it sucks for instance. Imagine that.

The use is in the event of injury. I said depth. It's depth.

I completely agree. But keeping McBackup means we have nothing to develop for the future. Objectively, I don't think this is the team to win it all..I think our window opens this year. We do need more goaltending depth but I think that will manifest itself internally (e.g. Woll, Scott, etc)

I can't stand Marincin, i'm probably bias from past years, but Marincin - Holl as a depth pairing isn't bad. I don't think Carrick makes or breaks our depth chart. I would love to have kept Leivo but he needs a real shot with middle 6 opportunity..blasé blasé.

I think these minor decisions are a result of having quality depth. Can't keep them all.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

I liked Leivo too. He brought a puck possession game with size into our fourth line. But he was not going to move the needle here with Babs. So i agree with what Dubas did. He helped out Leivo. Guys like Leivo and likely Holl who are not lateral skaters with great edges are not Babs favs. He loves the edgey Euros who like to dance on ice. My issue is great if I was GM you can have your guys Babs but I will have my guys who will do the dirty work to win us playoff games which your guys don't do. You need a guy who can throw a hit down low and break up the cycle. You need a guy who will stand up when Matty gets hit dirty. You need a guy who forwards fear and don't crash your net because they don't want to feel the pain. If we had a Lindstrom then great play him 30 minutes a night like Babs did and you Win a Cup because he can skate it out at will whenever he wants to. But we don't have that guy who can get puck out of our end 100% of time when he wants whenever he wants whatever the pressure.