The Official Dave Ayres CC "All Thing Leaves" thread

[Topper]

Clearly Benn was going for the puck, skating a direct line to where the play was, Buss Bomber drifted into his line to run interference.

[BigTuna]

Let's not comment about tonight's game.

No, no.... LET'S!!

Leaves outshot 43-26 by one of the worst teams in the league.

Yet somehow they won SO they won't at all concerned with advanced stats during the Christmas Break.

The Big 3 upcoming free agents with great numbers tonight

(Bernier 43 saves, 1.000 sv%... Franson plus3... Kadri plus3 with a goal + assist).

HMMM perhaps $5M each won't be enough for these guys this summer!

Yup, things are looking awesome tonight for Leaf-haters moving forward...

2 of those "Free Agents" are RFAs. You actually are dreaming that the leaves will lose Bernier and Kadri?

[Strangelove]

2 of those "Free Agents" are RFAs. You actually are dreaming that the leaves will lose Bernier and Kadri?

No, but the cost of re-signing the Big 3 upcoming free agents would destroy Leaf depth.

(they'd have to sign a half-doz minimum-wage guys to flesh out a roster, and dumb as they are, they won't do that)

They will have to let Franson (their best dee this season) walk as a UFA.

OR... trade one of Bernier/Kadri.

The Leaves are fucked.

And hey, have I mentioned how incredibly stupid their players are:





Fucktards! Your short-bus is leaving!!!

[Meds]

Ok, I knew that Clarkson was a retard on the ice, but that's just embarrassing for the leaves.

Hey Doc, did you happen to notice that Phillis "Mrs. $8million" Kessel was nowhere to be found in wishing his die-hard fans a merry Christmas?

[Strangelove]

Yeah, Phillis doesn't believe in saluting the fans.

[Meds]

Yeah, Phillis doesn't believe in saluting the fans.

Yeah, he doesn't hold up under public pressure at all eh.....

Some might even say he needs to grow a pair.....

[Strangelove]

Merry Christmas Mëds.

[Topper]

No bus bomber?

[Meds]

Merry Christmas Mëds.

Back atcha Doc.

[ukcanuck]

Don't forget the PR dummy who thought it would be a good idea to let them read aloud in front of a camera...

Good thing they wear hockey helmets for a living

[Topper]

Don't forget the PR dummy who thought it would be a good idea to let them read aloud in front of a camera...

Good thing they wear hockey helmets for a living

Nonis import the #7 clown?

[Strangelove]

And so it begins.

Tuna right now:

Leaves were up 4-2 after two tonight

... end up losing the game 6-4.

Leaf fans sending obscene tweets to Reimer's wife no doubt.

LOL at you-know-who saying Red-light Reimer is trade-able!

Leaf fans screaming for Gardiner's head...

Apparently he's like Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz in more ways than one.

Nonis gave this schmuck 20 MILLION DOLLARS!!

Let's see now, that's 4 losses in the last 5 games.

Tuna... bow before Strangelove!!

[Island Nucklehead]

Yeah it's pretty hard to take the leaves as a credible threat come playoff time when they are so bloody inconsistent. Some games they look pretty good, most games they get outshot, and some games they look like they should be the in the McEichel derby.

Does anyone think this team, with just $15M to sign 9-10 players in the summer, including Bernier and Kadri ($9M combined?), will be any better next season?

[Strangelove]

Leaves were up 2-0 after the first period tonight

... end up losing the game 3-2 in regulation time.

Outshot 41-23 by the Bolts.

They are 1-5 in their last 6 games.



LOL I don't deserve to be this happy...

[Cousin Strawberry]

Pretty good dissection about how shitty Kessel, Pkaneuf and the rest of the leaves really are:

James Mirtle article- When Phil Kessel landed in Toronto on Sept. 18, 2009, he came by way of the Boston Bruins, a team that had 116 points the year before to lead the Eastern Conference.

Not a strong defensive player, Kessel nonetheless led the team in goals (36), was fourth among forwards in ice time and had a 53-per-cent possession rating.


He brought those strengths – and flaws – to the leaves.

When Dion Phaneuf landed in Toronto on Jan. 31, 2010, he came by way of the Calgary Flames, a team that had never missed the playoffs in his four years there.

Not a strong defensive player, Phaneuf nonetheless averaged 52 points a season, led the team in ice time and had a 53-per-cent possession rating.

He brought those strengths – and flaws – to the leaves.

Five years later, not much has changed.

The leaves had one of their worst games of the season on Saturday in Winnipeg, as the Jets embarrassed them 5-1 while heavily dominating the shot clock. It was the leaves seventh regulation loss in their past nine games, and they face one of the most difficult stretches of their season here over the next two weeks, with road games in some of the toughest Western Conference cities.

More than anyone else, Kessel and Phaneuf have been blamed for the slide and, really, all of Toronto’s failings of the past few seasons.

On better coached teams, with more secondary talent, they fit in and filled a role.

On this one, where the systemic flaws are so immense and the supporting talent less, they’re continually asked to do too much and end up wearing their flaws more nights than not.

Beyond the coach and what’s obviously a possession-bereft style of play, what ails the leaves remains the same as the day Mats Sundin left in 2008.

They don’t have a No. 1 centre.

They also lack a No. 1 defenceman.

And repeatedly asking Kessel and Phaneuf to be more than they are – to be something, in fact, they never were – without those pieces is as foolish as anything that’s gone on around the organization in the past decade.

Especially when the problems with the leaves’ core go well beyond those two players. This is a team with Tyler Bozak playing 19 minutes a night as the top-line centre against top competition and getting outshot more than almost any player in the league.

Other key contributors lack defensive acumen – including James van Riemsdyk, Joffrey Lupul and Jake Gardiner – and there’s a $5.25-million (U.S.) winger named David Clarkson playing third-line minutes who’s on pace for 27 points.

Stéphane Robidas, who signed a three-year deal for $9-million in July to play in the top four, has been a healthy scratch in favour of minor-leaguer Korbinian Holzer.

And on and on (and on).

The issue is not only the coach. The issue is the leaves built their team around Kessel, Phaneuf and not much else because they were the impact players that former GM Brian Burke was able to get without going through the draft or free agency, routes he deemed too slow or too costly.

They were available because they had flaws; unsurprisingly, they still have them.

And you can blame those who have ignored that for too long for part of the leaves’ downfall.

The tough part is how president Brendan Shanahan should go about fixing this roster. You can’t give away talent for nothing in this league, and freeing up cap space without anything to spend it on hardly makes sense unless it’s a total teardown, something he said last spring he wasn’t interested in.

Even so, getting younger makes sense, as does adding prospects that will mature with players such as Nazem Kadri and Morgan Rielly.

It’ll take some boldness from the brass to start selling now, but it’ll be long overdue.