Fights are a thing of the past.  No use for them in the game/sport.  After a game, I never think to myself, "Gee...I really wish I saw a fight tonight.". Glad they are few and far between at this point. The premeditated ones as soon as the puck is dropped are the worst.

Did not expect Ottawa to land him.  That's a great deal for them.

Depends how one views Sandin.  If they see top 3/4 potential and a 40+ player, then not sure this is a good move.  If he's just a run-of-the-mill second pair D, then good to recoup a late 1st which likely is used for another asset prior to the deadline.

Sandin has left a bit more to be desired, but I also understand that he is 22 and defencemen usually take longer to come into their own.  Don't mind the trade now, but I can see us looking back in a few years and saying he was one we gave up on too early. 

If they fail to beat Tampa and they let go of Dubas as a result, I'd be disillusioned with the entire operation of MLSE. I know it's the name of the game but sometimes results take longer than expected . Even much longer. And this team is still making strides forwards... not backwards.

That scenario would have a lot of similarities with the Steve Jobs story. When Apple couldn't compete with the top players in the game, like Microsoft and IBM and as quickly as the board wanted, they let him go and brought in the CEO from Pepsi, who didn't have a clue about the PC industry.  It nearly bankrupted the company before they realized their mistake and brought Jobs and his vision back to Apple.

As we know he proceeded to turn Apple into one of the biggest companies on the planet. Point being ... sometimes management change 'isn't' the answer. Sometimes you need to keep emotions in check and out of the decision making process,  trust the guy who's still making the team better year after year and give him the room to see it through .

Call me a dreamer I guess.

I'm all over the map when it comes to Dubas.

He's a great person, but he leaves a lot to be desired as a GM.  Never been a huge fan of his.  He's done a lot of good, and some not so good.  I find he is vastly overrated and he comes across as a guy who thinks he's the smartest guy in the room when he talks.

Yet, even with another early exit, I'd learn towards keeping him around a bit longer than trying to find someone else out there.  I'm not sure a new vision and different direction is a good idea at this juncture and where things stand with the team at the moment.

Did the Rangers ever give up a lot to acquire Kane.  Geez.

The O'Reilly trade, and now this trade to supplement it, strikes as three things to me regarding Dubas:

1. The team is all-in for this year.

2. In conjunction with #1, a bunch of the other Eastern Conference teams are in an arm's race, so they Leafs have decided to join in.

3. If this is pretty much a boom or bust playoffs for Dubas and job as Leafs GM, then he has nothing to lose because if nothing comes out of this year's playoffs, he won't be around to worry about fixing the mess and ravaging of draft capital he has left behind. 

All that being said, I have no issues whatsoever with these moves.  If you're going to go for it, better to do so than half-assing it.  Whether these are/were the right moves in the end is to be determined, but kudos to Dubas for being proactive and wanting to give it a run.

I'm at a point where if Nick Robertson got us a really good top-6 winger or a solid 2nd line centre I'd likely be willing to part with him to get it done (off the top of my head players like Tarasenko, Bertuzzi, Toews, Kuzmenko maybe).

Would I add our 1st rounder in order to get into the upper tier of rentals like Kane/Horvat/ROR? I guess that depends on where we're when it comes to trade time. If our goaltenders continue to be all over the place or worse then I'm not sure I take the chance. If they're reliable or better then I could be tempted to go for it.

so Robertson for Toews? Maybe. Robertson+1st+Kerfoot/3rd for Kane? Tempting. Adding Sandin to the mix to get both is where it gets dicey. I'm not even completely opposed to moving him, but it'd have to be for a really good player that we get 2 playoff runs out of.

Does Robertson have that much value these days to get a piece like that?  Not sure an oft-injured, depreciated, albeit young, asset, will hold that much value.

Robertson for Toews seems like a reasonable deal, however.  Toews is nothing like what he was.  And personally, I absolutely loathe him, so I don't want to see him as a Leaf.  But it does seem like a deal that'd make sense for both sides.

Well, when Rielly was accused of using a homophobic slur during a game -- when he clearly didn't -- it set off a huge firestorm.  He had to sit through an interview the next day about it saying he will help the cause.  You Can Play jumped in saying they were going to use it as a teaching mechanism for the players.

So yeah, sometimes something gets unexpected publicity in a negative way that is turned into awareness and educational purposes.

Yes, I agree. As I said on the onset, if I'm Provorov, I put the jersey on and avoid all this hoopla.

To OTH's point though, maybe this was a blessing in disguise because this brought more awareness to the LGBTQ community than if all players partook. Because I'm sure many others like myself would have had no clue the initiative took place that night had it not been for Provorov's stance/ignorance/non-conformity (whatever people want to call it).

Well, I'd go as far to say I don't think these appreciation/recognition nights should exist in the first place.  That's just me.

It would have saved a whole lotta discussion for no reason if he simply wore it.  On the other hand, I definitely won't vilify him for not doing so and sticking to his beliefs.

https://twitter.com/KPapetti/status/1613162362881675266

Meh.  I'm not much of a Dubas fan, but it's a move that I even think should and has to be done.

No way of knowing, really. Some people are suggesting to not get them at the same time so that you can pinpoint which is the culprit in case you have a reaction. I felt rough after my last covid booster (Dec 2021) but have never had a reaction to a flu shot, which I get every year. So it could be the COVID shot?

I know a few people who've gotten both the same day, and had the usual aches and pains for the day.

Just going by what my doctor told me, he said the Moderna bivalent vaccine would make me like complete crap for a day or two.  Have yet to take either so far, but will be looking to do so soon now that having had COVID is beyond the 90-day immunity period.

My father-in-law took his flu shot last week and felt like garbage for three days.  Have never gotten a flu shot myself, but may do so for the first time this year based on my doctor's recommendations.

Guess you won't know, but so long as you are feeling better now, small nuisance in the grand scheme of things to protect yourself.

I got the Moderna bivalent one and the flu in the same day (last month) and was wrecked for about 18 hours, but then ok.

Is it because you got both, or because the Moderna bivalent vaccine is considered to provide harsher and longer post-shot reactions?

I love watching this entire Twitter fiasco as an outsder/non-user.

Musk just doing whatever the heck he wants with his new $44 billion toy.  Hardcore users on the complete opposite side of Musk's ideologies getting all worked up as a result threatening to leave the platform.

As someone who has never liked the premise behind Twitter, I'm loving watching it all burn down.