Maple Leafs

[chakhae1]

Robertson is hurt with a broken leg and it is long term. I agree with you on Engvall. If he played with half the guts of someone like Ritchie he would be so much more useful. Sadly, Muzzin can no longer be relied on to be a shutdown guy. Even Brodie has been pretty bad most of this year and all of these holes are being magnified now and that's why the D is slumping. Even with all of this happening, it is amazing that the Leafs are still second in the nhl I believe. The team is playing far better defensively than they ever have. Matthews is playing like he is going to win a Selke and the entire system has been air tight for most of the year.

Suzuki's biggest attribute is his hockey smarts, so I think he will stay good for his career. Nobody knows how long the Habs will be this bad, but if Price doesn't come back and play lights out for the team's success and possibly moving him for marquee talent, then the outlook for the habs is very grim.

I have always been someone that thought that price was over rated b/c he had never won anything at the NHL level and last years playoff run was the first time his performance opened my eyes. It is unfortunate that he has had the issues he's had this year b/c no one wants to see that and for the nhl i wish he comes back and plays great.

[jameslacarte]

Move Price?? with his 10 million dollar contract? Nobody in they're right mind would do that. The Habs are stuck with him. Seriously, go look at his Stats since 16-17. Other than the Playoff run he had where he stood on his head, (the D in front of him cross checking anyone that came near the net helped with that too) until the finals is mediocre at best. Nobody is going to pay 10 million for that!! Now that they added this new Cross Checking penalty it will be worse. Weber is gone cause he is the worst for it & probably knew he would spend most of this year in the penalty box lol. the Habs are stuck with that contract for however long he has left. Habs got shut out again last night lol..
Thats too bad about Robertson, i didnt know that. Poor kid has been plagued by injury in his short career.

[chakhae1]

I was trying to be objective lol. I wouldn't call myself a Price hater but apparently most of the league thinks Price is the one goalie they would not want to face in a Game 7 situation. I never really understood that logic b/c as you mentioned his numbers in the nhl don't really back that sort of distinction.

[jameslacarte]

Nope not at all. He's always been overrated as far as im concerned. So what that he won some Gold Medals at the Olympics!! With the team in front of him & some of the best D-Men to ever play the game i think Joseph Woll, (i jut picked a random Goalie) could have won a Gold Medal too. Thats the big difference between Price & someone like Roy. Were the Habs supposed to win in 86 & 93? I highly doubt it. They were not the best team in the League at that time but Roy, as a Rookie in 86 took them all the way & won it all. Habs fans are dillusional & always have been. Look at last year when they actually thought they were going to win. Tampa ended that foolishness rather quickly i might add. Quite simply the guy is Overrated & always has been. I dont even think he's in the Top 5 Goalies of all time & maybe not even in the top 10 but if you ask a Habs fan he would probably be right behind Brodeur & Roy..Only in Montreal lol..

[chakhae1]

What started out as a really good game for the Leafs ended up as another terrible defensive performance that was saved by a good goaltending performance. We really need to stop these defensive breakdowns bc it is starting to make the amazing start to the season look bad! Nice to see Kase chip in though and I hope he can stay healthy b/c whenever he has, he has been a good player.

[jameslacarte]

to be honest i dont know if they can. The defensive breakdowns are a major concern, at least to the Fans anyways. Dubas needs to do something here. Come Playoff time, against good teamswe will be exposed big time!! What was Holl doing on that 3rd Hawk goal? Rubins had the play under control, there was no need for Holl to leave his position to come help Rubins & leave the Hawks player wide open in front of the net. If it wasnt for some Huge saves by Mrazek,(the breakaway by Kane) we would have lost that game. We deserved to lose that game too btw. Mrazek made some Big saves in the 3rd to keep that game close & if it wasnt for a lucky bounce we may very well have lost that game. If the Leafs dont address this issue it will be another early exit this year again. We have absolutely no Cap space to do anything about it so it has to be done via trades. We had that Mikko Lehtonen kid who showed some promise last year & i looked yesterday to see where he was & imagine that, we let him go. Leafs traded Gabriel for a D-Man the other day but go figure, he's under 6 feet tall & 180 lbs. Great job guys, thats just what we needed an undersized guy who probably will never make the NHL. I dont get it!! Management is watching the same games we are, they have to know this is a huge concern. The longer the Leafs wait to make some trades the worse its going to be. The closer we get to the deadline the higher the price you pay. It makes no sense to me!! There are trades out there to be made with lots of solid d-men to be had. I just dont get it!!

[chakhae1]

Defence is the most impossible position to upgrade and with the premium there is on d men nowadays I don't know if the leafs have anything to move to land a quality d man. Who is even available? Subban? Nope. I would like to get a guy like Zadorov who is a mountain of a man and plays tough. Brodie and Muzzin are the only guys we have who will step into a guy and the rest of our guys are either puck movers like Rielly or developing guys like Sandin and Dermott. Holl is there b/c he blocks a lot of shots and gets in the way of people most of the time but God he has looked bad. He rode the coat tails of Muzz last year, but now he can not find a stable partner and his time in Toronto might be coming to an end. That saddens me b/c he was great on his 1 on 1 interviews last year on Youtube lol.

[jameslacarte]

The Leafs would have to make a package deal & include those guys in it to make the trade work. Add in a prospect or a pick but make sure they unload a guy like Muzzin in it to unload his contract. I'm sure there are lots of teams willing to make a trade, especially the teams that are not going to make the Playoffs this year. These guys, (all the GM's) are all friends, well most of them anyways, & help each other out from time to time by taking contracts off other teams hands. I'm sure they could find someone to make a deal with.
Hell no to Subban!! He's an overrated bum with a big contract too. Mr Slough foot!! Him & Marchand should be the best of buddies.. i do like Zadorov but he's in Calgary now i believe & i dont see them letting him go but there are other teams with some solid stay at home D-Men. There are deals to be made but i think its more Dubas than anything else stopping that from happening.

[chakhae1]

Idk if I have faith in Dubas to improve the team's defence in all honesty. First off the market isn't much and his focus has always been on upgrading the forwards which he has done an ok job so far. Nylander continues to be one of the biggest steals in the nhl with his bargain friendly contract for example. One thing that gets me is why isn't Spezza playing? He has already missed 4 games I think so even if the NHL reverses their decision, the most they can save is one game. Idk, maybe just me but typically the player plays while the league is coming to a decision from what I have seen. Still annoyed at the decision regardless. In the past the NHL has been lenient on first time offenders and I don't care what the game dictated, prior offences should trump everything else.

[jameslacarte]

Spezza's Hearing is Tuesday. If they reverse it he will be able to play Tuesday against Edmonton so it will only be 4 games & thats only if they change it.
I have been checking the trade Rumors & yes they are looking at trading Holl & Dermott & looking at getting guys like Fabbri, Max Domi & Marcus Johansson. I like the fact that they are looking at both Fabbri & Domi but who is going to play D for us if you trade those guys? I thought Rubins played well for us the last few games, probably better than half the other D in our lineup & they send him back to the Marlies & call up this Dahlstrom guy. I dont get it!!
Dubas is a moron lmao. Add a M after the U & another S at the end & what do you get? I cant say it, i might get a warning again...