Drew75
Registered User
- Sep 5, 2005
- 2,518
- 0
I think it's funny how everyone is calling for the Leafs to "blow it up" 
So many are calling for a rebuild which takes long term thinking to be successful, but those same people are doing so by applying short term thinking (what have you done for me lately?) to the issue. That's counter intuitive.
This team is not as good as they showed on their run prior to the Olympics and changes definitely need to happen, but they're also not as bad as their collapse.
A guy like Phaneuf for example - he is a classic example of a player being misused. No - he's not a true #1 D, and he's also not a great shut down D, but given 20 - 24 minutes a night with better support, and he's a great #2 on any team. I don't know if he should be captain, only the players in the room know that for sure - but thrown out like so much garbage? He's a valuable asset who has been put in a position to do too much, rather than in a position to succeed.
Clarkson is a guy who had a horrible year. Everything that could go wrong for him, did. He just never got it going between suspensions, injuries, everything. He's not a 30 goal scorer, and wasn't signed to be one (as Nonis himself said). He should be - as he's proven over time - a solid 20 goal guy who plays heart and soul hockey, the kind of guy made for spring hockey. I'm not arguing his contract, but to throw him away after a year when everything went wrong is stupid. He should bounce back next year, and I'm betting the same people suggesting buy out will be putting him on their keeper list a year from now.
This team has a solid core of young players. Guys like Kessel, JVR, Kadri, Reilly, Gardiner, Phaneuf, and Bernier. They need to get a couple of veteran leaders in the room, another top 4 and bottom pairing D, some depth and leadership in the bottom 6, and probably a new coach.
Blow it up? No. Every team goes through growing pains. They are not there yet talent wise, and there is a ways to go - but when you look a few short years ago to where we are today, and it's night and day. We are accumulating talent, but unlike NHL 14, it can't all be done on a Sunday afternoon.
Look at all the people that screamed when we brought in Bernier. All the "Nonis doesn't know what he's doing, we don't need goaltending". I don't see those praise Reimer threads anymore.
Yes, we need better coaching, better scouting, and more patience to get there. It's a long and painful process, but it was Nonis who got us Lupul and Gardiner, JVR, and Bernier. He takes a patient and long term approach, he refuses to give up youth for immediate fixes. I'll have faith that a year from now we'll be having a different and more positive perspective on the results. It's about understanding a player can't be judged on one season alone. Understanding that there are ups and downs, that it's a process.
I will look long term, and I will have faith. I know I'll get ripped for this, but we'll see who is right in the end.
So many are calling for a rebuild which takes long term thinking to be successful, but those same people are doing so by applying short term thinking (what have you done for me lately?) to the issue. That's counter intuitive.
This team is not as good as they showed on their run prior to the Olympics and changes definitely need to happen, but they're also not as bad as their collapse.
A guy like Phaneuf for example - he is a classic example of a player being misused. No - he's not a true #1 D, and he's also not a great shut down D, but given 20 - 24 minutes a night with better support, and he's a great #2 on any team. I don't know if he should be captain, only the players in the room know that for sure - but thrown out like so much garbage? He's a valuable asset who has been put in a position to do too much, rather than in a position to succeed.
Clarkson is a guy who had a horrible year. Everything that could go wrong for him, did. He just never got it going between suspensions, injuries, everything. He's not a 30 goal scorer, and wasn't signed to be one (as Nonis himself said). He should be - as he's proven over time - a solid 20 goal guy who plays heart and soul hockey, the kind of guy made for spring hockey. I'm not arguing his contract, but to throw him away after a year when everything went wrong is stupid. He should bounce back next year, and I'm betting the same people suggesting buy out will be putting him on their keeper list a year from now.
This team has a solid core of young players. Guys like Kessel, JVR, Kadri, Reilly, Gardiner, Phaneuf, and Bernier. They need to get a couple of veteran leaders in the room, another top 4 and bottom pairing D, some depth and leadership in the bottom 6, and probably a new coach.
Blow it up? No. Every team goes through growing pains. They are not there yet talent wise, and there is a ways to go - but when you look a few short years ago to where we are today, and it's night and day. We are accumulating talent, but unlike NHL 14, it can't all be done on a Sunday afternoon.
Look at all the people that screamed when we brought in Bernier. All the "Nonis doesn't know what he's doing, we don't need goaltending".
I don't see those praise Reimer threads anymore. Yes, we need better coaching, better scouting, and more patience to get there. It's a long and painful process, but it was Nonis who got us Lupul and Gardiner, JVR, and Bernier. He takes a patient and long term approach, he refuses to give up youth for immediate fixes. I'll have faith that a year from now we'll be having a different and more positive perspective on the results. It's about understanding a player can't be judged on one season alone. Understanding that there are ups and downs, that it's a process.
I will look long term, and I will have faith. I know I'll get ripped for this, but we'll see who is right in the end.
