I said the Oilers current streak of mismanagement will be as bad as the Leafs of yester-year if they don't make some changes soon. Some guys took offence to that. Why I have no idea because it's absolutely true. Two words - Harold Ballard.
- LeftCoaster

Harold ballard saved the leafs.

I got the gist of it. We both suck, like it or not, until we prove the theory wrong. Both teams have combined for 0 cups in 80+ years..

don't get me started on edmonton

Well I think they made some massive changes In The off season...but I do agree overall they need to make some changes in the top 6 forwards. Problem is no cap space limits them to trades, it's not the Hall and Ebs contracts either. There is a little over 10 million tied up in Smyth, Hemmer and N.Schultz that won't be here. Mac T would surely not get a fair return if he made a knee jerk trade to dish off Yak at this point, but trust me, if the right deal came along...Mac T is fully commited to improving this team...but not stupidly.
- Jeropotato

there comes a point when you have to make a trade for now. The pens and hawks, yeah they had high picks but they had vets too. Trading a pick or a young kid could net you a lot of assets. Otherwise you will take forever to become good, and will not have the cap space to keep the guys anyways. Again, people chirp the kessel deal but take him away, add seguin and Hamilton (two very good youngsters) and where are the leafs? Maybe not the best example, but you get my drift...

Harold ballard saved the leafs.

I got the gist of it. We both suck, like it or not, until we prove the theory wrong. Both teams have combined for 0 cups in 80+ years..

don't get me started on edmonton
- clark_griswold

I never brought up the Canucks, how the conversation turned in that direction is because a Leaf fan felt like they needed to defend history. It is what it is

I never brought up the Canucks, how the conversation turned in that direction is because a Leaf fan felt like they needed to defend history. It is what it is
- LeftCoaster

cause leafs / nucks fans are childish....you know this. So how 'bout them oilers?

cause leafs / nucks fans are childish....you know this. So how 'bout them oilers?
- clark_griswold

They suck as bad as the 80's Leafs

What?

cause leafs / nucks fans are childish....you know this. So how 'bout them oilers?
- clark_griswold

I made two predictions at the beginning of the season:

1. Flames finish ahead of Oilers

and

2. Sens finish ahead of Leafs.

I'm really surprised at Leaf's fast start. Will they keep it going? I don't see a lot of competition for a playoff spot in the east. I think Leafs might finish the season with home ice advantage going into the playoffs.

As I said, surprising.

I made two predictions at the beginning of the season:

1. Flames finish ahead of Oilers

and

2. Sens finish ahead of Leafs.

I'm really surprised at Leaf's fast start. Will they keep it going? I don't see a lot of competition for a playoff spot in the east. I think Leafs might finish the season with home ice advantage going into the playoffs.

As I said, surprising.
- bloatedmosquito

Leafs start - yes, surprising. Where I disagree with you is the sens. Before the year the predictions on OTT were ludicrous. Leafs may miss the playoffs, but we will finish ahead of OTT and MTL. The amount of respect given Ottawa was shocking before this year.

Fran's Nielsen - sick moves

the best thing for the leafs is the week off. Even if we beat van, which I say we don't, that week to straighten our sh*t out and get guys back / Clarkson involved will be just what the doctor ordered. A beating by van (I still hope we win) would allow RC to whip the leafs asses into shape nicely

Leafs start - yes, surprising. Where I disagree with you is the sens. Before the year the predictions on OTT were ludicrous. Leafs may miss the playoffs, but we will finish ahead of OTT and MTL. The amount of respect given Ottawa was shocking before this year.
- clark_griswold

- bloatedmosquito

reimer, bernier and ESPECIALLY price are just as good if not better. Then I look at the teams.....

reimer, bernier and ESPECIALLY price are just as good if not better. Then I look at the teams.....
- clark_griswold

Ottawa is a rival and I hated them more than any team, including the habs. But I gained a lot of respect for them last year, to this day they play a tough and honest game and found myself cheering for the sens as the series vs the habs went on. Still think they are way overrated, their season isn't done, it's 13 games in but my point is my thinking they're overrated doesn't stem me from hating them as a rival.

not to rip the flyers again...but Giroux? 11 games, 0 G, 6 A, -7....wow...I love the kid too but wow

there comes a point when you have to make a trade for now. The pens and hawks, yeah they had high picks but they had vets too. Trading a pick or a young kid could net you a lot of assets. Otherwise you will take forever to become good, and will not have the cap space to keep the guys anyways. Again, people chirp the kessel deal but take him away, add seguin and Hamilton (two very good youngsters) and where are the leafs? Maybe not the best example, but you get my drift...
- clark_griswold

Absolutely! Listen, I'm not opposed to trading anyone, including Hall or the rest of the super young adults. But here's the deal. Right now People ain't offering sh1t for Yak, so were better off hanging on and waiting till he looks like a 30-40 goal man, whether it' next year or whenever. If we do trade any of them, we better make sure we get full market value if not better, and we can't afford to chance the return walking as a UFA right away either. The Oilers have paid dearly for the chance to draft these assets, we can't squander them. So like I said, if the offer is right, I think we should.

So tell me this:
What is a good example of fair value for any of the super kids in trade and how does it help this team in the present and beyond?

"More to come..."


Like.... what? Maybe in 4 years I suppose.

Philly is an embarrassment.

How can Philly go out there and commit, what is tantamount, (look it up, mouth breathers) to assault ... still get their asses handed to them and have created one of the best GIFs in Internet History of Downey getting his face rang... until that moment.... I did not know you could "ring a face"... but lo it happened.... and all for a loss by a converted touchdown at home and being shut out.

And good for you NHL.... looks like that rule about keeping Helmets on is working 100%!

Worst Game Ever.

Who they going to fire now?

downie for sestito not looking good right now

Who cares who I cheer for? I was stating fact not fiction. Over the past 45 years the Leafs have had the worst existence due to mismanagement. Bar none! Canucks have also had some bad years, but not to the degree of the Leafs. I can't believe I have to even defend that with you.

Also, the first 20 years of the Nucks existence they were a new franchise, the Leafs of that era were not and the Oilers are presently not either. Canucks had a Cup final in their 13th year.
- LeftCoaster

if the Canucks were an expansion team, shouldn't you be comparing their results against other expansion teams? such as the teams that came into the league at our around the time they did? Buffalo, NYI, etc?

and since you're wanting this to be fact based - consider these facts
1) Leaf teams were very weak in the wake of the 67 cup win, because of the age of the players
2) the Leafs were hit harder by a very long way than any other team by the emergence of the WHA - check out the list of players the lost - which to name a few included Keon, Parent, Stoughton
3) and fact - not fiction or opinion - Ballard systematically ran anyone out of town who wanted a bit more money - what possible rationale could there have been for moving McDonald, Sittler, Rick Kehoe, Carlyle... and these were not average players.
4) he (Ballard) pays to onboard Salming and Hammarstrom, which was not a common practice at the time... and then won't spend to get Nilsson and Hedberg.

as a die-hard leaf fan (but not an unrealistic one) for many years - I watched closely the late 70s - thru the early 90s... which the results thereof were all directly attributable to the Ballard idiocy - that dark period in my mind really - and the stupidity was endless - and not limited to the ice.

there was a good reason Ballard ended up in prison - the unfortunate thing for Leaf fans was that he got out.

to a lesser degree the idiocy continued into the late 90s... when once again Stavro and his "legacy" insisted on gutting the team of valuable players - at a time when teams like Detroit were spending like drunken sailors - immediately on the heels of a few seasons of going deeper in the playoffs than anyone had expected.

so compare away if you will... but there is really nothing in the Leaf post-67 era that compares with the Canuck situation.... except of course that neither team has won the cup since 67.

Philly is an embarrassment.

How can Philly go out there and commit, what is tantamount, (look it up, mouth breathers) to assault ... still get their asses handed to them and have created one of the best GIFs in Internet History of Downey getting his face rang... until that moment.... I did not know you could "ring a face"... but lo it happened.... and all for a loss by a converted touchdown at home and being shut out.

And good for you NHL.... looks like that rule about keeping Helmets on is working 100%!

Worst Game Ever.

Who they going to fire now?
- Beatle_john

no one.

Bobby Clarke will re-assume GM duties, and Holmgren will be made "director of player development". Hextall will assume the real GM duties, with Clarke as figure head. And I believe they'll bring back Dave Schultz to be the coach in charge of special teams - you know the penalty kill and power play. With that line-up of rational deep thinkers in control. . what could possibly go wrong.

the one good thing that we know will come out of this is that with Philly screwed and up against the CAP in a big way, and with Chicago facing CAP trouble... I'm guessing the league will somehow find a way to raise the CAP by about 10-12 million - not that Chicago or Philly have any particular influence over those things.

Wasn't too long nucks fans were saying the Sedin's will take another sweetheart deal, something along the lines of 4.5-4.75/ year. I remember saying they wouldn't take a dime less than 7, if not they would bolt to a swede friendly place like Detroit or St. Louis...

Reasonable deal, should be able to fit them in easily enough once Gillis is fired and the new GM buys out Booth over the summer

Also, the first 20 years of the Nucks existence they were a new franchise, the Leafs of that era were not and the Oilers are presently not either. Canucks had a Cup final in their 13th year.
- LeftCoaster

congrats on all those cup finals! hundreds of years from now people will think back to that time the Vancouver Canucks almost won the Stanley cup!

Philly is an embarrassment.

How can Philly go out there and commit, what is tantamount, (look it up, mouth breathers) to assault ... still get their asses handed to them and have created one of the best GIFs in Internet History of Downey getting his face rang... until that moment.... I did not know you could "ring a face"... but lo it happened.... and all for a loss by a converted touchdown at home and being shut out.

And good for you NHL.... looks like that rule about keeping Helmets on is working 100%!

Worst Game Ever.

Who they going to fire now?
- Beatle_john

Emery is a bum! Fire Holmgren cause he turned this team upside down.

- bloatedmosquito

He was being severely over hyped. The guy played great for a 24 game spurt last season, and an 18 game stretch 2 years before that. He is an average goalie, who had two great small sample sizes. Somehow, he became a reliable elite goalie based on nothing more than small windows while his bigger body of work of being an average goalie was over looked.

Absolutely! Listen, I'm not opposed to trading anyone, including Hall or the rest of the super young adults. But here's the deal. Right now People ain't offering sh1t for Yak, so were better off hanging on and waiting till he looks like a 30-40 goal man, whether it' next year or whenever. If we do trade any of them, we better make sure we get full market value if not better, and we can't afford to chance the return walking as a UFA right away either. The Oilers have paid dearly for the chance to draft these assets, we can't squander them. So like I said, if the offer is right, I think we should.

So tell me this:
What is a good example of fair value for any of the super kids in trade and how does it help this team in the present and beyond?
- Jeropotato

I'm not saying trade yak, his value is way too low. How about some future picks for a D and goalie? I guess trades comparable would be kessel and say the trade for cory schneider. Target some rfas (not saying they haven't tried it before, for all we know they have on numerous occasions). Hopefully you guys turn it around, you have the assets to do it.

Great to see the Sedins staying in vancouver where players go to destroy their careers. Over rated and over paid...... thats just my opinion thought.