Messages

1

Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: So, about Phil Kessel...

« on: April 15, 2015, 04:40:49 PM »

I just can't understand why Kessel has a problem with Dave Feschuk.  Whatever could it be.

Funny, I think that comment wasn't one of the more atrocious in that article.  Feschuk is quite the douchebag.

He just can't write on Kessel without mentioning his weight in some way or another.  No evidence that he's ever looked into it further either.

You weight analytics guys...  Kessel fails the eye test, man.  Round face means fat, end of story.

And don't get me started on that other fatty, Charlie Brown.

French Fry Phil is done! 

All kidding aside... Kessel is still an elite talent and can snipe goals like few others in the world.  Kessel though is not a leader, not a character guy that can lift a team (or even a line apparently)... but on a deep contending team, he doesn't have to be, cause he will be centered by that guy, who will lift HIM up and make him the best Kessel he can be.  Toronto has not been able to provide that for him, that's management's fail.  His lack of effort this year though, and sometimes apparent lack of conditioning (this is apparently debatable), is his fail.  I do think though, if he gets traded to a contender with a real center, watch him smash the 40 goal mark.

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: 2015 NHL Entry Draft

« on: April 12, 2015, 02:09:25 AM »

McDavid has 5 goals in game 2.

The Leafs should select him if he's still available at 4.

There would have to be a HUGE 3 team brain fart for that to happen!

Brain fart doesn't even cover it... brain shart perhaps.

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: Moving forward

« on: April 11, 2015, 01:03:17 PM »

I really don't see how either Lupul or Bozak would return "significant assets" at this point.

NIK

that is just his opinion. Bozak is a cap friend contract for a player with 40+ pts. I take a pick for Lupul (I like his play when not injured) IMO I think Kadri, Gardiner and Bernier will all be gone too.

Thank you, though I disagree at least at this moment about Kadri, Gardiner and Bernier. I think they'll all be back and whether they stay or not will depend on the kind of years they have next season and beyond.

Bernier has got to go while he still has value.  He's too old already for the next wave of rebuild, Reimer is more than an adequate starter for the next couple of seasons.  We should be able to get a decent return for Bernier, therefore he should be shipped as getting as many real picks/prospects for the team this year and next is paramount.

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: Leafs 2014/2015 Schedule in 10 game chunks

« on: April 03, 2015, 01:02:05 PM »

Got to hand it to the Leafs, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory last night.  I thought they were a lock to win at 3-1.  Go figure.

Never was I so happy to see Buffalo beat the Leafs, both for the effect on our draft pick and theirs.

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: Leafs 2014/2015 Schedule in 10 game chunks

« on: April 03, 2015, 01:01:00 PM »

So I'm just back from a 3 week vacation. The last game I was able to watch was the Blues on 7th March.

Since then the team managed to go 2-9-1

That's impressive. Don't think there's much worth watching till the end of the year now...

As far as the Leafs go, there's probably not going to be much worth watching for the next 3 seasons at least.   

Well, not unless McDavid becomes ours!   

We are going to get one of: McDavid, Marner, Strome or Hanifin, depending on how things play out... any one of them should make watching the next few season interesting.  Any one of those players could potentially be a #1 draft pick in another year...

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: Tank Nation UNITE!!!

« on: April 03, 2015, 12:57:56 PM »

It's funny, but at the time of that trade I think the general feeling was, that Raycraft looked like a pretty talented goalie, and Rask looked alright, but was getting beat out for game minutes by our other goalie . Goes to show how much you can really tell about goalies at the early stages of their careers.

Rask was traded a year after he was drafted before he even came over to NA and he still played another year in Finland before coming over to Boston's organization.

After having an outstanding World Junior Championship.  I felt he was by far the goalie of the tournament and outclassed Pogge.  Raycroft wasn't even the backup goalie for the bruins at the time of the trade and general consensus was the he was a one hit wonder.  I don't mind that they tried something but trading the wrong prospect in my mind really upset me at the time.  They chose Pogge over Rask.  That was the mistake and its even easier to say it in hindsight.

Yup.  I swear I almost cried when that trade went down... I was in shock, how foolish.  JFJ was trying to jump the queue and get the Leafs back to the playoffs, rather than just realizing we had the #1 and #2 goaltending prospects in the world, and to just let that play itself out.

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: Tank Nation UNITE!!!

« on: April 03, 2015, 12:52:44 PM »

It's funny, but at the time of that trade I think the general feeling was, that Raycraft looked like a pretty talented goalie, and Rask looked alright, but was getting beat out for game minutes by our other goalie . Goes to show how much you can really tell about goalies at the early stages of their careers.

Rask had just come off the WJC and was being hailed as one of the two best goaltending prospects in the world at the time, along with Justin Pogge.  I almost cried the day that trade went down... I knew what JFJ had done to our future.  Any fool at the time knew Rask was going to be a star...

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: 2015 NHL Entry Draft

« on: April 02, 2015, 08:29:46 PM »

Sometimes, folks get unlucky when going with the best odds doesn't work out.

Says every poker player on Earth 

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: Tank Nation UNITE!!!

« on: April 02, 2015, 08:26:24 PM »

Rask for Raycroft was to me the worst trade of all time. What drug was JFK on for that one? A bad Brylcream day for sure

JFK? LOL! Aside from that... ya, one of the worst trades in Leafs history.

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: So, about Phil Kessel...

« on: March 30, 2015, 08:25:19 PM »

Sure... it's not true, he's a scapegoat, we're all dopes.  You are sooo right!!  Nevermind the 6 games I went to this year (I generally see about 5-8 games per year), 4 games in the last half of the season I saw where I watched this bum skate in circles all night; no hustle, no backcheck, no forecheck, never goes near the corners, doesn't fight for pucks, doesn't skate to get back... I watch 4th liners blast by this guy for the puck, a guy who is by all measures one of the best skaters in the league. 

Even if what you say about his game is true it's not a reflection of his fitness level or what he eats. There's no evidence he eats poorly. There's no actual evidence he's in worse shape than anyone else other than he's got a bit of an unusually shaped face. I'm as unhappy with Kessel's level of effort as I am with Lupul's and Lupul as we know from ESPN's body issue is in great shape.

And I'm calling fans "dopes" for getting irrationally angry about Kessel making entirely reasonable comments about what he does in the off-season.

I think if he were giving it his all out on this ice, people would cut him some more slack... but when a guy's skating around like its Disney on Ice and has not really grown into a complete player, posting the worst +/- in the NHL, showing zero effort, heart or class... people tend to look at comments like these as potential reasons for why he sucks soo badly.

Maybe he's in good shape, maybe not... he certainly isn't playing like he's in great shape.  I don't doubt he's in good shape (kinda have to be just to play NHL level hockey)... but great shape I doubt, and statements like these kinda show that hockey (and being the best he can be) is not his #1 priority. 

When you make the kinda money he does, it's kinda expected that you condition yourself in the off-season and come to camp in top shape ready to go.  Kessel just doesn't seem to do that (by a combination of personal observation, statements made by him and various teammates over the years)... and when you're winning and scoring you can get away with that, but when you skate in circles and lose every game, posting the worst defense of any line in hockey... well, you just can't, and us "dopes" in the fan base will call you out... sometimes with nasty insults; that's just part of hockey.

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: So, about Phil Kessel...

« on: March 30, 2015, 12:46:33 PM »

Good gosh... maybe you could get away with that in the 70s or 80s, but not today.  To be that lackluster about his own training and conditioning is remarkable.  All the jokes about "French Fry Phil" and "Krispy Kreme Kessel" are true... I used to try to defend Kessel, but really this season it's been tough, and to read this is shocking.  Wow!!  We cannot trade this guy fast enough...

No, they're not true. Things that may have been true before his draft year don't necessarily follow him around and before this season Damien Cox reported Kessel came to camp in as good a shape as anyone. In what you're quoting Kessel says he takes a month off before getting back to working out. Do you think that no other players in the NHL ever take time off during the summer? That they're meticulous in their conditioning to the point of no down time? That's just flat-out untrue.

The only thing what you quoted should serve as a lesson to players on is that in this market you should never be honest with the media because there are dopes in this fan base who, when looking for scapegoats will make mountains out of whatever molehills they can.

Sure... it's not true, he's a scapegoat, we're all dopes.  You are sooo right!!  Nevermind the 6 games I went to this year (I generally see about 5-8 games per year), 4 games in the last half of the season I saw where I watched this bum skate in circles all night; no hustle, no backcheck, no forecheck, never goes near the corners, doesn't fight for pucks, doesn't skate to get back... I watch 4th liners blast by this guy for the puck, a guy who is by all measures one of the best skaters in the league. 

You wanna make excuses for the highest paid player in Leafs history and call fans dopes for screaming in protest and daring to poke fun (what other pleasure is there in this horrifying season?), then go right ahead... like I said, I defended Kessel hard for years, but watching him at the games this season, he deserves every single insult levelled against him.  No effort, no care... no heart.

Cannot wait for the day we ship him out for a bag of pucks...

12

Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: So, about Phil Kessel...

« on: March 29, 2015, 01:07:08 PM »

From the Game Day thread:

Good to see that the top line rediscovered their moral character.

Kessel got unfat.

And are we are still doing that strange Kessel loves cheeseburgers thing (I still don't understand why this started other than Kessel having a wide face). If so, I don't think it's a coincidence that Kessel puts up 3 points on the day that Hammond doesn't play. 

There can be only one!

Phil has had something to do with it over the years. It's a mixed bag.

The criticism probably got wider spread when Gare Joyce closely followed the 2006 draft and wrote a book about it and an ESPN article on it that came out shortly after Phil was drafted. Among other things, the book revealed a scouting report that portrayed Phil as needing  "to work a little harder in the gym, practise a little harder" which Phil partially agreed with and did not heartily dispute in the book and documented Kessel's poor fitness testing at the 2006 draft combine (which was corroborated by others).

Blue Jackets GM Doug MacLean appears to feel sorry for him. “If what they’re saying about this kid isn’t true, it’s criminal,” MacLean says. “Because I don’t know if I’ve ever heard the negative stuff like I have with this kid.”

Understandably, Kessel, his agent were upset by the article. The Bruins looked into it and tried to defend their recent #1 pick. But I saw no public threats of defamation lawsuits, demands for retractions, apologies or specific rebuttals. At the time, the Kessel camp couldn't muster much of a credible assault or defense to change the public record or perception.

The kicker was that Kessel's response to the July 2006 ESPN article was to show up a little chubby to training camp the following September. That raised a few more eyebrows in the Boston media and basically cemented the perception.

Those were followed by other anecdotes or video clips over time that didn't flatter his conditioning.

Now, the other side of the mixed bag is: there's no way a player can have the explosive speed and shot Kessel does and be totally out of shape. One cannot be 4th in NHL goal scoring over the past four seasons and be in terrible physical condition. It is just NOT possible. I think Cox reported good fitness test results this past September.

So both things have been shown to exist somewhat at the same time. Phil kind of has physical talent to spare and arguably isn't as good as he could be because he isn't in the best possible shape he could be. It's an aspect about him that confounds.

When a player follows the above with comments like this:
Kessel: ‘I skated 10 times maybe all summer’
“Honestly, I skated maybe—I don’t want to tell you this—but I skated 10 times maybe all summer,” Kessel revealed to reporters Thursday in Toronto as training camp opened.

Kessel said he spends most of his summer “living a normal life” by relaxing, golfing, hanging out with family and friends and fishing. He added that one of the highlights of his off-season was catching an 11-foot, 450-pound shark.

“I don’t talk hockey or have anything to do with hockey in the summer,” Kessel explained. “I probably take a month off. I live in Florida in the summer, so I go down there and golf and fish and do that kind of stuff and get away, and then I’ll start working out again.”

When asked about the team’s fitness testing, Kessel said he’s not worried.

“I think I’ll be fine in that,” he said. “It’s easy.”

Kessel said he’ll use training camp and the pre-season as a means to get into hockey shape.

“It’s pre-season, so it’s time to get used to the games and get more in shape and kind of get a feel for the game a little bit again,” Kessel said. “It’s been a while since I’ve played.”

While Kessel is sometimes ribbed for his not-quite-Herculean physique, he has proven to be one of the elite scorers in the NHL.

... I think in this hockey media crazed market, making comments like those is just asking for it. Not too smart. Raises doubts. Misleads one from his true fitness levels. And fuels the hamburger cracks and ridicule.

A bunch of this is Phil's fault or responsibility.

Good gosh... maybe you could get away with that in the 70s or 80s, but not today.  To be that lackluster about his own training and conditioning is remarkable.  All the jokes about "French Fry Phil" and "Krispy Kreme Kessel" are true... I used to try to defend Kessel, but really this season it's been tough, and to read this is shocking.  Wow!!  We cannot trade this guy fast enough...

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: Tank Nation UNITE!!!

« on: March 29, 2015, 12:58:54 PM »

So say if the Leafs end up picking 3rd. Do they go with what would amount to perhaps the 3rd best centre in the draft (Strome or Marner), or do the pick the best defenceman, Hanifin?
If they could land another top 10 pick somehow via the trade route, you might go with Hanifin and then try to land a guy like Pavel Zacha. Or do you go Don Cherry style all the way and pick hometown boys?

I think Bozak and Kessel pretty much tanked the tank last night with that effort... little chance Edmonton catches us for 3rd pick after that shocking display of "skill" last night.  Apparently they still have some left...

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: Tank Nation UNITE!!!

« on: March 28, 2015, 07:44:03 PM »

It's highly unlikely that the Leafs lose out the rest of the year so I'm figuring on 64 to 66 points by season end.  That is likely too many points to move into the top 3 but will leave them comfortably in 4th.

Strome/Marner is a fantastic consolation prize.

I am not convinced that Strome will be around at # 4. Maybe I am just nuts, but other than the # 1 spot I do not see any others as a lock to go at # 2, 3 etc.

Hanafin seems like the better all round talent right now over Strome, but either of them would be great for us.  Kinda hoping Strome goes 3rd if we have 4th, as Hanafin/Reilly for a 1-2 D seems really sick.  We also have Nylander coming up at C, and he is a real blue-chip prospect.

I haven't look really recently but a few weeks ago, it seemed nearly every credible/semi-credible ranking I looked at had Hanifan 3rd. I think it was ISS who surprised me with him 4th - behind Crouse.

Interesting.  I hope somehow that holds true and Hanifan falls into our pick... either that our Edmonton has a breakout 7 games and we fall to 3rd last.

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Main Leafs Hockey Talk / Re: Tank Nation UNITE!!!

« on: March 28, 2015, 07:41:06 PM »

Really?  That's interesting... he was drafted as a C though, no?

He played centre when he was younger. Moved to the wing when he started playing in the highest Swedish league last season as young players generally don't take that responsibility over there. When he was sent back to Sweden this season it seemed like the Leafs requested his team play him at centre and he had a ton of success there in that spot. When he was returned to the Marlies the Leafs basically said that they hadn't decided where he would play and that they weren't ruling out a future for him as a centre. He hasn't played there at all with the Marlies yet though. Could be they're just easing him into the North America game at the easier position. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if the plan is to have him play wing this season with the Marlies, start at centre next season with the Marlies and then potentially bring him up to the Leafs once they deem him ready.

Ok, that makes sense... thanks for the clarification!