Permanent NHL Free For All Thread

[Merlot]

BOYZ!!!

For the brief time I've been following this thread, Merlot's been nothing but classy and fun.

I wouldn't say this but I haven't had a psychotic venomous breakdown either.

The genius money extractors of Maple Leaf Gardens are hinting that their appointment of Horachek was to ensure that they lose. They actually have their sheep actually applauding them their brilliant attempt to increase a 10% chance to a 20% chance to ruin yet another high draft pick hockey player.

http://www.forbes.com/nhl-valuations/list/

You've got to admit the leafs owners and management have the perfect money-making formula. Consistent substandard game play, a systematic losing strategy, and a long tradition of failure....to win the hearts the most loyal sheep in the NHL world who will applaud everything they are forced to swallow. We who look down of the Leaf heritage of incompetency are the ones who don't get it. This game is a business. They out sell every team in the league and a rate of almost 3 to1 of the average team receipts making the Leafs a complete financial success. We're the ones who are greatly mistaken. In Toronto winning = company profits and the Leafs are the very best at what they do...winning the profits race. Shame on us for not understanding this is what the SHEEP want and thrive on. Shame on us for putting a Stanley Cup Championship at the head of all goals. The sheep aren't interested. They want happy rich owners not a winning team, or at least not a winning team in the sense of games and Championships. So what is to change? LOSING is their ideal, and they beat everyone else at that.

So congrats Leafs for having the best strategy of all... Baaa Baaa BAD!...and being the very best at it. :thumb:

PS - Anyone seen the chicken pop his head out of the hole yet.



Merlot

 

[joelcairo]

And the Oscar for Worst Franchise in All Professional Sports goes to....

(opens envelope, does NOT look surprised)...

The Toronto Maple Leafs!

Followed by wild applause and universal nods of agreement.

 

[anon_vlad]

The Leafs actually played an excellent game last night. Don't they know that they are supposed to tank in order to have a chance to corrupt McDavid?

 

[anon_vlad]

Leaf Lament

This song, by an actual Leafs' fan, should be their theme song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iZDSsUTU34

 

[Doc Holliday]

The Leafs actually played an excellent game last night. Don't they know that they are supposed to tank in order to have a chance to corrupt McDavid?

Management knows it. The coaches know it. But unfortunately, many of the players figure playing well will eventually earn them a bigger contract.

"Tanking" the season now means finishing as low as possible, not necessarily in last place. Last place now no longer means that the last-place team will automatically pick first. All it means is that it has a 20% chance of picking first. It also means that 13 other teams have altogether an 80% chance of winding up with the first overall pick. Last place also means that if they don't wind up with the first overall pick, they'll automatically wind up in the #2 spot, the Jack Eichel spot.

And considering that Buffalo is likely to finish last & Edmonton second, the any 'tank' team can hope for is the third-last position, which gives it only slightly higher odds to land the #1 pick. But it also means that they don't stand any chance whatsoever to land the #2 spot for reasons i mentionned above. So in reality, any team that has nothing to gain by winning (like the Leafs, Sens, etc) should aim for anything between the #3 spot and #6, in my estimation. I'd be very surprised that if not Buffalo or Edmonton, that any team higher than the #6 position lucks out & wins the lottery. It's all about the odds.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

The Leafs actually played an excellent game last night. Don't they know that they are supposed to tank in order to have a chance to corrupt McDavid?

With very stiff competition from my Oilers and Buffalo making a go at it I do not think the Leafs have much of a chance at McDavid.

 

[Doc Holliday]

With very stiff competition from my Oilers and Buffalo making a go at it I do not think the Leafs have much of a chance at McDavid.

I wouldn't be so certain of this. If the current trend continues & the Leafs wind up finishing behind the Sabres & Oilers, they'll have an 11.5% chance at McDavid, while Edmonton will only have a 13.5% chance & Buffalo at only 20%. That's IF the Sabres finish last, that is. Needless to say, 11.5% chances are as good as any in my book!

 

[Merlot]

BOYZZ,

So now we have come to the point where our "Toronto fans" are actually pushing the team to LOSE, as if they weren't experts at it already. The latest move by the Leafs and their fans to actually lose on purpose instead of by habit just to get one player who allegedly might fix the big picture problem shows they really have no clue how to solve their long sad history of LOSING! Ironically as crazy as it seems, I doubt they could lose enough to accomplish their latest scheme since the problem is they can't do much of anything right anyway. Witness the result right after coming up with this plan to lose...they won the next game. :lol: They can't even lose when they want to. :crazy: So what we need are better solutions for the big picture of 48 years of endemic futility. Here are some suggestions:

1. New Owners: sell the team to people with actual HOCKEY competence who want to win not just profit.

2. Move the team where the fans have expectations of winning instead of being Kool-Aid swillers.

3. Scorch it, get rid of everyone and everything connected and start over.

4. Reduce the team to minor league level since they can't keep up with the big boys.

5. Ship in new fans from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America, Antarctica who would care more about having a winning hockey team, including pigmies and penguins.

6. Plow the stadium under, salt the earth, cover it in 20 feet deep concrete and post a warning...Danger - LOSING Epidemic here.

7. Other???

:noidea:

Merlot

 

[Doc Holliday]

I have the privilege to answer my little buddy, who no doubt thinks he's one of the most knowledgeable hockey fans on the board:

1- MLSE will never sell the Leafs. It's one of the greatest cash cows in the history of professional sports.

2- The Leafs will never get moved out of Toronto. Toronto, including south-central Ontario, is the world's #1 hockey hotbed.

3- They've already began the rebuild. The team president got permission from his board to 'scorch' it and start over. That's old news.

4- No need to answer. Either my little buddy was kidding or he doesn't know a single thing about professional hockey. Since he's our resident genius, i'm guessing he was kidding.

5- See above. Let me point out that every single Bruins fan on this board is nothing but a bandwagon fan. He & others here didn't give a damn about hockey until the Bruins won the cup a few years ago. As soon as the Bruins will start missing the playoffs and struggle, they'll once again disappear.

6- I'm surprised our resident genius is referring to a hockey arena as a 'stadium'. It's shocking.

7- I love it!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

p.s. I love my little buddy! He's hillarious! :thumb:

 

[joelcairo]

Canada Post has a stamp honoring Nelson Mandela.

Undoubtedly if asked his opinion Bernier will say that the stamp is a well-deserved tribute to Mandela for his greatness both on and off the ice.

 

[joelcairo]

Good news for the Leafs is that they unloaded David Clarkson, who had been gifted with one of the most ridiculous contracts in NHL history (7 years for $36.75 million) by whiz kid Dave Nonis. "Thank you (chuckle) Mr. Nonis."

Leaf fans LOVED Clarkson's signing and were ASTONISHED when he totally sucked for his entire first year in Hogtown. In his second year, Leaf fans downed a few more gallons of Koolaid and raved about how THIS year he was the REAL David Clarkson. They were THRILLED to have him.

Now, those same Leaf fans, are equally THRILLED that he is gone. Who did the Leafs get for him? Was it Sid? Ovi? Stammer? Toews? Bergeron? Datsyuk? Kopitar? Giroux? Nash?

Uh,...no,...it was....Nathan Horton! Yes, the SAME Nathan Horton who will probably never play another game in the NHL, due to a degenerative back condition. Oh, and by the way, the Leafs will have to pay Horton, who has 5 years left on a 7 year $37.5 million dollar contract (that's right, basically the same contract as Clarkson's, but $150K more per season).

So basically for a little over $37 million, Nonis got a stiff (DC) for 1 and 2/3 seasons, and a player who will be on the long-term injured reserve list for 5 and 1/3. "Thank you Mr. Nonis."

And the funniest part of all this (namely $37 million and a wasted roster spot) is that Leaf fans LOVED both moves!

The only good thing for the Leafs is that the many millions they'll be paying Horton to stay home will not count against the cap. That means that Nonis can go out and squander another $5 million per season on his next stiff.

BTW, guess what Leaf fans? If Nonis had not given Clarkson that ridiculous contract a year and a half ago, he would have SAVED $37 million, he might have gotten a half-decent player instead of a washout, and he might not have had to dump Clarkson for a player who will probably never play again.

It bears repeating: "Thank you Mr. Nonis."

Meanwhile, it looks like Columbus lost its mind (and perhaps it did) but at least Clarkson will play, something Horton will not. Then again, if Clarkson "performs" as "well" as he did for the Leafs (ha ha) it might not be a GOOD thing that he plays!

Toronto Maple Leafs: The KINGS of Comedy:thumb:

 

[Merlot]

O-M-G

Who did the Leafs get for him? Was it Sid? Ovi? Stammer? Toews? Bergeron? Datsyuk? Kopitar? Giroux? Nash?

Uh,...no,...it was....Nathan Horton! Yes, the SAME Nathan Horton who will probably never play another game in the NHL, due to a degenerative back condition.

Is there an ounce of sanity left in Toronto. Well, it fits their fans here.

:crazy: :noidea:

Merlot

 

[Doc Holliday]

So, how's Marc Savard doing these days? lol

 

[joelcairo]

Congrats to the Leafs on their 3-2 victory over Philly!

In this "victory" the Leafs were outshot 49 (!!!) to 17 (!!!).

In this "victory" the Leafs won 28 faceoffs and lost 36.

In this "victory" the Leafs had 10 giveaways while the Flyers had 6.

In this "victory" the Leafs had 9 takeaways while the Flyers had 14.

In this "victory" the Leafs were, as usual, brutally outplayed...but were saved (as has often happened in many of the Leafs' rare wins) by Bernier. Maybe he pumped himself up for the game by reflecting on the greatness of Nelson Mandela "both on and off the ice" as JB has been known to say.

But maybe the MAIN reason they won is that David Clarkson is gone.

 

[anon_vlad]

A bookie told me that each year he would lose for months to baseball betters. Then there would be a crazy month when he more than got his money back. During that time, results would defy expectations - Cy Young candidates would get shelled, awful pitchers would get shut-outs in hitters' parks, Gold Glove candidates would boot games....

Did anybody notice that Buffalo and TO both won two consecutive games each? TO has won 3 times as many games in February (i.e. 3) than it did in January Ottawa, a mediocre team in all respects, gets consecutive shutouts on the West Coast. I guess it is crazy week in the NHL.

I guessed that the TO players might play better the week before the trade deadline to preserve their jobs, the cushiest in the NHL (2 months longer vacation than the best teams), but getting outshot almost 3-1 is even lousy by their standards.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Did anybody notice that Buffalo and TO both won two consecutive games each? TO has 3 times as many games as it did in January (i.e. 3) Ottawa, a mediocre team in all respects, gets consecutive shutouts on the West Coast. I guess it is crazy week in the NHL.

I guessed that the TO players might play better the week before the trade deadline to preserve their jobs, the cushiest in the NHL (2 months longer vacation than the best teams), but getting outshot almost 3-1 is even lousy by their standards.

Toronto had no business winning last night's game. But Kessel wanted to get the monkey off his back and scored, while Phaneuf also scored in his first game back in over a month. He was motivated. And unfortunately for the Leafs, so too was Bernier, who was superb. His motivation is the contract he's playing for since he's on the last year of his current contract. Which is why i say James Reimer should play more. Every win the Leafs get these days is worse than a loss.

 

[Merlot]

Someone doesn't know the difference between already having a permanently injured player and trading to get one.

The silly alleged plan to dump games for a draft choice won't go over well when it means players would have to cooperate by tanking their play and thus their reputations and value, especially when the future of the team may not even include them and they could end up looking like fools. The Leafs will have to rely on their general ineptitude, which despite their sad consistent history may not be bad enough to get that draft pick.

All that for a prospect, and "prospect" means untested and uncertain, besides the reality one player can't turn a team around, much less such a long dynastic Wagnerian tragedy.



Merlot

 

[joelcairo]

Great Article From Bruce Arthur, Toronto Star:

Through all the years, all the endless failures and humiliations, all the bilking and barking, all the false hope and thin hope and no hope, all the endless bleating about the fundamentally hollow centre of the hockey universe, there was the money. The Toronto Maple Leafs history stopped being championship material nearly 50 years ago, once the NHL moved beyond six teams. The history has become so threadbare since then. The only tradition that mattered were the people who paid for it.


But no matter what, there was the money. The vault filled again and again, piles of gold. Eventually, they needed bigger vaults.


Finally, some of it is being put to good use. David Clarkson has been a disaster here since he was signed as a free agent in 2013. The Leafs had just ridden some Wile E. Coyote-over-the-canyon percentages to the playoffs in a 48-game season, hung with a tired Bruins team for seven games before the collapse, and the front office believed the mirage was real.


Senior members of the organization now call that series “the worst thing that ever happened to this team.” They meant in the last few years, of course.


So Toronto went for it, outbid the delirious Edmonton Oilers, and landed Clarkson. (Note to self: Never outbid the Edmonton Oilers.) Clarkson was 29, had produced one 40-point season, and some in present company called it a disaster, but the Leafs plowed forward anyway. A certain local newspaper Photoshopped his picture with a moustache and a mullet, and blared WENDEL CLARKSON on the cover. Bless ’em.


The rolling debacle ended Thursday, when the Leafs gratefully traded Clarkson to Columbus for a man who will almost certainly never play again. Nathan Horton was signed the same day as Clarkson — and Tyler Bozak, as it happens, who will not be easy to trade, unless you find a sucker — because he wanted a small-town team, a family atmosphere. He had a Stanley Cup ring in Boston, and nearly won another one, and he was the guy who scored the goal in Game 7 against Toronto that pulled the Bruins to within 4-2, midway through the third. It felt pretty innocuous at the time, really.


Then his back went to hell. He needs between three and four vertebrae in his lower back fused with a titanium rod to lead a pain-free existence, and has been holding off on surgery, praying for a miracle. As he told Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch in November, “I can’t stand up like a normal person; I can’t bend over. I can’t run. I can’t play with my kids. To get in and out of the car, I’m like a 75-year-old man . . . so slow and stiff. I can’t sleep at night . . . I’m a ghost.”


And Columbus didn’t get the $37.1-million contract insured, so the tiny market was going to have to pay the whole freight as Horton sat on the long-term injured reserve. So the Blue Jackets looked around for a similar contract, and the Leafs were the first call they made. This dropped from the heavens. Columbus thought, literally anything would be better than that. David Clarkson is the literally anything.




So the Leafs were rich, and got lucky as hell. GM Dave Nonis signed Clarkson for seven years and $36.75 million, and worse, it was nearly buyout proof. It was a bear trap. Clarkson got suspended right away, got hurt, and had to exhibit his lack of foot speed on a team that had the puck less than almost any team in hockey. It got to the point where there was almost nothing there, a blank space. Clarkson tried, and he wanted to succeed for his hometown team. But he was dying here. Nonis said once he wasn’t worried about years six and seven of the contract. Well, now that’s true.


People have dogged Leafs president Brendan Shanahan for too much patience, but in less than a year he has cleared out the coaching staff, and every member of the old front office but the guy who signed the Clarkson deal. And now that’s gone, too.


This wasn’t just being smart, though; this was getting lucky, and then having the political sway to convince your bosses to burn $27.5 million over the next five years to clear salary cap space, while still spending to the cap so you can burn it. How the Leafs spend that money in the context of longer-term thinking will be fascinating. They can absorb more salary in trades now, too.


“The money lined up, which was a big part of it,” Nonis told reporters in Toronto. He also said, “This just fell together.”


Recently, there has been a glorious history of erasing massive mistakes in Toronto. Alex Anthopoulos found the one team that would take Vernon Wells, and the $81 million left on his colossal contract. Masai Ujiri managed to unload Andrea Bargnani onto the Knicks — and get a first-round pick back! — and ship Rudy Gay to Sacramento for what turned out to be a bench.


Now the Clarkson albatross is gone too, heaved onto the waves, and Leafs fans can float on the giddiness for a little while. In Toronto, we don’t celebrate championships. We rejoice at the barest absolution, and the chance that it might get better one day.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Great article! Thank you for sharing, my good friend. :thumb:

 

[marc7]

Easy does it ! Even if the leaf played harder 2/3 of the game they couldn't do nothing !
It's that bad !
So Price best goalie of the nhl , subban/ Markov best D in the top ten of the NHL
Only lost 16 games ....

Looking good !

Can't wait for the playoff !