I find it very funny that you guys still cheer for your Leafs and claim that they're great but at the same time you use them and the fact that the habs needed overtime to beat them as an example for how bad the habs are. You can't have it both ways. Either the Leafs are a good team and it was an accomplishment that the habs beat them, or they're terrible and so are the habs. Make up your mind!
As for salaries...well at least we're not paying Jeff Finger 3.5 million a year.
And RFA or not, there is no way that Price is worth the money you stated. He hasn't proven himself yet in any way to be worth that kind of money. Personally, I think and have always thought that he is highly over rated. And with the salary cap going down next year, I don't see anyone offering him that kind of a contract.
You're the only one (among other scab fans) on this board who's posted that he had his doubts about the Habs' signings on & after July 1st. It seemed to me that the other scab fans here had Stanley Cup fever.
I've admitted to this many times. The Leafs (and the Scabs) have bad teams. But the Leafs are better than their record shows. Even the Mtl media has admitted to this recently. As for the Scabs, maybe they're better than their record indicates, but personally, i'm not surprised & i've stated this from day 1. They were a small team who got smaller & threw millions at three 2nd liners, and the most expensive of the trio had done nothing in the past couple of seasons. And the defensive pick-ups? Spacek okay, but still overpaid. But Gill & Mara? At least Mara isn't overpaid.
I've been against the Jeff Finger signing from day 1. The day Cliff Fletcher signed him was the moment i realized the old man had totally lost it. Rumour has it that the highest offer Finger's agent had received until Cliff came knocking was in the $1.5 million range. Then the old man showed up offering $2 million more. Say what?? I've heard many different reasons why that kind of money was offered to a no-name & some are so ridiculous that they might actually be true.
Fletcher did a lot of damage to that team in his brief tenure as GM (two years ago). Sending a 2nd-round pick to the Coyotes for a dozen games of Yannick Perreault (whom they could have signed for free for a good part of the season) wasn't brilliant. Paying the likes of Darcy Tucker to go play elsewhere wasn't my cup-of-tea & he's come back to haunt them. If they didn't want him, they would have been better off sending him to the minors. But this was a character guy with the maple leaf tatooed to his heart who gave his all & played injured for the most part of his last season. That's how he got rewarded?
Fergie also did a lot of damage.....sending Tukka Rask to Boston for Andrew Raycroft was foolish. Even more, he extended Raycroft's contract & rewarded him with millions. Then Cliff pulled a Darcy Tucker & let him go & still paid him. Another brilliant move by Fergie (i'm being sarcastic) was sending a 1st rounder to San Jose for Vesa Toskala. Not only that, they had to accept their problem player in Mark Bell. Fergie got screwed again!! He got screwed so much that he could be called a hobbyist!! And all these long-term, no-trade multi-million $$ contracts he hadn't out. Embarrassing!!! But honestly, didn't Bob Gainey pull a Fergie by signing & overpaying all of these small free agents last summer? Only time will tell.
The problem with both teams (they have many problems, actually) is that they go into panic mode as soon as things start going south. I've been told that even though they show a brave face in public, both of these teams officials are currently in panic mode. I've been aware of the Leafs' plans to rebuild within a 5-year period since Brian Burke became GM. I'm willing to be patient. I actually applauded him for sending Nazem Kadri to the juniors after training camp, even though he might have been his best player. No need to rush him now. But considering how many 18-19 year olds are currently starring for their respective teams (ex-Avalance & Rangers), i'm not sure if he shouldn't have kept Kadri. He told him to go to the juniors & dominate. Isn't that putting a lot of pressure on the kid? Isn't it putting a large target on his back for the other teams? Only time will tell if it was the right move. Kadri admitted last week that he actually had a hard time accepting the Leafs' decision. Can't blame the kid. Upon further reflection, Mtl did the same thing with Guillaume Latendresse & so far, he's been a major bust.
