Two weeks ago, i learned that the Leafs had made the best offer for Tomas Vanek. The Islanders wanted to take their offer. However, as they got close to the deadline, the Leafs were unable to free up some cap room in order to accomodate Vanek's contract. When the deal fell through, the Islanders turned around and accepted Marc Bergevin's offer from the habs.
As we now know, Vanek has been a huge addition to the habs and the line of Vanek-Desharnais-Pacioretty is now one of the league's top lines and Pacioretty is now closing in on a 40-goal season. Bergevin, even though he hadn't done much since becoming the team's GM, is now looked upon as a genius for having committed the Vanek theft from the Islanders & has been one of the main reasons for the team's turnaround since the trade deadline.
The opposite could have happened to the Leafs had they acquired Vanek. However, the problems that are currently plaguing the Leafs have been plaguing them all season long and i'm not sure that acquiring Vanek might have made that much of a difference. Sure, having Vanek on the Lupul-Kadri line would have looked better than say, Nikolai Kulemin. Maybe providing secondary scoring (which has been lacking all season long) might have taken some of the heat off the first line and the entire team might have played better, who knows.
I expect Randy Carlyle & his assistants to be fired soon after the regular season ends. Other players i expect to be gone by the summer are Kulemin, Bolland, McLaren, Franson, Reimer, Orr & possibly Gleeson. Randy Carlyle likes big, immobile defencemen and if he isn't back next season, the team will have no use for some of the players i've listed. It also wouldn't surprise me to see Nazem Kadri or Joffrey Lupul get traded. Lupul will be 31 next season & his history of missing many games due to injuries has kept on haunting him. As he grows older, the problem won't go away.
Where the team went wrong?
Signing Clarkson to such a long contract doesn't look very good right now. I was one of many who was overjoyed to see him joining the Leafs since he always played his best hockey against the Leafs whenever i watched him. But he skates awkwardly & falls down way too often. Looks like the Leafs will be stuck with him for at least another 5 years before they decide to maybe buy him out.
Tim Gleeson for J-M Liles was not a good trade. Gleeson is big, is very slow and has zero scoring touch. Liles on the other hand is very quick & is gifted offensively. He was also great among the Toronto community with his charity work & always a great interview. The players he played with all loved him and some even cried when they heard he had been traded. However, grumpy Carlyle hates small offensively-gifted defencemen and there's no chance he would have played even if he hadn't been traded. Let's put it this way: if the Undertaker could skate, Carlyle would have dressed him in front of Liles.
Giving Dion Phaneuf the captaincy immediately after he was traded to Toronto was one of Brian Burke's biggest mistakes. Phaneuf hadn't matured enough to be named captain so quickly & he hadn't even played a game with the Leafs yet, which was a major snub to the current Leafs at the time. Phaneuf is also a very dull person & a lousy interview. When he refused to address the media recently after a loss, i wondered why everyone was complaining. I thought "do they really want to hear this guy speak??" Phaneuf has become a polarizing figure on the Leafs team...similar to the likes of Larry Murphy & others who once played for the Leafs. Having been burdened with the captaincy hasn't helped, on top of being awarded that big contract. If management wants to do a huge favor to Phaneuf & get him back to playing better (and cut down on those damn giveaways!), they should take the captaincy away from him next season. The only candidate right now i'd give it to is Joffrey Lupul, who has leadership qualities and loves speaking to the media. Phaneuf hates talking to the media, but only does it because it's required of him.
The Leafs also must get Leo Komarov back here. They figured they had replaced his toughness and intensity with David Clarkson's acquistion, but Clarkson has been a huge bust.
But i put a large part of the blame on Randy Carlyle for forcing out the likes of Mikael Grabovski and Clark MacArthur from Toronto. Grabovski's presence alone would have been a boost to this team. As gritty as anyone on that team, he wasn't used properly by Carlyle, who wanted to turn him into a 3-rd line defensive center. MacArthur also had grit and a decent two-way player. Both of these players didn't have very nice things to say about grumpy Carlyle after they were let go by the team. Grabovski even called him a fucking idiot. MacArthur's words were a tad nicer.
And finally, getting rid of the speedy & very tough Mike Brown, who was very well-liked among team members, in favor of the big and very slow Frazier McLaren was huge mistake. Brown could play on the 3rd or 4th line on a nightly basis. He is quick & had a bit of a scoring touch. He would be willing to drop the gloves against anyone in the league and more often than not would win the fight. McLaren is a one-dimensional player: all he can do is fight. He can't skate and has zero scoring touch. He's a younger George Parros. Players like him nearly never play. Plus, the already had Colton Orr who was basically the same player, but with a bit more skilled. Orr has barely played due to injuries and for the simple fact teams have stopped playing the Leafs game and won't fight anymore. You then have dressed those players for nothing and they're a liability when they're on the ice.
I have no idea who'll replace Carlyle once he's fired. Right now i don't see anyone currently unemployed who could step in and be an improvement. However, knowing Tim Leiweke, he probably has a plan already and it wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't go out of his way to lure Mike Babcock to Toronto. Babcock has only 1 year left on his contract with the Wings. If he can't get him out of that 1 year left, Leafs management might decide to hold on to Carlyle for one more season and then hire Babcock the minute his contract expires. But who knows who'll get fired by the end of the season. One rumoured coach to be fired is Nashville's long-time coach Barry Trotz & many believe he'd be a breath of fresh air in Toronto. What about Kirk Muller? How about Paul Maurice? We'll see what happens.........
As we now know, Vanek has been a huge addition to the habs and the line of Vanek-Desharnais-Pacioretty is now one of the league's top lines and Pacioretty is now closing in on a 40-goal season. Bergevin, even though he hadn't done much since becoming the team's GM, is now looked upon as a genius for having committed the Vanek theft from the Islanders & has been one of the main reasons for the team's turnaround since the trade deadline.
The opposite could have happened to the Leafs had they acquired Vanek. However, the problems that are currently plaguing the Leafs have been plaguing them all season long and i'm not sure that acquiring Vanek might have made that much of a difference. Sure, having Vanek on the Lupul-Kadri line would have looked better than say, Nikolai Kulemin. Maybe providing secondary scoring (which has been lacking all season long) might have taken some of the heat off the first line and the entire team might have played better, who knows.
I expect Randy Carlyle & his assistants to be fired soon after the regular season ends. Other players i expect to be gone by the summer are Kulemin, Bolland, McLaren, Franson, Reimer, Orr & possibly Gleeson. Randy Carlyle likes big, immobile defencemen and if he isn't back next season, the team will have no use for some of the players i've listed. It also wouldn't surprise me to see Nazem Kadri or Joffrey Lupul get traded. Lupul will be 31 next season & his history of missing many games due to injuries has kept on haunting him. As he grows older, the problem won't go away.
Where the team went wrong?
Signing Clarkson to such a long contract doesn't look very good right now. I was one of many who was overjoyed to see him joining the Leafs since he always played his best hockey against the Leafs whenever i watched him. But he skates awkwardly & falls down way too often. Looks like the Leafs will be stuck with him for at least another 5 years before they decide to maybe buy him out.
Tim Gleeson for J-M Liles was not a good trade. Gleeson is big, is very slow and has zero scoring touch. Liles on the other hand is very quick & is gifted offensively. He was also great among the Toronto community with his charity work & always a great interview. The players he played with all loved him and some even cried when they heard he had been traded. However, grumpy Carlyle hates small offensively-gifted defencemen and there's no chance he would have played even if he hadn't been traded. Let's put it this way: if the Undertaker could skate, Carlyle would have dressed him in front of Liles.
Giving Dion Phaneuf the captaincy immediately after he was traded to Toronto was one of Brian Burke's biggest mistakes. Phaneuf hadn't matured enough to be named captain so quickly & he hadn't even played a game with the Leafs yet, which was a major snub to the current Leafs at the time. Phaneuf is also a very dull person & a lousy interview. When he refused to address the media recently after a loss, i wondered why everyone was complaining. I thought "do they really want to hear this guy speak??" Phaneuf has become a polarizing figure on the Leafs team...similar to the likes of Larry Murphy & others who once played for the Leafs. Having been burdened with the captaincy hasn't helped, on top of being awarded that big contract. If management wants to do a huge favor to Phaneuf & get him back to playing better (and cut down on those damn giveaways!), they should take the captaincy away from him next season. The only candidate right now i'd give it to is Joffrey Lupul, who has leadership qualities and loves speaking to the media. Phaneuf hates talking to the media, but only does it because it's required of him.
The Leafs also must get Leo Komarov back here. They figured they had replaced his toughness and intensity with David Clarkson's acquistion, but Clarkson has been a huge bust.
But i put a large part of the blame on Randy Carlyle for forcing out the likes of Mikael Grabovski and Clark MacArthur from Toronto. Grabovski's presence alone would have been a boost to this team. As gritty as anyone on that team, he wasn't used properly by Carlyle, who wanted to turn him into a 3-rd line defensive center. MacArthur also had grit and a decent two-way player. Both of these players didn't have very nice things to say about grumpy Carlyle after they were let go by the team. Grabovski even called him a fucking idiot. MacArthur's words were a tad nicer.
And finally, getting rid of the speedy & very tough Mike Brown, who was very well-liked among team members, in favor of the big and very slow Frazier McLaren was huge mistake. Brown could play on the 3rd or 4th line on a nightly basis. He is quick & had a bit of a scoring touch. He would be willing to drop the gloves against anyone in the league and more often than not would win the fight. McLaren is a one-dimensional player: all he can do is fight. He can't skate and has zero scoring touch. He's a younger George Parros. Players like him nearly never play. Plus, the already had Colton Orr who was basically the same player, but with a bit more skilled. Orr has barely played due to injuries and for the simple fact teams have stopped playing the Leafs game and won't fight anymore. You then have dressed those players for nothing and they're a liability when they're on the ice.
I have no idea who'll replace Carlyle once he's fired. Right now i don't see anyone currently unemployed who could step in and be an improvement. However, knowing Tim Leiweke, he probably has a plan already and it wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't go out of his way to lure Mike Babcock to Toronto. Babcock has only 1 year left on his contract with the Wings. If he can't get him out of that 1 year left, Leafs management might decide to hold on to Carlyle for one more season and then hire Babcock the minute his contract expires. But who knows who'll get fired by the end of the season. One rumoured coach to be fired is Nashville's long-time coach Barry Trotz & many believe he'd be a breath of fresh air in Toronto. What about Kirk Muller? How about Paul Maurice? We'll see what happens.........
