Waived: Jeff Halpern (Claimed by Montreal)

[16 To Stanley*]

Halpern has not been effective offensively.

...but neither has Powe, Asham, Bickel, Boyle, Pyatt. Why do those players, who have contributed even less, get a pass?

If anything, Bickel of Asham should have been waived. Bickel continues to ge chance after chance, yet he adds nothing of value to this roster aside from fighting. I thought we were trying to move away from enforcers? Guess that's what happens when you let a talented enforcer like Prust go for nothing.

You're right, they should all be gone. Other than Boyle because he's proven he deserves to get more than a 25 game evaluation over the years.

Other than that, ship them off and overhaul time.

and to machinehead above. Great, maybe Halpern was a lamb. Do you think this team should stand pat right now? We're an absolute disaster with no secondary scoring. It's time for change. Halpern is hopefully just the beginning. That 4th line is so useless it's beyond me.

the third line actually looked effective at times last night (although not getting my hopes up since it was against florida)

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

Wait so who's playing C? Miller back to C, Boyle on the 4th line?

 

[Orr Nightmare]

Halpern has not been effective offensively.

...but neither has Powe, Asham, Bickel, Boyle, Pyatt. Why do those players, who have contributed even less, get a pass?

If anything, Bickel of Asham should have been waived. Bickel continues to ge chance after chance, yet he adds nothing of value to this roster aside from fighting. I thought we were trying to move away from enforcers? Guess that's what happens when you let a talented enforcer like Prust go for nothing.

no one on this board thought Prust was worth his contract...it is high but now we are paying the price for it.

we did move away from th enforcers...now we are softest ****ing team in hockey...everyone on this board got what they wanted and now we are medicore again...how ironic...let's bring in Dan Boyle and Martin St. Louis...that will vault us to the top..

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

tonight on the hallmark channel.... Jeff H. ... a love story....

More like "Jeff H...Scapegoat"

 

[eco's bones]

Halpern has not been effective offensively.

...but neither has Powe, Asham, Bickel, Boyle, Pyatt. Why do those players, who have contributed even less, get a pass?

If anything, Bickel of Asham should have been waived. Bickel continues to ge chance after chance, yet he adds nothing of value to this roster aside from fighting. I thought we were trying to move away from enforcers? Guess that's what happens when you let a talented enforcer like Prust go for nothing.

Maybe some of them will be waived/traded too. In any case that is too many forwards not producing. Can't keep them all nor can we get rid of them all at the same time. Halpern was the oldest--that's reason enough.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Serious cognitive dissonance going on here.

Those who are questioning the move are not saying that Halpern should have been untouchable. What they're saying is "ok, I hear you - it is absolutely appropriate to can someone off the bottom 6. But if we're going to make that move, why did we pick the guy who is cheapest, will be an UFA next year anyway and who was actually playing up to expectations? If we were going to show someone the chopping block, why not pick one of the more expensive guys who have additional years on their contracts and who are underperforming what they were expected to bring?"

Presuming this is strictly a hockey decision and doesn't have to do with anything off the ice, the ONLY reasonable explanation IMO is that they need to free up a contract and had to be absolutely certain that they were cutting a guy who would get claimed.

 

[16 To Stanley*]

no one on this board thought Prust was worth his contract...it is high but now we are paying the price for it.

we did move away from th enforcers...now we are softest ****ing team in hockey...everyone on this board got what they wanted and now we are medicore again...how ironic...let's bring in Dan Boyle and Martin St. Louis...that will vault us to the top..

As much as i hate to say it because I never advocate for enforcers but i don't think it was a coincidence that the best team we had since we won the cup was also the grittiest.

 

[Kwayry]

Serious cognitive dissonance going on here.

Those who are questioning the move are not saying that Halpern should have been untouchable. What they're saying is "ok, I hear you - it is absolutely appropriate to can someone off the bottom 6. But if we're going to make that move, why did we pick the guy who is cheapest, will be an UFA next year anyway and who was actually playing up to expectations? If we were going to show someone the chopping block, why not pick one of the more expensive guys who have additional years on their contracts and who are underperforming what they were expected to bring?"

Presuming this is strictly a hockey decision and doesn't have to do with anything off the ice, the ONLY reasonable explanation IMO is that they need to free up a contract and had to be absolutely certain that they were cutting a guy who would get claimed.

Or could have traded him.

 

[Orr Nightmare]

As much as i hate to say it because I never advocate for enforcers but i don't think it was a coincidence that the best team we had since we won the cup was also the grittiest.

If you can get a gritty guy who can play...that is what your 3rd and 4th lines should be...it is no coincedence that the Leafs are a much improved team...they got rid of all the waste the Burke brought in and played the kids...they also brought Orr back up and claimed McLaren and added Frasor for more toughness.

We went from one of the youngest teams in the league with nasty guys all around to bringing guys like Haleprn and Asham who are old used rags. Sather makes mistake after mistake and the ownership could give 2 *****...baffling.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Or could have traded him.

I certainly hope they explored that option first.

 

[*Bob Richards*]

I certainly hope they explored that option first.

Or could have traded him.

I hope they tried that first too. I mean, he can garner something, right?

 

[16 To Stanley*]

If you can get a gritty guy who can play...that is what your 3rd and 4th lines should be...it is no coincedence that the Leafs are a much improved team...they got rid of all the waste the Burke brought in and played the kids...they also brought Orr back up and claimed McLaren and added Frasor for more toughness.

We went from one of the youngest teams in the league with nasty guys all around to bringing guys like Haleprn and Asham who are old used rags. Sather makes mistake after mistake and the ownership could give 2 *****...baffling.

Yup agreed. I'm still not open to a guy like Orr. But I think we need someone like Ott, Neil, etc on this team. Haley was a start, he should be back up asap.

Honestly, if Asham gets back, im fine with going with a 4th line that's Asham-Powe-Haley, then we re-evaluate and hopefully patch that up over the summer. If we can get Ott at the deadline, do it. If we can get someone of that same ilk with skill, do it. If we can't, then we fix it in the off-season. Right now, this team isn't a team. The skill guys are out there with no one having their backs or providing any sort of secondary offense. The bottom six is the worst black hole i have ever seen. No offense, no grit, no excitement, a complete waste.

Nash-Richards-Gaborik
Hagelin-Stepan-Callahan
Kreider-Boyle-Miller
Haley-Powe-Asham

That still looks like **** but at least that 4th line has some toughness. I hope there's a trade out there somewhere.

 

[16 To Stanley*]

I hope they tried that first too. I mean, he can garner something, right?

Why? 0 goals, 1 assist in 30 games. Turning 37 years old. You'd have to be an idiot to even give up a 7th for that. Why waste ANY sort of asset.

 

[Radek27]

They better have another move planned after this because our center depth is starting to look ugly.

One injury and it's serious trouble.

 

[*Bob Richards*]

Why? 0 goals, 1 assist in 30 games. Turning 37 years old. You'd have to be an idiot to even give up a 7th for that. Why waste ANY sort of asset.

I can't argue Halpern's value if you just refuse to see it.

 

[Machinehead]

Why? 0 goals, 1 assist in 30 games. Turning 37 years old. You'd have to be an idiot to even give up a 7th for that. Why waste ANY sort of asset.

Because a 4th line center who wins faceoffs is a valuable asset to any team, especially a contender?

Paul Gaustad got a 1st. He has a resounding 1 goal this year.

 

[wolfgaze]

They better have another move planned after this because our center depth is starting to look ugly.

One injury and it's serious trouble.

Maybe Sather found a deal for Gaborik and we'll have to take multiple players/contracts back in the deal?

 

[chosen]

It has nothing to do with points. There are other facets of the game that players need to excel in. Which he did. He was better than most of our bottom 6 guys.

A forward with one point in 30 games would have to be a hall famer defensive forward to deserve a roster spot in the NHL. Halpern is nothing close to that level. Fans moaing about a guy on pace to score 2 or 3 points in a season being released is funny.

 

[Orr Nightmare]

Yup agreed. I'm still not open to a guy like Orr. But I think we need someone like Ott, Neil, etc on this team. Haley was a start, he should be back up asap.

Honestly, if Asham gets back, im fine with going with a 4th line that's Asham-Powe-Haley, then we re-evaluate and hopefully patch that up over the summer. If we can get Ott at the deadline, do it. If we can get someone of that same ilk with skill, do it. If we can't, then we fix it in the off-season. Right now, this team isn't a team. The skill guys are out there with no one having their backs or providing any sort of secondary offense. The bottom six is the worst black hole i have ever seen. No offense, no grit, no excitement, a complete waste.

Nash-Richards-Gaborik
Hagelin-Stepan-Callahan
Kreider-Boyle-Miller
Haley-Powe-Asham

That still looks like **** but at least that 4th line has some toughness. I hope there's a trade out there somewhere.

I loved Orr and he loved New York...but that's just me...Asham is a waste. Mike Brown would have been a good pick up for us...Ducks are not dumb...they added one of the best middleweights in the league and the reason the Leafs were ok with giving him up was because of Orr and McLaren

 

[Thirty One]

I loved Orr and he loved New York...but that's just me...Asham is a waste. Mike Brown would have been a good pick up for us...Ducks are not dumb...they added one of the best middleweights in the league and the reason the Leafs were ok with giving him up was because of Orr and McLaren

The Ducks are dumb and they didn't trade for Brown.

 

[16 To Stanley*]

I can't argue Halpern's value if you just refuse to see it.

Defensively responsible? There are so many players in the league that are defensively responsible yet still manage to score a goal once every 30 games.

In fact, there are players that are even better penalty killers and better at faceoffs than Halpern and even manage to put up a point here and there.

For as much as we rip on Sather and Rangers management, do you really think they didn't put a flyer out there that said hey, we'll give you this guy for your anything. You want Jeff Halpern, you can have him. I'm sure they were trying. No one wants to trade for a geezer that has a whopping 1 point in 30 games. He can't score, he has no future (other than retirement). There's more to this game than taking faceoffs and killing penalties, much more. This isn't baseball where you need utility fielders who are only good at one aspect of the game. This is the NHL, you need to have guys who can produce in different aspects. Halpern was producing, in the aspect that is most easily filled. The other aspects, he was not. Pyatt and Powe should be next, but they are younger and have more potential to rebound than Halpern.

 

[Punxrocknyc19*]

for some reason i bet no trade happens until closer to the deadline and that this was made because Haley gets called back up... Torts seemed to like him. it seemed like a numbers game..

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

no one on this board thought Prust was worth his contract...it is high but now we are paying the price for it.

we did move away from th enforcers...now we are softest ****ing team in hockey...everyone on this board got what they wanted and now we are medicore again...how ironic...let's bring in Dan Boyle and Martin St. Louis...that will vault us to the top..

Uhh, adding MSL and Dan Boyle probably WOULD vault us to the top.

 

[16 To Stanley*]

Uhh, adding MSL and Dan Boyle probably WOULD vault us to the top.

Can't really disagree there.

Just hypothetical (not knowing who we would trade).

Nash-Richards-St. Louis
Hagelin-Stepan-Gaborik
Kreider-Miller-Callahan
Haley-Boyle-Powe

Girardi-Staal
Mcdonagh-Boyle
Del Zotto-Stralman

 

[Punxrocknyc19*]

Can't really disagree there.

Just hypothetical (not knowing who we would trade).

Nash-Richards-St. Louis
Hagelin-Stepan-Gaborik
Kreider-Miller-Callahan
Haley-Boyle-Powe

Girardi-Staal
Mcdonagh-Boyle
Del Zotto-Stralman

they would be over the cap. that is for sure.