The Official LEAFS NATION Hockey thread
- Thread starter Doc Holliday
- Start date
James Reimer will make his long-awaited return to action tonight. To be totally honest, the way Bernier has been going lately, i would have come back with Bernier.
JVR is out for 6-8 weeks with a broken foot. Doesn't matter. This team plays as a team and there are no stars on this team, which is how things should be.
I'm happy when the Leafs win, but i don't lose a second of sleep when they lose since it'll position them for a top 5 pick and making the playoffs would only delay the major rebuild.
What's unfortunate about JVR's injury is that William Nylander very possibly would have been called up to get some NHL experience, but he's still out with concussion symptoms.
I'm happy when the Leafs win, but i don't lose a second of sleep when they lose since it'll position them for a top 5 pick and making the playoffs would only delay the major rebuild.
What's unfortunate about JVR's injury is that William Nylander very possibly would have been called up to get some NHL experience, but he's still out with concussion symptoms.
Same here Doc. But we disagree about Nylander coming up, i say leave him down on the farm for a run at the Calder Cup with the ever so impressive Toronto Marlies. Playoff experience down there will translate to the bigs in a year or two when the Leafs begin to make the second season each and every year. Let the rebuild take it's proper course, slow and steady.
GLG!
GLG!
The plan was to keep Nylander up with the big team for only a handful of games (around 8 games) in order to preserve that one year of control they'd have on him. Some have suggested he could play one game, sit the other, play the next, etc. To be honest, the Leafs don't really care if the Marlies make the playoffs or not. It's just the crappy minors, after all, whose sole purpose is to develop players. Winning games or making the playoffs isn't a priority.
Babcock names seven players who have impressed him this season
If you’re searching for clues as to who will be part of the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ core during their rebuild, well, Mike Babcock singled out three players.
The head coach joined Hockey Central at Noon Thursday for 13 minutes to discuss the first half of his first season behind the Leafs bench. He immediately singled out a trio of skaters — centre Nazem Kadri and defencemen Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner — as pleasant surprises this season. All three are 25 years of age or younger. Two will be negotiating raises this summer.
“They’re better players than I thought. They play harder. They’re more competitive. To me, that is the positive part,” Babcock said of his 27th-place team, the day after Toronto lost at home to Columbus, the worst club in the league. “We sure like some of the guys we have here and our prospects.”
As for the veterans, Babcock credited four leaders — Dion Phaneuf, Matt Hunwick, Roman Polak and all-star Leo Komarov — with setting the right tone for the younger players in the dressing room and bringing the proper work ethic to the job.
The coach “absolutely” talks to the Leafs executive brain trust daily about how to improve the team and does have a say in terms of draft, trade deadline and free agency targets, but he reiterates that his job is to prepare the current Leafs to win the next game.
Part of the grand plan is to determine just how good Reilly can be. Babcock says the 21-year-old, a fifth-overall pick in 2012, is definitely a “real good” No. 2 defender but hesitates to predict top-dog status for the talented kid.
“Is he a 1? We’re going to watch together and figure it out. I really like him. He’s got huge upside,” Babcock said.
Now in his third season, Rielly leads all Leafs defencemen in goals (four) and is second to Phaneuf in assists (15) and points (19). He hovers around second or third in average ice time, but under Babcock has seen more than twice as much time on the penalty kill than on the man-advantage. Rielly barely killed penalties at all under Randy Carlyle and Peter Horachek.
“I love how he can get the puck to the net. I love how conscientious he’s become defensively,” Babcock said. “He plays against the best people. We haven’t played him on the power play on purpose. We will play him on the power play.”
On Jake Gardiner: “He’s a real good two-pair guy, getting better each and every day. More confidence. Goes back for the puck better. Stronger.”
On Nazem Kadri: “When you play head-to-head against the other [team's] best players, when they getting running around the other night in L.A. and you’re running right back, and you’re greasy, I really like it. He might be the biggest surprise for me. I’m almost shocked how good he’s been — and competitive and greasy.”
On the Toronto market versus Anaheim and Detroit: “The Leafs fans’ support is like nothing I’ve ever seen. There’s so many people…. I’ve been very impressed with the fans. What I’ve seen is, if we work hard and we’re prepared, they’re happy.”
On tough love for Toronto’s goaltenders: “I believe that if my boss tells me the truth each and every day, and he doesn’t think I’m doing my job and he tells me, then I can fix it. I want to know where I stand. I think the goaltenders are part of the team…. We try to make them accountable like everybody else. I think that’s important.”
On the Leafs’ spot in the NHL standings: “When you gotta turn the newspaper upside down to feel good, it’s not a good thing.”
Babcock names 7 players who impressed him
If you’re searching for clues as to who will be part of the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ core during their rebuild, well, Mike Babcock singled out three players.
The head coach joined Hockey Central at Noon Thursday for 13 minutes to discuss the first half of his first season behind the Leafs bench. He immediately singled out a trio of skaters — centre Nazem Kadri and defencemen Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner — as pleasant surprises this season. All three are 25 years of age or younger. Two will be negotiating raises this summer.
“They’re better players than I thought. They play harder. They’re more competitive. To me, that is the positive part,” Babcock said of his 27th-place team, the day after Toronto lost at home to Columbus, the worst club in the league. “We sure like some of the guys we have here and our prospects.”
As for the veterans, Babcock credited four leaders — Dion Phaneuf, Matt Hunwick, Roman Polak and all-star Leo Komarov — with setting the right tone for the younger players in the dressing room and bringing the proper work ethic to the job.
The coach “absolutely” talks to the Leafs executive brain trust daily about how to improve the team and does have a say in terms of draft, trade deadline and free agency targets, but he reiterates that his job is to prepare the current Leafs to win the next game.
Part of the grand plan is to determine just how good Reilly can be. Babcock says the 21-year-old, a fifth-overall pick in 2012, is definitely a “real good” No. 2 defender but hesitates to predict top-dog status for the talented kid.
“Is he a 1? We’re going to watch together and figure it out. I really like him. He’s got huge upside,” Babcock said.
Now in his third season, Rielly leads all Leafs defencemen in goals (four) and is second to Phaneuf in assists (15) and points (19). He hovers around second or third in average ice time, but under Babcock has seen more than twice as much time on the penalty kill than on the man-advantage. Rielly barely killed penalties at all under Randy Carlyle and Peter Horachek.
“I love how he can get the puck to the net. I love how conscientious he’s become defensively,” Babcock said. “He plays against the best people. We haven’t played him on the power play on purpose. We will play him on the power play.”
On Jake Gardiner: “He’s a real good two-pair guy, getting better each and every day. More confidence. Goes back for the puck better. Stronger.”
On Nazem Kadri: “When you play head-to-head against the other [team's] best players, when they getting running around the other night in L.A. and you’re running right back, and you’re greasy, I really like it. He might be the biggest surprise for me. I’m almost shocked how good he’s been — and competitive and greasy.”
On the Toronto market versus Anaheim and Detroit: “The Leafs fans’ support is like nothing I’ve ever seen. There’s so many people…. I’ve been very impressed with the fans. What I’ve seen is, if we work hard and we’re prepared, they’re happy.”
On tough love for Toronto’s goaltenders: “I believe that if my boss tells me the truth each and every day, and he doesn’t think I’m doing my job and he tells me, then I can fix it. I want to know where I stand. I think the goaltenders are part of the team…. We try to make them accountable like everybody else. I think that’s important.”
On the Leafs’ spot in the NHL standings: “When you gotta turn the newspaper upside down to feel good, it’s not a good thing.”
Babcock names 7 players who impressed him
Maple Leafs chasing first overall pick while maintaining dignity
by Michael Grange, Sportsnet
Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs and fans of common sense – often mutually exclusive, but less so lately – are likely beginning to exhale as this pivotal NHL season turns toward the second half.
After those nervous days of December when it appeared that Mike Babcock was somehow going to wrestle this bunch into the shadow of playoff contention, the schedule and the fate intervened.
A tough loss in Los Angeles, a dispiriting shellacking in San Jose and then a huge loss at home to the last place Columbus Blue Jackets – a four-pointer, as they say – should have dimmed any faint hope that the Leafs could make the playoffs.
A timely broken foot by leading scorer James van Riemsdyk should provide additional ballast for the race to the bottom. Selling off any competent asset that can fetch a draft pick should help even more.
After years of zealously pursuing ninth place the Leafs look like they are prepared to embrace the fruits the NHL draft is waiting to provide.
There is good news and bad news with regard to the effort.
The good news is that for years finishing last in the NHL required shedding your pride as an organization; selling tickets for 41 home games but showing up for almost none.
Last season the race to draft Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel inspired the Buffalo Sabres to a 54-point season. Only the 2013-14 Sabres and the 2000-01 New York Islanders were worse in the past 15 years, each finished with 52 points.
How bad was Buffalo? Consider that as the Leafs finished 9-30-5, as ugly a meltdown as could be imagined, they gained four points on the Sabres beginning January 1.
For the past decade finishing last in the NHL meant earning, on average, just 60 points a season, compared to the league average of 92.
This could be the Leafs' lucky year, however. A lot can happen over the last three months of the season, but at the moment last place is projecting to be 64 points, which would be the best last place finish since the Los Angeles Kings were able to finish last and draft Drew Doughty (with the No. 2 pick) after a 71-point season in 2007-08.
Also working in the Leafs' favour is the quality of the competition. Of the other bottom five teams in terms of points percentage, the Blue Jackets came into the season thinking playoffs before their horrid start. John Tortorella seems to be whipping them into shape, or at least having them make a run at 29th. The Edmonton Oilers have no interest in finishing last ever again, and they should improve when McDavid returns the line-up. The Buffalo Sabres have finished with tanking and the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets were playoff teams last year and are striving to get back.
As long as the Leafs don’t do anything stupid, last place should come to them.
Of course, the benefits of finishing last aren’t quite what they used to be, even if this will likely be remembered as the Auston Matthews draft in honour of the Arizona-bred centreman who is playing his draft year in Switzerland and widely is considered a talent worth tanking for.
It’s probably not a coincidence that teams aren’t as bad as they have been recently. The golden age of tanking is over. Under changes announced in the summer of 2014 the NHL will hold three lotteries to determine each of the top three picks in advance of the draft.
As before the worse a team’s finish the better their odds of picking higher, but there is more randomness to the process. The first draw will included the 14 teams that don’t make the playoffs; the second draw will include the 13 remaining teams and the third the 12 teams that didn’t win the first or second pick. If the last place team doesn’t win one of the top three picks, the worst they will pick is fourth with the remaining teams falling in order behind them, from 4 to 14.
It’s a smart move by the league to discourage the naked race for the bottom that had crept in the last few years, and it appears to have worked in that there doesn’t seem to be any cases of teams drilling holes in the hull of their own ships.
But make no mistake, the worse you finish the better chance you have of picking first overall and of picking higher in general.
And this is where opportunity is staring Babcock right in his lantern-jawed face. While the franchise figurehead famously promised "there will be pain" when he and his eight-year, $50-million contract were unveiled last summer there was a legitimate concern among a certain type of fan that the old hockey coach would turn the lifeless bunch that quit in the second half a year ago into a bunch of over-achievers.
And he has. Almost all of the team’s underlying metrics have improved and in many cases improved dramatically: a year ago they were in the bottom five in puck possession, this year they are firmly in the league’s top-10. The scary thing is that were it not for Jonathan Bernier playing like an open garage door for most of October the Leafs might be on the verge of a playoff position at the moment.
Aside from that it’s been 41 games replete with moral victories and a few too many real ones for those who recognize that the Leafs' most obvious need is a No.1 centre, the type of athlete that provides the foundation of almost any championship contender and who are typically taken in the top three of the draft.
The Leafs know that as well as anyone, but there seemed to be a hesitancy about simply wasting a season or two and there was no way Babcock was going to embrace that lack of effort. You could almost feel the franchise’s best chance at a top draft pick being plucked up and whisked away by the winds of change.
Before the season I asked Leafs president Brendan Shanahan about the ‘risks’ inherent in hiring Babcock and the possibility he could coach a rebuilding team out of the richest vein of the draft lottery at precisely the point the franchise would seem to need all the elite young talent it can gather.
He countered that the young talent in the fold already deserved the chance to be developed, regardless of the outcome.
“Jake [Gardiner] and Morgan [Rielly] and Nazem [Kadri], they’ve had a lot of coaches up until now,” he said. “[Now] they’re being taught by what I think is a top staff. To just try to bury our seasons intentionally; to not give them a good coach for the next two years, now you’re looking at guys who are 25, 26 that have never known what it really is to play the way we want them too.
“You’ve picked higher – these are assumptions – but you’ve neglected the players that are already here that deserve in my mind, [to know] what the plan is and start moving forward on it,” said Shanahan.
Except halfway through the season the rebuilding Leafs have a chance to have the best of both worlds. With Babcock’s influence they’ve largely removed the stain left by last season. Young talent like Kadri, Rielly and Gardiner have all seemingly benefited from the coaching they have received; some veterans have turned themselves into useful trade assets playing within his system.
The Leafs are on the cusp of both drafting high – perhaps even No. 1 overall – and maintaining their dignity in the process.
It behooves them not to screw up a perfect season with too much needless winning. The future is closer than you might think.
Leafs chasing first overall pick with dignity
by Michael Grange, Sportsnet
Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs and fans of common sense – often mutually exclusive, but less so lately – are likely beginning to exhale as this pivotal NHL season turns toward the second half.
After those nervous days of December when it appeared that Mike Babcock was somehow going to wrestle this bunch into the shadow of playoff contention, the schedule and the fate intervened.
A tough loss in Los Angeles, a dispiriting shellacking in San Jose and then a huge loss at home to the last place Columbus Blue Jackets – a four-pointer, as they say – should have dimmed any faint hope that the Leafs could make the playoffs.
A timely broken foot by leading scorer James van Riemsdyk should provide additional ballast for the race to the bottom. Selling off any competent asset that can fetch a draft pick should help even more.
After years of zealously pursuing ninth place the Leafs look like they are prepared to embrace the fruits the NHL draft is waiting to provide.
There is good news and bad news with regard to the effort.
The good news is that for years finishing last in the NHL required shedding your pride as an organization; selling tickets for 41 home games but showing up for almost none.
Last season the race to draft Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel inspired the Buffalo Sabres to a 54-point season. Only the 2013-14 Sabres and the 2000-01 New York Islanders were worse in the past 15 years, each finished with 52 points.
How bad was Buffalo? Consider that as the Leafs finished 9-30-5, as ugly a meltdown as could be imagined, they gained four points on the Sabres beginning January 1.
For the past decade finishing last in the NHL meant earning, on average, just 60 points a season, compared to the league average of 92.
This could be the Leafs' lucky year, however. A lot can happen over the last three months of the season, but at the moment last place is projecting to be 64 points, which would be the best last place finish since the Los Angeles Kings were able to finish last and draft Drew Doughty (with the No. 2 pick) after a 71-point season in 2007-08.
Also working in the Leafs' favour is the quality of the competition. Of the other bottom five teams in terms of points percentage, the Blue Jackets came into the season thinking playoffs before their horrid start. John Tortorella seems to be whipping them into shape, or at least having them make a run at 29th. The Edmonton Oilers have no interest in finishing last ever again, and they should improve when McDavid returns the line-up. The Buffalo Sabres have finished with tanking and the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets were playoff teams last year and are striving to get back.
As long as the Leafs don’t do anything stupid, last place should come to them.
Of course, the benefits of finishing last aren’t quite what they used to be, even if this will likely be remembered as the Auston Matthews draft in honour of the Arizona-bred centreman who is playing his draft year in Switzerland and widely is considered a talent worth tanking for.
It’s probably not a coincidence that teams aren’t as bad as they have been recently. The golden age of tanking is over. Under changes announced in the summer of 2014 the NHL will hold three lotteries to determine each of the top three picks in advance of the draft.
As before the worse a team’s finish the better their odds of picking higher, but there is more randomness to the process. The first draw will included the 14 teams that don’t make the playoffs; the second draw will include the 13 remaining teams and the third the 12 teams that didn’t win the first or second pick. If the last place team doesn’t win one of the top three picks, the worst they will pick is fourth with the remaining teams falling in order behind them, from 4 to 14.
It’s a smart move by the league to discourage the naked race for the bottom that had crept in the last few years, and it appears to have worked in that there doesn’t seem to be any cases of teams drilling holes in the hull of their own ships.
But make no mistake, the worse you finish the better chance you have of picking first overall and of picking higher in general.
And this is where opportunity is staring Babcock right in his lantern-jawed face. While the franchise figurehead famously promised "there will be pain" when he and his eight-year, $50-million contract were unveiled last summer there was a legitimate concern among a certain type of fan that the old hockey coach would turn the lifeless bunch that quit in the second half a year ago into a bunch of over-achievers.
And he has. Almost all of the team’s underlying metrics have improved and in many cases improved dramatically: a year ago they were in the bottom five in puck possession, this year they are firmly in the league’s top-10. The scary thing is that were it not for Jonathan Bernier playing like an open garage door for most of October the Leafs might be on the verge of a playoff position at the moment.
Aside from that it’s been 41 games replete with moral victories and a few too many real ones for those who recognize that the Leafs' most obvious need is a No.1 centre, the type of athlete that provides the foundation of almost any championship contender and who are typically taken in the top three of the draft.
The Leafs know that as well as anyone, but there seemed to be a hesitancy about simply wasting a season or two and there was no way Babcock was going to embrace that lack of effort. You could almost feel the franchise’s best chance at a top draft pick being plucked up and whisked away by the winds of change.
Before the season I asked Leafs president Brendan Shanahan about the ‘risks’ inherent in hiring Babcock and the possibility he could coach a rebuilding team out of the richest vein of the draft lottery at precisely the point the franchise would seem to need all the elite young talent it can gather.
He countered that the young talent in the fold already deserved the chance to be developed, regardless of the outcome.
“Jake [Gardiner] and Morgan [Rielly] and Nazem [Kadri], they’ve had a lot of coaches up until now,” he said. “[Now] they’re being taught by what I think is a top staff. To just try to bury our seasons intentionally; to not give them a good coach for the next two years, now you’re looking at guys who are 25, 26 that have never known what it really is to play the way we want them too.
“You’ve picked higher – these are assumptions – but you’ve neglected the players that are already here that deserve in my mind, [to know] what the plan is and start moving forward on it,” said Shanahan.
Except halfway through the season the rebuilding Leafs have a chance to have the best of both worlds. With Babcock’s influence they’ve largely removed the stain left by last season. Young talent like Kadri, Rielly and Gardiner have all seemingly benefited from the coaching they have received; some veterans have turned themselves into useful trade assets playing within his system.
The Leafs are on the cusp of both drafting high – perhaps even No. 1 overall – and maintaining their dignity in the process.
It behooves them not to screw up a perfect season with too much needless winning. The future is closer than you might think.
Leafs chasing first overall pick with dignity
Leafs lost on a fluke goal with seconds left last night against the Bruins. I actually laughed out loud when Marchand scored that lucky goal. Everthing went wrong on that goal. Two minutes earlier, Morgan Rielly lost helmet and once he came off the ice, he couldn't go back on the ice as expected in the final minutes unless he had a helmet on. The various helmets he tried on didn't fit him. Meanwhile, Bernier goes behind the net (a no-no in that circumstance) and gives the puck to Marincin, whom i think is terrible. Marincin looks like a deer caught in the headlights with the puck on his stick and blindly passes it to Marchand near the blueline, who just gets rid of it quickly since he sees Bernier isn't yet back in his net. Boom!! Top corner!!! Unbelievable!!
I wasn't disappointed that the Leafs didn't at least earn a point. For one, it helps the Bruins in their battle with Montreal to make the playoffs. And two, the Leafs won't and don't want to make the playoffs this season. But they plan on looking good while silently tanking the season. They absolutely have to draft one of the top 5 picks in the upcoming draft and must position themselves as good as they can for the top 2 picks, hopefully #1.
Since nearly every player on the roster is available, i'm surprised Montreal didn't try to trade Jarred Tinordi to them. I'm sure any player on that roster was better than John Scott or that stiff they eventually got from Nashville. Heck, he's nowhere to be seen in the NHL 16 hockey game! I tried to make the trade last night but couldn't find him anywhere on their roster.
Anyways, the Leafs are fun to watch, they work very hard, and although the losses are piling up, it'll pay big dividends in the not-to-distant future.
I wasn't disappointed that the Leafs didn't at least earn a point. For one, it helps the Bruins in their battle with Montreal to make the playoffs. And two, the Leafs won't and don't want to make the playoffs this season. But they plan on looking good while silently tanking the season. They absolutely have to draft one of the top 5 picks in the upcoming draft and must position themselves as good as they can for the top 2 picks, hopefully #1.
Since nearly every player on the roster is available, i'm surprised Montreal didn't try to trade Jarred Tinordi to them. I'm sure any player on that roster was better than John Scott or that stiff they eventually got from Nashville. Heck, he's nowhere to be seen in the NHL 16 hockey game! I tried to make the trade last night but couldn't find him anywhere on their roster.
Anyways, the Leafs are fun to watch, they work very hard, and although the losses are piling up, it'll pay big dividends in the not-to-distant future.
Lou Lamoriello sets out on trade deadline deconstruction of Maple Leafs
by James Mirtle, The Globe and Mail
Lou Lamoriello is going to work.
The Toronto Maple Leafs general manager has been heavy on the phone in recent days, calling teams around the NHL to weigh the trade market and let other executives know what he has to offer.
With a little more than a month until the trade deadline and 36 games left to play, the deconstruction of the 2015-16 Leafs has begun.
For the most part, the names in play aren’t surprising. Lamoriello has been gauging teams’ interest in rental players Roman Polak, P.A. Parenteau and Shawn Matthias, veterans who are all in the final year of their contract.
But at least two Leafs with some term are also available.
The first, Dan Winnik, signed a two-year, $4.5-million (U.S.) deal in the summer after a strong showing last season that landed Toronto two draft picks (a second- and a fourth-rounder) from Pittsburgh at last year’s trade deadline.
The other name out there is goaltender Jonathan Bernier, who has another year left on his contract at $4.15-million.
Neither has had a good season. Winnik’s production and ice time are down, and he’s played through a nagging injury that has affected his skating and ability to fore-check.
Bernier, meanwhile, had a disastrous start to the year, with no wins and an .883 save percentage in his first 11 games. He is 6-4-0 with a .915 save percentage since mid-December, but Leafs coach Mike Babcock has obviously lost a degree of confidence in him.
With James Reimer unsigned, the Leafs’ goaltending situation next season is uncertain. At this point, it appears they will either get an extension done with Reimer – who has considerable bargaining power, given his play – or turn the crease over to someone new.
That’s assuming they’re able to move Bernier. The goalie market is complicated right now – it includes intriguing names such as Anaheim’s Frederik Andersen – and what’s kept deals from happening is the asking prices are relatively high.
A big reason Leafs president Brendan Shanahan brought in Lamoriello was for his experience at this time of year and ability to make difficult deals. The next five weeks are going to be pivotal for the franchise on that front, and Lamoriello will need a strong sense of where the market is going.
According to executives from other teams, it’s tough to swing a trade right now, for a variety of reasons.
One is that so many teams are still in the playoff race and unwilling to concede they’re done. That could be a small advantage for the Leafs, as they’re one of the few confirmed sellers.
While a team such as the Oilers is on the fence as to whether they want to ship out rentals, there’s no ambiguity in Toronto.
That lack of supply elsewhere may mean the return for some of the Leafs’ middling talents such as Polak and Matthias is increased, with the draft pick coming back improving by a round or two.
The other factor limiting the trade market is the salary cap. Most playoff-bound teams are capped out, and waiting another month for more space to open up will be imperative.
Don’t expect a team such as Carolina, for example, to be able to move Eric Staal’s massive $8.25-million salary until right near the Feb. 29 deadline.
That’s the other difficult reality for the Leafs: They’ll be working in the shadow of some of the bigger deals that could happen.
Some teams are waiting on what the Lightning will do with Jonathan Drouin, for example. Staal and Steven Stamkos are also huge names who could suddenly end up on the market, if they choose to waive their no-trade and/or no-move clauses at the last minute.
Andrew Ladd in Winnipeg might be another, as it sounds more and more like the Jets are leaning toward keeping Dustin Byfuglien instead. Then there are others such as Radim Vrbata (in Vancouver), Loui Eriksson (Boston), Jiri Hudler (Calgary) and Brandon Pirri (Florida) who are expected to be available.
Minnesota, Nashville, the Rangers and a few other teams are looking for scoring going into the postseason, but the Leafs hardly have the sexiest options given their players on the block have low point totals. Unless they start shopping Leo Komarov, Parenteau (23 points in 46 games) is the most enticing name, and he likely only fetches a second-round pick.
The Leafs will also be in tough to move bigger contracts – i.e. Joffrey Lupul or Dion Phaneuf – in this environment, which could be why their names aren’t coming up in preliminary talks.
Even if those contracts stay, Toronto’s sell-off may mean as many as eight players are dealt. The organization is already preparing for that hole by adding players at the AHL level in recent days, as they don’t want to gut the first-place Marlies after the deadline.
The Leafs? That’s a different story.
After losing to Montreal in a shootout on Saturday, they are 1-5-2 in their past eight games and well out of the Eastern Conference playoff race. If Lamoriello clears out all the rentals, the Leafs will likely limp to the finish and wind up among the bottom four or five teams in the league.
But they’ll have a lot of picks to show for it – including one right near the top.
Which was the plan all along.
by James Mirtle, The Globe and Mail
Lou Lamoriello is going to work.
The Toronto Maple Leafs general manager has been heavy on the phone in recent days, calling teams around the NHL to weigh the trade market and let other executives know what he has to offer.
With a little more than a month until the trade deadline and 36 games left to play, the deconstruction of the 2015-16 Leafs has begun.
For the most part, the names in play aren’t surprising. Lamoriello has been gauging teams’ interest in rental players Roman Polak, P.A. Parenteau and Shawn Matthias, veterans who are all in the final year of their contract.
But at least two Leafs with some term are also available.
The first, Dan Winnik, signed a two-year, $4.5-million (U.S.) deal in the summer after a strong showing last season that landed Toronto two draft picks (a second- and a fourth-rounder) from Pittsburgh at last year’s trade deadline.
The other name out there is goaltender Jonathan Bernier, who has another year left on his contract at $4.15-million.
Neither has had a good season. Winnik’s production and ice time are down, and he’s played through a nagging injury that has affected his skating and ability to fore-check.
Bernier, meanwhile, had a disastrous start to the year, with no wins and an .883 save percentage in his first 11 games. He is 6-4-0 with a .915 save percentage since mid-December, but Leafs coach Mike Babcock has obviously lost a degree of confidence in him.
With James Reimer unsigned, the Leafs’ goaltending situation next season is uncertain. At this point, it appears they will either get an extension done with Reimer – who has considerable bargaining power, given his play – or turn the crease over to someone new.
That’s assuming they’re able to move Bernier. The goalie market is complicated right now – it includes intriguing names such as Anaheim’s Frederik Andersen – and what’s kept deals from happening is the asking prices are relatively high.
A big reason Leafs president Brendan Shanahan brought in Lamoriello was for his experience at this time of year and ability to make difficult deals. The next five weeks are going to be pivotal for the franchise on that front, and Lamoriello will need a strong sense of where the market is going.
According to executives from other teams, it’s tough to swing a trade right now, for a variety of reasons.
One is that so many teams are still in the playoff race and unwilling to concede they’re done. That could be a small advantage for the Leafs, as they’re one of the few confirmed sellers.
While a team such as the Oilers is on the fence as to whether they want to ship out rentals, there’s no ambiguity in Toronto.
That lack of supply elsewhere may mean the return for some of the Leafs’ middling talents such as Polak and Matthias is increased, with the draft pick coming back improving by a round or two.
The other factor limiting the trade market is the salary cap. Most playoff-bound teams are capped out, and waiting another month for more space to open up will be imperative.
Don’t expect a team such as Carolina, for example, to be able to move Eric Staal’s massive $8.25-million salary until right near the Feb. 29 deadline.
That’s the other difficult reality for the Leafs: They’ll be working in the shadow of some of the bigger deals that could happen.
Some teams are waiting on what the Lightning will do with Jonathan Drouin, for example. Staal and Steven Stamkos are also huge names who could suddenly end up on the market, if they choose to waive their no-trade and/or no-move clauses at the last minute.
Andrew Ladd in Winnipeg might be another, as it sounds more and more like the Jets are leaning toward keeping Dustin Byfuglien instead. Then there are others such as Radim Vrbata (in Vancouver), Loui Eriksson (Boston), Jiri Hudler (Calgary) and Brandon Pirri (Florida) who are expected to be available.
Minnesota, Nashville, the Rangers and a few other teams are looking for scoring going into the postseason, but the Leafs hardly have the sexiest options given their players on the block have low point totals. Unless they start shopping Leo Komarov, Parenteau (23 points in 46 games) is the most enticing name, and he likely only fetches a second-round pick.
The Leafs will also be in tough to move bigger contracts – i.e. Joffrey Lupul or Dion Phaneuf – in this environment, which could be why their names aren’t coming up in preliminary talks.
Even if those contracts stay, Toronto’s sell-off may mean as many as eight players are dealt. The organization is already preparing for that hole by adding players at the AHL level in recent days, as they don’t want to gut the first-place Marlies after the deadline.
The Leafs? That’s a different story.
After losing to Montreal in a shootout on Saturday, they are 1-5-2 in their past eight games and well out of the Eastern Conference playoff race. If Lamoriello clears out all the rentals, the Leafs will likely limp to the finish and wind up among the bottom four or five teams in the league.
But they’ll have a lot of picks to show for it – including one right near the top.
Which was the plan all along.
Great article Doc, thanks for posting!
Like you, i am very happy how this so called "painful" season has gone compared to how it was supposed to go. It has not been painful at all compared to what was expected under year one of a complete tear down and rebuild from the ground up. The Leafs have been ultra competitive for 90% of their games and really only played 6 or 7 bad games and some of them were only bad periods. Go get em Lou Lam! The Shanaplan is right on schedule.
Any inside information on how Nylander is doing after that concussion? The Marlies have not missed a beat w/o him, such a great great team, the future of the Leafs looks very bright my friend!
Like you, i am very happy how this so called "painful" season has gone compared to how it was supposed to go. It has not been painful at all compared to what was expected under year one of a complete tear down and rebuild from the ground up. The Leafs have been ultra competitive for 90% of their games and really only played 6 or 7 bad games and some of them were only bad periods. Go get em Lou Lam! The Shanaplan is right on schedule.
Any inside information on how Nylander is doing after that concussion? The Marlies have not missed a beat w/o him, such a great great team, the future of the Leafs looks very bright my friend!
One of my main Leafs sources called me Sunday evening and told me that he had attended one of the Marlies practices and that Nylander was practicing. His guess is that the Leafs/Marlies are being patient with him since there is no need to rush him back. The Marlies are still winning, the Leafs' rebuild is going 100% according to plan and it's all good. He added that Connor Brown just came back and he's convinced he'll make the big team next season. We'll see. He's also certain that Mitch Marner will be a Maple Leafs next season.
That is very encouraging news MISTER Holliday! Merci Beaucoup my friend.
Meanwhile, the Canadians lost again to the last place Blue Jackets, and got embarASSed doing so in a 5-4 blowout!
Meanwhile, the Canadians lost again to the last place Blue Jackets, and got embarASSed doing so in a 5-4 blowout!
Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello 'extremely impressed' by Dion Phaneuf
Dion Phaneuf has been a polarizing figure throughout his tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he’s made quite an impression on general manager Lou Lamoriello.
In a guest appearance on Prime Time Sports Thursday evening, Lamoriello raved about the Maple Leafs captain and how he’s helped change the culture within the organization.
“This man has extremely impressed me,” Lamoriello told co-hosts Bob McCown and Ken Reid on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. “Watching him, how he’s handled the young players, watching how his work ethic has been, watching how he’s handled the media. He’s been one of the most impressive individuals I’ve been around. The leadership qualities that he’s shown me are genuine.”
Phaneuf has become a steadier player under head coach Mike Babcock. The team has decreased his minutes from last season and as the team put in a more structured system and it has helped the defenceman limit his mistakes and improve his play in the defensive zone.
Lamoriello also had high praise for Babcock and has been blown away by his consistency and positive mindset on a daily basis, despite the team having one of the worst records in the Eastern Conference.
"I had not worked with Mike (Babcock) on a day-to-day basis but admired his work from afar," Lamoriello said. "We were in the Stanley Cup together when he was in Anaheim. I had opportunity to watch him over seven games. I had players play for him in the Olympics. What I didn’t know was the type of energy he has and how it spreads throughout the staff. I have tremendous respect for that.
"We’re extremely fortunate here in Toronto. In my opinion, we have the best coach in the game. His enthusiasm and the way he teaches and the way he comes to work each and every day no matter what transpires the day before. We have the right person. Mike is a winner."
Dion Phaneuf has been a polarizing figure throughout his tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he’s made quite an impression on general manager Lou Lamoriello.
In a guest appearance on Prime Time Sports Thursday evening, Lamoriello raved about the Maple Leafs captain and how he’s helped change the culture within the organization.
“This man has extremely impressed me,” Lamoriello told co-hosts Bob McCown and Ken Reid on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. “Watching him, how he’s handled the young players, watching how his work ethic has been, watching how he’s handled the media. He’s been one of the most impressive individuals I’ve been around. The leadership qualities that he’s shown me are genuine.”
Phaneuf has become a steadier player under head coach Mike Babcock. The team has decreased his minutes from last season and as the team put in a more structured system and it has helped the defenceman limit his mistakes and improve his play in the defensive zone.
Lamoriello also had high praise for Babcock and has been blown away by his consistency and positive mindset on a daily basis, despite the team having one of the worst records in the Eastern Conference.
"I had not worked with Mike (Babcock) on a day-to-day basis but admired his work from afar," Lamoriello said. "We were in the Stanley Cup together when he was in Anaheim. I had opportunity to watch him over seven games. I had players play for him in the Olympics. What I didn’t know was the type of energy he has and how it spreads throughout the staff. I have tremendous respect for that.
"We’re extremely fortunate here in Toronto. In my opinion, we have the best coach in the game. His enthusiasm and the way he teaches and the way he comes to work each and every day no matter what transpires the day before. We have the right person. Mike is a winner."
Nylander returns tonight
Future NHL star William Nylander returns tonight for the Marlies after a long absence. He was first injured in his first game with Sweden at the world junior championships. It's suspected he has suffered a concussion. But today ot was learned that the main reason for his prolonged absence was due to appendicitis.
Future NHL star William Nylander returns tonight for the Marlies after a long absence. He was first injured in his first game with Sweden at the world junior championships. It's suspected he has suffered a concussion. But today ot was learned that the main reason for his prolonged absence was due to appendicitis.
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november
It's strictly a financial deal. The Leafs clear Phaneuf's $7 million cap space for many years to come, while the players they pick up will pretty much all come off the books a year from now. In a few years, it'll be known as the Phaneuf for Tobias Lindberg plus 2nd-round pick trade. Lindberg was Ottawa's top offensive player on the farm. Ottawa no longer wanted Cowan and Greening. Michalek is at the tail end of his career and although a very skillful player, he's become injury-prone over the past few years. My guess is that the Leafs will try to trade Cowan, Greening and Michalek prior to the trade deadline.
The deal also frees up a lot of future cap space to sign Steven Stamkos.
The deal also frees up a lot of future cap space to sign Steven Stamkos.
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