Confirmed with Link: Dubas the new GM - TSN

[AppsSyl]

Veleno has become the most overrated player on this board. If he wasnt given exceptional status, do people even care about drafting him? He looks like Gauthier.
Sandin is the better player, and its a good Dubas took him over Veleno.

No offence, but I would say you haven't seen him play if your comparison is Gauthier. I would argue that he is one of the most underrated prospects on this board, and people put way too much stock into the slow start that he had. After he was traded he was awesome. He is a complete C. There is no need to falsely try and tear him down to prop Sandin up. I think Veleno is top 10 talent, and that he will be a player a lot of teams kick themselves for passing on. Complete C's with size, speed and IQ don't grow on trees.
Sandin is a good prospect. I do like him a lot. You could actually compare him to Veleno in the sense that they are both complete players in their respective positions. I think there is a lot of positive growth that we could see in Sandin's game and I am really looking forward to how he progresses this season and where he ends up playing. I think he is going to be a good player.

 

[DarkKnight]

I don't like the Hunter bashing either, reeks of insecure fanboyism to me. With that said, there's a very clear difference in what attributes were targeted this draft compared to previous ones under Hunter and Lamoriello. So the scouts that did the bulk of the work, and of course Dubas relies heavily on that work, but the direction picked out was his.

I've said before that I think Lou was more in control of our draft than most people think. Hunter may have been the guy running it, but Lou was the ultimate authority. This is just based on how Hunter went about things in the one draft he had before Lou took over though.

Point taken, just trying to remind that the guys in the room are Hunter's scouts, so that blurs this hard distinction some make. I thought it a good draft, loved the move down to grab a good pick. Not a fan of Hollowell pick, but apart from that like what we did.

As an overriding rule, I'm going to judge Kyle on merit, that I think we perhaps erred with the front office moves is ancient history, hoping he succeeds big time. I think we all need to keep an open mind, rather than knee jerk defence or criticism, it's already getting predictable.

I'd give this draft a B to B+, solid, lots of interesting possible projections, shrewd move, but safe in some regards.

 

[sxvnert]

But I can see Dubas bring Komarov back for more money then some might think.

Komarov is not getting resigned. I'm sure Dubas would rather give that money to Grabner.

 

[kyle n00bas]

Komarov is not getting resigned. I'm sure Dubas would rather give that money to Grabner.

He might be a little expensive after the season he just had but I lowkey would love to sign Grabner if we could for 2-3 years, maybe $3M-ish AAV. He's just such a good fit for the way the team plays and would round out our bottom six nicely.

 

[Peasy]

Veleno probably turns out to be a 3rd line center like Lars Eller.

 

[LeafFever]

Kind of funny to hear the Hunter bashing, when Dubas went out of his way to mention the scouts who pushed for players, that he relied on them, and then realize they are the same guys who were part of the "trash" Hunter drafts of the past. I mean lol, let's keep it real, this is Hunter's staff and Dubas just took over, he relied on them HEAVILY. Anyways, just hilarious.

Hunter has suddebly gotten a massive amount of praise the second he left.

 

[luvdahattymatty]

Bonjovi is dead on right. Leafs are trying to make Bracco a more defensive player. At some point he will play in nhl and deliver a ton of points. Hopefully it is with the Leafs. This is the one hidden gem we have. It should be interesting to see when he gets his shot. Hopefully we don't trade him off for another piece. Bracco and Marner are very similar players. Marner is a little bigger. Playing Bracco on 4th line with Marlie checkers you will never see his potential. Much like Karlsson in Vegas when he move up to top line he looks way better but reality is he was same kid on the 4th line in nhl who never got his opportunity. Different players of course.

 

[blueberrie]

Can we talk about how Dubas has built the best defensive teams in BOTH the AHL and OHL? Each of his teams are defensive juggernauts.

OHL GA Leaders

Soo 186
Kingston 202
Hamilton 207
London 212
...
Guelph 263
Peterborough 283
Sudbury 291
Flint 316

AHL GA Leaders

Toronto 170
Providence 187
Sycaruse 189
Tuscon 193*
...
Hartford 252
Cleveland 258
Belleville 266
Laval 281

*I prorated Tuscon from 68 gp to 76 gp due to schedule imbalances.

 

[francis246]

Veleno probably turns out to be a 3rd line center like Lars Eller.

clearly you haven't watched him play. he has way more skill than lars eller. the guy was slated to be a top 10 pick earlier this year. he had a bad start on one of the worst teams in major junior.

 

[francis246]

Can we talk about how Dubas has built the best defensive teams in BOTH the AHL and OHL? Each of his teams are defensive juggernauts.

OHL GA Leaders

Soo 186
Kingston 202
Hamilton 207
London 212
...
Guelph 263
Peterborough 283
Sudbury 291
Flint 316

AHL GA Leaders

Toronto 170
Providence 187
Sycaruse 189
Tuscon 193*
...
Hartford 252
Cleveland 258
Belleville 266
Laval 281

*I prorated Tuscon from 68 gp to 76 gp due to schedule imbalances.

Dubas hasn't been with the greyhounds in years..

 

[blueberrie]

Dubas hasn't been with the greyhounds in years..

A lot of the roster was drafted by Dubas.

 

[kyle n00bas]

Veleno has become the most overrated player on this board. If he wasnt given exceptional status, do people even care about drafting him? He looks like Gauthier.
Sandin is the better player, and its a good Dubas took him over Veleno.

I somehow missed that he'd been given exceptional status (or just forgot that I'd read it) and was going through scouting reports and looking at stats wondering what everyone was having a meltdown over. That's really the reason he was so hyped?

 

[HC7]

Veleno is garbage, watch him play a game and you'll see. He does stupid f***ing plays like no look passes in front of the net as he's skating behind that never work. Leafs are made up of players that make decisions as they happen, Veleno makes decisions based off of what happens when the play begins. He has no hockey IQ.

Sandin isn't they sexy pick, and I would've preferred we moved up and got K'Andre Miller, but at that pick he's going to be a solid NHL player for a long time. We're not drafting top 10 anymore, we need to make smart picks. If Sandin can become a top 4 D-Man that is very good defensively, and can move the puck well everyone should be happy. Look at Vegas, and complain to me about that pick.

 

[Menzinger]

clearly you haven't watched him play. he has way more skill than lars eller. the guy was slated to be a top 10 pick earlier this year. he had a bad start on one of the worst teams in major junior.

Though at a lower level like junior, star players should be able to shine even if he’s on a bad team. Ie look at what Rielly was able to do on a horrible Moosejaw team. Maybe he fell out of that top 10 for good reason

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Though at a lower level like junior, star players should be able to shine even if he’s on a bad team. Ie look at what Rielly was able to do on a horrible Moosejaw team. Maybe he fell out of that top 10 for good reason

yeah Dellandrea going over Veleno to Dallas should say a lot frankly. Not that Dallas is great at evaluating talent, but he's an example of a center on a bad team who stood out in all the right ways. Arizona also reached for Hayton, as did Montreal for Kotkaniemi. Columbus drafting Foudy was a reach, and Philadelphia drafting O'Brien. that's 5 centers with 5 teams that reached for them due to how weak this draft was for high end centers. And yet Veleno fell hard

 

[Menzinger]

Dubas apparently has let go a few of Lou’s guys like Lemaire, and a few scouts like Nikolai Ladygin, Tommy Albelin, and Evgeby Namestnikov

 

[SprDaVE]

Mirtle reported on the Leafs Report that a few scouts and other execs have been let go.

Namestnikov, Ladygin, Albelin, Lemaire and Caron. The first 3 were scouts and the last 2 were specialty coaches, whatever that means.

EDIT: @Menzinger just beat me to it.

 

[Menzinger]

Mirtle reported on the Leafs Report that a few scouts and other execs have been let go.

Namestnikov, Ladygin, Albelin, Lemaire and Caron. The first 3 were scouts and the last 2 were specialty coaches, whatever that means.

EDIT: @Menzinger just beat me to it.

Great minds think alike

 

[francis246]

Though at a lower level like junior, star players should be able to shine even if he’s on a bad team. Ie look at what Rielly was able to do on a horrible Moosejaw team. Maybe he fell out of that top 10 for good reason

i don't think you can really compare, every player develops differently and it sounds like there was a lot going on behind the scenes in Saint John.

Either way I really believe Veleno is going to be a star in the league and i'm sure there are other who feel the same. The guy can score, win faceoffs, skate and is big. He has the tools and he's gone to an organization that knows how to develop. I don't look forward to facing him 6 times a year in the future.

 

[francis246]

I somehow missed that he'd been given exceptional status (or just forgot that I'd read it) and was going through scouting reports and looking at stats wondering what everyone was having a meltdown over. That's really the reason he was so hyped?

it has nothing to do with his exceptional status, it's his potential. he has the tools to make everything work. it's about a team willing to work with him and help him put it all together. If Detroit can do that, they got the steal of the first round. Personally I think Montreal should have taken Veleno, idk why they reached for that finnish kid (don't really see the hype in him, he looks average)

 

[MR4]

it has nothing to do with his exceptional status, it's his potential. he has the tools to make everything work. it's about a team willing to work with him and help him put it all together. If Detroit can do that, they got the steal of the first round. Personally I think Montreal should have taken Veleno, idk why they reached for that finnish kid (don't really see the hype in him, he looks average)

You wanted MTL to take Veleno at 3? What. The. f***.

 

[JEI]

Dubas apparently has let go a few of Lou’s guys like Lemaire, and a few scouts like Nikolai Ladygin, Tommy Albelin, and Evgeby Namestnikov

He's been with the Leafs since 2005. He's no one 'guy' really. He's survived plenty of GMs. He's 64.

 

[SprDaVE]

He's been with the Leafs since 2005. He's no one 'guy' really. He's survived plenty of GMs. He's 64.

Indeed. He might be someone that retires or does part time work for another team.

Mirtle also mentioned that there will be more changes this summer. I suspect we'll see a HUGE change in their US scouting. I don't think it's a big surprise on how they completely avoided that region in this draft.

The USHS/USHL/NCAA is far too big to miss out players on. Completely unacceptable to me.

 

[francis246]

You wanted MTL to take Veleno at 3? What. The. ****.

they need a natural centerman, Veleno going into this draft was ranked #8 by central scouting. so you can quit acting all melo-dramatic. I've followed him quite closely over the years, I think he's a high-end talent. I'm not asking you to feel that way. Everyone has different opinions, a lot of teams reached for players this year which affected where many guys were drafted.

 

[justafan22]

Indeed. He might be someone that retires or does part time work for another team.

Mirtle also mentioned that there will be more changes this summer. I suspect we'll see a HUGE change in their US scouting. I don't think it's a big surprise on how they completely avoided that region in this draft.

The USHS/USHL/NCAA is far too big to miss out players on. Completely unacceptable to me.

I think the fact he was given full reigns ~6 weeks pre draft is an indicator that he wants his guys in full time starting this summer. Make this his team.