Speculation: Why didn't Rasmus Sandin cut it as a Leaf?

[Subway Schenn]

He seemed to be putting it all together as he entered the league. Thought he would be at least Rielly-level but it never really clicked. What happened?

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[Darcy Tucker]

He was the red headed step child of the Dubases

 

[Roo]

I just don’t think they were ready to give him minutes in the playoffs. If we were a younger team they probably keep him.

 

[weems]

I think his overall skating ability is a real problem.
He has excellent natural offensive skills, thinks the game well and plays with a nice edge but his agility and straight line speed gets him into trouble.

 

[Menzinger]

Skating, definitely.

I can see him rolling out as a Cody Franson type, where they've got top 4 puck skills but the rest of the ability is a tier below

 

[Phion Keneuf]

Can’t skate, can’t defend

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

He pissed off his Daddy Dubas by holding out. I liked him, he had potential. Good vision and solid physical presence for his size - he had some nice reverse hits.

 

[HockeyVirus]

He's still not that great with the Capitals lol

 

[Madap]

It’s too bad it didn’t work out. I thought he could have been a really good player for us, even despite his skating. This team doesn’t have a ton of patience for our prospects though. I understand it since we’re trying to compete but I wish we changed our philosophy and let the kids play more.

With that said, essentially getting Cowan for him is looking like a 10/10 trade so can’t complain too much.

 

[Al14]

He's more tortoise than he is a gazelle. Too slow and too soft defensively.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

They mishandled his development. Inserting him in the playoffs when he hadn't played hockey in a calendar year and wasn't a NHL regular. Then the next year when he was at his best with a year more experience they scratch him for no reason and replace him with Liljegren who wasn't playing well. They did a similar thing with Liljegren, playing him when he wasn't doing well and then scratching him when he had confidence. Not to mention the shameful structure less defense that was built by this team over the last 5 years. They were thrown to the wolves and had to play with each other a lot of the time, it's a miracle that Sandin and Liljegren are still in the league tbh.

 

[Stephen]

Terrible straight line acceleration, footwork not able to give him the space to do the magic offensively and undersized to play the aggressive game he likes, not strong enough to battle in the net front... kind of an oddly entitled attitude when it came to negotiations and pecking order on the team... all added up to punch Sandin's ticket out of town, and pave the way for Easton Cowan to be a Leaf.

 

[IPS]

Because Dubas' regimen had absolutely zero idea whatsoever on how to properly develop defensemen.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

They mishandled his development. Inserting him in the playoffs when he hadn't played hockey in a calendar year and wasn't a NHL regular. Then the next year when he was at his best with a year more experience they scratch him for no reason and replace him with Liljegren who wasn't playing well. They did a similar thing with Liljegren, playing him when he wasn't doing well and then scratching him when he had confidence. Not to mention the shameful structure less defense that was built by this team over the last 5 years. They were thrown to the wolves and had to play with each other a lot of the time, it's a miracle that Sandin and Liljegren are still in the league tbh.

Oh come on. The Leafs are to blame? Perhaps they're just not good enough. This "mishandled development" thing is tired.

 

[ULF_55]

Can’t skate, can’t defend

Can't skate <> Rielly
Can't defend = Rielly

 

[hamzarocks]

Him, lilijgren, dermott all three big time busts from 2015-2018 era

All three insanely overrated at one point here as well

Leafs cant develope d-men

 

[Menzinger]

Him, lilijgren, dermott all three big time busts from 2015-2018 era

All three insanely overrated at one point here as well

Leafs cant develope d-men

Or can't draft them? Maybe a bit of both.

But it's quite noticeable that going back 10-15 years or more, this team hasn't exactly done well with home grown D men.

 

[Stephen]

Or can't draft them? Maybe a bit of both.

But it's quite noticeable that going back 10-15 years or more, this team hasn't exactly done well with home grown D men.

It's mind boggling that the best defenseman we've seen the Leafs develop in the whole Shanaplan era is Justin Holl... although turning a bust second round ECHL guy into a middle pairing guy is quite the feat of development.

Just seems like the traditional Keefe/Dubas transition game had too many things going on in the possession department and unclear go/no go orders to program a young kid with and you get the worst of both worlds. You fail to drill in fundamental defensive basics and don't get the offensive squeeze out of these guys (who pulls a spin-o-rama in OT while attempting a zone exit?)

 

[darrylsittler27]

He wasn't worth to the Leafs what he got from Washington $5m. His skating on a team that valued mobility and he wasn't going to get top 4 minutes here anyway. Toronto had to get something. Now that it's Cowan it looks like genius.

 

[aingefan]

He can play on just about any d-corps.
I personally think contract demands v. opportunity was the debate for his camp and the Leafs, and it was a pre-emptive move.
And to the poster cutting the D prospects, Sandin/Durzi are regulars. Lili is a regular, slowed by injury. Dermott was developing just fine until derailed by injuries. Holl was developed here. So was Mo.
it hasn’t been all that bad.

 

[Commander Clueless]

He did cut it, but wanted a bigger role on a team desperately in need of crease clearing bruisers. Hence the trade.

Then of course we got a bunch of bruisers and couldn't score so.... You know.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

He did cut it, but wanted a bigger role on a team desperately in need of crease clearing bruisers. Hence the trade.

Then of course we got a bunch of bruisers and couldn't score so.... You know.

We miss his 3 goals terribly.

 

[Commander Clueless]

We miss his 3 goals terribly.

Not really, but the design approach to this D corps in terms of type of defenseman has flip flopped a little. We need toughness. We need offense. We need...we need...

Of course we never have much money to spend on it so I guess we get what we pay for in a lot of ways.


Point with Sandin was he wasn't what we thought we needed when we thought we needed it, and became a trade chip.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Keefe is real bad at developing young guys at the NHL level. But besides that, Sandin’s lack of speed, small size, and poor defensive game were always going to hold him back. Even before Dubas traded him, I don’t think he’d have lasted long under Treliving.

Could Sandin have succeeded here? Maybe, but he’d have to be the modern day Marc-Andre Bergeron and that’s a real waste of a roster spot. Especially on this team when you’ve got Rielly and Liljegren who are both capable PP QBs. Not to mention the Leafs have found three veteran offensive defensemen over the last three seasons (Gustafsson, Klingberg, OEL) who bring all that Sandin brings and come with size, a bit of snarl, and at least two of them had/have better defensive games.

 

[SprDaVE]

He just wasn't able to progress into a stable top 4 defender. Every time he would get the tougher minutes, he'd look his worse or get injured for awhile. His skating is also really average at best and one mistake would result in him being out of the play. Maybe he takes another development step with Washington but the Leafs essentially needed to get an upgrade on him entering the playoffs and they did with McCabe.