I don't care.

[bustaheims]

Good. Caring about a sports team is very mid-00's. These days it's all about ironic detachment.

I really care about how the Leafs are doing because sports are so important to me.

Frigging hipsters.

 

[Kin]

Frigging hipsters.

Hey man, don't hassle us with your squareness. We just want to be able to wear comically out of date hats in peace.

 

[ZBBM]

Burke is vastly overrated, and gets a free pass because he is a blustering entertainer.

If I'm right about that, it tells you 90% of what you need to know about this team.

 

[TheMightyOdin]

Did Burke say he was "retooling" or "refooling"?

 

[Bender]

Burke is vastly overrated, and gets a free pass because he is a blustering entertainer.

If I'm right about that, it tells you 90% of what you need to know about this team.

What free pass are you referring to? Fans? Media? Last week he was asked if he himself should be fired on AM1010. Yeah, judging things as they are here I very much DOUBT Burke is being given a free pass, whatever that even means.

 

[Mack674]

I'm with you man. This season was the back breaker for me and I just can't be bothered anymore. I havn't bothered to watch the last three games and im actually amused at how they keep losing night after night.

2-12-2. Thats not a made up stat, thats real life. Amazing.

Years and years of mediocrity and now its not even that. They can't even crawl into 8th place anymore and will soon be the only team holding the glorious title of "Havn't made the playoffs since the lockout". The Columbus Blue Jackets have had more success than the Leafs. The Minnesota Wild. Everybody.

With the way things are going the future doesn't look much better either and the only way to really turn this around is to blow it all up and start again by DRAFTING PLAYERS and building a team through THE DRAFT like every other successful team in the league has done.

Reference Don Cherrys rant last week about how all these teams, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Boston etc have Ontario born players... well actually, they built their own teams through developing their own players rather than trading everything they have and all their picks away for players and then signing them to outrageous contracts and burying them in the minors. Unless you're the Rangers, that doesn't work.

That being said, even IF thats the route Burke takes (which I sincerely doubt he will because of his ego) it would take at least 3-5 years before the Leafs are any good again once said drafted players get here and get to be solid NHL players. So probobly, it will be even longer than that because we will have to wait for Burke to finish failing miserably (another season likely) and then bring in a new GM and then hope and pray to the galactic hockey gods that they finally swallow their pride for once and do it right.

Almost 50 years of the same approach hasn't worked, you think maybe it's time to rethink things? We used to be upset if we didnt at least make the conference finals, now im at the point where I don't even remember what playoff games are like.

Like many others the magic is long lost for me as well and I just can't be f-ing bothered anymore. Wake me up in 6 years.

OUT.

 

[Kin]

What free pass are you referring to? Fans? Media? Last week he was asked if he himself should be fired on AM1010. Yeah, judging things as they are here I very much DOUBT Burke is being given a free pass, whatever that even means.

One question from one interviewer(and I'm fairly sure the question was "Do you think your job is on the line" which is more asking Burke about how he's perceived by his superiors rather than asking him to self-evaluate) doesn't mean much.

I think Burke has, and still does, have a lot of people here and in Leafs nation as a rule giving him way more benefit of the doubt than his results with the club would merit.

 

[Mack674]

I wouldn't say I give him more benefit of the doubt than he's merited. I've given what I would consider reasonable and rational time and "strikes" if you will to this point, but if there isn't serious overhaul made in the off season then that should be Burke's last kick at the can should they not miraculously make the playoffs next season.

I can't see it happening as a team that goes on a losing stretch this extreme is deeply, deeply flawed. We're closing in a lottery pick and are seemingly no better off than in 2009.

If he insists it just needs some "minor tweaking" and acts accordingly with that philosophy, then he's out of rope for me at that point. The Red Wings could use some "minor tweaking". The Blackhawks could use some "minor tweaking". The Maple Leafs require massive, life threatening surgical fixes in almost every aspect of the game.

 

[Bender]

What free pass are you referring to? Fans? Media? Last week he was asked if he himself should be fired on AM1010. Yeah, judging things as they are here I very much DOUBT Burke is being given a free pass, whatever that even means.

One question from one interviewer(and I'm fairly sure the question was "Do you think your job is on the line" which is more asking Burke about how he's perceived by his superiors rather than asking him to self-evaluate) doesn't mean much.

I think Burke has, and still does, have a lot of people here and in Leafs nation as a rule giving him way more benefit of the doubt than his results with the club would merit.

I don't really think the fans' perception of how they feel about Burke will ultimately have much bearing on his job evaluation at the end of the year.

 

[Erndog]

Every year I go on a rollercoaster of emotion.

Up, down, somwhere in the middle... excited, pissed, angered, overjoyed, lulled, tired, ecstatic, enthused, excited, frustrated, etc, etc.

I'm at the "I don't give 2 craps anymore and think they will suck for an eternity" phase.

I actually talked about this with an old TMLfans.ca regular just last night.  Someone who doesn't post here anymore but who I (many of us?) shared the early 2000's playoff victories with.  I think we've both had enough.

 

[Bender]

I'm with you man. This season was the back breaker for me and I just can't be bothered anymore. I havn't bothered to watch the last three games and im actually amused at how they keep losing night after night.

2-12-2. Thats not a made up stat, thats real life. Amazing.

Years and years of mediocrity and now its not even that. They can't even crawl into 8th place anymore and will soon be the only team holding the glorious title of "Havn't made the playoffs since the lockout". The Columbus Blue Jackets have had more success than the Leafs. The Minnesota Wild. Everybody.

With the way things are going the future doesn't look much better either and the only way to really turn this around is to blow it all up and start again by DRAFTING PLAYERS and building a team through THE DRAFT like every other successful team in the league has done.

Reference Don Cherrys rant last week about how all these teams, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Boston etc have Ontario born players... well actually, they built their own teams through developing their own players rather than trading everything they have and all their picks away for players and then signing them to outrageous contracts and burying them in the minors. Unless you're the Rangers, that doesn't work.

That being said, even IF thats the route Burke takes (which I sincerely doubt he will because of his ego) it would take at least 3-5 years before the Leafs are any good again once said drafted players get here and get to be solid NHL players. So probobly, it will be even longer than that because we will have to wait for Burke to finish failing miserably (another season likely) and then bring in a new GM and then hope and pray to the galactic hockey gods that they finally swallow their pride for once and do it right.

Almost 50 years of the same approach hasn't worked, you think maybe it's time to rethink things? We used to be upset if we didnt at least make the conference finals, now im at the point where I don't even remember what playoff games are like.

Like many others the magic is long lost for me as well and I just can't be f-ing bothered anymore. Wake me up in 6 years.

OUT.

Other than the Kessel trade I think Burke's done a good job at collecting young prospects. I don't think you should differentiate much when you also find ways to take prospects from other teams like Gardiner and Colborne. And isn't that what everybody seems to be talking about these days, how good Eakins is at developing talent? If you go with that logic then you can't blame Burke for not at least trying to develop the prospect pool that we have.

I think you're right that we have to develop talent from within, there's a few points that I'd like to make. Like I've said before, Boston's players that came through last year were either UFA (Chara, Recchi, Ryder) were not developed by the team, and the players that were (Lucic, Marchand, Krejci, Bergeron) none were taken in the first round. So I think if you go on Boston's team it's possible that you can build a winner if your prospects come through: Granted, it's easier when your picks are first overall selections, but it's still interesting when you think about recent drafts where some of the high end talent came all over the first round (Eberle being a 25th selection and so on).

Drawing on the Boston prospect pool comparison, why aren't we giving the same benefit of the doubt to guys like Colborne and Gardiner?

 

[Bender]

Every year I go on a rollercoaster of emotion.

Up, down, somwhere in the middle... excited, pissed, angered, overjoyed, lulled, tired, ecstatic, enthused, excited, frustrated, etc, etc.

I'm at the "I don't give 2 craps anymore and think they will suck for an eternity" phase.

I actually talked about this with an old TMLfans.ca regular just last night.  Someone who doesn't post here anymore but who I (many of us?) shared the early 2000's playoff victories with.  I think we've both had enough.

I don't want to sound callous or anything here, as this is a real question, but you've "had enough" or "had enough until they start winning"?

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

Every year I go on a rollercoaster of emotion.

Up, down, somwhere in the middle... excited, pissed, angered, overjoyed, lulled, tired, ecstatic, enthused, excited, frustrated, etc, etc.

I'm at the "I don't give 2 craps anymore and think they will suck for an eternity" phase.

I actually talked about this with an old TMLfans.ca regular just last night.  Someone who doesn't post here anymore but who I (many of us?) shared the early 2000's playoff victories with.  I think we've both had enough.

It's amazing to think we're approaching a decade of suck, and when I say amazing I mean depressing.  :-\

 

[maplesyrup]

Every year I go on a rollercoaster of emotion.

Up, down, somwhere in the middle... excited, pissed, angered, overjoyed, lulled, tired, ecstatic, enthused, excited, frustrated, etc, etc.

I'm at the "I don't give 2 craps anymore and think they will suck for an eternity" phase.

I actually talked about this with an old TMLfans.ca regular just last night.  Someone who doesn't post here anymore but who I (many of us?) shared the early 2000's playoff victories with.  I think we've both had enough.

I'm close to where you are Ern. Year after year, I get sucked in with a little glimmer of hope and in each of them, I feel dumber for having done so. I know I'll chomp on some exciting little morsel this summer (if provided with one) and completely forget how I felt just a few months prior.  Seriously, it's just not a pattern of behaviour I'm proud of.  :-\

 

[Erndog]

Every year I go on a rollercoaster of emotion.

Up, down, somwhere in the middle... excited, pissed, angered, overjoyed, lulled, tired, ecstatic, enthused, excited, frustrated, etc, etc.

I'm at the "I don't give 2 craps anymore and think they will suck for an eternity" phase.

I actually talked about this with an old TMLfans.ca regular just last night.  Someone who doesn't post here anymore but who I (many of us?) shared the early 2000's playoff victories with.  I think we've both had enough.

I don't want to sound callous or anything here, as this is a real question, but you've "had enough" or "had enough until they start winning"?

Had enough for this season at least.

Like the OP, I didn't care for the deadline... I don't care for free agency either.  Nothing to be had there except overpayments and mistakes.  I'm mostly interested in our draft status now.

That and hoping something radical may happen this offseason with some team who randomly makes some very good player availble.

 

[Zee]

This thread's theme song is courtesy of Phil Collins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLpfbcXTeo8

 

[Optimus Reimer]

I'm with you man. This season was the back breaker for me and I just can't be bothered anymore. I havn't bothered to watch the last three games and im actually amused at how they keep losing night after night.

2-12-2. Thats not a made up stat, thats real life. Amazing.

Years and years of mediocrity and now its not even that. They can't even crawl into 8th place anymore and will soon be the only team holding the glorious title of "Havn't made the playoffs since the lockout". The Columbus Blue Jackets have had more success than the Leafs. The Minnesota Wild. Everybody.

With the way things are going the future doesn't look much better either and the only way to really turn this around is to blow it all up and start again by DRAFTING PLAYERS and building a team through THE DRAFT like every other successful team in the league has done.

Reference Don Cherrys rant last week about how all these teams, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Boston etc have Ontario born players... well actually, they built their own teams through developing their own players rather than trading everything they have and all their picks away for players and then signing them to outrageous contracts and burying them in the minors. Unless you're the Rangers, that doesn't work.

That being said, even IF thats the route Burke takes (which I sincerely doubt he will because of his ego) it would take at least 3-5 years before the Leafs are any good again once said drafted players get here and get to be solid NHL players. So probobly, it will be even longer than that because we will have to wait for Burke to finish failing miserably (another season likely) and then bring in a new GM and then hope and pray to the galactic hockey gods that they finally swallow their pride for once and do it right.

Almost 50 years of the same approach hasn't worked, you think maybe it's time to rethink things? We used to be upset if we didnt at least make the conference finals, now im at the point where I don't even remember what playoff games are like.

Like many others the magic is long lost for me as well and I just can't be f-ing bothered anymore. Wake me up in 6 years.

OUT.

Other than the Kessel trade I think Burke's done a good job at collecting young prospects. I don't think you should differentiate much when you also find ways to take prospects from other teams like Gardiner and Colborne. And isn't that what everybody seems to be talking about these days, how good Eakins is at developing talent? If you go with that logic then you can't blame Burke for not at least trying to develop the prospect pool that we have.

I think you're right that we have to develop talent from within, there's a few points that I'd like to make. Like I've said before, Boston's players that came through last year were either UFA (Chara, Recchi, Ryder) were not developed by the team, and the players that were (Lucic, Marchand, Krejci, Bergeron) none were taken in the first round. So I think if you go on Boston's team it's possible that you can build a winner if your prospects come through: Granted, it's easier when your picks are first overall selections, but it's still interesting when you think about recent drafts where some of the high end talent came all over the first round (Eberle being a 25th selection and so on).

Drawing on the Boston prospect pool comparison, why aren't we giving the same benefit of the doubt to guys like Colborne and Gardiner?

Good job for Burke.  He signed a lot of talented prospects that will make the team deep for years.  Problem is, if the players do not have adequate coaching and mentoring, they will most likely not have what it takes to win, and will have no idea what it takes to get to the next level.  That is why it is important to have youth on the team with a couple of veterans who will be able to give the youth a kick in the backside when it is needed.

 

[KGB]

I actually talked about this with an old TMLfans.ca regular just last night.  Someone who doesn't post here anymore but who I (many of us?) shared the early 2000's playoff victories with.  I think we've both had enough.

It wasn't Salzy by any chance, was it?...

 

[Deebo]

I am experincing similar feelings, but I know I'll be back on board in October.

 

[Ken]

Look at the bright side folks. There's always next year.