It's hard to not do that though. Unless, you keep drafting top 5 year after year until all positions are filled, or UFA's decide to come at a relatively cheap price
- walshyleafsfan

?
u try and trade positions of strength for positions of weakness before you go in that direction. if u get an offer u cant refuse or have a shot at a player way ahead in caliber then fine, move gagner etc.

we have a glut of top 6 style right wingers, but are low on gritty 3rd liners.....

we have high picks and a fair amount of solid defensive prospects, but would like an immediate dman to help....

why do people struggle to understand this?

the leafs arent trying to trade top 6 centers to fill their needs. theyre trying to trade defencemen or even wingers. which makes sense.

I know. But he's fairly physical from what I understand. And he'll definatly improve when he starts playing for OKC. That team needs almost just as much work as the Oilers do. And coming from what Eakins said last night, there will be changes down there as well.
- mbxiphos1527

I'm not concerned with the changes coming there at all. Todd Nelson is doing a great job down there. They had to completely rebuild the team midseason this year and only got better

I feel like the Oilers should go after Ference and Scuderi this offseason.

Get some grit and experience on the back end.
- The-O-G

we'd be a better group no question. but id much rather one of em (either) and another guy that can move the puck or plays both ways a little better than those 2.

Schultz is young and petry's decent at it, but I think we're gonna miss whitney's puck moving. whitney was on 1 foot and hurt us defensively in a lot of situations, but he was our best first passer by a mile imo

I find it odd how MacT hasn't re-signed any of the UFAs or RFAs yet. What do you guys think the deal on that is? Think he's moving all of them?
- mbxiphos1527

I don't like it. I could easily see Gagner getting an offer sheet

So is he a poor mans Kesler or a Rich mans Horcoff?
- Jeropotato

he's Horcoff.

stop confusing our blogger with all of our posters. hardly anyone outside clouts even mentions the word.

no one is untouchable.

but ill be clear; if you're just another poster suggesting that the only way we can improve is to deal one of our kids, you're very wrong imo
- hugefemale dog77

or suggesting that the only way to improve is getting Weber.

I can litterally name 50 dmen worse than Weber that could make us better as a team.

he's Horcoff.
- Morris

a little more physical, but extremely similar.

he's nowhere near a healthy kesler imo

I find it odd how MacT hasn't re-signed any of the UFAs or RFAs yet. What do you guys think the deal on that is? Think he's moving all of them?
- mbxiphos1527

I think if there is an opportunity for a better version of Jones or Petrel he look at doing it.Just weighing his options. I think when constructing a team,line by line, it all depends on thr Center Ice men. For example, if he stumbles upon a physical beast of a 3C center with grit and toughness(I'll use Gaustad as an example),then Jones could be a good fit on the wing opposite MPS. If he ends up with a average sized 2 way utility forward like say Dave Bolland,then he might want to compliment him with a greater physical precence to support him. I think,when it comes to specifics, that the Center is the key,and you fill in the wingers after that.

a little more physical, but extremely similar.

he's nowhere near a healthy kesler imo
- hugefemale dog77

So he's really only worth 3.5 max or someone else can over pay him?Fine by me.

or suggesting that the only way to improve is getting Weber.

I can litterally name 50 dmen worse than Weber that could make us better as a team.
- Morris

which goes hand in hand with moving one of the kids most likely. neither needs to happen to get us to the next level

?
u try and trade positions of strength for positions of weakness before you go in that direction. if u get an offer u cant refuse or have a shot at a player way ahead in caliber then fine, move gagner etc.

we have a glut of top 6 style right wingers, but are low on gritty 3rd liners.....

we have high picks and a fair amount of solid defensive prospects, but would like an immediate dman to help....

why do people struggle to understand this?

the leafs arent trying to trade top 6 centers to fill their needs. theyre trying to trade defencemen or even wingers. which makes sense.
- hugefemale dog77

We shouldve put a major offer on the table for Brent Burns when he was made available

I don't like it. I could easily see Gagner getting an offer sheet
- Ihatebrianburke

Not a bad thing if an overpayment warrants an over compensation.

So he's really only worth 3.5 max or someone else can over pay him?Fine by me.
- Jeropotato

yup

which has been exactly the problem with horcoff. if he was making half of what he makes now, or even closer to your number, I believe we wouldn't hear near the amount of horcoff hate

We shouldve put a major offer on the table for Brent Burns when he was made available
- Ihatebrianburke

Made available? That trade seemed to come out of nowhere.Besides at the time, it would have cost us Gagner +.Not that I wouldnt do that deal.

at the right price, both of these guys would help.

not really interested in the other 3 too much for one reason or another
- hugefemale dog77

What about Pisani, or Stalberg??

So he's really only worth 3.5 max or someone else can over pay him?Fine by me.
- Jeropotato

Are we ready to commit to Bozak as a guy who's going to permanently lock down the 2nd/3rd line centre position? Would you rather commit to 5 years of Bozak at 3.5 per or 2 years of Cullen/Zubrus at 3 per and then re-evaluate who's available?

yup

which has been exactly the problem with horcoff. if he was making half of what he makes now, or even closer to your number, I believe we wouldn't hear near the amount of horcoff hate
- hugefemale dog77

I dont mind paying a top 6 salary to the 3C, I think that spot is sometimes as important assecondary scoring, but on the low end. Anythinhg more than 4 million is poor money management.

What about Pisani, or Stalberg??
- Jimmy_wiener

By Pisani you mean Bickell ,right?

Bozak could probably be a #2 centre. I never liked seeing him with Phil, i found he played his best hockey away from Phil, but as a fellow poster kept noting, phil with Bozak as his linemate did have back to back top 10 scoring finishes.

Ideally, on a championship team Bozak would be a #3. On a good team he would be a 1b or 2. He's at his best when he's not trying to be a playmaking centre, his shot is underated, (always has a decent shooting percentage). He should be trying to score rather than forcefeeding passes to phil.
- mykokes

I don't know about Bozak's shot. Seems like he always missed Phil's passes. Phil is a great passer and started getting his asisst total increase when they put him with another good winger like Lupul or JVR.

Not a bad thing if an overpayment warrants an over compensation.
- Jeropotato

I dunno, if someone was foolish enough to spend a 1st, 2nd and a 3rd on him I guess, but losing him would be disastrous for next season. Realistically that means we need to find four NHL centres in two months.

Are we ready to commit to Bozak as a guy who's going to permanently lock down the 2nd/3rd line centre position? Would you rather commit to 5 years of Bozak at 3.5 per or 2 years of Cullen/Zubrus at 3 per and then re-evaluate who's available?
- Morris

Hell no. We have at least 2 years to nail the roster we think we need to win.Besides, I'm afarid Bozak may have peaked.

I dunno, if someone was foolish enough to spend a 1st, 2nd and a 3rd on him I guess, but losing him would be disastrous for next season. Realistically that means we need to find four NHL centres in two months.
- Morris

What kind of salary warrants a 1st,2nd and 3rd? Chances are it's not going to be far off what we pay him anyway.

Percentage of the blog you actually read? 0%
- Maxbone

well i read it... and can say percentage of the blog worth reading is 0%

Are we ready to commit to Bozak as a guy who's going to permanently lock down the 2nd/3rd line centre position? Would you rather commit to 5 years of Bozak at 3.5 per or 2 years of Cullen/Zubrus at 3 per and then re-evaluate who's available?
- Morris

the latter without question.
not ideal that its such a huge offseason for us with such a thin free agent crop. gm's tend to way overpay in these situations.
I think mact can still improve our team and be relatively cautious. a marginal overpay for one of the potentials if possible (clowe, Horton, streit) along with some value signings.

if there's a big splash to be made, its gotta be via trade most likely

We shouldve put a major offer on the table for Brent Burns when he was made available
- Ihatebrianburke

ive been a big brent burns fan for quite some time.

id actually rather him back on defence in our situation, but certainly valuable that he's adept at playing either spot