Comments on: McCabe a Panther

By: mojo19

mojo19 — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:07:07 +0000

That was John Ferguson this is Cliff Fletcher.

JFJ's team had 5 players with No-Trade clauses.

Cliff has that number down to just 2, Kaberle and Kubina. (Technically 3, but Hagman is only a NTC for this year only then he can be traded)

By: Rico420

Rico420 — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:03:38 +0000

Damien Cox is absolutely the worst "reporter" to ever pick up a pen and a piece of paper - I guess old Damien didn't sit back and think - wait a second - Cliff Fletcher has been trying to move Bryan McCabe since April...and this is probably the best deal we can get for him..

Also I think Mr. Cox forgot for a moment that McCabe had a No Movement Claus in his contract that he wasn't likely to waive unless it was a team he really wanted to play for, so the 1st round pick at the trade deadline idea - not working if it didn't pan out at THIS years deadline and he's a year older now do you really think it'd work this year?

I for one honestly do believe Cliff Fletcher is going with a youth movement, Kaberle was gone last season to Philly don't forget - and if you're willing to move in my opinion your best player - you're rebuilding from within.

And the Leafs will be all the better for doing this - they need to find a person who has BUILT a team from the ground up - and this isn't Brian Burke who receives all the credit for Vancouver and Anaheim - he inherited those teams - what the Leafs need is someone like Jimmy Rutherford, Bob Gainey, Lou Lamorillo, Ken Holland, Dean Lombardi, Darryl Sutter type guy someone who can take the reins and turn it all around - the Leafs in all honesty are about 10 years overdue on this rebuild.

Anyway I got off on a tangent - Damien Cox is a C.S.

By: nordiques100

nordiques100 — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:05:34 +0000

It is clear to me now that damian cox hates cliff fletcher and has some vendetta against him

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Hockey/article/489529

he has gone out of his way to criticize every single move by fletcher since his return. there must be something to this from fletcher's first go as leafs GM. its getting pretty clear that he is using his free forum he has at the star to rip the leafs boss at every single chance.

He is right on some points. the moving of all those picks is something i agree is not the right way to go since the team needs to build within, needs picks to accumulate prospects and needs more youth and homegrown talent. and i am also not a finger fan.

but the real blame goes to people like peddie who's exaustive search resulted in one person being talked to and one person hired and that was fletch. fletch wasnt the most qualified considering bowman, armstrong and others found jobs and others like neil smith were available. they should have done way more due dilligence and been way more proactive and aggressive to get a top end person right away, not just the first guy off the street.

unfortunately the NTC/NMC really took any starch out of the grandious plans Fletch had to reshape the team. those werent fletcher's fault. perhaps he didnt exhaust all possibilities. maybe raycroft could have been had for a pick or they didnt need to surrender a pick in the mccabe deal. maybe he should have been more aggressive in shopping kubina as well as move mccabe, especially since it was a blueliner that was long talked about to come back to toronto.

but when the arrogant darcy tucker smugly said he was pretty much going to fight the leafs to prevent any move, he had to get bought out. and even when you have the players agree to waive their clauses, when its just one team interested, bargaining power is completely lost.

players like sundin, kaberle, tucker, kubina and their hardline stance to stay should be blamed as well.

the leafs are trying to remove and forget anything their former GM JFJ did. that includes blowing up a core that had tucker, raycroft, sundin, mccabe and others.

right now, fletcher cannot be anywhere close to being done. throughout the season i am sure he'll entertain talks to move antropov, kaberle, probably kubina again, one of their other excees blueliners and hopefully JFJ's worst mistake, Jason Blake.

antropov who will be a UFA next year and Kaberle, who's NTC is revoked if the leafs miss the playoffs are the most attractive pieces out there to be had from Toronto. they could easily go by the deadline. i think each could bring back a 1st rounder and for kaberle probably 2 more young assets with it.

and if kaberle goes, kubina might not be far behind. sure it will leave the D barren, but having schenn to build around is a good start.

and like this past deadline when they moved gill, kilger and belak, they could also dump pony, white, van ryn, bell, mayers and other support guys for more middle picks.

i am not a fletcher fan myself, but whats done is done. there is still a ways to go before fletcher will finally give way to someone else. we'll see if the organization goes through with that. thats the most important thing for the leafs. if they stay status quo, then yes fletch and the leafs should be ripped to shreds for being so predictable a la JFJ> in the meantime he has lots of work and we'll see if he has the balls to do it. fletcher is showing he isnt afraid to at least do something. i think if he manages to make more moves including a big one like trade kaberle or antropov, that will go a long way to helping the team move forward.

By: Rico420

Rico420 — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:01:52 +0000

OK I know that these are all jokes and everything but seriously the Leafs are pretty damned close to having the best management team in the city of Toronto for any of their sports franchise - atleast Fletcher isn't JP Ricciardi who has only done a good job at building a baseball team who's at best a .500 team and has no prayer of seeing the playoffs in the AL for atleast another ten years at the rate it's going.

The draft pick was costly but The Silver Fox used the Jessie Ventura "do whatever it takes" approach to get something done - any team that was going to take McCabe (especially a handpicked team) was in the drivers seat in this deal - and be thankful you didn't get back the ole "Futures" in exchange for McCabe.

And please please please come mid-season don't be squeaking about how you knew you should have kept McCabe when he's putting up his usual 45-55 points 20 goals 35 assists minus 1 campaign haha.

And then again - atleast Vokoun is used to facing McCabe so he'll be ready to stop any shots that come his way off the stick of big Mac hahahaha

By: tacitus

tacitus — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:51:02 +0000

given the way the leafs operate the next leaf headline in the next few days will read….. Mike Van Ryn signs 5 year extention with No Movement Clause worth 25 million…. Next summer they trade Van Ryn for Luke Richardson,,, who then signs a 3 year deal with no movement for 12 million

By: Viceroy

Viceroy — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:07:47 +0000

Awesome idea! Go Leafs, do it! Wendell Clark style!

By: Bure96

Bure96 — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:42:57 +0000

I Say McCabe is bought out after this season and signs a 12 year, 96 million contract with Toronto after that. Well it makes sense, considering the Leafs are probably going to re-sign JFJ, or sign Don Waddall to become the new GM.

By: defender

defender — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:22:59 +0000

I 2nd the motion and a song came to mind…"…another one bites the dust…" lol. Please anything but a Laffs player on the top…

By: Motherpucker

Motherpucker — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:11:14 +0000

Great. Now take his ugly ass, overrated face off the banner of this website and add a real hockey player.

By: mojo19

mojo19 — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:58:30 +0000

Giving up the 4th rounder does seem like a bit much but you're right, this was a salary cap move all the way. McCabe's got 3 years left at a big cap hit, so it was a good move for both teams.