22 Aug 2018 04:25:22
Leafs trade Kadri, Brown, pick/ prospect
Carolina trades Rask, Fleury, Gauthier

Leafs lineups next year

Hyman/ Matthews/ Nylander
Marleau/ Tavares/ Marner
Johnsson/ Rask/ Kapanen
(Leivo) / (Lindholm) / Gauthier

Reilly/ Liljegren
Dermott/ Zaitsev
Fleury/ Hainsey
(Sandin/ Rasanen)

This is a best case scenario for defense.

Gardiner gets traded by deadline. I put Liljegren on top line, but Hainsey can hold that position for a year longer though as we ease Liljegren in on 3RHD if need be.

1.) 23 Aug 2018
23 Aug 2018 05:32:15
This makes us a worse team now and in the future.

The leafs are already swimming in fringe players who are fully capable of filling a fourth line in the limited capacity we will require. Ennis (or Leivo) -lindholm-brown. Can’t sleep on Jooris, Moore or Engvall either. We don’t need any of the players you acquired. Kadri>Rask.

You do realize Liljegren was bottom pairing for the Marlies cup run, right? To think he’ll be in a 1RHD on the leafs next season, or even 19/ 20, is a very bold statement. He was the youngest defenseman in the AHL last season. He has potential, sure. But if he moves into a top pairing on Marlies and earns a few games on the Leafs bench next season it will have been a very successful one for him.

Do you honestly believe that they will trade Gardiner at the deadline? Like, we’re high in the standings, best team we’ve had for years. How in the world is trading one of your best dman for picks prospects (cause that’s what sellers get at the deadline) make any sense. We kept JVR. We kept Bozak. We will keep Gardiner. He’s a fantastic defenseman on a team whose weakness is there defence.

2.) 23 Aug 2018
23 Aug 2018 16:29:18
@matardi

Actually Liljegren was a top four defenseman, teamed up with Borgman for most of the time. I clearly indicated that my proposed defense was a best case scenario and Liljegren would likely be eased in on 3RHD. I guess you didn’t read that part.

Age has nothing to do with performance, so the fact that Liljegren was youngest player in AHL is irrelevant, except maybe to indicate that he is a young man clearly capable of playing important minutes at a high level against adult professionals.

Gauthier and Fleury are not fringe players. The reason for bringing in Fleury is because if Dermott’s play is as good as last year, we trade Giveaway at the deadline and have Fleury to fill in the 3LHD position until Sandin is ready. Having Dermott, Fleury, Sandin gives us a strong left side in case Leafs decide to trade Reilly in a couple years if they believe they won’t be able to afford to re-sign him.

Gauthier has a ton of potential. I stuck him on fourth line because that’s basically the only spot for him right now. We should be improving the fourth line, which is why I have Leivo and Lindlolm in brackets. I would hope Leafs find a way to upgrade those positions.

Dubas is a very different GM than Lou. I would rather see Leafs trade Gardiner to a non-competing team than lose him for nothing. As he is on the way out anyway, hastening his departure by a few months only brings us to a position we will be in off season anyway. In all likelihood (though we will never know), Lou’s failure to trade any UFA’s played a factor in his exodus as GM from Leafs. Trading a player who has no future on the team and who practically lost us the playoffs all by himself last year kinda makes a lot of sense. Why would we want Giveaway on the team for this year’s playoffs after his performance last year?

Kadri is a better player than Rask, but not by leaps and bounds. The acquisition of Tavares makes Kadri expendable. Rask is a very capable replacement who will likely put up better numbers on the Leafs than on lowly Carolina. We downgrade our 3C position in order to bring in extra help for defense and upgrade our RW. Brown is good, but is quickly falling down depth chart, and I think it’s clear Gauthier is projected to be the far superior player and would be on the team long after Brown is gone.

3.) 23 Aug 2018
23 Aug 2018 18:46:16
I’m going to be honest - I read the first paragraph and a half and stopped reading.

Liljegren was bottom pairing for the Marlies entire Calder run. I watched several of those games in person and only missed a couple live. He was at no point a top 4. Look it up.

Age has nothing to do with performance? Did you read that before you typed it out. Age has everything to do with performance. Players grow and there performance peaks and than declines. Which is why Liljegren won’t be in the NHL full time for at least another season - he’s too young and not strong enough to handle the nhl yet

If was comments like these that I stopped reading this site. You’re entitled to you’re opinion. As am I. But 80% of what you just said is garbage.

4.) 23 Aug 2018
23 Aug 2018 20:43:56
@Matardi

To be honest, your opinion mattters, just not to me. Your speak glibly and reveal your ignorance in your own statements about age and performance. The truly elite and gifted players are in the NHL at very young age and remain elite for decades. Crosby, Ovechkin, Jagr, Gretzky, and hundreds of others were better players both at 16 and at 40 than most people ever will be. Again, age has nothing to do with performance. Either you got it or you don’t. The only time age becomes relevant is when a player finally gets old enough to slow down and finally be forced into retirement.

You obviously are looking to make argument for the sake of argument. Why don’t you try posting a proposal of your own. I checked your status and it has revealed a serious lack of contributions. Maybe after you finally decide to grow a pair and make your own suggestions I can take you more seriously. Until then, you are not even an armchair GM. Simply a critic, and not a very good one at that either.

5.) 24 Aug 2018
24 Aug 2018 04:00:50
You seem like an intelligent person. I truly do not under stand how you can sit there and argue that age and performance are not related. Draw a graph. X axis is age, y axis is ‘performance’ how ever you want to measure it. You honestly don’t believe that you will see an upwards trajectory, plateau than regression? Give your head a shake and think about what you’re saying.

I have made multiple trade proposals, just not recently. The leafs have one of the best rosters in the NHL, I see little need for a big trade. But I’ll post one now if you like. Don’t hurt yourself trying to find a way to pick it apart.

6.) 24 Aug 2018
24 Aug 2018 06:32:58
No. I don’t think I would see that at all.

Performance is determined by so many factors other than age, including: equipment, teammates, playing style, rink size, injury, rule changes, time on ice, role on team, and individual talent.

These kids today are trained and coached virtually since the day they are born. They have a better hockey iq and reflexes and physical conditioning by 15 than the average NHL player in the 90’s (yes, it was 25-30 years ago) did in his life.

The graph you speak of varies like a stock chart for most athletes. With spikes up and down for each individual season depending on a number of different factors. After running a regression and accounting for white noise, I would expect little variance in production for the duration of players career until the very end last couple years when age does finally become relevant and player is forced to retire.