Blue Jackets @ Leafs - Mar. 3rd, 7:00pm - SN, SN 590

[Britishbulldog]

I wish that JVR would stop trying that between the legs move beside the net.  It is a very low percentage option.

Probably as good a percentage as any other play from that position.  He's had good success with it.

I don't think I agree with you there.  He made a beautiful pass from there since the olympics for an assist though.

[Potvin29]

Clarkson's hysterical.

Let me needlessly hit this guy when Gleason already has him and free up this other man for a potential 2 on 1.

Clarkson is really bad.

Normally with mediocre-to-bad players I just don't care about them (Jonas Hoglund was an example).  I actually overtly dislike Clarkson.

It's amazing that he doesn't get treated by the fans at the ACC the way some other players have when they didn't live up to expectations.

Aki Berg ,Larry Murphy ,Sergio Momesso etc...  Clarkson could make the list for the boo birds.

Bryan McCabe strikes me as one who was booed despite being far more useful than I can ever imagine Clarkson being.

[L K]

Regardless of how bad Clarkson's been the fact remains that he's a local guy who took less money to sign here in the offseason. That's going to buy someone a lot of time.

Is it really fair to say that he took less to sign here in the offseason, when the team that was offering more was Edmonton?

Narrative is 9/10th's of the law.

Good choice of words seeing as free agents only choose to sign with Edmonton in Fantasies.

[Nik]

The real shame of it, and I think LK got at it when he mentioned the first PP, is that the kind of player that Clarkson was sold as is exactly the kind of player the team needs. A gritty, physical winger who could stand in front of the net on the second PP unit and knock home ugly goals would be the one thing I'd want the team to look for at the trade deadline if it weren't for the fact that Clarkson will probably keep getting that ice time.

[Britishbulldog]

Regardless of how bad Clarkson's been the fact remains that he's a local guy who took less money to sign here in the offseason. That's going to buy someone a lot of time.

Is it really fair to say that he took less to sign here in the offseason, when the team that was offering more was Edmonton?

Narrative is 9/10th's of the law.

Any terrible contract in Edmonton we could Clarkson for??

[lamajama]

Hearing Andy Frost yelling in the background there as we came back for the commercial just reminds me how much I dislike him as an announcer. Screaming into the mic for everything is not my cup of tea.

[lamajama]

I'll say something else.. The Kessel line is hard to handle.

[Potvin29]

Clarkson is also on pace to score fewer goals and put up fewer points than Grabovski did last year...not in terms of pace, just raw numbers.

And Clarkson's actually averaging more ES TOI/game and 0:26 seconds less PP TOI/game.

[LittleHockeyFan]

ooooh, my kind of intermission...... Joffrey coming up!

[CarltonTheBear]

Clarkson is also on pace to score fewer goals and put up fewer points than Grabovski did last year...not in terms of pace, just raw numbers.

And Clarkson's actually averaging more ES TOI/game and 0:26 seconds less PP TOI/game.

And not playing nearly as much in a shutdown role against the oppositions top line.

[L K]

The real shame of it, and I think LK got at it when he mentioned the first PP, is that the kind of player that Clarkson was sold as is exactly the kind of player the team needs. A gritty, physical winger who could stand in front of the net on the second PP unit and knock home ugly goals would be the one thing I'd want the team to look for at the trade deadline if it weren't for the fact that Clarkson will probably keep getting that ice time.

It's not just the ice-time and trade deadline that concerns me.  It's also what we do with Kulemin/Bolland/Raymond in the offseason because of his bloated contract.  If Clarkson was remotely the player we were sold on (20+ goals, 40-50 points and hitting everything in sight) he's worth the money, but Troy Bodie is outperforming him for 600K.  Imagine what the Leafs could do with 4.5M in cap space to say bring back Komarov on the 4th line, re-sign Kulemin and try and bring in another 2nd pairing defensive defenseman to play with one of Gardiner/Rielly.

[13th fan]

Clarkson's hysterical.

Let me needlessly hit this guy when Gleason already has him and free up this other man for a potential 2 on 1.

Clarkson is really bad.

Normally with mediocre-to-bad players I just don't care about them (Jonas Hoglund was an example).  I actually overtly dislike Clarkson.

It's amazing that he doesn't get treated by the fans at the ACC the way some other players have when they didn't live up to expectations.

Aki Berg ,Larry Murphy ,Sergio Momesso etc...  Clarkson could make the list for the boo birds.

Bryan McCabe strikes me as one who was booed despite being far more useful than I can ever imagine Clarkson being.

Yes Bryan McCabe was useful but when he did mess up ,it was spectacular ...Now that I think of it Bernier is following in McCabe's foot steps in some ways.

[Nik]

It's not just the ice-time and trade deadline that concerns me.  It's also what we do with Kulemin/Bolland/Raymond in the offseason because of his bloated contract.  If Clarkson was remotely the player we were sold on (20+ goals, 40-50 points and hitting everything in sight) he's worth the money, but Troy Bodie is outperforming him for 600K.  Imagine what the Leafs could do with 4.5M in cap space to say bring back Komarov on the 4th line, re-sign Kulemin and try and bring in another 2nd pairing defensive defenseman to play with one of Gardiner/Rielly.

Well, like I sort of get at there the fact that Clarkson hasn't filled the role doesn't really change my mind that he was legitimately brought in here to fill a need. Bodie outperforming him isn't the same thing as Bodie really being the scoring winger with size and grit that I think the Boston series revealed the team needed so even if Clakrson did magically disappear I think the team would still need to look for that and, as we saw this off-season, that guy isn't going to come cheap no matter where he comes from.

[Britishbulldog]

The real shame of it, and I think LK got at it when he mentioned the first PP, is that the kind of player that Clarkson was sold as is exactly the kind of player the team needs. A gritty, physical winger who could stand in front of the net on the second PP unit and knock home ugly goals would be the one thing I'd want the team to look for at the trade deadline if it weren't for the fact that Clarkson will probably keep getting that ice time.

Interesting you should mention that since after watching a couple of videos of Clarkson's goals the last couple of seasons, a majority of them were in front of the net garbage goals or shots of the rush.

JVR parked in front of the net on one PP it would be nice to have Clarkson doing his NJ thing here in Toronto for the 2nd PP

[L K]

It's not just the ice-time and trade deadline that concerns me.  It's also what we do with Kulemin/Bolland/Raymond in the offseason because of his bloated contract.  If Clarkson was remotely the player we were sold on (20+ goals, 40-50 points and hitting everything in sight) he's worth the money, but Troy Bodie is outperforming him for 600K.  Imagine what the Leafs could do with 4.5M in cap space to say bring back Komarov on the 4th line, re-sign Kulemin and try and bring in another 2nd pairing defensive defenseman to play with one of Gardiner/Rielly.

Well, like I sort of get at there the fact that Clarkson hasn't filled the role doesn't really change my mind that he was legitimately brought in here to fill a need. Bodie outperforming him isn't the same thing as Bodie really being the scoring winger with size and grit that I think the Boston series revealed the team needed so even if Clakrson did magically disappear I think the team would still need to look for that and, as we saw this off-season, that guy isn't going to come cheap no matter where he comes from.

Oh absolutely.  But the problem is that we not only can't afford that power-forward but we are also in danger of losing other players as a result of him too.