Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
dyn
Jan 9, 2005

Barn duelin' since '07

Call Your Grandma posted:

To be fair, what hey were doing last year was a teardown and you could project anything you want on it. The return on the Kessel trade raised some flags for me, and it looks like they are just as enamoured with grit as everybody else. They haven't traded away all their prospects yet though, so that's something.

This draft year and offseason seemed to be a calling card of size and grit. I would put the blame on Lou but he's made some decent moves leading up to this offseason. It's one thing to add the size/grit/leadership after you've collected all the skill but I don't think we're even close to having enough skill to sacrifice for some size just yet. Our prospects are a lot stronger and skilled than the last regime but I don't think it's time to be trying to mold into the big bad truculent team just yet.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

dyn
Jan 9, 2005

Barn duelin' since '07

Hand Knit posted:

I think it's fair to be uncomfortable with what they're doing. The draft was weird, but at least it was clearly informed by some sort of plan and analysis. Giving term for Martin, bringing back Polak, and apparently being in on Russell, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have the same apparent justification. Even if Polak is someone to dump at the deadline, until then he'll be taking ice time from someone who could actually be in the future of the Leafs (Corrado, Marincin). Martin and apparently Russell come with four year price tags, on the other hand, which are very committal moves. Martin, I guess, is at least apparently very good at suppressing shots against and therefore fits with the way that Babcock likes to organize his lines ("checkers" distributed through the lineup instead of an isolated cheaking line), but Russell is just crap.

So, like, this isn't a Dave Nonis catastrophe or anything, but if Lou turns out to have a bad run for the Leafs we'll be pointing to these moves as the start of it.

I suppose if management is not comfortable with giving the prospects a bunch of ice time just yet and decided to shelter the kids with some vets then it could make some sense, but that's why you give these guys 1 or maybe 2 year deals, not 4. They are probably not up to giving Marner / Nylander / Matthews 25+ minutes a night just yet and realize next season is probably already lost too, so might as well fill the holes and give the kids time to learn and develop either with sheltered minutes or down in the minors.

I know teams always overpay during free agency but it might have been better to do nothing? I guess the deals aren't horrific so we'll wait and see if it works out.

dyn
Jan 9, 2005

Barn duelin' since '07
https://twitter.com/alroy42/status/749711518355247104

So grandpa Lou not as senile as we thought?

  • Locked thread