Leaf rumours...comments??

[plyrs99]

number one, who says the leafs could have matched san jose's offer to boston for jumbo joe anyways? marco sturm, brad stuart, and the third player i believe was wayne primeau. who could the leafs have countered with to match that. i see a steen/kaberle and either a third player or a high draft pcik as the only way they could match it, and the leafs would not part with them, so don't say the leafs could have got these guys for nothing.

as for free agents. i know the leafs would love to have patrick elias to play with sundin, but elias has stated quite vocally that his first choice remains new jersey. if the devils dont resign their star forward, i do see the leafs having a good shot at him, but, as has been pointed out, the leafs would have stiff competition for elias' services from the rangers, amongst others. joe sakic would be a great coup for the leafs, but, at what price to their salary cap, when they need more help on the blueline. don't discount jason arnott, a big, physical forward who is in his best years right now. the leafs should resign mcabe, and take a run at a guy like pavel kubina. if they can't resign mcabe, they need to look at redden or chara, but they will have to jump quickly on one of them. they also need to look for at least one more serviceable d-man.

when it comes to goaltending, you have to believe that anaheim and san jose will be looking to deal as well. the emergence of ilya bryzgalov in ahaheim, and vesa toskala in san jose, will make j.s. giguere and evgeni nabokov potential trade bait. will buffalo still wanna carry martin biron's hefty salary to back up ryan miller? there will be some good viable free agents as well in net, joseph and legace coming to mind right away. the leafs should try and pry marc denis away from columbus. the blue jackets seem to want to give pascal leclaire the number one job anyways. denis is a good young goalie, yet to reach his true potential.

there is alot of intrigue out there with this years crop of free agents.

Plyrs99

 

[21pro]

but plyrs99, you gotta admit that there always is room to make a better leaf team.

last summer Defensemen Greg DeVries, Toni Lydman and Teppo Numminen were picked up and/or signed dirt cheap... and look at what Lydman and Numminen are doing now... 'Conference Finalists' baby! (also, Buffalo moved Brad Brown to the leafs of all teams, to make room for Toni Lydman...) -what did brown do for the leafs... or even the baby leafs for that matter? for Buffalo, he made it one step easier to beating Ottawa!

hell, even Mike Commodore (another 06 conference finalist) coulda been a replacement for Aki Berg as a 2nd line d-man...(costs about the same on payroll, too!)

wanna go cheaper, still? whadda bout Jaroslav Spacek? sure he was a deadline giveaway from Chicago to Edmonton and now is the Oilers #3 d-man, but he was available last summer from Columbus...

It takes some Smarts, man.... Smarts. A little more smarts than just hiring a minor-league coach that gets the boot in the 1st round of AHL playoffs...


and about the Thornton thing... some clubs have players call and ask if they can be traded or picked up by them. San Jose is one of them. Doug Wilson is a player liked GM and same goes for Coach Ron Wilson... MOC knew this before sending big JT off somewhere... of course he wasn't gonna go to the leafs....

 

[Choron]

SJ came out the big winner in the Thorton trade...


However, there was no way that Thorton was going anywhere in the Eastern Conference as the primary goal was to trade him to the West(so Boston would not have to face him more than once a year)

 

[Hockey_MLnut]

I've heard from a couple ppl that work at the ACC and have heard things that Mats Sundin is just moving into Maple Leafs Square and is putting more money into a house in Sweden.

Have no idea if this is true but its one of the many rumors.

 

[wheats]

Sundins a good player but not a good leader plus his heart doesnt seem to be there during games..time for a change and get rid of this guy and bring in someone younger non european.....Another example is Naslan from Vancouver and Alferson from Ottawa...all players that don't have the leadership skills but great players...

the goalies can stay the same Aubin and Telequist are good enough if they had good D in front of him instead of a bunch pussy like Berg,McCabe,Kabrle..

just sign some young guys with speed not Lindros,Allison,O'neil....and these guys couldn't even make it to the playoffs...or just bring up the younger guys from the marlies....

 

[grguy]

Sundins a good player but not a good leader

Friday's Star says that Sundin is on vacation. Illustrates his lack of leadership. He should be in Toronto, reassuring the bankers that pay his salary (you idiot fans) that he's serious about winning a Stanley Cup. He wants to resign McCabe. Why? He's a lousy defender, and he was offensively ineffective in the last part of the season. Allocate $ 25 million to McCabe? Idiotic.

Let's remember that Sundin did all of that scoring in meaningless games, after the Laffs had been all but mathematically eliminated. Where was he in Montreal? In some strip club?

It's time that Sundin was moved and a Canadian is named captain. Look at 3 (all?) of the teams with Swedes as captains. 2 didn't make the playoffs, the 3rd always underachieves.

 

[Mysterio999]

Lonny Bonhonos

Lonny was featured on Coach's Corner a few months ago. He suffered a broken neck in a game in one of the European super leagues.

IIRC Lonny was basically blackballed from the NHL after a fight with an assistant coach (Greg Smyth) when he was with the St John's Leafs AHL team.

 

[Choron]

Sundins a good player but not a good leader plus his heart doesnt seem to be there during games..time for a change and get rid of this guy and bring in someone younger non european.....Another example is Naslan from Vancouver and Alferson from Ottawa...all players that don't have the leadership skills but great players...

the goalies can stay the same Aubin and Telequist are good enough if they had good D in front of him instead of a bunch pussy like Berg,McCabe,Kabrle..

just sign some young guys with speed not Lindros,Allison,O'neil....and these guys couldn't even make it to the playoffs...or just bring up the younger guys from the marlies....

Dude Berg isn't on the leafs anymore...

 

[wheats]

hey its simple if ferguson open his eyes and watch the playoffs final foul look at the leaders,speedy players, and the type of players and just build the leafs base on that he could have a winning team but ferguson plans on signing Luke Richardson and Lindros back signs of another flop....they mightest well bring back the same roster for the next season and sign domi to another three more years and hope they do well....even if the leafs made it to the playoffs this year they would of gotten slaughter in the 1st round four games straight...

 

[blitz]

This Just In...

I've heard that the NHL is going to expand and that MLSE is going to start an actual hockey team in Hamilton.

This new franchise might even ice a team of hockey players that play hockey on a hockey rink in an arena for hockey in front of fans that want to watch hockey.

The goal of this team will be to make the playoffs before their QEW rivals in the 2010 season.

There will also be beer.

 

[gladheateher]

PM him about it.His handle is Mable.

"Mable" posts a lot in the Ottawa/Kingston forum, and seems to be very familiar with the Ottawa scene - is that where Owen has been hanging out while re-habbing his knee maybe Nolan will sign with the Sens if and when he comes back to the NHL and Alfie will go "boo hoo hoo"!!

 

[grguy]

Don't do it!

I've heard that the NHL is going to expand and that MLSE is going to start an actual hockey team in Hamilton.

NHL: please don't do that. If you add a team in Hamilton, Toronto will want 1 too!

 

[21pro]

I've heard from a couple ppl that work at the ACC ...

and of course, your disclaimer...

 

[BlahBlah]

The Leafs need talent, period. They should worry less about who's the right guy to play with Sundin, or the guy to anchor the defense, and say, "Holy fuck! We need to get whatever (young) talent we can!"
They have young goalies who look promising, but if they can do something there, do it. The overall cupboard is so bare that they can't afford to be picky.
Forget Elias, Chara, Redden et al, and just move everyone you can for prospects and picks because all it's doing is delaying the overhaul that should've begun three years ago.

 

[Dawgger]

The Leafs need talent, period. They should worry less about who's the right guy to play with Sundin, or the guy to anchor the defense, and say, "Holy fuck! We need to get whatever (young) talent we can!"
They have young goalies who look promising, but if they can do something there, do it. The overall cupboard is so bare that they can't afford to be picky.
Forget Elias, Chara, Redden et al, and just move everyone you can for prospects and picks because all it's doing is delaying the overhaul that should've begun three years ago.

Like what you are saying.
Think a lot of the fans will agree with you, But will the leaf management?