Comments on: Kovalchuk ruling hurts Leafs’ chances of moving Kaberle

By: Leafs_the_word

Leafs_the_word — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:40:42 +0000

My first impression when he was hired was that MSLE was reacting to our reputation of having a rather conservative GM in Quinn. JFJ was supposed to be the GM that was proactive at the deadline, could pull the trigger on trade, land UFAs and spot good young talent. I don't think what was expected of him suited the post lockout landscape. As you mentioned he finally landed those big defensemen in Kubina, solidified McCabe and Gill. Bringing in big slug centers in Lindros, Allison and thinking Mats was a player to build a franchise around.

By: DannyLeafs

DannyLeafs — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:46:46 +0000

He did make some decent deals, and I don't think the Tucker Contract was as bad as the buyout is now making it. That buyout by Fletcher was just boneheaded. Easy rule of thumb for a buyout is, will the player be worth anywhere near two thirds of their current salary? if they are, then why buy them out? I would rather have paid the extra 2 million a year and played Tucker on the 4th line until it ran out this year then have to continue paying 1 million for nothing. I mean seriously, chances are all that cap space would have cost is was Fletcher's ability to go out and sign Finger. If we could get rid of the buy out and Finger and instead have Tucker make 3 million going into the final year of his contract this year then which would be better. Seems pretty obvious now.

I think JFJ did a good job with a couple of contracts, but some of them were just horrendous. McCabe's was awful, signing Kubina to a 5 million per year deal didn't make much sense since he really needed to be on the top PP unit and top pairing to be fully effective, which wasn't going to happen with McCabe and Kaberle already there, so it was a contract that was surely going to be an overpayment, and signing Toskala to a 4 million dollar per year extension before he ever played a game with the team was just insane.

I do like the dropped NTC clauses he had if the team didn't make the playoffs. That was pretty inventive. All in all he was a smart man that could spot talent, but a very inexperienced GM that didn't have the balls to do things his own way and bucked under pressure from the ownership.

By: mojo19

mojo19 — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:32:40 +0000

No love for Jason Williams?

2010 - GP 44, PTS 15
2009 - GP 80, PTS 47
2008 - GP 43, PTS 36
2007 - GP 78, PTS 32
2006 - GP 80, PTS 58
post lockout totals.........
..........GP 235, G 74, A 114, PTS 188

Good numbers and pretty consistant guy.

By: cam7777

cam7777 — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:56:44 +0000

I wouldn't mind some of those guys – Kariya, Torres, Belanger, Morrison and maybe Artyukin. No thanks to the others though. Afinogenov wouldn't be bad, but he signed an expensive 5 year deal in the KHL.

By: Leafs_the_word

Leafs_the_word — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:53:11 +0000

Yep, we should have a glut of cheap veterans to grind in the bottom six. I'd love Belanger, Park, Torres, not so much Afinogenov, Comrie and Morrison who are more busted top sixers. Responsible two way players that will commit to their role shouldn't cost much.

By: MystifoLeafs

MystifoLeafs — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 02:01:20 +0000

cam7777 I don't know what it is but i always love reading your posts about possible trades, Maybe its because their not completely insane but Yeah I agree that we should shop semin for Schenn just for the fact is I can't picture us resigning him plus the fact we need to lock up Luke, (also the fact is we have Luke and Brayden on the same team maybe we can get a discount on signing him to help him stay with his bro.)

If this was to happen I would enjoy watching the leafs then, It would be interesting to see if they could work together.

By: mojo19

mojo19 — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:55:37 +0000

Just for the record I'm not in love with Miro Satan but I would give him 3rd line ice time plus 1st unit PP time. Face it, the guy has the hands around the net, he knows how to finish. He'd also be a great shootout specialist to have on the bench, even if he only played 10 minutes that particular night. And we have never been good at shootouts since they've been a part of the game.

By: mojo19

mojo19 — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:53:05 +0000

I really wouldn't mind adding a gritty NHL veteran up front. Especially one who could come in for under $2 million. Or even just a veteran who could maybe play on the top 2 lines and bring a bit of stability and leadership. Any of these guys would be a nice addition:

Paul Kariya
Raffi Torres
Jeff Halpern
Eric Belanger
Brendan Morrison
Jason Williams
Mike Comrie
Evgeny Artyukhin
Max Afinogenov
Richard Park

Not that Burke would be interested in this guy but I was amazed at the play of Miroslav Satan in the playoffs. Overall he was Boston's best forward and he scored some clutch goals and made some key plays. I would love to see him come in cheap but again, he is not a Burke type guy at all.

Really I don't mind signing 1 more vet, even if it means that only 1 of Caputi or Irwin can make the team. I don't think we NEED an entire team of 23 year olds, and having a veteran, whether its a scorer or checker, would be a good thing for this team.

By: mojo19

mojo19 — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:44:24 +0000

I hear you reinjosh, and given their size I'd prefer Hanson over Kennedy. However, I think like you said, they both have about equal calibre, and if Hanson is gonna cost us $1.2 million and Kennedy could be had for half that, then take the cheaper guy. Neither one is going to be any kind of star anyways so save a couple bucks.

By: mojo19

mojo19 — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:40:44 +0000

Buying out Belfour to trade a top prospect (also happened to be a goalie) for a lesser goalie was bad judgement even if he was feeling heat from ownership. That Rask trade will be the thing we remember JFJ for, and for good reason. The Toskala trade was just another miserable fail and if you wanna blame the Teachers of Ontario for that one, fine. I still say this guy was a dope, maybe not the worst GM ever but even given his alleged situation with the owners he still did worse than he could have.

Suglobov, Pohl, Battaglia, and Devereaux were all AHL players who were asked to be 2nd and 3rd liners, some of them even got playing time with Mats. Come on!