26 Nov 2020 10:59:38
Tor: kerfoot 750,000 rt dermott
Nyr: Schneider 2nd

Offer sheet cernak 3x3

Fixes Dubas mistake and brings in a good rhd who is young makes our righ side stronger

1.) 26 Nov 2020
26 Nov 2020 14:06:03
Schneider not playing organized hockey for a year and with his already poor skating I’d stay far away from him
But that’s just my opinion.

2.) 26 Nov 2020
26 Nov 2020 15:11:04
He was playing in the would juniors for team canada and even so a lot of these young players can still go to Europe and play.

3.) 26 Nov 2020
26 Nov 2020 15:14:51
He’s playing for Canada at the juniors also everything I read says he’s a great skater he’s exactly what the leafs lack in defence a physical two way player.

4.) 26 Nov 2020
26 Nov 2020 15:57:39
Schneider was my choice as well. Since NYR traded up to get him, I doubt they move him unless it is in part of a big package for a more high profile player.

5.) 26 Nov 2020
26 Nov 2020 18:17:02
Idk rlf I don’t think the rangers would want another big contract kerfoot gives them a legit 3C and dermott is better than most of their left side I think the risk is more on Toronto Schneider may turn into a dud but I think he’s worth the risk.

6.) 26 Nov 2020
26 Nov 2020 18:17:14
Schneider was invited to the camp. With 6 2019 draftees probably getting the edge to make team since experience will be a forefront for this team due to time list due to the C.V.. Also with drysdale probably making team that leaves 1 spot for all the 2020 drafted players.

Schneider isn’t a lock to make this team so it’s false to report he is representing Canada. He can skate good for a bigger bodied guy but that doesn’t mean he is a great skater. Guys like Robertson and guhle (both team Canada invited Dmen) can skate better than him but he is better skater than say a Emil rasanen. Reports on big guys bro g able to skate well for big guys never means they can skate great. Just means they aren’t a pylon but aren’t elite either.

Schneider is good but not great. Leafs are signing their D once they are established and developing their forwards. Seems to be dubas way whether we like it or not.

7.) 26 Nov 2020
26 Nov 2020 18:30:05
The draft is such a contentious issue. And it can be debated either way. Unfortunately, we won’t know the results for at least a few years.

I’m going to say some good things here. Because I do actually think the draft is one area that Dubas really does excel in. I do think he is an excellent evaluator of talent, and I have faith in the Leafs scouting department. Then I’m going to end on the negative (s) .

First, the focus on older European players this year was a smart choice by the Leafs. I counted three 19 year olds and one 20 year old (he was still draft eligible because of draft was when it should have been he was still 19). Out of 12 picks, that’s a full 25% of the players who were over 18. These guys are going to be NHL ready earlier (if they make it) and won’t have their development delayed by any league shutdowns. For a team that is going to be needing to constantly replace their bottom six players, that’s a wise decision.

The other thing I noticed that I liked is the fact they went off-grid with a lot of the later round players. There really isn’t a lot of information available on some of these guys. Even HockeyDB, which is the largest database of hockey players in the world, has no information on Fusco. They don’t even have his birthday listed, so I’m not sure how old he is. By drafting these relatively unknowns, Leafs have a better chance at finding a “late round gem” like Johnsson again. Again, I think this is a smart idea. Leafs are leveraging the resources of their scouting department and trying to find an edge, which is exactly what they should be doing with so many late round picks.

Now, having said that, I am going to approach the negatives.

I’m going to beat the same drum again that I’ve mentioned before a million times. The biggest knock against these guys is their size. The average size of an NHL player last year was 6’01” and 199.1lbs. The vast majority of the player prospects Leafs drafted the last few years were significantly smaller than this. While they may still fill out a little more, these guys are 18+ adult males. Young adults, true. But still adults. The opportunity for physical development at this point is limited. A few of these guys may have late growth spurts, but will it also be the same guys that have the skill to get into the NHL? That is impossible to say. Contrast our last three drafts to Ottawa. The difference is startling.

Even if the league is moving towards a smaller more skilled player approach, this is not going to happen over night. It will take years and years before the average size of an NHL player drops to the range that Dubas seems to think is ideal. In the meantime, our prospect players are going to be battling in a physical sport dominated by much larger and aggressive players. My own personal opinion on this subject is that a player that is 18 years old and already the size of an average NHL player has less of an uphill battle.

Any issues such as skating can be coached and worked on by the development staff. I am of the opinion that it is better to draft a guy that has a weakness in his game that can be taught, as opposed to drafting someone that is lacking something that just cannot be learned. Rodion is a good example. The biggest knock against him that I read was that he seems unable to compete at higher levels, and having him be a healthy scratch this year in a KHL league that has been decimated by C.V. would seem to be a justification of this.

I hate knocking down these guys. I really do. They are all good players. And when you see a guy like Abramov or Abruzzese doing so well in their respective leagues, you have to hope they will succeed at the higher compete levels as they get older and age out of junior and NCAA. And yet. Will they?

If you are of the opinion that the draft is a gamble, and that odds and probabilities are a factor, then it is impossible to ignore the fact that realistically, the vast majority, of not all of these guys, are going to be a lot closer to Nikolai Borschevsky than Martin St. Louis. When I look at the leader boards, I see a list dominated by individuals that are not of such nature.

Dubas has implemented a skill before size approach. He is drafting smaller skilled players because he thinks they are undervalued by the rest of the league’s GM’s. They are not. I honestly believe in the free market system. And the NHL draft is as laissez faire as it gets. These guys are not undervalued. They are valued exactly where they should be - at the point where someone is willing to draft them. In this case, Kyle Dubas.

It is a display of extreme arrogance that Dubas thinks he is smarter than 30 other GM’s in the league and that he alone has stumbled across the magic formula for success in drafting for the NHL. He has not. He is attempting to game the system, while imagining that the NHL will change to support his views on how the game should be played. The NHL is not going to change for a young upstart GM that has visions of grandiosity. Dubas seems to think he is progressive and the leader of a revolution. He is not.

In order for this strategy to be truly successful, 30 other GM’s have to buy into his vision in a very short period of time. Even if he is right in the long run, for the short term, which is really all that matters when you are advertising your team as a contender and only have a limit of four years at most with this core, he is fighting an uphill battle. Anything short of immediate success with this strategy is going to be seen as a dismal failure in a league and sport that has a short term memory and can’t see past the noses on their face.

While I can appreciate what Dubas is trying to do, I don’t have to agree with it. He is both a brave man, and a foolhardy one at that. It is a massive gamble by Shanahan to buy into this plan, and it is proving to be a hugely expensive and risky operation with no clear signs of success so far. The results seem to speak for themselves the last two years since Dubas took complete control. If it doesn’t work out, Dubas will be relinquished to history along the same lines as JFJ. He will have saddled the team with expensive contracts and gutted the depth, while failing to bring in appropriate replacement players through sound drafting.

I would rather not have a GM that thinks every move he makes is a gamble. History does not favour gamblers well. The vast majority of them go broke at least once or twice before they ever hit the jackpot, if they ever do.

Again, this is how I view the situation as it stands right now. I could easily be wrong and Dubas really is a genius that is smarter than everyone else. I hope so. I really do. But at this point, it is impossible to not at least question what he is attempting and to have doubts.

Was passing up Schneider the right or wrong choice? Impossible to say because we don’t know how either Amirov or Schneider will do in the NHL. What I do know is that RHD is the hardest position to fill in the NHL. Leafs have been lacking a proper 1RHD for upward of a decade or more, and we have exactly one prospect player for that position currently. We are stacked at forwards and have a few in the system that loom like they will be successful NHL’ers of some capacity. We don’t need more forwards, unless you are pre-supposing an exodus of talent in a few years, which would be a defeatist outlook - admitting years in advance that you won’t be able to re-sign your star players and are looking at finding a replacement now.

Even if Rodion really was the best player available, how much better is he at his position than Schneider is at RHD? Most scouts and nhl departments organize prospects in tiers. It is more than reasonable to assume that given their draft positions that Schneider and Amirov are in the same tier. As such, it would make sense to me to draft an equally capable player for a position of need than to take a guy that is more of the same of what we already have.

Dubas is playing an extremely risky game not only with the team's payroll, but also with the roster. The ground is rapidly shrinking beneath his feet as a result.

8.) 26 Nov 2020
26 Nov 2020 20:01:24
@Leafs1994. Let's look at it a different way. Would you trade the 19th overall pick and a 2nd round pick for Kerfoot at 750 retained and Dermott? I would doubt it. I know I wouldn't.
Now if the deal was say Nylander for Buchnevich (who needs a new deal next year), a lower prospect like Gettinger and Schneider, I think that is the type of move the Rangers would have to consider moving Schneider for. They send out some cap, but bring in a better player then they sent out and Schneider is the only way to make that happen. Just my opinion of course.

9.) 27 Nov 2020
26 Nov 2020 22:53:09
Great read and amazing views both ways hockeyluvr. Open minded in all aspects well done

I’m just not a huge Schneider fan yet so my luck he will become a stud.

10.) 27 Nov 2020
27 Nov 2020 11:22:47
I think that was my best Dubas rip yet. Lol.

11.) 27 Nov 2020
27 Nov 2020 16:22:07
@HL-Yep, it is like you praised the turkey for eating so well and kept encouraging him to do so, right before you lopped off its head, cooked him and served him with a side of cranberry sauce.

12.) 29 Nov 2020
29 Nov 2020 12:32:00
Thanks RLF. I love that analogy too. It is so appropriate.