Don't know to believe or not.. Hope so though, get rid of Steckel, Connolly, Lombardi, Komi, (Lesser extent Liles and Mac A) and the only one Idk if I'd be alright with is Grabo
I would advise people not to get to attached to the idea we're going to tank and get a high pick.
I still think Roberto Luongo is a Leaf is very near future. I think even if he prefers Florida, And that's completely understandable, I think he knows the likely scenario is Toronto, And is slowly embracing it.
If you look at his past tweets under the strombone1 handle.
You got back to Luongo jersey tweet, Or to the "can I get some tickets" and there's a few other involving Toronto.
It's just a theory.
Strombone @strombone1
Weirdest thing, Jeffrey Loria just called.......
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1. Tank.
2. Trade Joffrey Lupul, Tyler Bozak, Cody Franson and Clarke MacArthur.
3. Draft Nathan MacKinnon, Elias Lindholm or Alexander Barkov.
4. Sign Corey Perry, Niklas Backstrom, Paul Ranger and David Clarkson.
Going into 2013/14...
Perry - MacKinnon - Kessel
JVR - Grabovski - Kulemin
Komarov - Kadri - Clarkson
Brown - McClement - Ashton
Gunnarsson - Phaneuf
Gardiner - Ranger
Liles - Holzer
Kostka
Backstrom
Reimer
OK 1 of those picks is obviously ours, but how are you getting 2 other top 5-7 picks?
Because those players you're trading certainly isn't gonna do it
2nd. last
9th. last
5th. last
It might just be me, but that really looks like tanking.
1. Tank.
2. Trade Joffrey Lupul, Cody Franson and Clarke MacArthur.
3. Draft Nathan MacKinnon, Elias Lindholm or Alexander Barkov.
4. Trade for Roberto Luongo at the draft (Kadri, Bozak)
5. Sign Corey Perry, Paul Ranger and David Clarkson.
Going into 2013/14...
Perry - MacKinnon - Kessel
JVR - Grabovski - Kulemin
Komarov - Colborne - Clarkson
Brown - McClement - Ashton
Gunnarsson - Phaneuf
Gardiner - Ranger
Liles - Holzer
Kostka
Luongo
Reimer
There's a difference between tanking and having a poor/imcomplete team. Tanking = selling off your assets (for draft picks) to intentionally put a crappy team on ice in order to ensure high draft picks for consecutive seasons. Oilers, Hawks, Pens, etc.
I can't remember when that's happened on the Leafs.
Good news. I saw we tank one more year, rid ourselves of the excess fat on our team for picks and ascend next year.
Nobody wants Connolly/Lombardi/Komi's Contracts. Just like we couldn't trade Armstrong and his 3M - but MTL picked him up at 1/3 the price. Same situation will apply here.
We have 3 Trade Chips right now.
1. Lupul - his value will NEVER be higher. - Personally I think he's useless - doesn't hit - has no size - lacks toughness - isn't a skilled offensive player - he's a defensive liability - he doesn't get along with our coach and vice versa - all in all he's a poor mans Scott Hartnell.
2. Kessel - again his value will never be higher ... expect his production to drop significantly without the help of Wilsons "DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WHENEVER YOU WANT" System ... expect problems with Carlysle to increase - as his icetime will be cut should he continue to not play defensive. All in all his time in Toronto has been a cake-walk - it will get sour very quickly. Trade him before you become desperate and HAVE to move him.
3. Kadri - Is he a 3rd line Grinding Defensive specialist? No - he was drafted to be a 1/2C ... can you be a competitive hockey team with Both Grabo/Kadri playing down the Middle? My money's on no. So trade him - his value will only drop watching him get frustrated burried on our teams 3rd line playing 12minutes a night and putting up 20-30 points. Move him for an asset you can utilize appropriately.
The thing is that having a decent goalie and doing reasonably well this year might help us attract free agents more than sucking and getting a high draft pick would. Now if only we could get a decent goalie, do reasonably well, and trade someone to a crappy team for a first rounder...
people wanting to tank and trade Kessel and Lupul coming off all-star seasons is just dumb. We have 2 dynamic young snipers and all these sad sack leaf trolls can do is say we need to blow it up and start over. we can draft top 5 for the next 10 years and still never find a productive duo that comes close to Lupes and Kessel. lay off the drugs people .
I really, really hope this is true. It's a short season, tanking will be relatively painless, and with no moves we should finish with a pretty high pick. The top of this draft is absolutely loaded, MacKinnon/Jones/Drouin/Lindholm/Barkov/Monahan would all be top 3 picks most years, and four of them are centres. This is a GREAT opportunity to get a young #1 centre, all we have to do is hold off on a goalie trade for 48 games (or however long this season is going to be).Dave Nonis was interviewed this afternoon on Sportsnet (Fan 590) by Kypreos, Mallard and MacLean.
After the interview, the panel stated they did not get the impression that ownership was pushing Dave Nonis to make a push for Luongo and the playoffs. Kypreos stated that it seems like ownership is pushing Nonis to "do it right". They mentioned that it seems like the quality of talent in the 2013 NHL Draft is a big thing for ownership.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/podcasts/
"Hockey Centrel @ Noon - Thursday"
people wanting to tank and trade Kessel and Lupul coming off all-star seasons is just dumb. We have 2 dynamic young snipers and all these sad sack leaf trolls can do is say we need to blow it up and start over. we can draft top 5 for the next 10 years and still never find a productive duo that comes close to Lupes and Kessel. lay off the drugs people .
I really, really hope this is true. It's a short season, tanking will be relatively painless, and with no moves we should finish with a pretty high pick. The top of this draft is absolutely loaded, MacKinnon/Jones/Drouin/Lindholm/Barkov/Monahan would all be top 3 picks most years, and four of them are centres. This is a GREAT opportunity to get a young #1 centre, all we have to do is hold off on a goalie trade for 48 games (or however long this season is going to be).
On the other hand, this is the complete opposite of how MLSE has always acted, even when they're supposedly "fine with a rebuild." I'm more than a little sceptical that they won't push Nonis to make some headline grabbing move that will drive single season revenues.
Are you Leo from Vaughn that was just on the Fan 590? He echoed the exactly same thing you just said.