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flashes of carm paragraphs bro

but only at surface level. what he really was pushing for was the babcock show. the "i don't care that you're far and away my best player, and that if you don't show up big the team isn't going anywhere regardless of who i have surrounding you, you're gonna play 16 minutes. and when we're down and i need you more than ever, i'll still keep you on the bench just to show you who's boss. just like i showed modano who's boss, in a meaningless game, that meant literally nothing, so that I could rob him of 1500 games." the "we're down 4-1 in the final elimination game of the playoffs, and act

isn't that what Babcock was pushing for?

This is true, but look at the numbers league wide. Fighting overall is way down. It's also hard on defensive players. You need players with strong positioning and active sticks because it seems everything is called (or nothing is called, equally as frustrating). It's all just different. I miss those days. Well, this is the type of guy you want on the team so I can see why they opted to work it out with him instead of "well someone in FA would be cheaper". You know what he brings when healthy, he's familiar with the team, he's shown he gels - with a FA you just don't know.

Just read Mikheyevs agent and the Leafs agent had agreed to a deal for more and then the Leafs called and offered less and he took it to help the team stay under the cap. https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/behind-ilya-mikheyevs-last-minute-rfa-contract-maple-leafs/

I don't disagree with everything here. Being penalized for fighting is still 5 min. in the box. Yeah there's no staged fighting anymore, but emotion still exists. People are still talking about Spezza's scrap in the play-in series.

I don't hate skill. I'm just having fun. Soft, skilled players can go either way. They can push themselves to be more determined or they have their legacy be like Alexander Semin.

Yeah, it's literally what he said?

Is it the skill that you hate? I think it might be the lack of determination that sometimes accompanies the skill. After all, grit is just determination. The best players are the ones with the most determination. That's the way it's always been.

Speed and skill will win. They just needed more on top of that. Dubas is trying to address those deficiencies. We'll see how the team goes now.

Probably because it rarely happened here, if at all outside of Clark and Domi. To establish a skilled core and build around them with depth character guys?

This isn't the 80's, man. I know. I get it. We were spoiled with Clark, Gilmour etc., they were the epitome of what I love about hockey. But, the league today is much, much different than it was then. Speed and skill (with the obvious balance of strong support players) is the way it is today, you can't touch a player without ending up in the box, fighting is near dead and the aim seems to be more scoring and less goalie duels. I don't like it either, but this is where we're at.

Dubas' plan. You tell me.

LoL Spoken like a veteran of fantasy hockey. There are so many great examples of drafting grit and acquiring skill. It's the way it should be. Sadly some leaf fans aren't old enough to remember this happening with success. All they have to go on is Nick Ritchie and Tyler Biggs discussion forums. I hate skill.

Seems straight-forward. Lehtonen/Dermott/Bogosian could be the bottom pairing rotation so there's no need for Marincin either, thank fuck.

Yes. I think he is

In a bad mood today, AM?

He didn’t have a good season outside the stretch he had after his healthy scratch. I hate that the last memory I’ll have of him is stopping on a breakaway looking to make a pass. Drafting skill and acquiring grit via trade or FA isn’t new or an insurgence of different thinking. Hasn’t that always been the plan? Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

How bout we watch them play first, before already assuming we'll get there.

and sandin & boyd wont be on the team, so there’s the 1.6mil for dermott & anderson.

They all thought speed and skill would win...obviously they were wrong now they are trying to get the necessary grit and character we need to push past at least the first round of the playoffs and i still think we will get there with what we have.

i was focused more on the direction change of management and team philosophy than individual players achievements.

Kappy was alright we are gonna miss those shorthanded breakaways lol.

Kapanen and Johnsson were just so good last season. I think they’ll survive without them.

its been a curious off season, not including the crazy world outside the door. a team that was on the trajectory of a fast skilled based team, with a coach that demanded structure and hard to play against style, fired the coach, and brought in a coach that would be a better fit with the fast skilled team, then get chased in a qualifying round by a team that was hard to play against and immediately do an about face and bring in players that are harder to play against while shipping out a good chunk of skill and speed.