Ryu is terrible.

Ryu was a very important part of the rotation when he returned in August and through the middle of September, whrre he had a stretch of 8 starts with a 2.04 ERA.

With Manoah's terrible year and the lack of any minor league rotation depth, I'm not sure the jays are in the playoffs without him.

https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1703495344523227303

https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1703496865197461820

https://twitter.com/BlueJacketsNHL/status/1703499711485792316

Just amazing.

Ok, ok, war crime cancelled I didn't take that into consideration. Although that 2016 team was way too fun and successful for the league to think it's a good idea to try again so I'd be surprised if it was there.

I know that this firmly establishes me in the minority but while I thought the U23 team was fun, I think it contributed to that tournament feeling kind of disposable and meaningless. Sure, Canada still won without McDavid but I want some best on best hockey regardless of age. I'd be more into a Canada/USA B-Team serving as Team North America if they do that again.

I'm with you here.

If you are going to call it a world cup, it should only have National Teams.

BG3 interests me, but I kind of dislike turn based tactical combat. Alot of people seem to think GOTY will end up being between this and Starfield

I love turn based tactical combat like the orginial Fallout and Fallout 2

I'm knee deep in Baldur's Gate 3, so I'll probably continue with that for a bit until some of the patches are out for starfield.

If he held out to become a UFA, I'm pretty sure he would have got more from the winning bid.

This is what I keep coming back to. A guy in Matthews' position basically gets to call his own shot. If he decided he wanted 4 years and the Leafs wanted more, what's the negotiating tactic there?

"Sign for 8 years"

"Nah"

"Ok, then we won't give you the money you want"

"Ok, I'll get it somewhere else"

Matthews would know the Leafs would never call the bluff of actually letting him walk so he could basically write his own contract. Even if you're of the opinion that an 8 year deal is better than a 4 year deal for the Leafs, and I still can't wrap my head around that one, there's no arm to twist here. Matthews would have been the most sought after UFA in the history of the NHL.

Easy.  Give him more money to secure him for more years.  As much as I think this money should be tops to give him on an 8-year deal, if they needed to give him upwards of a million more to get it done, I'd do it.

It's easy when you make up terms that Matthews would accept.

Fully expect him to look for and sign a 3-year deal max when he turns 30 and on the decline.

Ok, that doesn't mean he would have accepted your made up 8 year offer.

If he held out to become a UFA, I'm pretty sure he would have got more from the winning bid.

This is what I keep coming back to. A guy in Matthews' position basically gets to call his own shot. If he decided he wanted 4 years and the Leafs wanted more, what's the negotiating tactic there?

"Sign for 8 years"

"Nah"

"Ok, then we won't give you the money you want"

"Ok, I'll get it somewhere else"

Matthews would know the Leafs would never call the bluff of actually letting him walk so he could basically write his own contract. Even if you're of the opinion that an 8 year deal is better than a 4 year deal for the Leafs, and I still can't wrap my head around that one, there's no arm to twist here. Matthews would have been the most sought after UFA in the history of the NHL.

Easy.  Give him more money to secure him for more years.  As much as I think this money should be tops to give him on an 8-year deal, if they needed to give him upwards of a million more to get it done, I'd do it.

It's easy when you make up terms that Matthews would accept.

He's going to wear #12.

I don't know if any of you have been playing Immaculate Grid but now that Sports Reference owns it they've come out with a hockey version:

immaculategrid.com/hockey

Idea is pretty simple. You have nine guesses to try and fill the grid with players that fit into each box while trying to get the lowest possible score by going with the answer the fewest people answered. So if the column is Maple Leafs and the Row is 50 goal scorers, well, you'd score better with Rick Vaive than Matthews.

There's also a similar game puckdoku.com, so you can have 2 games a day.

Shouldn't this be settled by now?

The hearing is probably over, they have 48 hours to come to a decision.

A reminder that as of the 2020 CBA extension, they cannot settle after the hearing and prior to the award.

I don't really have a particular point about the guy but it's pretty wild that Dave Morrison, the teams current "Director of Player Personnel", has been with the organization since 2004. He's been under SEVEN general managers now.

edit: Mike Penny, current just a "pro scout" but was once a long time ago the "Director of Player Personnel", has him beat having been hired way back in 2000 by Quinn.

edit2: Ok, last one. Garth Malarchuk was hired by the Leafs as an amateur scout way, way back in 1991. He left the Leafs in 1998 to be the head coach of the Kelowna Rockets for 1.5 seasons. He promptly returned to the Leafs as an amateur scout in 2000 and has been in that position ever since. Last season was his 30th with the team. He turns 69 years old on Saturday.

Thommie Bergman has been with the club for quite some time too, not sure exactly when

This article from 2001 mentions him a european scout:

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/leafs-look-for-gems-in-draft-1.293780

His elite prospects page says he was with the ducks until at least 97/98 but is missing until 05/06 after that:

https://www.eliteprospects.com/staff/624/thommie-bergman

So it seems Bergman joined in either 99/00 or 00/01

Edit:

found this:

http://www.hockeynut.com/0304/tortrans19972003.html

Looks like Thommie joined in September of 1999.

"Galchenyuk told an officer "I will chop all of you f—s" and began to reach under his seat"

He's lucky they didn't shoot him.

https://twitter.com/wyshynski/status/1679536661460578304

https://twitter.com/AZCoyotesPR/status/1679521111988641793
uhhh

12 days after being signed, curious.