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Cap'tain Fantastic

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Bon, 2 semaines à l’ombre et pendant ce temps il s’en est passé des choses!!!

Je ne vais pas élaborer sur les circonstances des blessures à Laine et Reinbacher. Pour moi, en bref, ce sont des jeux de hockey LNH, c’est rapide et la prise de décisions se fait en une fraction de seconde. Déterminer si le geste est intentionnel ou non devient très compliqué.

@gaby , en ce qui concerne Arber et ses décisions je ne peux qu’être en total désaccord avec ton commentaire.
Xhekaj a atteint la LNH en jouant comme il joue, il connaît parfaitement son rôle pour ce qui est de défendre ses coéquipiers, peu importe qui se trouve devant lui.

Malheureusement MLS ne connaît absolument rien à ce rôle. Il est tout à fait normal qu’il veuille montrer à ce jeune joueur comment jouer au hockey, c’est sa job. Par contre on ne doit jamais essayer de mettre une laisse sur ce genre de joueur. Xhekaj est sur le banc, sur la patinoire, il voit très bien ce qui se passe et peut tout de suite identifier qui cherche le trouble l’autre côté. Il ne va rien laisser passer et c’est parfait comme ça parce que là ligue a pris, ces dernières années, la décision d’orienter son marketing vers la robustesse et les gestes violents.

C’est sûr, parfois, ça va nous coûter, mais tel sont les conséquences de la politique LNH. On peut se féliciter d’avoir ce gars-là car, il a aussi d’autres aptitudes, son slap shot et son tir des poignets de la ligne bleue effraie déjà plusieurs gardiens. Il est jeune et il est désireux d’apprendre et de s’améliorer, c’est à Saint-Louis de faire sa job convenablement et d’arrêter de le mettre au pilori à chaque fois que Arber jette les gants au "mauvais moment ". Pour un joueur comme lui, il n’y a pas de mauvais moments, c’est action-réaction. Il ne saurait en être autrement.

Si MSL le renvoie à Laval encore une fois, pour ces raisons, je ne serais pas étonné que Xhekaj demande à être échangé. Et crois moi, il va y avoir une file d’équipes prêts à lui dérouler le tapis rouge.
 

Doc Holliday

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Total nonsense to me, I don’t even understand why the Leafs invited him for the camp. Nufsaid
There is no financial risk for them & he’s the only thing they can afford right now considering they’re over the cap. It’ll be a one-year contract at the league minimum. If he can still be an effective player & provide veteran leadership it’s a win-win situation for them & next season he could sign where he wants at a better contract. And playing with players such as Matthews, Nylander, Marner & Tavares will provide him many opportunities. And since the Leafs have a need for some scoring punch on the left wing it can’t hurt. But to be honest he’s impressed me during the preseason & i’ve revised my position. And if he struggles they’ll just waive him or trade him.

I expect they’ll put two players (Dewar & Hakanpaa) on LTIR to create some cap space & may trade or waive a roster player. Possibly Timmins or even Lilligren. I’ve also learned that Pacioretty may not sign right away & may have to wait until they figure out what to do in order to create more cap room.

By the way if i think the Habs should try to acquire Nick Robertson in order to add some punch to the attack & their anemic powerplay. He’s available, he’s young & he doesn’t cost much. The Leafs don’t really have a spot for him on the top two lines where he’d be more suited.
 

EagerBeaver

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If he can still be an effective player
Very big iF at his age, coming off an achilles injury.......this is professional hockey, not playing with his kids in the backyard. If there were flying pigs, as well, barbecued pork wings might be the biggest delicacy at Hooters, but pigs can't fly and did not develop wings, so we can only dream about what could have been.........
 

gaby

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ENFIN.....c'est fini......le fun de voir le retour de GUHLE et bien performer.....et ARBER jouer du bon hockey.....les 2 meilleurs hier......pour le reste ça commence Mercredi...et on verra....mes attentes ne sont pas au top...lol....à eux de nous surprendre...bonne saison.
 

Cap'tain Fantastic

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If he can still be an effective player & provide veteran leadership it’s a win-win situation
But everybody knows that Patch never had any leadership, quite the opposite if you ask me. And yeah, he used to be a 30+ goals scorer but since the Chara incident he’s never been the same and he’s become a ghost on the ice. He stays away from any hot spots and doesn’t get much involved in any intense puck battles.
 

Doc Holliday

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But everybody knows that Patch never had any leadership, quite the opposite if you ask me. And yeah, he used to be a 30+ goals scorer but since the Chara incident he’s never been the same and he’s become a ghost on the ice. He stays away from any hot spots and doesn’t get much involved in any intense puck battles.
People who’ve been following the Golden Knights will tell you differently. He’s been a different player since leaving Mtl. The problem was that he was too inexperienced to be named captain at the time. Problem was there wasn’t really anyone else at the time plus everyone knew PK wanted it. So Max inherited the captaincy pretty much by default. Anyways like i said the Leafs are over the cap & need bodies making the league minimum. They have zero to lose by signing Pacioretty & if he doesn’t perform they’ll waive him or give him away. They certainly do not expect him to be the same player he was with Vegas. He’s just a body, really.
 
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EagerBeaver

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They have zero to lose by signing Pacioretty & if he doesn’t perform they’ll waive him or give him away. They certainly do not expect him to be the same player he was with Vegas. He’s just a body, really.
It's a low risk, low reward signing. Sort of like a minor league contract signing in baseball. You hope to catch lightning in a bottle, but realize you probably only have a firefly which you will need to let go at some point, while not spending too much money.

Reminds me of the Yankees signing of Matt Carpenter a few years ago, in which they did catch lightning in a bottle for a couple of months before Carpenter got hurt.
 

Cap'tain Fantastic

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Arber- Going down?
Most likely but it is just a technical thing, once they establish their salary cap he will be back. I don’t see the habs purposely leaving him down, if it ever happens I’m pretty sure Arber will ask to be traded.
 

gaby

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JOSHUA ROY---LOGAN MAILLOUX---ADAM ENGSTROM---JACOB DOBES les derniers retranchés today......pas de grande surprise et auront leur chance......donc les HABS misent sur ARBER et STRUBLE---qui a fait bonne impression----pour débuter la saison.....
On part du bon pied.....à suivre dès Mercredi.
 

EagerBeaver

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He went to surgery twice! On the same tendon.
Like I said it's a so called "flier" contract, the Yankees do them all the time in baseball with washed up veterans they can sign cheaply who have like 1/10th left in the gas tank, and Toronto has also done it in the past: remember the Patrick Marleau signing? Like Pacioretty they signed him more because of leadership qualities being lacking in their locker room, than hoping to get production out of him. I think Toronto got a slight bit of production out of Marleau his first season but after that he was a net negative on their roster. The question for Pacioretty is does he even give them minimal production or is he just a body taking up a roster spot? Maybe Gaby knows the answer.

Believe me when I tell you these signings happen in all sports and they are primarily motivated by getting the veteran leader voice in a locker room that needs to be led, and they also hope to catch lightning in a bottle on the field or on the ice as the case may be. It happened with the Yankees twice in the past 15 years, first with Raul Ibanez and then with the aforementioned Carpenter. These were players who were acquired, much like Pacioretty, after injury plagued seasons made it appear that they were washed up. Ibanez and Carpenter played with pride and like they thought their careers were on the line, and maybe Pacioretty will be their hockey equivalent. More likely he will be like Marleau was after his first season in Toronto, looking like an old warhorse who needed to be euthanized before he finally was.
 
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Doc Holliday

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Marleau actually had a very productive first season with the Leafs & did a great job putting youngsters Auston Matthews & Mitch Marner under his wing. As a matter of fact Marner lived with the Marleaus in his rookie season. His second season was less productive & he was starting to show his age. The main reason why they traded him to Carolina was to create cap room & had to give Carolina a first round pick in the trade & the Canes used it to pick Seth Jarvis. Marleau ended up going back to San Jose & retired with the Sharks.

Patch has several key bonuses in his contract such as points made & another one if he reaches a minimum of 30 games. He’ll start the season playing on the third line. He could have got more money playing elsewhere but considering he comes from a privileged family of multimillionaires money has never been a problem throughout his life so he preferred signing for less in order to play with a contender.
 

TigerWould

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Pacioretty deserves respect for coming back from 2 Achilles tears in the same year. Not an easy thing to do at 35. Most would have just quit but he got himself rehabbed and back in game shape. I don't know how you cannot cheer for a guy like that.
 

EagerBeaver

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I don't know how you cannot cheer for a guy like that.
Nobody said they were not cheering him. I noted the prior baseball examples of Raul Ibanez and Matt Carpenter, who at similar ages and coming off injury plagued poor seasons, each experienced a career renaissance with the NY Yankees. While that's a possibility for Max, I think odds are well stacked against it with a double Achilles. The Patrick Marleau year 2/3 comparison with the Leafs is more likely what they will get.

But we have only discussed production and not leadership. Hopefully what he can really bring the lockerroom is a veteran leader that some of those prima Donnas on the Leafs will listen to. Last year they were an embarrassment and I think management saw that the team is lacking in veteran leadership after the debacle display against the Bruins. Leafs management does not want to see that happen again and want to upgrade the professionalism in their locker room. So they think he can help with that.

The Leafs managed to get their young coach fired and caused lots of people to lose money betting on them against the Bruins, a team that was very banged up and ready to be beaten. That series exposed a lot of painful leadership issues for the Leafs, which were on full display to a national TV audience.
 
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Cap'tain Fantastic

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But we have only discussed production and not leadership
I have mentioned his lack of leadership, especially when he was in Montreal. He was known to have some Prima Dona attitude and played a role in dissensions in the team. Now, this could have changed, it seems he was very appreciated in the Golden Knights locker room.
 
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