So, about Phil Kessel...

[Frank E]

It would be a shame to lose Kessel for a low pick or a weak prospect unless we are trying to tank next season.

Sorry, but am I the only one who was under the impression that tanking next season was the way they were going?

Seems to be the strategy.  That's how I see it, it's a strategy that has some evidence of working in the long run.  Phil Kessel is exactly the kind of player that runs counter to this strategy at this stage.

I blame the cap system for forcing the Leafs to do this.  I don't like it, but they have no choice if they want to contend in a hard cap system. 

[sickbeast]

So many bad trades. The Kessel trade. The raycroft trade. The Steen trade. The gms have ruined the franchise. They have done serious long term damage. A long and painful full rebuild is probably the only solution. I just hope we get a good gm. The gm is more important than the coach imo.

[sickbeast]

Guys just imagine for a second that we had seguin, Hamilton, rask, and Steen. It's so painful.

[Nik]

Personally, I like it when a band just plays their greatest hits.

[bustaheims]

Guys just imagine for a second that we had seguin, Hamilton, rask, and Steen. It's so painful.

If the Leafs still had Rask, they almost certainly would not have ended up with Seguin or Hamilton. He's good enough to have pushed the Leafs up in the standings a couple spots. So, I mean, it's nice to dream and all, but, no Raycroft deal means no Toskala, and no Toskala means the Leafs are a better team in the first years of Kessel's contract.

[sickbeast]

Maybe. It still shows that all those gms were complete tools though, particularly Burke and Ferguson. Nonis was equally bad with the Clarkson signing.

[bustaheims]

Maybe. It still shows that all those gms were complete tools though, particularly Burke and Ferguson. Nonis was equally bad with the Clarkson signing.

Oh, I don't think anyone is debating that. It's just more that it's time to put that past behind us. I mean, the Kessel trade happened 6 years ago, and that's the most recent of the trades you referenced. 6 years is an eternity in the sports world.

[sickbeast]

Maybe. It still shows that all those gms were complete tools though, particularly Burke and Ferguson. Nonis was equally bad with the Clarkson signing.

Oh, I don't think anyone is debating that. It's just more that it's time to put that past behind us. I mean, the Kessel trade happened 6 years ago, and that's the most recent of the trades you referenced. 6 years is an eternity in the sports world.

Yes but it just shows that serious long term damage was done to the club.

[CarltonTheBear]

The Shanny/Hunter/Dubas/Babcock team could be the best thing to happen to this franchise since they last won the Cup. Those guys never come together if it wasn't for those terrible trades.

Thanks Fergy!

[sickbeast]

Those trades will never look good to me. Never.

[bustaheims]

Yes but it just shows that serious long term damage was done to the club.

It's actually more that it shows the opportunities to correct the damage were squandered, but, at the same time, that's not exactly new information or anything that people who follow the team aren't well aware of. It sucks, but it really appears as though the team has turned over a new leaf. It's time to move on from the trauma of previous regimes.

And, honestly, if we're digging up the past, the truth is the team's struggles can still be traced back to problems from the Ballard era. Because of the failures of his reign of terror, the team spent the next 25 year borrowing from the future to try to fix the present.

[Heroic Shrimp]

The Shanny/Hunter/Dubas/Babcock team could be the best thing to happen to this franchise since they last won the Cup. Those guys never come together if it wasn't for those terrible trades.

Thanks Fergy!

So, wait.... you're saying we "front office tanked" to get elite management...?

[Significantly Insignificant]

Good diagnosis. I think an intense conditioning regimen is just the thing to vault a 37-goal scorer with a 3rd line centre into a 40-goal guy. Because scoring the 6th most points and 7th most goals in the NHL since 2011 doesn't mean anything if the player looks like he isn't ripped.

Wait a second...I have the answer.  The fans have been looking at this all wrong.  Kessel doesn't need to get in better shape, he needs to get in worse shape.  And he doesn't need to play with a 3rd line centre, he needs to play with a 4th line centre.  That's how he's going to get to 40 goals.

By now, you may have guessed I'm speaking ironically

[CarltonTheBear]

The Shanny/Hunter/Dubas/Babcock team could be the best thing to happen to this franchise since they last won the Cup. Those guys never come together if it wasn't for those terrible trades.

Thanks Fergy!

So, wait.... you're saying we "front office tanked" to get elite management...?

Exactly! And people said that MLSE would never be up for a patient rebuild.

[moon111]

Guys just imagine for a second that we had seguin, Hamilton, rask, and Steen. It's so painful.

If the Leafs still had Rask, they almost certainly would not have ended up with Seguin or Hamilton. He's good enough to have pushed the Leafs up in the standings a couple spots. So, I mean, it's nice to dream and all, but, no Raycroft deal means no Toskala, and no Toskala means the Leafs are a better team in the first years of Kessel's contract.

Last year was the first time Rask faced the same amount of shots as Raycroft did in `06-07.  If you really look at it, Rask was brought along at a pace that Toronto would never have afforded.  He's just broke the 4000 minutes played mark.  In Toronto, he would of been throw to the wolves, and failed.  Maybe not Raycroft failed, but don't think he'd be much higher then Bernier is right now.