What a difference 5 years makes!!

[Holymakinaw]

Top-10 scorers, 2008/09
1. Jason Blake(35) 25g 38a 63p
2. Alexei Ponikarovsky(28) 23g 38a 61p
3. Matt Stajan(25) 15g 40a 55p
4. Mikhail Grabovski(25) 20g 28a 48p
5. Nik Antropov(28) 21g 25a 46p
6. Niklas Hagman(29) 22g 20a 42p
7. Dominic Moore(28) 12g 29a 41p
8. Pavel Kubina(31) 14g 26a 40p
9. Nik Kulemin(22) 15g 16a 31p
10. Lee Stempniak(25) 11g 20a 31p

Top 10 prospects, Fall 2008
1. Luke Schenn, D, 18
2. Nikolai Kulemin, RW, 22
3. Jiri Tlusty, LW, 20
4. Justin Pogge, G, 22
5. Anton Stralman, D, 22
6. Dmitri Vorobiev, D, 22
7. Mikhail Grabovski, C, 24
8. Mikhail Stefanovich, C, 18
9. Jimmy Hayes, RW, 18
10. Robbie Earl, LW, 23

Top-10 scorers, 2013/14
1. Phil Kessel(26) 37g 43a 80p
2. JV Riemsdyk(25) 30g 31a 61p
3. Nazem Kadri(23) 20g 30a 50p
4. Tyler Bozak(28) 19g 30a 49p
5. Mason Raymond(28) 19g 26a 45p
6. Joffrey Lupul(30) 22g 22a 44p
7. Cody Franson(26) 5g 28a 33p
8. Jake Gardiner(23) 10g 21a 31p
9. Dion Phaneuf(29) 8g 23a 31p
10. Morgan Rielly(19) 2g 25a 27p

Top 10 Prospects, summer 2014(bit of a guess as to the order right now, but it'll be something like this...)
1. William Nylander, C/RW, 18
2. Frederik Gauthier, C, 19
3. Josh Leivo, LW, 21
4. Connor Brown, RW, 20
5. Greg McKegg, C, 22
6. Stuart Percy, D, 21
7. Matt Finn, D, 20
8. Carter Verhaeghe, C, 19
9. Rinat Valiev, D, 19
10. Antoine Bibeau, G, 20

..............

One could(correctly) argue that the team now is younger, has MUCH better scorers/dynamic players, has Defencemen with MUCH higher ceilings, and our prospects are younger and MUCH better then back then.

But the biggest plus that I can see, is the potential now for THREE or FOUR elite players, playing for the Leafs. Kessel is already elite, and Morgan Rielly, JVR, and soon maybe Willie Nylander could make too. Hell, Kadri could end up flirting with that status as well, but he'll probably be a tier below those others.

Five years ago we had........zero.

Before 2008/09, our last "elite" type player was Mats Sundin(and even that is arguable to some). Before him, Doug Gilmour. Before him, Darryl Sittler(I loved Wendel Clark, but he just wasn't elite in any way..).

TOP NHL type talent hasn't set up shop in Toronto very often. We've always screwed it up by trading them away or not drafting them at all. But now, it's different. They're here. Some in here can't seem to appreciate it, but it's true. And not just one at a time, either....there's a growing bunch of them!

What a difference 5 years makes!!

Click to read more...

 

[TMLegend]

Top-10 scorers, 2008/09
1. Jason Blake(35) 25g 38a 63p
2. Alexei Ponikarovsky(28) 23g 38a 61p
3. Matt Stajan(25) 15g 40a 55p
4. Mikhail Grabovski(25) 20g 28a 48p
5. Nik Antropov(28) 21g 25a 46p
6. Niklas Hagman(29) 22g 20a 42p
7. Dominic Moore(28) 12g 29a 41p
8. Pavel Kubina(31) 14g 26a 40p
9. Nik Kulemin(22) 15g 16a 31p
10. Lee Stempniak(25) 11g 20a 31p

Top 10 prospects, Fall 2008
1. Luke Schenn, D, 18
2. Nikolai Kulemin, RW, 22
3. Jiri Tlusty, LW, 20
4. Justin Pogge, G, 22
5. Anton Stralman, D, 22
6. Dmitri Vorobiev, D, 22
7. Mikhail Grabovski, C, 24
8. Mikhail Stefanovich, C, 18
9. Jimmy Hayes, RW, 18
10. Robbie Earl, LW, 23

Top-10 scorers, 2013/14
1. Phil Kessel(26) 37g 43a 80p
2. JV Riemsdyk(25) 30g 31a 61p
3. Nazem Kadri(23) 20g 30a 50p
4. Tyler Bozak(28) 19g 30a 49p
5. Mason Raymond(28) 19g 26a 45p
6. Joffrey Lupul(30) 22g 22a 44p
7. Cody Franson(26) 5g 28a 33p
8. Jake Gardiner(23) 10g 21a 31p
9. Dion Phaneuf(29) 8g 23a 31p
10. Morgan Rielly(19) 2g 25a 27p

Top 10 Prospects, summer 2014(bit of a guess as to the order right now, but it'll be something like this...)
1. William Nylander, C/RW, 18
2. Frederik Gauthier, C, 19
3. Josh Leivo, LW, 21
4. Connor Brown, RW, 20
5. Greg McKegg, C, 22
6. Stuart Percy, D, 21
7. Matt Finn, D, 20
8. Carter Verhaeghe, C, 19
9. Rinat Valiev, D, 19
10. Antoine Bibeau, G, 20

..............

One could(correctly) argue that the team now is younger, has MUCH better scorers/dynamic players, has Defencemen with MUCH higher ceilings, and our prospects are younger and MUCH better then back then.

But the biggest plus that I can see, is the potential now for THREE or FOUR elite players, playing for the Leafs. Kessel is already elite, and Morgan Rielly, JVR, and soon maybe Willie Nylander could make too. Hell, Kadri could end up flirting with that status as well, but he'll probably be a tier below those others.

Five years ago we had........zero.

Before 2008/09, our last "elite" type player was Mats Sundin(and even that is arguable to some). Before him, Doug Gilmour. Before him, Darryl Sittler(I loved Wendel Clark, but he just wasn't elite in any way..).

TOP NHL type talent hasn't set up shop in Toronto very often. We've always screwed it up by trading them away or not drafting them at all. But now, it's different. They're here. Some in here can't seem to appreciate it, but it's true. And not just one at a time, either....there's a growing bunch of them!

What a difference 5 years makes!!

This won't end well.

I'll just say this; For all the "supposed" improvement of our prospect pool and team, we've only improved from 7th last to 8th last in that time frame.

 

[Tak7]

It's not that some aren't capable of appreciating it, it's that some are smart enough to realize that simply having good young pieces in your organization doesn't amass to building a contender.

5 years, and I would say that this team still has absolutely no long term plan or idea on how it wants to build and progress. Sure, the value on youth has changed, but how much of that is a result of horrendous errors they made in the past that just couldn't be repeated?

Considering we are a non-playoff team heading into yet another season where we won't be finishing in a playoff spot, I'm not at all convinced that we are closer to a cup now than we were 5 years ago.

Which is probably everything you need to know about how well the Burke-Nonis regime has worked

 

[Drew311]

Five years hasn't made that much different. We still suck.

 

[Peasy]

What a difference! Were till a bottom 10 team!!!!

 

[King Mapes]

5 years and improve 1 spot! Yes! So in 110 years we win the Cup!

Our prospect pool back then wasn't THAT bad. Kulemin, Grabovski, Tlusty, Stralman and Schenn are every day players. But none currently on the Leafs..

 

[number72]

That's only because we haven't traded away our draft picks. We are loads behind a team like avalanche or islanders with prospects

 

[TheThrill81*]

5 years and improve 1 spot! Yes! So in 110 years we win the Cup!

Our prospect pool back then wasn't THAT bad. Kulemin, Grabovski, Tlusty, Stralman and Schenn are every day players. But none currently on the Leafs..

Is it necessary that our prospects be rushed into the NHL right away?

 

[TheThrill81*]

Brian Burke built us a Porsche to compete in a monster truck rally.

More like Brian Burke built us a Porsche, and Carlyle entered it into a monster truck rally.

 

[hotpaws]

oh my god who knows how much better we'll be with just 5 more years of tanking

who'd have thunk you could get quality prospects just handed to you for losing at the end of the each year

 

[socko]

More like Brian Burke built us a Porsche, and Carlyle entered it into a monster truck rally.

Brian Burke built us a Porsche, Carlyle drilled a hole in the bottom of the brake master cylinder, and Nonis drained out the engine oil while it was still running. Shanahan came in and didn't do anything about what Carlyle and Nonis did, but he washed and waxed the car and showed it to his friends.

 

[hotpaws]

Brian Burke built us a Porsche, Carlyle drilled a hole in the bottom of the brake master cylinder, and Nonis drained out the engine oil while it was still running.

Burkie left us a cup contending team coming off a stellar 26th place finish , oh how i miss Steckel and Lambo .

 

[gamer1035]

WOW, WE WENT FROM BOTTOM FEEDER TO BOTTOM FEEDER. AND WE STILL HAVE ONE OF THE WORST PROSPECT POOLS IN THE LEAGUE. HOW THE **** DID THEY MANAGE TO DO THAT WHILE STILL BOTTOMING OUT YEAR AFTER YEAR? DID I MENTION WE'VE GOTTEN RID OF PICKS FOR YEARS TO COME?

**** this team. and instead of gunning for McDavid or Eichel they make some marginal improvements to boost us into 9th place

 

[socko]

WOW, WE WENT FROM BOTTOM FEEDER TO BOTTOM FEEDER. AND WE STILL HAVE ONE OF THE WORST PROSPECT POOLS IN THE LEAGUE. HOW THE **** DID THEY MANAGE TO DO THAT WHILE STILL BOTTOMING OUT YEAR AFTER YEAR? DID I MENTION WE'VE GOTTEN RID OF PICKS FOR YEARS TO COME?

**** this team. and instead of gunning for McDavid or Eichel they make some marginal improvements to boost us into 9th place

what improvements? We lost the best defensive player on the team and a guy from our top pairing. +12 on the Leafs, that is no easy task to pull off.

 

[Peasy]

Lol Burke did not create a good team... He put together most of this core and they've amounted to nothing.

 

[frankthetank91]

It's a weird situation.

Our current roster is legit leaps and bounds ahead of the 5 years ago roster.


But somehow we still suck. Call it a curse.

 

[TMLegend]

It's a weird situation.

Our current roster is legit leaps and bounds ahead of the 5 years ago roster.


But somehow we still suck. Call it a curse.

You do realize every team in the NHL attempts to improve as well? The Leafs don't operate in isolation, and the team stats show as such.

 

[member 147413]

Still a bottom ten team...

 

[socko]

It's a weird situation.

Our current roster is legit leaps and bounds ahead of the 5 years ago roster.


But somehow we still suck. Call it a curse.

We have no system and allow 35 shots per game, we have a guy who can single handedly destroy the offense of one of our scoring lines, and we call a couple of bar bouncers the 4th line.

 

[Bullsmith]

I'm only talking scoring numbers, not the team or the talent, but man, apart from Kessel the numbers are more than close, they're almost identical 2-10 in terms of total points. In fact they drop off at the end. Not comparing players, just noticing the point totals.

 

[Peasy]

WOW, WE WENT FROM BOTTOM FEEDER TO BOTTOM FEEDER. AND WE STILL HAVE ONE OF THE WORST PROSPECT POOLS IN THE LEAGUE. HOW THE **** DID THEY MANAGE TO DO THAT WHILE STILL BOTTOMING OUT YEAR AFTER YEAR? DID I MENTION WE'VE GOTTEN RID OF PICKS FOR YEARS TO COME?

**** this team. and instead of gunning for McDavid or Eichel they make some marginal improvements to boost us into 9th place

Real talk right here.

 

[waingr0]

I'm writing a letter to MLSE to thank them for improving our roster from 5 years ago.

 

[Trapper]

Top-10 scorers, 2008/09
1. Jason Blake(35) 25g 38a 63p
2. Alexei Ponikarovsky(28) 23g 38a 61p
3. Matt Stajan(25) 15g 40a 55p
4. Mikhail Grabovski(25) 20g 28a 48p
5. Nik Antropov(28) 21g 25a 46p
6. Niklas Hagman(29) 22g 20a 42p
7. Dominic Moore(28) 12g 29a 41p
8. Pavel Kubina(31) 14g 26a 40p
9. Nik Kulemin(22) 15g 16a 31p
10. Lee Stempniak(25) 11g 20a 31p

Top 10 prospects, Fall 2008
1. Luke Schenn, D, 18
2. Nikolai Kulemin, RW, 22
3. Jiri Tlusty, LW, 20
4. Justin Pogge, G, 22
5. Anton Stralman, D, 22
6. Dmitri Vorobiev, D, 22
7. Mikhail Grabovski, C, 24
8. Mikhail Stefanovich, C, 18
9. Jimmy Hayes, RW, 18
10. Robbie Earl, LW, 23

Top-10 scorers, 2013/14
1. Phil Kessel(26) 37g 43a 80p
2. JV Riemsdyk(25) 30g 31a 61p
3. Nazem Kadri(23) 20g 30a 50p
4. Tyler Bozak(28) 19g 30a 49p
5. Mason Raymond(28) 19g 26a 45p
6. Joffrey Lupul(30) 22g 22a 44p
7. Cody Franson(26) 5g 28a 33p
8. Jake Gardiner(23) 10g 21a 31p
9. Dion Phaneuf(29) 8g 23a 31p
10. Morgan Rielly(19) 2g 25a 27p

Top 10 Prospects, summer 2014(bit of a guess as to the order right now, but it'll be something like this...)
1. William Nylander, C/RW, 18
2. Frederik Gauthier, C, 19
3. Josh Leivo, LW, 21
4. Connor Brown, RW, 20
5. Greg McKegg, C, 22
6. Stuart Percy, D, 21
7. Matt Finn, D, 20
8. Carter Verhaeghe, C, 19
9. Rinat Valiev, D, 19
10. Antoine Bibeau, G, 20

..............

One could(correctly) argue that the team now is younger, has MUCH better scorers/dynamic players, has Defencemen with MUCH higher ceilings, and our prospects are younger and MUCH better then back then.

But the biggest plus that I can see, is the potential now for THREE or FOUR elite players, playing for the Leafs. Kessel is already elite, and Morgan Rielly, JVR, and soon maybe Willie Nylander could make too. Hell, Kadri could end up flirting with that status as well, but he'll probably be a tier below those others.

Five years ago we had........zero.

Before 2008/09, our last "elite" type player was Mats Sundin(and even that is arguable to some). Before him, Doug Gilmour. Before him, Darryl Sittler(I loved Wendel Clark, but he just wasn't elite in any way..).

TOP NHL type talent hasn't set up shop in Toronto very often. We've always screwed it up by trading them away or not drafting them at all. But now, it's different. They're here. Some in here can't seem to appreciate it, but it's true. And not just one at a time, either....there's a growing bunch of them!

What a difference 5 years makes!!

You're throwing around the word elite with wild abandon.
Let some players prove they are good before you put them in the HOF.
Let them prove as a core they can do the job. So far they haven't.
The only one remotely considered elite at this time is Kessel.
I'm sure in 2008 before you knew what would become of these players people thought we had pretty decent prospects at that time. Oh and look, 55 points for Stajan. 40 assists and since 25 year olds haven't finished developing I'm sure he can be a 70 point no. 1 C.

 

[King Mapes]

Is it necessary that our prospects be rushed into the NHL right away?

What?

Out of the 5 from the 2008 list who are every day players are not on the Leafs. Stralman, Schenn, Grabo, Kulemin and Tlusty..

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

5 Years ago: No idea what rebuilding the team means

Today: Still no idea what rebuilding the team means but in the meantime lets ruin our cap flexibility on mediocre players as well as having no farm system