Why the Maple Leafs Bought Out Grabovski

[darrylsittler27]

I will take Bolland,anyday. Bozak was to ensure Kessel, which we now have. Hope you score and still lose Grabo., you wanted that contract,you got it.

 

[666]

What position on the ice does $8.5M play?

Any position you need. Of course you could just play it in the Marlies like Liles if you like but that's how Nonis does it.

 

[Milan90]

The bitterness towards not re-signing a decent role player, 6 months after the fact is absolutely hilarious.

Please get over it. The player is no longer on our team and he was never a game breaker.

 

[GordieHoweHatTrick]

Easy way to look at it and the Clarkson is a possession Grabo is a turnover machine. Imagine how bad turn overs would be with the with Grabo in the line up

I suppose, if you're cross-eyed.

Grabovski was a possession machine for the Buds as well. His line got the puck out of our zone easily and was able to cycle down low better than any other line on the team.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

That made me cringe a bit...9m for Bozak/Clarkson...not sure that's a great spend...

Bozak would not be a hard piece to move if we wanted to trade him.

 

[Diatomic]

Bozak would not be a hard piece to move if we wanted to trade him.

i hope your right

 

[Cor]

Yeah, Bozak is very tradable.

 

[leafstilldeath*]

Bozak would not be a hard piece to move if we wanted to trade him.

I respectfully disagree. For a player of bozo's caliber and 4.2 mil it will be hard to move him.

 

[Trainspotter]

Seems to me that the team philosophy that led the Leafs to their first playoffs in a decade was speed and skill.

They've overreacted to the game 7 loss.

Yeah, where will they get any speed and skill with Kessel, JVR, Lupul, Kadri, Raymond, Holland, Gardiner, Bolland, Franson, Phaneuf and Rielly around? Without Grabovski there's no one left with any offensive skill at all. Damn plumbers everywhere.

 

[Goonface2k14]

What games were you watching?

Small sample sizes are a helluva drug

 

[Leafidelity]

Bozak would not be a hard piece to move if we wanted to trade him.

They could trade him today if they wanted to. Plenty of teams would have interest.

 

[Crispy Crust]

I respectfully disagree. For a player of bozo's caliber and 4.2 mil it will be hard to move him.

This. A 4th line superstar making 4.2M on a 5 year term will be incredibly difficult to ship out.

 

[bunjay]

Bozak would not be a hard piece to move if we wanted to trade him.

Nobody wants that 5 year contract. Leafs would have to take on an equally bad contract, which would defeat the purpose.

 

[Milan90]

I respectfully disagree. For a player of bozo's caliber and 4.2 mil it will be hard to move him.

How the hell does this make sense? You do realize 4.2 is a reasonable number for a #2 centre right?

He's not even close to overpaid.

 

[KuleminFan41]

I would've preferred they try to make it fit, rather than just lose him for nothing other than cap space so that they could sign Bozo and Clarkson.

Can't fit a square peg into a round hole

 

[bunjay]

Yeah, where will they get any speed and skill with Kessel, JVR, Lupul, Kadri, Raymond, Holland, Gardiner, Bolland, Franson, Phaneuf and Rielly around? Without Grabovski there's no one left with any offensive skill at all. Damn plumbers everywhere.

Pssst...take a look at our lineup at centre. You know...that important position Grabovski plays.

How exactly to Bolland and Franson make a list of people with "speed and skill?" Why are you listing defensemen at all?

 

[Cor]

I respectfully disagree. For a player of bozo's caliber and 4.2 mil it will be hard to move him.

Given we likely won't move him until after season 2 of the deal, and the cap could be around 73M by then 4.2M would be about 5% of that... which is perfectly fine for a solid 2C.

Right now, Bozie takes up roughly 6.5% of our cap space. Still not terrible.

 

[Crispy Crust]

How the hell does this make sense? You do realize 4.2 is a reasonable number for a #2 centre right?

He's not even close to overpaid.

Absolutely. The only problem is Bozak isn't a quality 2C. There really isn't any statistical evidence out there to suggest Bozak would be a good 2C. He is one of the worst top 6 C's in the game, and would probably be better suited on a 4th line C role. You know he should probably be making closer to 2M on a short term deal (1-2 years) than anything else.

 

[leafstilldeath*]

How the hell does this make sense? You do realize 4.2 is a reasonable number for a #2 centre right?

He's not even close to overpaid.

I guess this where you and I differ. I do not see Bozo as a top 6 player and am pretty sure other teams do not as well.

In our team so far:

Bolland > Bozo
Kadri > Bozo
McClement > Bozo

Hell the way the new kid Holland is playing I might go on and say that
Holland>Bozo

TO be a top 6C one needs some offensive instincts. Bozo has none. He is a bottom 6 player and for a bottom 6 player 4.2 mil is a lot of money

 

[Cor]

I guess this where you and I differ. I do not see Bozo as a top 6 player and am pretty sure other teams do not as well.

In our team so far:

Bolland > Bozo
Kadri > Bozo
McClement > Bozo

Hell the way the new kid Holland is playing I might go on and say that
Holland>Bozo

TO be a top 6C one needs some offensive instincts. Bozo has none. He is a bottom 6 player and for a bottom 6 player 4.2 mil is a lot of money

Kadri is our best center. Bozak is better then Bolland, McClement and Holland. You are just plain wrong there

 

[Milan90]

http://www.rotoworld.com/teams/depth-charts/nhl.aspx

Why don't you guys familiarize yourselves with what second line centers are exactly and ask why Bozak doesn't belong there.

There are absolutely better #2s out there but Bozak is about middle of the pack.

 

[leafstilldeath*]

Given we likely won't move him until after season 2 of the deal, and the cap could be around 73M by then 4.2M would be about 5% of that... which is perfectly fine for a solid 2C.

Right now, Bozie takes up roughly 6.5% of our cap space. Still not terrible.

Bozo is not a top6 C. He just lucked out in that he played with Kessel initially after Stajan was shipped.

We were given fairytales by Burke how he would try to find a C for Kessel. Enter: Tim Connolly. He got injured after playing a few games Centering Kessel and then sucked from then on half-assing his shifts (Buffalo fans had warned that Connolly is done). Reaction: Bozak again starts Centering Kessel. Lupul goes down and that line of Bozo-Kessel is shutout and boom 18 wheeler falls.

Recently we have seen Holland do pretty much the same thing as bozo and the line with Kessel and JVR doing their thing is producing in the same manner.
Except, Holland has got a decent shot and nose for the net. FYI he also landed 8 hits in the last game replying to all his critics that were calling him soft or Colborne 2.0.

Basically, any C would have done a great job between Kessel-Lupul/JVR. Bozo is not a top6 C as many on this forum seem to believe.

 

[leafstilldeath*]

Kadri is our best center. Bozak is better then Bolland, McClement and Holland. You are just plain wrong there

lol. If you would have said that Bozak is slightly better than McClement I would have let it go but Bolland? lol oh hell no.

Bolland >> Bozo.

 

[Goonface2k14]

The bitterness towards not re-signing a decent role player, 6 months after the fact is absolutely hilarious.

Please get over it. The player is no longer on our team and he was never a game breaker.

It's bitterness that he was a "role" player in the first place. He's much more likely to be a game breaker than Bozo.

If anything, Bozo is the "role" player, and Grabo should've been put on the top line. Why? Talent! Grabo has tons more talent than Bozak. Pretty sure unless you lived under a rock the past few seasons you would easily agree. And the whole idea of "chemistry" is ridiculous. As if during the fast paced play of a hockey game, Bozak and Kessel have some kind of sixth sense and know where the other guy is at all times. Give me a break. From what I see, Bozo gets the puck, he desperately looks for a winger to pass to. So, he gets a respectable amount of assists because he ends up passing to super talented players like Kessel/Lupul/JVR. Certainly not because of situations that he creates from his own talent.

Bottom line is your best skilled guys should be matched with your other best skilled guys. Having Grabo instead of Bozo would give opponents a lot more to worry about. Then we could have a top line of JVR-Grabo-Kessel, and a second line of Lupul-Kadri-_______ (fill in the blank with a solid winger... Raymond perhaps?). Don't like that? Switch up Grabo and Kadri. Or Lupul and JVR. Much better situation than having Bozo in the mix.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

This. A 4th line superstar making 4.2M on a 5 year term will be incredibly difficult to ship out.

Let me get this straight.

Orr- Bozak - McClaren

I don't think he is an ideal top 6 player. But give the guy some credit.