On July 04 2014 13:24 Blisse wrote: The nice thing about this much competition in the West is that eventually good players will have to end up in the East since there's no room in the West :p
The east has arguably the best individual players in the NHL at most positions except goal. Which is part of the problem lol.
No shit. Komarov somehow got himself $3m per over four years for basically being a less talented euro version of tucker. I don't get how you give that kind of deal to a dude who wasn't anything special when here, and didn't light up the khl
I think you would have to watch him actually play that last season to really judge him man. Honestly he was one of our best players that season. He actually brings a lot to the table. He's not supposed to rack up the points. Darcy was a liability. Leo on the other hand wasn't in that season with the Leafs. Yes 3mil is a steep price but he brings the intangibles much like Carl Gunnarsson which a lot of people don't really understand.
On July 05 2014 10:20 StarStruck wrote: I think you would have to watch him actually play that last season to really judge him man. Honestly he was one of our best players that season. He actually brings a lot to the table. He's not supposed to rack up the points. Darcy was a liability. Leo on the other hand wasn't in that season with the Leafs. Yes 3mil is a steep price but he brings the intangibles much like Carl Gunnarsson which a lot of people don't really understand.
he's a 4th liner making $3m on a team that isn't in a great cap situation to begin with. He's good at what he does, but what he does is not worth $3m.
I'd be totally okay with him if it was 2m/year. 2.4m/year maybe at max, but 3m/year? I'd be okay with Clarkson making something under 4.5m at max, but 5.25/year for a whole 7 years? Okay, yes, Leafs need to protect their squishy 1st and 2nd lines, Lupul keeps getting injured, Kessel/JVR/Bozak/Kadri aren't really tough without guys like Lucic or Fraser or Brown, so we need guys to bring that physicalness so our guys feel less pressure to do everything because we don't have complete players like Bergeron or Getzlaf on our top lines. But how can you lock yourself in to these guys for so much when we still have to sign so many guys, and you're telling that guys like Franson and Gardiner that you think Komarov and Clarkson offer "intangibles" worth 125% their actual value, but you're going to give Franson and Gardiner like, under 3.5m/year vs Komarov's contract, only worth half a million more than Komarov, and less than Clarkson who got like 10 points last year? Should Franson and Gardiner (under 3m each) make less than Robidas (3m)? And you also want to tell people you have to resign next year as well, how much do you think you have got to sign Kadri and Bernier next year? Where are we getting all this cap space? The cap might increase but you're pushing things so hard signing guys for this much, which means if something happens like fucking Lupul getting injured or Kadri dying (off in points oops), we can't sign guys we need to drop in like Bolland and Raymond, and we lose very helpful, cheapish players like Kulemin and McClement. We should totally use our draft picks more to fill in our 4th line voids (but Ashton isn't that good), but the way this team is being managed and coached isn't inspiring.
On July 05 2014 10:20 StarStruck wrote: I think you would have to watch him actually play that last season to really judge him man. Honestly he was one of our best players that season. He actually brings a lot to the table. He's not supposed to rack up the points. Darcy was a liability. Leo on the other hand wasn't in that season with the Leafs. Yes 3mil is a steep price but he brings the intangibles much like Carl Gunnarsson which a lot of people don't really understand.
he's a 4th liner making $3m on a team that isn't in a great cap situation to begin with. He's good at what he does, but what he does is not worth $3m.
I highly doubt you've seen enough of him to be saying what he does and doesn't bring to the team. Then again I've only seen him play one season for us and if he can do what he did in that same season I'm telling you the guy brings it and finishes every hit. He gets under guys skin without even flapping his gums unlike Darcy Tucker. The guy knows his role and he's very good at it and getting more guys to take penalties rather than himself taking a dumb one. I'd agree with the other guy in saying 2 to 2.5mil is more than fair and the fact of the matter is he wanted to come back to the Leafs. Also every little cocksucker is overpaid in the League so this is the norm and fuck Clarkson I never agreed with that deal to begin with. He's been a liability ever since he came. Leo on the other hand hasn't.
At the end of the day, if you have beef with the Leo deal it should go back to the fact that the guy actually wanted to not only return to the NHL but return to Toronto and Nonis didn't abuse that fact when it came to negotiations. Why the heck wouldn't be take that multi year deal at 3 mil? He had no reason to refuse such an offer. Nonis could have got a better deal.
On July 05 2014 10:20 StarStruck wrote: I think you would have to watch him actually play that last season to really judge him man. Honestly he was one of our best players that season. He actually brings a lot to the table. He's not supposed to rack up the points. Darcy was a liability. Leo on the other hand wasn't in that season with the Leafs. Yes 3mil is a steep price but he brings the intangibles much like Carl Gunnarsson which a lot of people don't really understand.
he's a 4th liner making $3m on a team that isn't in a great cap situation to begin with. He's good at what he does, but what he does is not worth $3m.
I highly doubt you've seen enough of him to be saying what he does and doesn't bring to the team.
We see the highlights of tucker hitting gonchar and roenick... what we don't see is tucker flying around trying to make and miss those kinds of hits all game long... and ending up way out of position. Tucker acted tough.. but didn't play tough when it came down to fighting for hte puck.
Same thing applies with Leo. a guy reads a stat line and watches a few replays and suddenly becomes the 2nd coming of Rob Cowie with his all world opinions.
Leo > Darcy.
Leo is good.
No one wants to play in Toronto and Nonis paid a premium for that fact.
they're nothing alike. Leo finishes all his checks and he hits harder than Darcy ever could. Not only that but Leo doesn't chirp as much as Darcy. Darcy flaps his gums a mile a minute. Leo lets his play do most of the talking. Anyway, you're over-exaggerating. Just because Gorges didn't want to come over doesn't mean no one wants to play here. Whether it be dealing with Randy or dealing with the blue and white disease that people have a hard time getting over. There are a number of players who want to play in the T dot.
with Wilson being the most disliked coach in 2011.
Now Carlyle is the coach and the Leafs are no longer one of the most disliked organizations to play for. and Carlyle is not on the list for most disliked coach.
all that said, Nonis had to pay a premium to get Leo here...Toronto teams always have to pay more for free agents.
most canadian players have the same viewpoint as Jason Spezza; they'd rather remain anonymous in the USA and play hockey in peace. ( or Germany or Sweden for that matter ). French Canadians only exception to that is playing for the Canadiens.
which explains why a Canadian team has not won the cup in 20+ years. the probability of this just being a coincidence is approximately (23/30)^20 = 0.005 ... too low to be pure coincidence.
Considering you guys keep bringing up Darcy Tucker in the conversation it's as if you're trying to draw parallels between what Darcy brought to the table compared to Leo, which isn't even close.
You pretend like being overpaid is a new craze when it never was. Ofc coaches have something to do with it but considering how many of players grew up idolizing the team (and have came out and said it) what you say has crap written all over it. 'No longer one of the most disliked organizations to play for..' Sometimes I wonder if you actually read what you wrote before posting. The Leafs never wanted the guy to leave in the first place and in all honesty I don't think Nonis had to show him the money to get him over here, but he did it anyway especially when the guy says he regretted leaving. Don't have to deal with the media or the pressure of blue and white disease? Sure, that doesn't change the fact that there are still many players who want to put that jersey on. The Habs are no different only Montreal fans don't have such a great sense of humor about their team as let's say the Leafs because we're more willing to take jabs at our stock all the frigging time.
That's your rationale for a Canadian team not winning a Cup? How about all the other stupid factors like expansion teams which make no sense (thinning out the player pool), salary caps and all that jazz? Not the easiest business to keep a good core of players and for those select players you do decide to ship it out too. Well, you're kind of fucked if you picked the wrong guys now aren't you? Good luck unloading them and it's amazing what kind of turn around there is. You think the L.A. Kings will be the cream of the crop a few years down the road? Nah and now there is talk about Chicago and L.A. having a dynasty. A dynasty to me is more than several years.
who the fuck cares if Carlyle is an improvement? Players have had beef with the guy for a long time and to be frank. It hasn't changed that much.
In other news, I must say the articles on the NHL website are hysterical. Matt Moulson and Brian Gionta are going to make the Sabres contenders again. Talk about trying to sell crapola.
the factors you name impact both canadian teams and american teams. whereas, my reason directly explains it.
Canadians don't want to play in Canada.. and the Stanley Cup champs are always loaded with Canadians...its that simple.
as far as players disliking Carlyle... its not showing up in the player poll the way it did for Wilson... in fact, Wilson was almost 2X more disliked than the #2 most disliked coach.... Torterella.
the top 2 guys on that list...Wilson and Torterella have not exactly been tremendously successful lately. however, plenty of players play at their best when they don't like the coach... so its not as simple as "no players like him so he sucks".
players admit to disliking Sutter... but its all washed away in the celebration.
More Canadians play the game than anyone else facepalm. Someone please look to see if you can find Jim's marbles because he's clearly lost some. Why don't you ask Grabo or Clarkie if they rather play for Randy or Ron. See how easy it is to nitpick? Yes, let's just throw random numbers to show how much disdain players have for certain coaches in the league. You think guys like Pat Burns were well-liked in the dressing room? No, but they respected him and look what guys like Mats and co. now say about the guy, "best coach I ever had." Yet they got tough love from him.
Gee, Wilson tried to make the Leafs play a run and gun style. I wonder why... maybe it's because of the personnel he had at his disposal. You think the players he had back then were bangers and good cycle players? Heck no. He had to use a template where he would get the best out of the players he had and to be frank there really wasn't much there.
Ofc it's washed away. They won the Cup and now look what the Media is saying about him. If the Leafs ever did win another Cup (Heaven forbid) the guy coaching them would probably go down as a God to the nonsensical Media surrounding the team, lol. The same way guys like Darcy Tucker are still highly respected around here even though they caused more problems than not. Go figure.
furthermore, my favourite coach of all time is Bowman. Read "The Game" and see how well liked he was by his players. the guy is so dry and impersonal he scares players into thinking they'll lose playing time.
in every sport there are countless numbers of players who hate their coach and perform best under the coach they hate. give them some warm and fuzzy guy and they go soft.
I said it once and i'll say it again: Canadians don't wanna play in Toronto. if you think Canadian pro hockey players are secretly wishing they could play in Toronto you are dreaming in technicolour.
i've backed up my points with evidence. you've backed ur points up with .... pretty much nuttin'
If PK Subban actually gets in front of an Arbitrator he will get a record setting reward. And after montreal takes the award they will lose Subban to free agency next year I think. They better get a deal signed now....