I think it's great that the Wild have decided that they would break out the Brodeur era Devils this season. Freaking Yawn!

I'm curious if the amount of players that we now have on that list is fairly normal for a regular year or an anomaly. I feel like 12 Dmen seems like a lot.

Last year there were 15 forwards, 7 d-men, 5 goalies.  This year: 23 forwards, 12 d-men, 5 goalies.  I hadn't realized we have been running through so many players this year.

Yeah, I had just kind of looked up and was like "wow, there's so many players there". That makes the team's record right now that much more impressive. Tons of injuries. Matthews isn't scoring 3 out of every 4 games. And the team is still on a pace for 112 point season. Take away some of those OT losses and this team is on a record pace easily.

I'm not sure why we'd want to take Nylander away from Matthews. The magic is still there. That pass from Matthews to Nylander last night was incredible.

That said, the extent to which they do it more than other teams is something I couldn't speak on. I can't think of any obvious examples other than here.

Atlanta signing Yates and Seattle signing Giles are two similar signings in the last couple offseasons.

They haven't worked out, but small 1st year salaries, a higher 2nd year guarantee and some form of option for 3rd years  for releivers coming of TJ surgery.

Right but I meant other instances of the Jays doing it. I think most teams do it from time to time so I was saying the idea that the Jays do it to an unusual extent didn't strike me as necessarily so.

Yeah, it's probably just me as I don't follow the day to day or even week to week news of the Jays. Just felt like I've heard a few in the last 3 or 4 years that are coming off surgeries or major injuries.

I'm curious if the amount of players that we now have on that list is fairly normal for a regular year or an anomaly. I feel like 12 Dmen seems like a lot.

Bunting
Sandin

Are you suggesting we sell high?

The Jays also signed Chad Green who is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery but has been a solid reliever for the Yankees the last few years.  He won't be ready for the start of the season but could be a big add mid-way through.

Maybe I'm cherry picking here, but does it not feel like the Jays are always grabbing players that are coming off major surgery or injury and hoping they hit the jackpot? Ok, maybe not the jackpot, but hoping the player can regain some sort of form that they once showed? It kind of feels like playing the penny slots.

He'll re-sign or walk. Next to zero chance the Leafs deal him.

Yeah, I gotta say their track record supports this. Unless the Leafs do fire Dubas, then who knows?

There is just no logical approach to trading a player of Auston Matthews caliber unless he says he's walking AND the team is completely out of playoff contention come the deadline. 

And Dubas is not the GM. He's let lots of guys walk to get that last playoff year out of them (among other reasons I'm sure). I mean I guess if they are out of the playoffs then maybe Dubas trades him, but shy of that, Dubas will never in a million years trade Matthews.

Teams that are in strong playoff positions(as the Leafs have been) do not trade valuable players on expiring contracts come trade deadline day. That's not a Dubas thing.

I'm saying that even if they weren't in a strong playoff position, Dubas wouldn't trade Matthews. That's the Dubas thing. I'm not complaining about it. Just saying that anyone that wants or expects the Leafs to trade Matthews if he hasn't signed long-term shouldn't get their hopes up. At least not as long as Dubas is GM.

I think that this could be a discussion if the Leafs somehow drop from a top 6 or 7 team in the league to a bottom feeder. I don't think that's very likely with the talent that is on this team.

I also question what the "Dubas thing" is. What players has he held onto instead of trading at the deadline?

He'll re-sign or walk. Next to zero chance the Leafs deal him.

Yeah, I gotta say their track record supports this. Unless the Leafs do fire Dubas, then who knows?

There is just no logical approach to trading a player of Auston Matthews caliber unless he says he's walking AND the team is completely out of playoff contention come the deadline. 

And Dubas is not the GM. He's let lots of guys walk to get that last playoff year out of them (among other reasons I'm sure). I mean I guess if they are out of the playoffs then maybe Dubas trades him, but shy of that, Dubas will never in a million years trade Matthews.

Teams that are in strong playoff positions(as the Leafs have been) do not trade valuable players on expiring contracts come trade deadline day. That's not a Dubas thing.

Sounds like the owners have their puppet.

Matthews certainly isn't McDavid, but it's a lot easier to compare him to McDavid than it is to compare Kessel to Ovechkin.

The Leafs have a decent chance of losing Nylander due to cap constraints.  That's just stupid.

Sure is. The system rewards teams that have 1 or 2 "superstars", 1 or 2 pretty good players, a bunch of middle of the road players and an excellent goalie.

While I don't get down on the Leafs too much anymore (don't have the time), one thing I'll agree with is that this team is not constructed to succeed in the NHL today. I don't think that's the fault of anyone really. Other than Tavares. Though we've talked about that numerous times so I don't think there's a reason to revisit our thoughts on the signing.

That and there are about 12 teams too many, so the product is diluted.

Yeah, I also don't agree with this so much. I think the growth of the US and European talent base probably means that there's roughly the same % of good and great players available as there always was. Sure if you eliminated teams there'd be stronger teams but so long as the cap is in place the teams still won't have separation from each other.

I agree with this. We just have to go back to days when there were only 24 teams. Watch some of the players on that roster. You'll be scratching your head as to how they were NHL players. Yes it's all relevant to the times, but there's always been players in the NHL that aren't "up to par".

Nylander
Samsonov

(Note: I only watched the first period and a half)